3. How Do I Get Started?

- Pray

As with anything, the first step is to pray.  Ask God what he wants you to do regarding getting on the Internet.  I'm confident He will be faithful to answer your prayer.

- Get Ideas

If you get the go-ahead to be involved on the Internet, I recommend look at several more websites to get ideas for what can be done and what you might want to do.  I've listed 30-40 more Christian websites in an Appendix called "A Sampling of Christian Sites to Try."  You don't have to go their now or your brain might overload!  But I'll show you the link again at the end of the workshop so you can take a look then.

- Find People

Find people in the church who want to work on this project.  You'll need people to both get it started and to keep it up-to-date (i.e. scanning pictures, converting tapes, writing transcripts, etc.)

- Get Connected

(which you probably are if you're reading this online, but for those of you reading a friend's printout...you'll need a modem, a phone line (consider a second phone line if you plan to use the Internet often), and an Internet connection through an Internet Service Provider (an ISP is the company that will give you access to the Internet, usually for a monthly fee.  A usual price for a connection is about $15-25/month depending on their services.)

- Find a place to "host" your website

In order for your website to be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, it must be located on a computer on the Internet called a "host."  Some companies offer hosting for free, like www.tripod.com or www.geocities.com, or some charge $20, $50, $100 or more per month to host your site, depending on the services you get.  Your local ISP may offer you free space on their server as well.  

- Consider getting your own "domain name."

The "domain name" is the address people use to access your website (family.org, theranch.org, billygraham.org), etc.)  To make it easy to remember, it is nice to have a domain name that has something to do with your ministry.  The cost is as low as $13.50 per year from places like  000domains.com.  You can go there now and check if the name you'd like is available.

Now on to creating your site.

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