From the Webmaster's Desk

Well, it's 2:40 on Thursday afternoon and things are humming along here in the office. I'm regenerated from a pleasant, but productive, afternoon lunch at Chipotle with my boss, James. One idea we came up with over lunch is an IT professionals meeting. We both agree that we need to more effectively utilize the vast talents of our members.

Around the Office

Everybody working really hard on a Friday afternoon

The atmosphere around here has been very positive lately. Over the past few weeks, we've had constructive staff meetings with Miles. In the meetings we've redefined our church's vision that keeps with our mission to save, equip, and send out soul-winners. It's encouraging to see us growing closer together and more cohesive as a ministry unit.

For the staff specifically, we've defined a guiding set of values based on the acrostic SERVANTS, which stands for:

• Submitted to Jesus Christ
• Excellence as a standard
• Results are essential
• Value people
• Attitude that inspires
• Nurture personal growth
• Team player
• Stewardship that maximizes

We're gonna do our best to hold ourselves and each other accountable to these values, and pray that they carry on to the whole church.

Small Groups and a New Building

The small group team has been working hard on the new Life Together series. We're all praying for the launch; specifically that the number of people in small groups would increase. Obviously, with a church our size, we feel small groups are real important.

One of the other current big things is the move into our interim location at Ruffin Road in November. There's a lot of work going into it and a lot of needs with all of the construction. If you are or know of any contractors, we definitely could use your help.

Some Webite Stuff

As for me, I've been busy with a lot of office stuff lately, which means I've had less time to work on specific web features. However, we've added a few quality enhancements, like a new event calendar and powerful administration section.

Obviously, there's still a lot of work to be done (ie, the Ministries section), but at the pace our church continues to grow, I think there always will be.

The Future of Our Website

There are so many things in store for the Rock website

I think what's most fun for me is seeing God use the web to accomplish our mission. Great church websites like saddlebackfamily.com, crossroadschurch.com, and fellowshipchurch.com always motivate me, and I'm constantly scanning them for new ideas and inspiration.

There are a few upcoming additions from the IT department I'm really stoked about:

• VJ, our graphic designer, is designing an email newsletter, that will keep everybody up-to-date on what's going on in and out of the church. This is gonna be great. Communication is so important.
• My favorite feature we're working on is the MyRock section of the website (similar to My.Yahoo.com). The idea is to give our members a page that shows custom info about their ministries, their small groups, and their events.

Ok, I think that's about it. Keep the staff in your prayers. Oh, and if you have a few hours come by the office and volunteer for a while. There's always things to do, and we'd love to have ya. Call Melissa Kirkham at the office if your interested.

God bless you guys. Have a great weekend.

Nick Turrietta
Webmaster, the Rock