Navigating the new Saint Mark Website
The main purpose of the Saint Mark website is just what it says on the banner, help with “Navigating Your Spiritual Journey”. Saint Mark’s traditional ship symbol is prominent on the home page. Pastor Steve Morgan explains this on his Welcome page.
“From looking at our web homepage, you might wonder ‘What’s going on with all this nautical stuff about ports, anchors, navigation, etc.?’
Well, it all has to do with our understanding of life and the nature of the spiritual journey.
Here at Saint Mark we understand the spiritual journey to be like a voyage on the open sea. The weather varies, sometimes dramatically. Sometimes the seas are calm and, at other times, there are swells of threatening waves. Sometimes there are winds for our sails to catch that move us smartly along, while at other times we seem stuck, powerless, and motionless. When the winds do blow, we have to adjust the sails to catch the winds. There are no sign posts pointing which way to go, but rather all we have to navigate by are the stars above.”
To that end there are many pages on the site that help to improve our spiritual awareness and provide tools for our growth. Most of these pages are found under the Learning for the Journey button on the home page. This is one of six buttons that surround the Saint Mark ship symbol. These buttons lead directly into one of the site’s major subject areas. Two of the major subjects, Welcome Aboard and Anchor with Worship, provide fast and informative pages for newcomers and people looking for a church. Three of the major subjects, Sail into Service, Learning for the Journey and All Hand’s Ministries, provide interactive support to the congregation for spiritual growth, volunteers and all of the ministry areas. The last major area is the Events Spyglass which has quick access to news, calendars, Church Family Night and the Navigator. Each major area page lets you step down one level at a time through all the pages in that topic. On the left panel a set of expanding menus allow you to quickly drop down to a particular page in one step. The left panel also uses a ship’s wheel to show quick links to the Children and Youth areas, the Navigator and the Hot Topics page, which includes the Beacon weekly schedule. Finally, newcomers have a quick link for directions.
This new site has all of the information of the previous site but has the capability to be much more interactive. Pages can be updated in a few minutes and there are several more contact forms. Direct click e-mail responses are found on the Will You Plug In volunteer page and many other places on the site.
It would make this article too long to try and describe every page, but the pull downs on the left make it easy to quickly scan every level. The following descriptions have hyperlinks to some of the new areas of interest. For example, the ability to embed video on any page. See the Welcome video by clicking Welcome Aboard. The photo galleries are interactive with a slide show feature. They are also much easier to load with new pictures, so plan on seeing the latest Recent Events and Photos quickly. Newcomers have an updated Facilities page. The Learning for the Journey page has links to the Growing You classes, The Upper Room and the UMC Conference website. The Church Family Night page, under the Events Spyglass, has an interactive form to sign up for either a class or the Wednesday night meal. This form goes directly to Karen in the Church Office. Also under Events Spyglass is a link called Today’s News that provides a constant newsfeed from the United Methodist News Service Headlines. Something new is the Hot Topics page. If you are reading this you have already found the Hot Topics page. We will use this page to highlight important items that are short term such as job openings or emerging needs. This is also where we keep the Beacon. Notice the quick e-mail link at the bottom of this page for submitting a hot topic to the webmaster for posting.
We hope that you enjoy the new Saint Mark website and that you find a reason to visit regularly. We want this site to be a primary resource for our congregation, and the community. The site is hosted by the local firm, Net Doctors. We greatly appreciate their help over the last several months to bring this site into existence. They have spent many hours tutoring us so that we will be able to maintain the site and quickly add new information without their everyday support. For the last several years Net Doctors has donated the monthly fee for hosting our site and we greatly appreciate that they are going to continue that policy for the new site. We will work hard to keep the site current, and we rely on your suggestions for improvements and things to add. Send your comments or suggestions to Jack Donegan at