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How to Design an RA Web
Site
by Janie Slater
Have you ever wondered, "How do I design a Royal Ambassador Web site for my church?" Your next thought may have been, "Where can I get detailed, specific information about putting together a site?" We hope this article can help you design a great RA Web site, step by step.
A church RA Web site can provide valuable information about your Chapter to your Royal Ambassadors, their parents, and their leaders. The site can also show your entire church what activities, events, and projects your Chapter is doing. Finally, your Web site may serve as a promotional channel to the community, detailing meeting times, locations, and other basic information.
A useful place to begin is to think of your target audience. For a Royal Ambassador Web site, your first audience is your group of RA boys, their parents, and leaders. A second audience is those who are considering getting involved. (These may be church members or people in the community looking for a church.) So you will want to balance the needs of an “internal” audience (for information sharing) and an “external” audience (for outreach purposes).
Basic Elements of a Church RA Web site
1. Time and Location. Every RA Web site should contain basic information about the start times and location of the RA Chapter meetings. Make sure that this information is up-to-date, and provides the details for special events well in advance (RA Week activities, RA Racer events, Fund-raising events, etc.). Show a map to where you are so that people can find you. If drawing your own map is too hard, then link to Map Quest (or Yahoo Maps).
2. RA “Basics”:
Who are Royal Ambassadors? (The RA Motto)
The RA Pledge
The RA Logo
RA History
3. Contact Details. Give people the phone numbers and e-mail addresses of relevant staff and RA Leaders.
4. Calendar of Events. Keep a calendar updated at least monthly with upcoming events, projects, etc. (RA Kickoff, mission projects, campouts, hikes, RA Racer events, outreach projects, recognition events like RA Week/Next Generation Sunday, seasonal parties, etc. Remember to include dates when the Chapter is NOT meeting for reasons like Christmas vacation or Spring Break.)
5. Photo Gallery. Kids will love seeing their pictures online. At every RA event, snap pictures to include online with a little write-up about the event.
6. Links. Link to:
The Official National Royal Ambassadors Web site at <http://www.royalambassadors.org>.
The North American Mission Board Web site at <http://www.namb.net>.
Missionary Info at NAMB at <http://www.namb.net/beonmission/missionaries/>.
The International Mission Board Web site at <http://www.imb.org>.
Missionary Info at IMB at <http://www.imb.org/core/missionspartner/missionaries.htm>.
The Women’s Missionary Union Web site at <http://www.wmu.com>.
The Annie Armstrong Web site at <http://www.anniearmstrong.com>.
The Lottie Moon Web site at <http://www.imb.org/ime/LMCO/>.
7. An Invitation. Be sure to extend a warm invitation to anyone interested in being a Royal Ambassador or serving as a Royal Ambassador Leader. Include appropriate contact information, like an e-mail where people can click to ask for more information.
8. Chapter Needs/Project Needs. Are you in need of two chaperones for an upcoming field trip? Do you need church-wide donations for a food pantry collection? Be sure to have an area set aside to publicize any needs your RAs have.
Add-Ons Beyond the Basic
Beyond the basics, you could include an on-line newsletter with more in-depth articles, event write-ups, news, etc. (Or make your print newsletter available as a download.) You could include more information about advancement, chapter meetings, events, etc. The sky--and your energy-level and time--really are the limit. Be creative and have fun.
Feel free to use any clip art available on the National Royal Ambassador Web site to jazz up your new RA Web site. Also, feel free to link to any article, idea, resource, etc. you find on the National RA Web site. We exist to make your job--no, your mission--a little easier.
Publishing Your RA Website to the Web
Does your church have a Web site? If yes, then go to the person who maintains and updates the Web site and ask him to provide a link to your new RA page(s). He will know how to create a new page, place your text there, and provide a link to it from the church's home page or other appropriate page (i.e., Children's Ministry page). He will know how to create multiple pages, too, if you have multiple pages/links. You will need to work out a schedule to make updates. If possible, learn how you can get set up to make these updates.
If your church does not have a Web site, you will need to find a web host for your RA Web site. Beware of free web hosting services. Most place distracting banner advertisements on your Web site, and you can't do anything about it. Hosting companies like, Geocities and Angelfire, offer free hosting services. But they also offer inexpensive packages with a low monthly charge for banner-free web space, your own domain name (www.yourname.com, for example), loads of web space, several e-mail accounts (you@yourname.com, for example), and much more. These hosting services also have easy-to-use Web site building tools (wizards) to help you set up your Web site without needing too much technical know-how. (You can pick and choose color schemes, buttons, layouts, etc.) They take you step-by-step through how to “upload” your text to your new Web site.
To give you an idea of the cost, Geocities offers a “GeoCities Pro” Package with a one-time setup fee of $15 and a monthly service fee of $8.95. (This includes your own domain name. www.yourname.com, for example.) This is a great deal. Many other companies offer similar hosting packages. Shop around to find the one that suits you best.
[NEW Note: Thanks to Jason Holcomb who suggested http://www.christianwebhost.com. "I have used them professionally, and have had very good service, and tech support from them. Also there package that is the same price as the GoeCities Pro you suggested comes with 200 e-mail accounts, 1 mailing list, easy to use control panel, and if the group prepays for the first year ($107), they will register the domain for free, (new domains only)."]
Oh yeah, one more thing. When you complete your new RA Web site, send me the web address. I want to include it on the list at <http://www.kidzplace.org/adult/royal-ambassadors/ras/national_ra_websites.asp>. If you haven’t taken a look at these churches RA Web sites, take a minute now to browse for ideas.
May the Lord richly bless your creative work on behalf of RAs in Jesus’ Name!
Janie Slater
Editorial Coordinator, Mission Education Web sites
NAMB
jslater@namb.net
www.sbcmissioneducation.com
www.baptistmenonmission.net
www.challengers.cc
www.royalambassadors.org
www.kidzplace.org
www.namb.net/educate/omcn
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