This post isn’t strictly about the Mission Disk, but I thought it was worth posting anyway. Everyone understands the importance of professional websites, blogs, flyers, and mailings. But most people don’t even think about what their email address says about them.
They don’t give a second thought to sending emails out from addresses like BestPastor187@yahoo.com or missionfriend32@hotmail.com. If you happen to have one of the two addresses I listed, I didn’t pick you out specifically. They were just two addresses I picked out of a hat. Email addresses like the two I listed, do not give out the impression you want to give. An impression that says, “I am a professional. I know what I’m doing, and you can trust me.” And it’s important to give that impression.

Now if you don’t own a domain, you don’t have a lot of options for getting a more professional email without purchasing a domain. If you don’t own one, you can purchase a domain for about $10 a year. At the end of this post, I’ll list a few domain registrars you can purchase a domain through. Keep in mind that most domain registrars will also sell you hosting services for your website. You don’t actually need the hosting if all you want is professional email, but if you plan to add a website someday, you might want to look into it.

Skip past this to the next paragraph if you already have a domain. If you are purchasing a domain, there are a few things you should consider. You really need to think about your domain name before registering it. Cute names and funny names are not appropriate. You want something professional sounding that fits your ministry. The name of your church or mission would be best, but if your ministry has a common or popular name you may not be able to register it. Try adding the city or country name to it. That way you will be able to keep your name and yet make it more localized.

Assuming you have a domain lined up, the cheapest (as in free) and most reliable email system to use is actually Google Apps. The standard edition is free and you get all the features of gmail, with your own domain address. So that means, you can get email at missions@yourdomain.com, pastor@yourdomain.com, firstname.lastname@yourdomain.com, or any other combination you want. All at @yourdomain.com.

Sign up for a new account and follow the instructions to set the account up and associate it with your domain. Once you have your account set up, you can set up as many email addresses as you want. There is a limit to how many uses the free version allows, but you can set up as many aliases (email addresses that all go to the same inbox) as you want. The new accounts will be available to receive emails and send them. Then all you have to do is publish your new email address.

There are many domain registrars and I’m just listing a few of them below.
Domain registrars:

• Google: Probably the easiest to set up since it is automatically attached to your account when you register it.
• dreamhost.com: The registrar and hosting company I currently use for this website.
• godaddy.com

After going silent for several months, the Mission Disk project is re-emerging with much needed program updates on version 1.3 of the project.

Here’s a list of the changed versions

• Firefox 3.5.3
• Gimp 2.6.7
• InfraRecorder 0.5
• Open Office 3.1.1
• PDFCreator 0.9.8
• SumatraPDF 0.9.4
• Thunderbird 2.0.0.22
• VLC 1.0.2

Tyndale Tech blog has a list of new essential research tools for being able to “take notes and find them again.”

Their list of tools include:

1) Zotero: Bibliography creation, note storage, document search, and more.
2) Google Docs: Word processing on the web with automatic archive and backup.
3) Evernote: Store photocopies and online books as searchable text.
4) FLV Converter: Search multiple sites for videos and save a copy.

Read the entire article for a full description of the tools and how to use them.

For those of you who are constantly wanting to check out new freeware apps, look no further than the 46 Best-ever Freeware Utilities from dailyrevolver.com.

There’s something there for just about everyone.

Enjoy!

HT: “Bill” at Thinklings

We’ve added a Song Projection Tools as a new category to our Resources Page including the following tools:

Easislides
OpenLp
OpenSong
SNAP
ZionWorx

For those of you who use projectors as an aid during the worship service, these tools may provide a more customized fit to your needs than a standard PowerPoint or Impress Presentation.

Check them out and let us know what you think.

It’s time again for upgrades to the programs on the Mission Disk so we’re releasing Version 1.2 of the project with the following updated software versions:

• Firefox 3.0.3
• Gimp 2.6.2
• InfraRecorder 0.46
• Open Office 3.0
• Paint.NET 3.36
• PDFCreator  0.9.6
• SumatraPDF  0.9.3
• Thunderbird 2.0.0.17
• VLC 0.9

The big news in this release is OpenOffice 3.0, the updated productivity suite that has been getting great reviews in the computing community. This one product alone can save your organization hundreds of dollars…per person!

We’ve been hard at work writing website guides for Adding Sermon Audio, Event Calendars, and Visitor Tracking to your Wordpress.com or Hosted Wordpress Website.

Enjoy! And as always, feel free to post your questions or suggestions for new guides.

In the process of doing research for a write-up on how to use Wordpress as a platform for a church website, I discovered that the good folks over at Church Communications Pro have already done yoeman’s work on the topic.

Check out their instructions here

There’s also some good material over on Living OS including an article on Getting Started blogging your church with Wordpress

And if you’re looking for examples of what your church website can look like, there are dozens of church sites that use Wordpress listed here for your perusal.

I’ve posted a guide to embedding slideshows on your church website over at freechurchwebsite.wordpress.com. I’ll try to put up a workaround guide to using Picasa soon, since wordpress.com doesn’t officially support it currently.

Hopefully that answers the first part of Steve’s questions.

I’m currently working on a website for a small church in Delaware using a Wordpress blog as the underlying platform.

In keeping with the MissionDisk philosophy, My goal is to build a $0 website, using all freeware, free plugins, and free services online.

Once I’m done I hope to write up an easy-to-follow guide on how to do this so others can do likewise. So many churches don’t have any kind of web presence at all. That’s a shame.

I’d appreciate any input on what I’ve got so far… http://www.calvarybaptistinclayton.org/