mightychurch.com

I noticed the Syd Ang news story that the Connect09 site is up:

Connect09.com, an evangelistic website designed to help Sydneysiders connect with local churches, has been launched.

This new site, which includes video presentations in Sydney’s four main ‘heart’ languages, can now be found at a whole range of Connect09 URLs, including Connect09.com.

The original internal site has now shifted to a new address, Connect09.Sydneyanglicans.net, where users can continue to get all of the information associated with the ongoing campaign.

Have you had a look? Thoughts?

1. The Arabic guy doesn’t look Arabic - maybe that’s just me.
    Also, shouldn’t the Arabic, Mandarin and Cantonese tags be translated for their readers to read -  especially if they don’t read English ?
    And that applies to ” Welcome to Connect 09 - Start by selecting your language “

2.  I looked for a “local church” with that option, typed in my postcode - and got an out-of-date minister’s name - and he was listed by his initials - and NOT HIS FIRST NAME, which I think is much more personal - and definitely more “USER FRIENDLY”.

Street name had NO number listed either.  ( But I see that the MAP link does point to the location - so that’s something. But what if someone wanted to send a letter first ? )

Also, NO PHONE CONTACT NUMBER is listed.

3. I just checked the next suburb - and the previous rector is still listed - and he’s been gone for many months. Again No street number ( in a long street too - and don’t presume everybody has a car ) - and again NO PHONE NUMBER.

4. The implication to me is that people “out there” have to make all the effort. Not having a PHONE NUMBER listed means that folk don’t have a contact number in front of them so that they can ring up and ask about service times etc. - and CONNECT with the local church.

Maybe it’s ‘busy’ at the moment with lots of traffic, but the pace is so much slower compared to other sites that I’ve been accessing.

That’s my initial quick look at the site. ( I didn’t click on the “more about Jesus” clicks. )

Sounds like teething issues that come with any website launch, that will be solved quickly.

Hi Kevin.
There are about 390 churches in the database and not every church are quick to update their information. Hopefully the church administration or members of the church you point to will send an email to webmaster_[at]_connect09_[dot]_com with updated details or just point that out.

Thanks Robert,

I’ll follow that up with them. But I’m still concerned about the lack of any phone numbers on the church links from “Connect 09” . I have re-checked both sites and note that the “find a church” on the ‘Sydney Anglicans Network Portal’  lists phone numbers for nearly all parishes - plus email and web details if they have them -  including the ones I previously looked at.

I had imagined that the Connect 09 site was linked to the details already available on the above ( SANP ) website - so I can’t understand why only selective details are appearing on Connect 09 pages. THere must be a glitch somewhere.

Meanwhile, may I just say that my previous post was not an overall review - just a quick response before dashing out the door for an appointment. Now that I am back home I have been able to take time to explore the Connect 09 site more fully - and may I say that it is quite innovative in it’s approach. The use of ‘living’ presenters ( in 4 of the major languages in Sydney ) was quite unexpected -  brilliantly carried out -  and appears to be quite ‘user friendly’ .

So congratulations all round as you start the big journey and continue to improve such a great resource for the Diocese.

Cheers, Kevin

Thanks Kevin,

I will let Andrew Nixon and Mark Hadley know about about missing phone numbers.
I know there will be some fixes in the near future, so we thank you for your feedback.

Cheers, Robert

I think it’s an excellent initiative, and I hope people will really get behind it. Good job to those involved.

I’ve just sent them an email to amend our records (at my work Church)-the road we are in is several kilometres long and the map shows a site about a kilometre from our actual spot, with a photo of a private home. I also asked them to add our phone number. Hopefully they will fix it soon, because it is a great idea, as long as the information is accurate

Nothing for those with Flash 10?

Several churches show the red google arrow way down the street. But they have no street number listed, so what is Google to do?

A couple of weeks ago I put the connect09 toolbar on our website. This worked for a few days. But now it is no longer working. Is it still supposed to?

I found a website with an old minister’s name on it too. But surely someone has to let the Anglican site know about the change. They do not have ESP or radar. I emailed the parishes concerned. Another’s email address did not work. I figured out the correct version and emailed the parish.  If anyone else has this trouble the ISP is internode.on.net. It is NOT internode.on.au

The find-a-church database is continuously being updated. Let Connect09 know about your concern/bugs ((JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)) and it will fixed ASAP. As I said earlier, if you discover any error on the database, let them know.

I happened to wake up early the other night and flicked through the TV channels and came upon the TV evangelist Bayless Conley ( where do they invent these names ? ) from Brentwood, California - when suddenly I saw them advertising their upcoming “Connect 09” conference in November. It had me wondering if this “Cottonwood Church” is an Anglican plant ;)
See it at : http://www.answersbc.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1