Thoughts on my website?

[Jack K]

It's a new day!

* New avatar (after more than four years on PuritanBoard)
* New personal website to go along with my...
* New book soon to be published

Any constructive comments on the website would be helpful. I'm still building up the content, but it is live now.

Both the website and book are meant to follow the spirit of 1 Thessalonians 5:9-11... to encourage and build up fellow Sunday school teachers, camp counselors, parents leading family devotions—anyone who's teching the gospel to kids and teens—one layman to another, in a way that's grounded in the good news of Jesus.

Anyway, take a look and tell me what you think.

 

[SolaScriptura]

The site looks great!

But ditch the old PB avatar that you're using on the site and use the pic that is your new PB avatar.

 

[jambo]

I think it's a good site. Simple, clear and easy to navigate around. Like Ben I would use your new picture rather than the old one which is now 4 years old. Also you look far better now than you did then!

 

[littlepeople]

This is great Jack! clean and neat. Response times seemed very snappy. I did notice the link for the Jesus storybook bible isn't working. I love it, and great work on finding time to write a book! I'm sure it's full of your gracious wisdom.

 

[Jack K]

This is great Jack! clean and neat. Response times seemed very snappy. I did notice the link for the Jesus storybook bible isn't working. I love it, and great work on finding time to write a book! I'm sure it's full of your gracious wisdom.

Thanks. And I should have warned folks here that if you dig around on the site, under the "books" link you'll eventually find tiny pictures of the cover of that book and a few others that include "Jesus pictures." But there's nothing like that on the home page I linked to, nor do I see myself putting any there.

 

[Unoriginalname]

I viewed it on a mobile device and it looked good.

 

[jwithnell]

That looks really great! What a terrific site. I viewed it in Android, BTW.

 

[Free Christian]

Looks good except for the book links which contain so called images of Jesus. I noticed the ESV has a children's Bible which contains them too. Yes there is a disclaimer but they are still there. The link provides a doorway. Sorry for the negative comment.

 

[Jack K]

Looks good except for the book links which contain so called images of Jesus. I noticed the ESV has a children's Bible which contains them too. Yes there is a disclaimer but they are still there. The link provides a doorway. Sorry for the negative comment.

That's okay. I don't mind the feedback. I'm not a fan of such pictures, for several reasons, and have asked publishers not to use them on my books. But I'm not so troubled by them, in that particular context, that I refuse to acknowledge other well-written books whose publishers did decide to go that route. That's where I've decided to stand on the issue (and it's the same stance as that taken by my favorite Reformed bookseller). Others in the Reformed world take a stricter or more lenient stance, and I do my best to be respectful of where their convictions and consciences take them. I would never fault one who holds to a stricter standard for trying to carefully follow God's law, as you are doing.

We've had several threads on this topic here on PuritanBoard, and I feel I've profited from those. I hope there's no need to rehash it in detail here.

 

[Phil D.]

Looks great, Jack. Clearly a labor of love - love for God and his people.

 

[Edward]

Thoughts on my website?

Clean, attractive site. Well organized. Good choices as to elements.

I don't like the common practice of using a lighter text color for body text. While it makes an attractive appearance, it certainly makes things harder for those with less than perfect vision.

 

[Jack K]

Thoughts on my website?

Clean, attractive site. Well organized. Good choices as to elements.

I don't like the common practice of using a lighter text color for body text. While it makes an attractive appearance, it certainly makes things harder for those with less than perfect vision.

Hmm. You're the second person to mention this. I might make the text darker, though not all the way black, if I can locate the controls to do this. Put it on the "to do" list for next week.

 

[Patty]

Very nice website, Jack! Much to glean from...
I am currently teaching Sunday School to 3-5 yr olds at my church. Are the principles in your book applicable to this age group? As you may know, it can be a challenge keeping their attention as I teach the lesson while simultaneously trying to instill basic classroom etiquette

 

[Jack K]

Very nice website, Jack! Much to glean from...
I am currently teaching Sunday School to 3-5 yr olds at my church. Are the principles in your book applicable to this age group? As you may know, it can be a challenge keeping their attention as I teach the lesson while simultaneously trying to instill basic classroom etiquette

Thank you, Patty. It's great to meet you. I love teaching preschooolers, but I too always struggle to teach what I want within their limited attention spans. It's a tough job.

The majority of the examples I use in the book involve older kids, though some do come from preschoolers. I tried to cover all age groups as best I could, but that's a lot of territory!

The main emphasis of the book is not on how to keep kids' attention, though a meaningful lesson always helps. The book focuses on lesson content, instilling a gospel-centered classroom atmosphere, and on the teacher him/herself. I'm convinced that what Sunday school kids of any age need more than anything is teachers who're excited about Jesus and are applying the gospel in their own lives. As a teacher, I constantly need to improve at that. So the whole first half of the book is about getting teachers recharged about teaching Jesus. That applies to every age group. The second half has practical tips, several of which will apply directly to preschoolers, and includes a chapter on classroom atmosphere and rules.

 

[Somerset]

I too find the light text a problem.

You look a lot younger in your new photo - is there a portrait in the attic?

 

[Peairtach]

God bless your work, Jack.

 

[Jack K]

You look a lot younger in your new photo

I took the new one yesterday. I thought I looked older. Fatter for sure.

 

[lynnie]

I agree on the light text, I found it hard to read......other than that looks very nice. Thanks.

If you want to be different, you can use dark colors instead of black, so long as the text is much darker.

 

[Justified]

After a short glance, I think it's great (at least on my mobile phone).

 

[reaganmarsh]

Great site and great idea (although I concur with the suggestion for a darker font). May the Lord bless your labors, sir.

Grace to you.

 

[Andrew P.C.]

It looks pretty well put together. I'm glad there is a resource like this. However I am curious if you did this from scratch or templates. Just curious. Other then that it is well organized. If you did it from scratch I'd love to know the text editor you used and how you layered your sheets.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I437 using Tapatalk

 

[Jack K]

It looks pretty well put together. I'm glad there is a resource like this. However I am curious if you did this from scratch or templates. Just curious. Other then that it is well organized. If you did it from scratch I'd love to know the text editor you used and how you layered your sheets.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I437 using Tapatalk

I'm not that tech-savvy. I'm using a pre-made Wordpress theme. I put down a little money to get one I really liked.

 

[Ephrata]

It's a very navigable interface. The simple structure is helpful in itself!