As you may have heard, Coversites recently launched the second edition of their backend editor tool – Greenhouse 2.0. The new features that come with it are welcome editions to any church that uses Cloversites. If you have been following this blog or me on twitter, you may know that my church is set to launch our new Cloversite on Monday, May 24th! We are all really super-de-duper excited about our new website and I wanted to take some time to show you how we’re using some of the new Greenhouse 2.0 features.

1. New Media Player

Clover has created one of the easiest online media players out there. It is easy for us to upload new sermons and very easy for you to listen to them. It allows us to upload audio files as well as video files. We currently do not video tape our worship services, therefore we only offer audio of our sermons so far. However, video messages is something that we are hoping to offer in the near future. The media player is also a simple way to podcast via iTunes! This thing really is the cat’s pajamas.

2. Image Slideshow

The ability to loop multiple images on a page is very important to us. OSLC has many ministries and when designing our new site, they were given their own page based on age group. For example the Junior High page is now able to showcase some of our Junior High youth growing together at one of our most recent retreats! Instead of being tied to a static image on a ministry page, we are able to be a little more dynamic and show more smiling faces!

3. Linkable Pictures

I couldn’t think of a better way to link to OSLC’s social media properties than by simply showing off the logos. Users don’t always think to click on images when visiting websites. For example, have you thought to click on the thumbnails for each of these features? It will bring up the full-size image for you to view. Another place we are going to be using linkable pictures on our new website is when we scroll announcements on the front page. Sometimes you will be able to click on an announcement and it will take you to the ministry page for that event or the registration page.

4. New Calendar

The Clover calendar is really easy to navigate as well as update. It has the ability to have events repeat on a weeky, monthly and/or yearly basis. OSLC’s website calendar has never truly represented what all goes on here and we are very excited about keeping this calendar up-to-date. We are so excited about the cleanness and user-friendly Clover calendar that we are giving key ministries their own calendar link on their ministry pages. For example, if you visit our Child Faith Formation page, you will be able to click on their calendar and find out when their events are happening and not have to sift through other ministry events.

5. Font Sizing Options

The ability to change the font size of text seems like a simple thing but it was not included in the original Greenhouse. We are excited about this ability so that we can highlight certain words, names, etc over others. When we launch our site in a couple weeks and you navigate it, you will see different font sizes throughout the site. Hooray!

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6. Linking Within the Site

Clover now allows each page of our site to have it’s own custom URL. This way we can include links in our weekly e-newsletters (eConnections) directly to the registration page or any other page. We are also able to include lines of text in ministry pages that read, “See News.Calendar.Resources for registration information” and make “News.Calendar.Resources” a link to that page of the site.

These are just some of the ways we are using the new Greenhouse 2.0 with our new website. Since we are a larger/older church, we were used to some of these features in our previous (current as of this post) website. We are very happy with Clover and the simplicity of their design and site navigation, however without these features we probably would not have purchased a Cloversite. If this review helped you in any way please let me know in the comments section. Also, if you are thinking about purchasing a Cloversite for your church, please purchase it after CLICKING HERE, I am part of an affiliate program with Clover and get a percentage of the sale for referring you. Thank you!

“Clover Walkthrough Video” after the jump

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As a part of our 2010 capital campaign called mychurch, we went around and asked some of our congregation members to share with us what about Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church do the like to tell others. Here are some of their responses.

If you’re a member of Our Saviour’s and you didn’t get a chance to be interviewed for this video, please share what you like to tell others about Our Saviour’s in the comment section below!

I like to tell others about our global missions. I’ve shared in previous posts that I have had the opportunity to be a part of our mission in Slovakia and I am very interested in our on-going mission in Africa and the work that James Baker is doing in Mozambique specifically. I am very proud that mychurch is so dedicated to helping others even though there are cultural differences between us.

I also like to tell people about our local missions because I believe that sometimes society places the needs of other countries higher than the needs of those right in our own communities. As the Acts 2 church, we have the responsibility to help those that are close to us as well. mychurch is a PADS site during the summer and we also do something that we call the ‘Celebration Clinic’ each year where we organize a bunch of doctors, hair stylists, clothes, photographers and many other people to offer their services to the under-resourced in our community for free!

And of course… I am deeply connected to the youth program her at OSLC and it will always be one of my passions.

If you’re not a member of Our Saviour’s but attend a different church, I ask you the same question… what do you like to tell others about your church?

As a part of our 2010 capital campaign called mychurch, we went around and asked some of our congregation members to share with us what about Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church impacts them the most. Here are some of their responses.

If you’re a member of Our Saviour’s and you didn’t get a chance to be interviewed for this video, please share how you are impacted by Our Saviour’s in the comment section below!

I have been impacted by OSLC in a wide variety of ways. First of all… mychurch is my home. Having been a member since 1992, when I was a second grader, and now having the wonderful opportunity to be on staff here… it has really become a place where I feel a great connection to. I am always amazed at the passion our congregation has for missions and ministry. We have such a variety of professional skills in our members and many of them use their skills to better the church and it’s mission of Knowing Jesus, and Making Jesus Known. We are in the process of developing a resource bank so we can better connect people so they can help each other.

If you’re not a member of Our Saviour’s but attend a different church, I ask you the same question… how are you impacted by your church?