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This has been a long time coming, but today I get to announce an all new look and functionality for the Peoples Next Door website!

Over the past few months, we’ve been dreaming up some new functionality for the site and our goal was to have the site ready for the upcoming Southern Baptist Convention. Today, I am rolling out the new design. The new site is cleaner and quite a bit faster, so it should cut down on those wait times for articles. The sight is responsive, and it should render as well on your smartphone as it does on your computer. In addition, we brought new focus to the page.

Articles to the Front Page

In the previous design, the front page was basically a scrolling “about me” section that detailed the blog, it’s purpose, some stats about urbanization and immigration, and a description of the Peoples Next Door project. When I first launched, it made sense to put that information up front, as it was a new endeavor. However, over time, I’ve noticed a consistent and growing base of readers who return for our articles. Personally, I was uncertain in the beginning if the articles would be the biggest feature, but they have proven to drive most of the site’s traffic. With that in mind, I moved the articles to the front page. The goal is to make it as easy as possible for you to get to the content you want.

Cleaner Typeface

Since the articles have become the focus of the website, a cleaner, easier-to-read style was needed. With this new theme, I believe that has been accomplished. The fonts are now easier on the eyes, and the overall look of the blog renders articles better. This should be an improvement for those of you who come back regularly for content.

New Resources Page

Finally, I added a new feature to the site, and I am pretty excited about it. Since the Peoples Next Door project is, at its heart, a resource and equipping project, I wanted somewhere on the site that provided access to our growing set of resources. Well, that is now a thing.

Screen Shot 2016-06-06 at 2.35.11 PM

As we create new resources for this work, they will land on this resources page. Some will be completely free, such as the Strategy Guide that is available there right now. Others will necessarily require a small cost due to the nature of the resource and the amount of time necessary to produce them. Finally, there is even an option on the resources page for personal consultation. As the Peoples Next Door project has grown, the seminary has had people from many different organizations reach out for personalized help developing strategy. We are excited about the opportunity to form those partnerships and spread this much-needed work across North America (and even overseas).

Stay tuned in to the resources page, as there are several new resources I plan to upload in the coming weeks. In the meantime, let me know what you think!