by Kyle Grindley
It’s been more than two years since the last re-design of the web site. In that time a lot has happened: we added a member directory, we’ve added affinity group web sites, the photo ministry went online, the online Beacon was launched, the video ministry went online and we planted a church. With all these changes have we outgrown our old design, so we have launched a new one.
The first thing you will notice when you look at the front page is rotating images. This is where the most important announcements of the church are highlighted. It will also alert you when new sermons, videos, and photos have been added.
Since the first thing most people see of our church is the web site, we have tried to make it easier for visitors to find information about our church. We have added an “I’m New Here” link that will take visitors directly to the welcome page with a brief overview of our doctrine, philosophy of ministry and what visitors can expect when they visit on Sunday and links to pages with more detail. For those who would like to make LBC their home but are not sure what the next step is they can check out the “Get Involved” page that explains the different ways you can get plugged into LBC.
For those who have been coming to LBC, the primary interaction with the web site is the Beacon, sermons, the calendar, and the member directory. You will notice that each of these are easily accessible from the top any page on the site. We are also posting the weekly bulletin, so if you missed any of the announcements you can check them there.
Along with the revamped website, we have also redesigned the Media section. Under the banner of the Media page you can now listen to past sermons, catch up on missed videos or relive the activities again through our photo gallery. Like like previous Sermon page, the latest sermon will always be displayed first. However, the newest feature we have added is the ability to search. To begin a search, simply click on the “Show filter” link right below the Sermons tab of the banner and an array of filters will be displayed to help you narrow down your search. You can now search by Preacher, Book of the Bible, Series, what type of service and date.
For example you are doing a personal study on the book of John. Start by clicking on “Show filter” then under Book, select “John”. Now all the sermons with the main passage on the book of John will be shown. If you want to continue and narrow down your search on the book of John but also only the Sunday messages, click “Show filter” again and under Service, select “Sunday Morning” Now you can see your search results are even smaller than previously because it is only showing Sunday morning messages on John. If at anytime you decide you want to delete a filter but do not want to start over, under the “Show filter” link it shows an “Active filter” displaying all the filters you currently have. Clicking on the “x” next to the filter and you will see your search results increase due to a broader search.
Now that you have found the sermon you are looking for, clicking on the title will take you to the individual sermon page. On this page you can listen or download the sermon, follow along the main passage in ESV translation or navigate to sermons that were either preached directly before/after or the same day. We hope that with the addition of these search filters, you will be able to track down any sermon!
We hope that you enjoy the new website. If you notice anything missing, or you’d like to join the Web Team, please speak to me.
