Josh and I have been working to put together a new website for our church. I built the old site a couple of years ago. It was built the old fashioned way - it was all hard-coded html and css. Since then I have maintained the website by hand. Each week, I have updated the content, uploading sermons, and editing pages as required. The old site can still be visited. It was a utilitarian site, with out much color or flash.

Over the past year, I have been planning a new site for the church. I have been listening to the Geeks & God Podcast. The podcast is a great resource for web design, particularly in the area of content management systems. They have introduced me to Drupal. Drupal is an open source content management system. Its role is to be serve as a go between between the internet and a database. The database contains all of the content for the website and Drupal allows it to display the correct information when someone visits the site. It also allows users to log in to the site and update content in the database.

As a result, the church has a site that should be easier to maintain, that is more colorful and is an overall improvement. Check it out: Christ Community Church - Ocala, Florida.

Like many people, I have moved beyond Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.  I first moved away from using IE after I got a spyware infection several years ago.  That led me to research the other browsers available and start using Firefox as my browser of choice.  That was probably 3 or 4 years ago.  It didn’t take me long to become a fan of of using tabs to have more than one site open at a time.  Recently, I have run into challenges when using multiple tabs.  Frequently, Firefox will choke, or shut down altogether.  It has been frustrating me greatly.  I recently had lunch with a friend, and we shared a gripe over Firefox’s issues.

 Today, I saw that David Russell has begun using Opera for causal browsing. He still uses Firefox for web development using tools like Firebug and the Developer Toolbar.  After considering trying Opera for several weeks, I have broken down and installed it on my computer for the first time.  This is my first post with Opera.  So far so good.  I have several tabs open, and no issues yet.

After I have used it for a while, I will post on whether I still like it.

Some time ago, I posted several entries about trying to keep up with the NT Greek that I studied back in college. I haven’t done a very good job of that over the past few months. Today, I saw on Zack Hubert’s blog that he is closing down the site that I have used for a long time to practice my translation skills. Well, actually, he is transitioning the site.

Some time ago, he started to redesign the site under a new development platform, but he had to put that project off to the side. Now, he is on staff at Mars Hill Church. The Church is sponsoring a redevelopment of the project under the Re:Greek name. Check it out at ReGreek.com. The site has a great look, and a graceful interface that allows you to see the original text, along with declensions and conjugations, of the entire Greek New Testament. You can also set up parallel translations with the NASB, ESV, or KJV.

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I recently set up a website for a friend’s church. She goes to Ascension Lutheran Church, which is a small but growing ELCA church down the road from where I live.

This is my first full Drupal-powered website. I had done a test site for my church, but never developed a full theme and had active content. The site is very minimal right now, we are going to add some graphics to create a warmer feel and add some color.
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I like to listen to Mark Driscoll’s sermons. He works through books; he is funny; he is real; he is direct. I know he isn’t perfect, but I still like his sermons. I was listening to one of his sermons in the car yesterday, and he threw out this quip, which made me laugh. It shows just how far technology has changed.
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