Springdale First Baptist Church Scores Five Mice

www.fbc-springdale.org

Springdale First Baptist Church’s Web site makes better use of available Internet applications than any site we’ve ever reviewed.

We were impressed by everything from the flash-animation intro page to the e-commerce hyperlink that allows surfers to purchase books and other religious materials online. Not only does www.fbc-springdale.org give the church a ubiquitous medium for spreading its message, it creates an additional revenue source to help fuel the ministry.

Every page, link and video and audio feature worked perfectly — a rarity during reviews by our team of technicians. Even the full-color electronic version of the church’s weekly newsletter Vision, a 334-KB file, downloaded like it was shot out of a cannon.

The design is a savvy blend of marketing flair and simplistic style which keeps the “fun” in functional. One reviewer called the site “sharp” and “great looking.” His only criticism — in fact, the only criticism the site received — was that its main text runs a little too tight to the left-hand menu bar. It’s a small complaint by all accounts.

It took less than 10 minutes for Marcus Caruthers, First Baptist’s minister of technology, to respond to an e-mail inquiry. It’s no wonder that the site is so efficient. Caruthers is the former director of Internet engineering for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and worked in Tyson Foods Inc.’s technology department.

His division acts as an ISP for members and a Web host for other ministries that can’t afford to subscribe to Internet services on their own.

The site debuted in 1996 and has undergone quarterly upgrades ever since. Each week, about 63,000 people log on to the site worldwide for live audio and video worship services. The church has a relationship with 4 million missionaries worldwide who use the site. Between 75,000-100,000 visit the site for at least one minute per week.

BeliefNet.com, an online religious publication, recently rated www.fbc-springdale.org second only to a Georgia-based church’s site. Among First Baptist’s online frills are a 360-degree virtual reality tour of its facilities and free electronic greeting cards that carry Biblical messages.

“The same technology that corporations are using to impact their bottom line, we’re using for Jesus Christ,” Caruthers said.

First Baptist’s site is a revenue producer, a philanthropy, a mass media source, an in-house database and a triumph of technology.