wfn.org | ELCA Web Site Recognized by 'Yahoo! Internet Life Magazine'

[News News <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

November 28, 2001

ELCA WEB SITE RECOGNIZED BY 'YAHOO! INTERNET LIFE MAGAZINE'
01-308-MR

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's
(ELCA) Web site -- www.elca.org -- has been cited as "perhaps the most
thorough Protestant site on the Web" in the December 2001 issue of
Yahoo! Internet Life magazine.
     Featured in the magazine's guide to "Religion on the Net," the
ELCA's Web site was noted for providing the church's history, "time
lines and LutherLink online discussion."
     "I was pleased that the folks at Yahoo! Internet Life picked up on
the fact that the LutherLink online community is also part of the ELCA's
Web presence.  Our goal is not just to connect our members and leaders
to resources for ministry, but also connect them to each other for
mutual support and information sharing," said Paul Edison-Swift,
director for interactive media and networks, ELCA Department for
Communication.
     "Our intention with www.elca.org is not to create a virtual
church, but to present ways for people to discover the wonderful, life-
giving work that is being done across the ELCA and to help them
encounter God through the people in our congregations, colleges,
seminaries and social service agencies," said Edison-Swift.
     The ELCA's Web site "contains more than 10,000 pages and receives
an average of 1 million page-views per month," said Rex M. Paisley, ELCA
Web manager.
     The ELCA's Web site includes the church's history, information
about the ELCA's 10,816 congregations and 65 synods across the United
States and Caribbean, domestic and global ministries, news and
directories designed to locate ELCA-related audio, print and video
resources.
     "We are pleased and honored by this recognition, which is
especially sweet coming from a secular journal like Yahoo! Internet
Life," said the Rev. Eric C. Shafer, director, ELCA Department for
Communication.
     "We take it as a recognition not only of the fine Web work done by
the church's Departments for Communication and Information Technology
staff, but also by the many staff from other ELCA churchwide units who
contribute regularly to www.elca.org.  Such recognition only makes us
more determined to live up to what Yahoo! Internet Life said about our
Web site," Shafer said.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html