West Acres Baptist Church's
Web Site

We suggest that you visit the West Acres Baptist Church web site and tour around it for a while.  Then come back and read the review.  Feel free to write us with your comments or criticisms at feedback@hartsem.edu.

Review:  The West Acres web site has something for everyone. This site is packed with multiple ways to encounter the life of this church. The immediate impression one gets of West Acres Baptist Church from visiting this site is that they are a dynamic, busy congregation.

The site has several very nice navigational features, such as the quick find pull-down menu and a page header with links to major sections and a secondary header with links to pages within the sections. These well-planned devices allow for easy movement between sections of the site.

The web site also provides visitors with numerous encounters with the congregation. Our favorite was the "life stories," a.k.a. testimonies, of members. This is an excellent feature whereby we "get to know" the people who make up the congregation. In addition, there are ways to interact with church staff -- from a prayer request posting service to a guestbook, to an online survey, to a forum for discussions. The pastor’s sermons are posted in an audio format within a week after they were given. Calendars of events and lists of current happenings keep members and guests up-to-date on the many church activities, although a few of these lists are outdated including those on the home page.

There are several excellent pages of annotated links to numerous web resources, Baptist sites and especially bible study tools. We also found the mission pages to be valuable in connecting the congregation to the church’s larger mission efforts, although again several of these were out of date. We also found the Youth pages to be worthwhile, but again, advertising events from last April, 2000.

Overall, the site’s content is rich and the navigation well-planned. More effort could be made to enhance the religious look and feel of the site. Often the pages look more like an electronic newsletter or web search engine than coming from a church committed to "reaching our world with the love of Jesus Christ." The current appearance and tone of the site could more strongly convey a feeling of the love and warmth that the congregation no doubt has for one another and the lost.

Many of the pages seem busy and crowded with information or features. It may leave a visitor wondering if the congregation itself is equally busy and crowded with activities. The site not being kept up-to-date in places reinforces this impression.

It is clear that much time and thought has been put into the site over the last few years. The West Acres Baptist Church web site makes great use of the technology to inform members and visitors of its undertakings. With a few minor adjustments in tone and appearance this site could reflect even more so the church’s purpose and generate more interest in its congregational community.