SiteChanges

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Ministry in Muna

March 7, 2009 in Ministry, SiteChanges by Dave | Comments closed

Mun Ha We’re headed back to Muna with the AU Chi Alpha Team for a week of ministry. For the first two days, Kelly and the kids will join me as we minister in the Sunday School and Sunday night services, sharing crafts and teaching with the kids and stewardship training for the adults. On Monday through Thursday, the family will be returning to Mérida while the team and I will continue to involve ourselves in construction, general labor, outreach, and evening services. Pray for us as we seek to make an impact.

While I have you, I’d like to mention a the changes we’ve made to our Contact Us page. We’ve updated our VOIP phone. The new number is 814-746-4952. You can call us via your US based land line or cell for the cost of a US long distance charge. (If you happen to be located in Erie, PA, it’s a local call.) Also, check out the other options to communicate to us through email, IM or Skype! So visit the page, and drop us a line, however you choose to contact us. We’ve got our ears on!

Popularity: 8% [?]

Three Months in the Making

July 25, 2008 in Media, SiteChanges by Dave | Comments closed

Well, not really, but stops and starts made putting together an introductory video something of a long-term project. Originally started as a response to a request from Glad Tidings Assemblies of God in West Lawn, PA for videos from the missionaries that they support, we decided an intro video could serve our website guests as well. We made two versions, one to be shown on a Sunday Morning for the church and one to introduce our family and ministry here on discipleMexico.org. So here, without further ado, is our very own introductory video. (Click on the flash player to the left to launch it or here if your are receiving this update via email.)

In addition to this new video, we’ve totally revamped our About Us page, adding this video as well as descriptions of our individual callings. And, for those of your who have yet to friend us on Facebook, you can check back to keep abreast of our current status. Just a few new ways that we’re trying to keep you connected to what’s happening here in the Yucatan.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Kicking the Tires of WordPress 2.5

April 9, 2008 in SiteChanges by Dave | 3 comments

OK, for those of you looking for something more profound, I’m sorry to disappoint. This post is devoid of deep thought. Instead it focuses on the technical side of my portfolio here in Mexico.

Part of what I do here in Mexico deals with maintaining my website, and the website of our Missionary Fellowship. Maintenance has a lot to do with staying current, and when the web management software that you use tends to upgrade every three months, staying current can be a challenge. I use WordPress as the engine that drives what we do at discipleMexico.org and today, I completed the upgrade process to the brand new version 2.5

Part of my reasoning behind the upgrade is to ensure the security and stability of our website. There are many languishing installs that are currently succumbing to hackers and spammers and losing their status in search engines because of it. Problems like that can hurt non-profits like us who rely on a low-cost web presence to promote their message. It pays to be current.

The other part of my reasoning lies in taking advantage of new features that the software provides. I’m on the lookout constantly for step savers or ways to extend what I offer. I was particularly interested in the WordPress 2.5 gallery feature. If it worked, it would allow me to ditch my another process and help me get pictures up more easily, and perhaps more frequently. Of course, that was only if it worked.

The first upgrade, a 5 minute process performed through WordPress Automatic Upgrade failed to produce the brand new uploader which is the heart and soul of the new gallery feature. Without that, my new time-saver was dead on arrival. OK, time to trouble-shoot, an hour of trying this and that proved fruitless. Only a complete reinstall of the software, this time manually installed, allowed me to access the new uploader.

OK. Step one solved, now on to the next, producing a gallery. I looked for examples to see what this new tool was capable of. Would it fit the bill for my site? A quick tour of the Internet proved promising, but my first gallery was a flop. With no navigation, the supposed gallery seemed unwieldy and useless. It looked like I was going to be tied to my third-party solution. Still, something in me said that there was a solution out there. Others would not have been able to get the results that they had achieved without software mature enough to deliver.

A deeper search revealed that the gallery feature relies not only on the new uploader, but also on a new template called image.php, available in the default theme. Part of the problem of heeding the upgrade warnings that WordPress sends is that many of the new and improved features are poorly documented. Tags were a case in point a few releases back. This time the photo gallery has proven to be the winner.

Sure enough, copying the image.php file to my current theme did the trick. With a few tweaks and a few bug fixes, I achieved success. My first WordPress native gallery was born. I’ve posted it below. It’s a conglomeration of some prominent images characteristic of the Mexico that we have experienced. It’s not exhaustive, but it displays a bit of what the WordPress gallery can do. I hope you enjoy.

Popularity: 22% [?]

Asides: Blog Readability?

January 27, 2008 in Misc, SiteChanges by Dave | 5 comments

Blog Readability

I was reading the blogs of some other missionaries, specifically an interesting series of posts on “God’s call to the fools,” when I came across a little tool that measures the level of education that it takes to read and understand a certain website. Some that I tried required an elementary level education, others a high school education and so on. Imagine my surprise however, when I found what it took to read and understand disciplemexico.org. That’s right, the blog readability test said that it takes a genius to understand the things that I say.

This leads me to two conclusions:

  1. I have a very intelligent reader base. Congratulations then to those who have subscribed and regularly struggled to understand what this rambling missionary writes.
  2. Perhaps I need to be a bit more accessible in the future. What do you think? Do you read disciplemexico.org with a dictionary.com window open? Let me know.

Oh, and if you want to check out how your blog rates, head over to the blog readability test and find out for yourself.

Popularity: 20% [?]

Change, one of the few constants

December 29, 2006 in SiteChanges by Dave | 1 comment

The new disciplemexico.orgIt seems like the one thing that we can count on in life is that there will be change. We change from one year to the next, from one pant size to the next, and sometimes even from one car to the next. Our tastes change, our hobbies change and we find that those around us change as they too go through this same process. Well, things are no different for this missionary.

It seems like just as I was getting used to keeping all of my thoughts together on my Blogger powered website, Blogger.com decided it was time for a change. They rolled out their new version, which was about to render much of my previous work useless. So, instead of following along blindly, I decided to launch an upgrade of my own. We’ve moved disciplemexico.org from Blogger to a self-installed version of Wordpress.

Now, many of you will simply notice the updated look (comments please) but behind the scenes this means that disciplemexico.org is now fully self-contained. I won’t have to wait for Blogger to recover from the latest server failure or hack in order to serve up the latest news, and you won’t have to wait for the various third party plug-ins that had to load in order to bring you what was disciplemexico.org. I’m hoping that this is a win-win situation for all of us.

In the conversion, there have been some things that have yet to be cleaned up–the occasional picture in need of resizing or apostrophe needing to be replaced. Please let me know when you encounter this. As far as functionality, everything should be up and running, but if your encounter problems, please let me know right away. We want to continue to bring you the latest from our family and ministry here in Mexico in the most convenient way possible. Thanks for joining with us in the journey!

Popularity: 15% [?]

disciplemexico.org turns 100!

July 27, 2006 in SiteChanges by Dave | 3 comments

100 posts that is! We’ve crossed the 100 barrier, and to celebrate, we’ve changed our look. We’ve got what we believe is a much cleaner, much less “out of the box” look with more emphasis on Mexico, especially on the area of Merida where we are going to work. Of course, all of the features and content that you have enjoyed are still around. So if you’ve been enjoying our RSS feed or our updates by email, maybe it’s time to stop on by and give us another glance. By the way, thanks for your support and thanks for making us one of your stops on the web.

Technorati Tags:

Popularity: 15% [?]

Just what is RSS and why do I care?

July 8, 2006 in SiteChanges by Dave | Comments closed

If you have been on the web reading blogs for any length of time, then you probably have been seeing icons like the above, or perhaps little “chicklets” with the letters “RSS” on them, and perhaps you’ve wondered to yourself, just what is RSS anyway? Well, wonder no more, this missionary has taken it upon himself to let you into the RSS secret.

RSS or Really Simple Syndication is for people who want to stay on the cutting edge of information, but don’t have time to browse to several sites in order to get it. RSS, allows that person, probably a person much like yourself, to “subcribe” to a “site feed” or special file of information that is coded especially for news readers. The news reader is set up in such a way that you can receive and organize information from several sources all in one interface, usually web-based. The reader also shows which feeds have been upated recently, so you can tell at a glance what you need to pay attention to.

Are you sold on the technology? Do you want to know where to get a newsreader? Well, Google offers a one as does Yahoo, but I am especially partial to Bloglines as their reader works both on browsers and handhelds.

Why do I spend such time talking about RSS? Because we’ve spent such time making this site thoroughly accessable via RSS.

  • Want to get all of the latest information that is generated from disciplemexico.org? Click on the feed icon on the sidebar of this page in order to or here in order to add this site to your list of feeds (The feed icon is the orange symbol displayed on this post.)
  • Want to track a certain topic that peaks your interest like Prayer or Mexico? Click on a category on the sidebar and then the feed icon at the top of the following page in order to subscribe to that specific theme.
  • Are you a commenter but hate loosing track of your conversation? Subscribe to the comments individual posts that you comment on by clicking on the link that is available at the bottom of every post page in order to keep up with what’s being said. (Just click on the “Read more” link in order to reach the post page.)

Sure the setup may take a few extra minutes, but once you’ve started using RSS and newsreaders, you’ll wonder how you ever stayed informed without them! Go ahead give it a try, and of course add disciplemexico.org in the process.

Popularity: 14% [?]

Come See What’s New

March 22, 2006 in SiteChanges by Dave | Comments closed

Convenience. That is the name of the game in the world that we live in. Time is of the essence. That is why Easy Mac, disposable cleaning cloths, and drive-thrus are so popular.

We understand this idea too. That is why we have added the ability to subscribe to our site by two different means, RSS, which is readable through many news readers like Google and Bloglines, and Feedblitz email updates, which sends the latest content from disciplemexico.org to your inbox.

But there are times when only the “real thing” will do, like the flavor of homemade food, the good honest clean that only scrubbing can bring. So it is with disciplemexico.org. If you’ve stopped coming by our site, you’ve missed out on a bunch of new features that we have added to make your experience more fulfilling. Like:

  • Photo Albums: We’ve got lots of photos, from the wilds of Costa Rica to the ministry events that have happened during our language school experience. We’ve chronicled our lives through photos here in Costa Rica, and we want to share them with you!
  • New Categories: Now it’s easier than ever to find the subjects that you want to read about on our site. Like the Day to Day goings on? Click on the Day2Day links at the top of posts categorized in that fashion, and you’ll be able to read every post on our site that fits in that category. Like the media that we have posted on our site? Click on the link for media and enjoy to your hearts content.
  • Recent Comments: Information is great, but conversation is better. That is why we’ve now added comments to our side bar so that everyone who comes to the side can read your ideas, and leave some of their own. This is just another way that we’ve tried to add in interactivity to our website. So leave a comment, the more the merrier!
  • There is also much more: like new links, new cool features like calendar navigation through past posts, to mention a few.

But all of this is out of the reach of those who settle for convenience alone. So stop by the site again. It will be worth the trip!

By the way, don’t forget to tell us what you think. Do you like the changes? Are there improvements that you would like to see? Leave us a comment, and let us know.

Popularity: 16% [?]

Changes at disciplemexico.org

December 17, 2005 in SiteChanges by Dave | Comments closed

With Christmas break upon us, we’ve had time to make some major changes at www.disciplemexico.org. Aside from the obvious, we taken time to add features to make your experience at our site more enjoyable. Some of these features include:

  • New site navigation
  • New links page
  • New expanding post feature for easier viewing of the site
  • and much more!

Also, for those of you who have subscribed to disciplemexico via Bloglet, we are considering moving all subscriptions to Feedblitz. This service works better with our site feed, and looks to be more reliable over the long run. Don’t worry, all of this will take place automatically.

What hasn’t changed, though, is all of the great content that you have come to enjoy at www.disciplemexico.org. So if it has been a while since you have clicked through to visit the site come and check us out!

Popularity: 14% [?]

Subscription service

October 17, 2005 in SiteChanges by Dave | Comments closed

We recently had about 5 new people sign up for our website subscription service. Unfortunately, we had a problem with it this weekend and the updates weren’t sent as usual. Things should be straightened out now. Thanks to those who have decided to keep up with our activities in language school.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Added a Subscription Service!

April 30, 2005 in SiteChanges by Dave | Comments closed

Check it out! Now you can keep up with the Godzwa?s without having to type any URLs! Just enter your email address in to the subscription panel the links listing and you?ll receive an email each time this site is updated. Now, how cool is that?

Popularity: 25% [?]

New Domain!

April 23, 2005 in SiteChanges by Dave | 1 comment

We’ve moved! We now have our very own domain: www.disciplemexico.org! Thanks so much to Amy Maxwell, one of our supporters, who has provided a place on which our site can rest. This domain, aside from giving us a site that is more easily accessible and easier to spell than our previous one, was chosen because it states precisely what we feel the Lord is calling us to do in Mexico: make disciples who can be used to spread his kingdom troughout the country. So here it is disciplemexico.org! Come back often, and tell others about it.

Popularity: 14% [?]

MME Blog Features

April 21, 2005 in SiteChanges by Dave | Comments closed

You may be asking, “What can you do with a weblog (or “blog” for short)?”  Well, I glad that you asked.  I want to take a couple of lines to detail the features of Mexico Missive Expanded.

 

To begin with, Mexico Missive Expanded (MME) is really a pumped up newsletter.  You’ll be able to get in depth information and updates from our ministry as well as a chronicle of our activities that just couldn’t fit on our two page mailing.

 

MME is also much more.  It is a repository of information.  You are able to pull up our mission statement and missions profile in PDF format, suitable for printing and posting if necessary.  Also, we’ve attached our most recent newsletter, in case you’ve misplaced your copy, or were just about to sign up for our mailing list by emailing us.  (You can do that with a link as well.)

 

MME is also a gateway for contributing to our ministry.  By clicking on the Support this Ministry link, you will be taken to the secure A/G web server which will allow you to contribute to our ministry via credit card.  (Just be sure to pay that balance off at the end of the month!)

 

Finally, MME is a way to generate responses from you!  Click on the comment link attached to each posting, and you can let us know how each subject affects you.  We look forward to your responses.

 

So please, stay awhile and browse around.  We’ll be doing our best to keep this area fresh and up to date.

Popularity: 15% [?]

Welcome to our Weblog

April 21, 2005 in SiteChanges by Dave | Comments closed

This is a spot that we have chosen to keep you informed on all of the latest happenings in the Godzwa Family as we get prepared to leave for Merida, Yucatan, Mexico. In the
postings that follow, you’ll be able to keep track of our support status, ministry updates, prayer requests, and the general happenings of the Godzwa family.

Our current print and email newsletter is called the Mexico Missive, a direct lift from our director’s monthly mailing to all of the missionaries. (Hey, it sounded good!) This blog is called Mexico Missive Expanded to show that you’ll get much more from this space then you will receive from our newsletter. Enjoy!

We’ve changed our blog name to match our site name, disciplemexico.org. We wanted to convey a name that would reflect the ministry of making disciples that we feel lead to begin in Meria.

Popularity: 24% [?]