Webdesign is something I do as a bit of an escape. Some people hunt, some like to fish, I like to play with webdesign. Whenever I need to relax and unwind a bit, I tend to find myself playing with the template for one of the websites that I help take care of. So, I have once again changed the appearance of my site. It has been said that the only thing that is constant is change. I know that holds true for my site. So, what do you think? This new design is a pretty simply one, but I think I like it.

For Valentine’s Day this year my Mother in Law sent Tracy and me a great gift! She went back through her pictures and pulled out a variety from the time that Tracy and I first met, over 10 years ago, to now. She put them all together in a photo album for us. I’ve really enjoyed spending some time looking back through the pics. The pictures are a blast to reminisce over, although most of them tend to be a bit embarassing as well. I’m not generally known as the coolest kid on the block. Anyway, I loved the album so much that I scanned all the pics into the computer tonight and converted them into a digital photo album. Most of you probably couldn’t care less, but in case you are interested, you can see it for yourself by going to www.friesville.net/photo. I plan to update it as the year’s go by. I figure it will be a nice piece for Tracy and I to enjoy and for our girls to look back on. 

Well, today turned out to be one interesting day. I woke up this morning to see a ridiculous amount of snow outside. I knew that getting to Kansas City for my seminary class would be impossible so I went ahead and got dressed and headed to the church. I can assure you that was a bad idea. I made it to the church without too much difficulty and arrived and found one other person there who was stuck in the parking lot waiting for a tow truck. While we were speaking the UPS man showed up and as he tried to leave also got stuck in the lot and had to wait for a tow truck. I got ready to head back home and found myself essentially stuck as well. I worked back and forth for about 20 minutes and was able to get out of the parking lot, in reverse I might add, and headed home to spend the day knowing that our evening schedule was cancelled. I haven’t heard the official count yet but I’ve had people tell me that we got anywhere from 8-14″ last night. That’s a lot of snow!

I did enjoy having time at home to work, however. It was nice to work on sermon prep knowing that if I got tired I could take a break and play with the girls. I also had a few minutes to work on finishing up the new website for my dad’s new church plant in Wisconsin. Head over and take a look if you have time. I’m excited about it and about him using it to connect with people in Richland County. You can see a screen shot below or you can run over there by clicking here.

All in all it has been a different, but not unexciting day. I wonder what tomorrow will end up like?

If you have never been introduced to the NET Bible, now is the time to be acquainted. It can be found at Bible.org which was just been updated and looks incredible, which is appropriate because it is one of the more helpful websites available online for in-depth Bible study. Take a look when you get an opportunity.

HT: Jason Allen

After a few months of hard work I am excited to announce the unveiling of the brand new FrederickBoulevard.com! My new friends over at Element Fusion did a fantastic job of creating a site that we envision to eventually become a significant hub of information for Frederick Boulevard. Run over, kick the tires and take it for a test drive. I hope you enjoy!

Most of you know that I am fairly passionate about using technology to reach younger generations with the message of Jesus Christ. I have been trying, for years now, to utilize the newest forms of media in a manner which will enhance our ability to communicate God’s message. In fact, I will be speaking at IMPACT 2008 in March on the topic, “from hiTech to iTech :: Ministry Technology in 2008“.

In keeping with that theme of helping churches enhance their technology/media ministries, I like to regularly post helpful sites and/or tools that I’ve found for churches. I try to look with smaller churches in mind, knowing that they often don’t have the personnel and budget to do so themselves.

Tonight I want to pass on a very helpful site. At digital.leadnet.org Dean Peters does a good job of listing the “7 Deadly Sins of Church Web Site Design”. If you are a church and you are maintaining your own site, you really need to read and adhere to the lessons in this article. You can access the article by clicking here.