“This will prove a valuable tool not only for Covenanters who desire to visit local Covenant churches on their travels, but also for first-time visitors to the more than 750 local Covenant churches listed in the online church directory,” notes Don Meyer, executive minister of Covenant Communications.
The technology, provided by Google, is familiar on many Internet sites. “We have wanted to add this feature for some time, but decided to wait until the new content management system was in place and fully operational,” Meyer says.
Every local Covenant church has a unique welcome page in the Covenant website local church directory, regardless of whether or not a particular church has its own website or not. If a church has its own website, and if that website link has been provided to the Covenant webmaster, then a link to that website is included on the directory welcome page. “It is important that local churches visit their own welcome page in the Covenant local church online directory to make certain we have all of the current information available,” Meyer notes.
The accompanying illustration shows a typical locator map – this one for Zion Covenant Church in Jamestown, New York. To gain a sense of the kind of additional detailed information available with the new Google maps feature, visit Zion Covenant Church to see a mapped route from Chicago to Jamestown, along with driving instructions.
The system allows a visitor to select a church from the directory, enter the visitor’s location or starting point, and receive a map and directions for that church. The maps are interactive – arrows in the upper left area allow users to zoom in or out, and the map can be moved in any direction. Three views are available: the normal Google map, satellite view, or hybrid.
Local churches desiring to update information listed on their respective welcome pages should email the Covenant webmaster.
