[1]NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–LifeWayLINK, a new service of LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention, offers high-quality, free websites for Southern Baptist churches.
“Taking full advantage of Internet capabilities for communications and evangelism has been a goal for many churches,” said Gary McClure of LifeWay’s e-business group. “Yet significant costs, perceived hassle of ongoing maintenance or lack of qualified personnel to manage a website have kept Internet use from getting past churches’ planning meetings and into reality.”
McClure said LifeWayLINK is extremely user-friendly and, at no cost, the service eliminates the typical online barriers faced by ministries of all types.
“Now churches can benefit from the seemingly endless ways to promote the gospel, interact with potential and existing members, access resources around the globe and take advantage of other online capabilities,” he said.
“LifeWayLINK is the newest component of our growing e-business portfolio of Internet products and services,” said Ted Warren, LifeWay chief operating officer. “Churches and other ministries can depend on LifeWay for safe, filtered Internet service, quality website design and hosting, online ordering of materials, as well as other Internet-related offerings.”
Churches may choose from among five templates, or site designs, for their website. Included are four pages to present information about the church, its services, ministries and events, including a page of contact listings for staff.
[2]The service is easily customized to meet the varying needs of different ministries. LifeWayLINK can be upgraded, for a monthly fee, to allow churches to expand or enhance the site’s capabilities, McClure said. Among possibilities are the ability to add audio files for sermons or performances, online video, in-depth usage reports, more than 150 design templates, additional content pages and others for fees ranging from $24.95 to $59.95 per month.
Rick Ousley, senior pastor at The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Ala., already has seen the benefits of this technology.
“We not only have our main website, but we also have acquired 75 basic sites for use by our ministries and Bible study classes. By putting this resource in the hands of leaders in these classes and ministries, we have given them the tools for keeping fresh, high-quality, relevant sites.”
“The service is not just for churches that currently do not have a website,” said Tim Vineyard, LifeWay’s e-business group director. “We are finding many ministries that have an online presence but feel it’s not effective, that they are paying too much for it or feel they are challenged to keep the site current. LifeWayLINK takes care of each of those concerns.
“LifeWayLINK gives churches the opportunity to easily scale and customize their web presence to best meet their ministry needs,” he added. “The Internet can be an incredibly powerful tool for evangelism and communications. We just want to ensure churches have the resources they need to support these efforts.”
For more information on LifeWayLINK call toll-free 1-888-408-5580. The LifeWayLINK website at www.lifewaylink.com is available and includes examples of church sites using the technology.
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