Something really got to me yesterday that made me end up writing this big three page entry, then after venting a whole bunch, I decided not to post the entry.. But this is still really bugging me, so I figured I should at least get it off my chest…
As you may or may not know, I’m a bit of a web site design nerd. Throughout the last 9 years I’ve designed or been involved with designing around 50 different web sites. I’m not one of those sexy, flash-site designers, but I’ve always been proud in my ability to create functional, attractive and useful web sites. It’s a gift that I truly enjoy…
One of the sites that I’m most proud of has been the design of my Campus Ministry web site… That site was a long time coming and took two different re-designs, but after hours of work in color-coordinating, structuring and maintaining, we put together an awesome site, and probably one of the better campus ministry sites in the country..
Well that all changed in the last few months, and now has taken a grave turn… Last night I’m surfing around the net, when I came across my old Campus Ministry site, which I found has been redesigned by the new campus minister… Now I’m not some egotist that thinks my designs are the best, nor am I not willing to except the ever-changing nature of the Internet, but I can’t help but be offended when they’ve gone and taken something that I worked hard at for years, and totally discarded it – replacing it with something that frankly looks elementary and basic. It would be one thing if they weren’t able to update the site – but I went out of my way to make the web site easily editable – but I guess that wasn’t good enough.
And what’s going on with the web site is an illustration of why I’ve really struggled with the new leadership at my campus ministry, and ultimately at my church. Here, likely because of youth and inexperience, the leadership has elected to throw out quality ministry/work, and has sacrificed quality (to the point of mediocrity) just so they can have full ownership and most importantly control. They are unwilling to look to others that may have more skill and expertise – if it exists outside their inside group.
This happened before when Sean, Emily and myself felt so alienated that we had no choice but to resign from student leadership. It’s why the UM Search Committee was forced to pass up quality candidates for a campus minister. It’s the reason why I go to Pastoral Council meetings with few expectations in being able to make any real impact.
Before I was fuming mad, but now I would still say that I’m pretty pissed, but trying to turn this around, this is an opportunity for me to devote my web design skills more fully into some other projects (my friend’s web site, my cousin’s org she’s starting, and of course, the NCSC site), and this may also be an opportunity for the staff at church to figure out what exactly they want regarding their web site…
Once again, I am reminded of Matthew 10:14: "Whoever will not receive you or listen to your words – go outside that house or town and shake the dust from your feet."
Oh and if you’re curious, some links. Like Fox New: We report: you decide…
- The original, unaltered Campus Ministry web site
- The new site they replaced mine with