In September we are going to the Philippines to visit where we worked in the late 80s, and to help a number of YWAM bases develop their own website.
Technology Partnering
We keep coming across a problem.
A Church, Ministry, YWAM location had a website. Often there was a benefactor that set the ball rolling but is no longer around. And through no fault from anyone this website has now died.
We are exploring how to partner with people and ministries from the Majority World, to help them take on technology in such a way that it does not get lost.
In the business side of what Christine and I do, we are a Technology Company, https://ai.net.nz & https://ainet.biz .We do our own hosting and website design and development. We work from the byte to the site.
This would be the third iteration of us seeking to do this.
To help with out hurting.
It is easy to seek to help someone and you end up hurting them.
We do not want to do this, so we need partners that will help us avoid doing this, people in country, people with experience, and people willing to let us know when we are not helping.
To provide a service that is valued and used.
We are providing this training free of charge. Also, the hosting is not being charged.
That does not mean there is not a cost.
However, we want to work such that the website becomes a source for ministry, a value to the gospel, and can support it’s self.
To provide training even if that means the person moves on.
We have been providing training in various areas on the Kona campus. We train someone and a year later they are gone.
We don’t mind at all.
Who knows where they will go in YWAM or in Jesus and the training we have given becomes a blessing somewhere else.
For us, that is “job done!”
To make technology useful and not a burden.
I have always advocated that technology is meant to reduce the workload not increase it.
Websites are mean to enhance what you do, make what you do easier and more fruitful.
If it does not then we are using the technology wrong and need to readjust.
If a technology is saving time then by default there is money to pay for it.
A lot of what I do at the technical level is about a quote, a job, an invoice, and a payment.
Is there a different way?
People and places that understand the value of technology are already using it.
What about people where the barrier is too high?
Our project is designed to get websites up and running and to train people to maintain them.
There is a cost, but we do not want that to stop people from learning and building.
If a website becomes dynamically useful, for a base or for staff, then by default it has generated income that would not have been there otherwise.
There would be finances available to help us offset the cost of hosting the website, playing for plugins and developing for the future.
Even then we do not what the cost of a website to be a burden.
We are actively looking for partners and sponsors. You can too. Or maybe you are reading this as someone that wants to partner with one of the websites we are developing.
Sponsor A Website
Partnership can facilitate accountability and responcibility.
We’ve been helping people for over 40 years.
Sometimes help hurts.
You may have come to this page as someone who is interested in helping with Websites.
Maybe we are helping you with your website.
Websites cost to run. From paying for plugins, paying for the power to keep the computer running, and paying for new hardware.
People and ministries can get a great advantage out of a well equipped website.
Unfortunately it is also possible to hurt a ministry in the mist of wanting to help it.
Here in is the challenge.
How do you keep your website current?
Will people who get a free website, value it?
How do you partner with a location and not hurt them?
How do you come to seeing your website as valuable?
How do you keep your attitude fresh?
How do you master something new?
Am I time orientated, and do late people annoy me?
Am I people orientated and do the punctual annoy me?
Am I even aware as to what I am like?
Learning a new thing can seem futile at the beginning. A young man was cutting down trees with his axe. He was a skilled lumberjack and could cut down one tree a day. A chainsaw salesman came along, and seeing the young man, got him to stop a moment and said, “If you spend a week with me, I will show you how to fell one hundred trees a day.” The young man was incredulous, “You want to take me away, to waste a week with you where I will not be cutting any trees down, on this idea that you can train me to cut one hundred trees a day. I’m no fool.” And went back to his axe.
A new technology takes work to master.
There will be setbacks, but you can master them.
Donations are in US Dollars.
What does a Website cost?
We have been providing websites for Businesses, Ministries, and People for the last fifteen years.
The more we do it the harder it is getting, the internet is a more dangerous place today than twenty years ago.
We now spend more time and money to keep our websites safe.
Hosting $12 / Month. (Keeping the hard Drives spinning)
Management $12 / Month. (Keeping the software up to date.)
Security Plugins $5 / Month. (Subscriptions.)
Development of a website.
Website development $100 / Page.
Google Intergration $50 / Website.
Hosting
A website has to live somewhere.
There are cheap options, that do not do the job.
We have an option that we can control from the ground up.
For a not-for-profit site, the budget for hosting is $12 a month or $144.00 a year.
Plugins
Security is important, and we buy plugins to keep our sites safe, to keep you safe.
SSL: $569.00 for hosting websites a year.
Themes: $100.00 – $400.00 a year.
Infrastructure
We run these websites on a server inside Google. We built this server, manage it and have software on it to keep websites safe and backed up.
Google Compute Engine $250.00/month
Backups for all sites $100.00/month
cPanel costs us$100.00/month
Email protection $70.00/month
Development
I have to keep ahead of the hackers, this takes effort and time.
Research: $200.00 a month
I run courses to train people to be able to do what I do.
To know how to install a WordPress website.
Set up Divi, a great theme builder.
Set up security plugins and helper plugins.
Build the pages and work with the location to build them a great website.
Building a new site can cost from $1,000 to $3,000, depending on any extras that are wanted and how many pages are needed.