Back to the church to answer questions

When we sat down with Chris we were really floored. He got it. He understood things that we had been trying to help others see for years! He really got it.
He told us that he saw the value of it being the "Community Web Site" instead of  the Church Web Site. He understood that one was for internal and one external. He got how by it being of the community and by the community that residents would visit it and use it because it was theirs. Something a Church website could not do. And by being The Neighborhood Ambassador they could reach residents in ways they could not now and haven't been able to since people stopped reading newspapers.
We were so impressed. This guy got it when many others didn't. But I guess we shouldn't have been so surprised. After all, the church is supposed to be about giving and service to others - not receiving.

So Chris told us if it was up to him, he would jump on it. But we would need to talk to others first.

Ok, we understood. But also wondered, since we were just giving it away, why it was so hard.

We would come to learn why later.

Let us take this time to fill in some blanks before we meet with the church again

OK, first understand the actual dates are not correct here. We are posting all this on New Year's Day of 2011 so that everyone can follow along on what happens next. We wanted to give a step by step journey of how it started and how it all comes together. So the beginning posts are reconstructed from the memory of an old man. OK, I'm not that old but I'm sure my 17 year old son sees me a little slower and a bit more forgetful than he is. And he is probably right. But I ramble. See, another sign of advancing age.

Second, we have not talked about what a Neighborhood Web Center costs and  all the parts that make it work.

In the beginning, a REALTOR would pay $299 to sponsor their neighborhood web site. And many still do today. And they would manage it and get a large percentage of any sponsorship ads from neighborhood merchants. If done right it should pay for itself.

But we have a completely unique plan for a church or civic organization. They pay nothing to be the Neighborhood Ambassador and they can choose to be the Neighborhood Manager and receive as much as 75% of the revenue from businesses or services that wish to be a Neighborhood Sponsor. This way a Youth Group, a Sunday School class, a Circle or committee could choose to do the day to day management (takes a few minutes after it is up and running) and fund their group or projects. An extra $5000-$8000 a year can go a long way. And they are not charged anything either.

And if they decide to manage the neighborhood and do not want sponsors, that is OK, too. They still get it for free. We just ask they use it to help their community, neighborhood or small town.

So that is the background and how it is all put together. Back to the journey!

He liked it- He really liked it!

A few days later Chris contacted us excited about what he saw and the possibilities. Really cool. Someone other than us sees the vision, or so we hoped. We set up a time to meet and go over everything and how it could work.!

Approaching our Church

We are lucky. Our church, The First United Methodist Church of Winter Park, has someone on staff that is in charge of their Internet presence. Not just the church website, http://www.fumcwp.org/ which is to reach within, but he also understood the importance to have an Internet presence that reaches the community. Bright and talented guy. Like I said, we are lucky!
Anyway, we met with him and offered to make the church the Neighborhood Ambassador for the Winter Park Neighborhood Web Center. We told him there was no cost involved but if approached right it could be a great tool to reach the residents within Winter Park. He took down the information and said he would take a look at it.
Great! If they saw the possibilities we did, we could help our community in more ways than we could before.