Write His Answer

For the past five months I’ve been struggling to transition the websites for the Colorado and Greater Philly Christian Writers Conferences from FrontPage 2002 to Expression Web 4. The process is testing my patience and faith.

Early registration for the August 1-4 Greater Philly conference is scheduled to end tomorrow, June 6. I’ve extended early registration through June 15 because right now online registration is not working. I’m also not able to make any changes to the website because of a “runtime” error that crashes Expression Web. I’ve had an open case with Microsoft Tech Support since Friday at the cost of $279. The tech does not speak understandable English and has not been able to resolve the problem that has now been escalated to a senior technician.

Friends have encouraged me to farm out the websites to a “Christian nerd who would be eager to help.” Sounds good but it’s not practical or affordable. The conference websites plus the parent www.writehisanswer.com site are huge. They are not a problem to maintain and update WHEN the software is working. In fact, it’s something I actually enjoy doing. During conference season (which stretches over nine months of the year) I make changes and additions often on a daily basis and even multiple times a day. It would not make sense or cents (or save time) to send someone the changes, wait for him to make them, and then check that the changes were accurately made.  I’ve been there, done that. It was not time or cost effective. And I can’t begin to imagine what it would cost now that the conferences and websites are so much larger.

I’m reminded of the Apostle Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 12:27 (TLB):

All of you together are the one body of Christ
and each one of you is a separate and necessary part of it.

 I’m praying that soneone reading this uses Expression Web, has encountered a similar problem, and knows how to resolve it. I’m also asking all of you to join me in praying for a solution.

The Colorado conference last month was powerful. God met us on the mountain and I know lives will be changed for eternity because of the words conferees will write and publish. I expect His presence also will be very real at the August 1-4 Philly conference. I’m choosing to look to the Lord for His answer. I know He has not promised it will be easy to follow Him, but He has promised always to be with us.

Again, please pray and please pass this message along to anyone in the body of Christ who might be able to help.