Journal
Fleecing the Church
9 October 2005 › 24 comments
Update: The core version of ExpressionEngine is now free for non-profits.
Got Wool?
Originally, I was going to title this “Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing,” but I think that would be taking Matthew 7:15 a bit out of context. Still, sticking with the sheep theme, I thought I’d do a different play on words. No doubt you’re familiar with the NBC segment called “The Fleecing of America.” Basically, it is a piece they run to show how money is being wasted in our great nation.
To that end, I will attempt to explain how some churches are being taken to the cleaners (okay, enough cheezy expressions). Awhile ago, a friend at seminary asked me what I thought of the E-Zekiel CMS. Unfortunately, at the time I didn’t know enough about it to give him fair warning. Also, this was about the time my wife and I were preparing to move cross-country, so I myself did not have time to do a church website for him.
Now that I’ve done my homework so to speak, I was surprised fo find just how much money is being spent on what I consider to be an out-moded and sub-par service. Without getting into all the technical aspects, this system is very 1990’s. That being said, I’ll cover briefly why you should care from a monetary / business standpoint.
The business model is such that if you use E-Zekiel to run your church website, you are essentially renting the right to have a website from them. For the sake of brevity, I will examine their top of the line, Platinum plan. With a 10% discount for paying yearly instead of monthly, it will cost you $1511.46, plus a $100 setup fee. Compare this to a regular hosting plan at Dreamhost.com and you’ll see that as far as hosting features, you’re not getting much.
The benefit of E-Zekiel is that you get a point-and-click interface, so that little technical savvy is necessary to keep your site up to date. To their credit, they do have some nice looking sites out there. That is, until you View Source and realize it’s all laid out with nested <table> tags. For the end-user, this is no big deal, as you probably won’t be able to tell the difference. For a developer though, it’s a bit disconcerting considering the amount you’re paying.
For my money, if I was a church pastor, I would much rather use the ExpressionEngine by the company pMachine. While it isn’t explicitly Christian, it is a much better product. Of course, you would still need to hire a developer to get everything set up for you. I’d say that even after that initial cost, you’d still be saving money in the long-run, and you wouldn’t be paying through the nose for a system that’s antiquated.
Raw Numbers
Okay, I’m sure you want some stats to back up my outlandish notions of going against the status quo. Fair enough. Consider the cost of buying a non-commercial license for ExpressionEngine, $149.95. Also, realize the benefit of being able to pick your own hosting service. I’ll use Dreamhost as an example, because that’s what I’m familiar with. Two years of pre-paid hosting will set you back $190.80. So far, the price comparison is as follows:
2 years, E-Zekiel = $ 3122.922 years elsewhere = $ 340.75
But wait, you might be saying – What about the cost of hiring a designer or developer? You’re right, they like to eat too. So, that leaves you a difference of $2782.17 to work with. Considering that many design agencies offer a discount to non-profit organizations, you could probably get away with paying quite a bit less than that, and still have some money to spare.
Please don’t feel like I’m trying to push the ExpressionEngine here, that is not the point of the article. Quite the contrary in fact, as I don’t want to see churches fiscally tied to any particular system (which you wouldn’t be with EE). I just see it as an excellent alternative for large-scale site management.
In the past, to further knock down costs for churches, I’ve used Textpattern, which is open-source and entirely free. This works great for smaller sites, such as the one you’re on now. Another good free option is WordPress, which is a one-click installation on many hosting services. Additionally, for a little bit of money, you can use TypePad, which is what Asbury Blog runs on.
Summary
Without belaboring the point, I just wanted to give everyone a heads-up as to other options that are available. I realize that for many pastors and churches, not using E-Zekiel simply isn’t a viable option because of denominational contract restrictions. Like I said earlier, no big deal because it still gets the job done. However, if you are considering a church website and are able to shop around a bit, please do. I would encourage you not to just follow the herd, unless you want to be led to the slaughter taken to the cleaners.
Note: The purpose of this article is not to drum up business for myself. I’ve currently got a few side projects occupying my time. If you want to hire a good web developer, check out the list of people on my resources page.
Discussion + Dissension
Comments closed after 2 weeks.
#1 Yannick
Well I am not keen on what web designers are charging these days. But in my opinion I think E-Zekiel is charging way too much for what they are offering and even more so, since churches will be using their service and not Fortune 500 companies. And that is all I will say about that.
#2 Robert
That is quite sad that yet another place is taking advantage of the Church. It is even more sad that people within the Church don’t take enough time to inform the Church. Good job making your voice heard on this issue!
I am currently getting ready to start work on my Churches website and will be offering my services for free to other Churches as well. I believe what I have learned about web design is because of God’s gift He has given me. So, I will be using this gift as my own personal ministry for Churches, at no charge other than hosting and domain name.
I agree that either TextPattern or WordPress are sufficient for Churches. They both offer easy code to work through to adapt to the Churches needs. What tends to bother me as well are that many webmasters or designers don’t inform Churches of the posibilities that can exist and taking advantage of the web median. It can be used effectively as another way to evangelize to those who visit, offering Bible studies online, sermons, music, the basics of Christianity, etc. Too many Churches I see use the web as an online yellow pages. It can be used much more effectively.
I have been thinking about starting a network of like minded designers/coders for the purpose of advancing the Gospel message online through the Churches and their web site. This would include writing reusable code for various technologies through either TextPattern or WordPress or both.
I still haven’t pulled my thoughts together on this, but it something I hoping to put together sometime soon.
#3 Yannick
Robert: That sounds like a pretty good idea, you got there.
#4 Nathan Smith
Robert: I appreciate the link. I debated posting anything about this, as I’m sure that the E-Zekiel guys think that they’re doing their best. I mean, there’s no definite wrong-doing going on, other than the fact that for a fraction of the cost, you can get a much better setup. I just want to help churches make an informed decision.
#5 Robert
Maybe I was overly harsh with my statement, but I have seen others do much of the same to take advantage of Churches.
People that I know are not as aware of what they can get for what price, concerning the web these days. I believe many try and take advantage of this naivety. It is, after all, the American business way, these days. We hype up with marketing to bloat what is really being offered and sell it as a necessary product. Being I work in sales and finance, I am all too much aware of this.
Marketing towards Churches with an overtly high price tag does say something about their business ethics. Surely they are aware of the costs in designing and hosting a site and the lack of money most Churches have to spend. That is, if they have done their marketing research.
Anyways, I enjoy your site Nathan, its design and content. I think one must always speak up about the truth to inform those who are unaware, lest they be taken advantage of.
#6 Nathan Smith
Robert: Thanks, I appreciate that. Sometimes I wonder why things like this bother me so much, and feel like I should just pipe down and not rock the boat. But, as we look back through church history, nothing ever changed for the better when people just sat there silent. I feel compelled, for whatever reason (hopefully not pride), and am willing to be viewed as a trouble-maker, if it means helping churches be more aware.
For more on Expression Engine vs. E-Zekiel, go here…
http://e-church.com/Blog-detail.asp?EntryID=601&BloggerID=1
#7 Tammie
I have been thinking about starting a network of like minded designers/coders for the purpose of advancing the Gospel message online through the Churches and their web site…
Great idea Robert! If you get something like this going, I’d love to be a part of it.
Thanks for a great article Nathan.
#8 Nathan Smith
Robert, Tammie: There’s actually one in the mix already called BetaChurch, started by the Noah Institute. Pretty soon, I’m going to be posting an interview I did with the founder. ‘Til then, check out these links…
www.betachurch.org
www.noahinstitute.org
#9 Tammie
Thanks Nathan. BetaChurch looks like a great resource.
#10 djchuang
There are many options for church websites, and a great evaluation on website designs, as well as a list of CMSes, can be found at:
www.greatchurchwebsites.org
What may be helpful to discern is this: when is a business serving churches actually pricing its products and services at a fair and reasonable price, vs. when it is actually taking advantage of ill-informed churches?
#11 Tim
Our church website is being developed and designed by a team of interested church members. It’s treated as another area to serve in, along with say, audio/visual control or teaching. The only cost to the church is the domain name and hosting.
Our team actually consists of high school and university students. I’m actually a high school student myself. I’m one of the leaders of the team, and I want to make sure that the site we end up with is well designed (isn’t ugly) and well coded (adheres to standards and also not ugly).
I just don’t think God deserves any less than that.
#12 Jonathan Snook
Nathan: The price may seem extreme, especially in comparison to the some of the cheap hosting and open source software solutions available, but price isn’t the only issue here. Support, for example, might be more important. Having a ready-made CMS and the support staff behind it can easily make the price worthwhile.
Also, value is relative. For example, various web design agencies may charge between $500 and $1000 per day. At the high end, two years of hosting could be worth 3 days worth of development. Suddenly, the value of it seems quite reasonable.
There’s also the value of the reliability of a service vs. a contractor. With a service dedicated to hosting, your requests can be handled immediately. For a contractor, if an organization comes back to you in a year, how quickly can you attend to their request? If there’s a bug in the open-source software, does it make sense to fix it yourself, how long would that take and how much would you charge?
Things to consider…
#13 Nathan Smith
Djchuang: I agree. There are some website design agencies that are a bit pricey, but are worth every penny. In my opinion, E-Zekiel is not one of these companies. I don’t think they mean to rip off churches, they are just doing the same thing they’ve always done. While this probably worked fine in the 1990’s, the rest of the world has progressed beyond their skill-set, and as such their services have become devalued. That’s why I wanted to write this article, to warn fellow seminary students, and the greater public, not to fork over all that money. There are solutions out there which are both more affordable and higher quality at the same time.
Tim: That’s an awesome attitude to have, using your gifts and talents to serve the church, with the utmost standards (no pun intended) in mind. I always like to see it when churches take the grassroots, homegrown approach. One, this saves them money, and two, it helps the congregation take ownership of the project. I applaud you for realizing the potential of web-standards at such a young age (I was still wasting time on Nintendo). Not to do a word play on your name, but “Let no man despise your youth.” ;)
Jonathan: I see your point, that many different factors play into the choice of CMS: Price, ease of use, tech support, quality of web-standards code, etc. My point is that the Expression Engine with the right developer setting things up is all of this. The pMachine people even offer installation and maintenance of the CMS, as well as assited upgrades. To me, the fact that it's such a flexible and powerful system, not to mention well supported, makes it an easily better choice.
That difference of $2000+ can mean not having to sacrifice a church youth group trip, instrument for the worship team, sessions of counseling for abused families, etc. I know, I'm playing up the examples here, but you get my point. It beats E-Zekiel not only from a money standpoint but quality. That's like saying I can get a Corvette for a fraction of the price of a Geo Metro: it's a no-brainer.
I had given the example of open-source systems not as entire solutions in and of themselves, but as ways to further cut costs. And yes, for those sites I did develop, if I heard about cool ways to improve things via Textpattern, I would often go back and tweak things later, free of charge. For me, it's a labor of love for the church, as well as a knit-picky obsession with clean code. :)
#14 Chris
There’s nothing wrong with making a buck. That’s what made this country so great. If you have an idea or service that others need, then it’s a win win. I guess I’m just a pure blooded capitalist. Rock on E-Zekial… Just remember to tithe.
#15 Nathan Smith
Chris: I have no problem with people making a buck. My qualm is not so much with the prices, but what these churches get for their money. For that much money, you could get a much better product elsewhere. So, it’s not about the money, it’s about the stewardship. I agree, don’t forget the 10%!
#16 Robert
E-zekiel by name, is targeting “non-profit” (churches) organizations to make a significant profit. The idea of making a profit isn’t the problem. E-zekiel informs Churches that they are top notch, they are not. This is deceptive advertising and is even worse when targeting Churches and non-profit orgranizations who cannot afford to pay this price and then find out it wasn’t worth it. It is basically setting ones self up to take advantage of those who don’t spend their time being in the know of web design.
The solution is not going after E-zekiel, but rather to inform Churches that they can get a better site for cheaper. That is called looking out for your client, which is the best business practice.
If people have a problem with informing their clients and potential clients of this, then that in and of itself is sad and bad business ethics.
My idea for forming a group of like minded individuals was for the advancement of web technologies to be used by the Church for spreading the Gospel message at no charge other then hosting and domain name. I see ministries working for not profit, but for the good of Jesus Christ.
#17 Nathan Smith
Robert: I find your idea to be very warm-hearted and well, brilliant. I know that free church hosting has been done before, but it is usually very low quality, with design to match. I think it would be awesome if we could all somehow work together to create free solutions for churches, both web-standards compliant design, and high-quality hosting – providing options such as MySQL, PHP, instead of just static HTML. If you can figure out a way to make this work, let me know – I’m onboard 100% with that idea!
#18 Tim Bednar
$3 billion in online donations made in 2004: it is time to hire a professional designer for your church and non-profit web site
http://www.turtleinteractive.com/designblogdetail.asp?BlogID=2
Nathan is right about the “packaged” deals offered to many churches/nonprofits. I guess the title should have read, hire a good professional designer.
#19 Boyink
Heh…I got a good look at eZekiel ~ 1 year ago when it was the replacement for a pMachine-based church site I had built. Didn’t last long – the users cried “foul” and the church went back to the pMachine site.
IMHO eZekiel is a solution that was developed & priced circa 1999 and hasn’t been touched since…likely because it’s profitable.
Meanwhile the blogging market has caught up and surpassed solutions like this with cheaper and more flexible offerings like ExpressionEngine (disclaimer – my company is a member of the pMachine/EE professionals network).
I think the approach of a church working with a developer to implement a 3rd party tool like the ones mentioned has a lot of merit – if the developer is too busy or out of business a year later the church has a ready-made user community to tap for a replacement. The church gets a CMS product with a planned upgrades, and the customer service/support of the development company, and the developer can offer a richly-featured website at a reasonable cost.
I’m still iffy on the notion of free sites for churches – but won’t open that can of worms again…;)
#20 Nathan Smith
Mike (Boyink): My thoughts exactly. It was partially from doing research for an upcoming article that I happened upon the E-Zekiel pricing /performance issues, and this lead me to the rant on your site. I agree, that ongoing support is beneficial to a church / ministry (assuming they make good use of their site). In the case of the Expression Engine, pMachine provides this, eliminating the need for the bloaty and over-priced E-Zekiel.
As far as free sites for churches, I think that if one is done for free / reduced price, there must be a clear understanding on the part of the church as to just how good of a deal / product they are getting. In your case, they had pearls, and threw them before swine, so to speak. :)
#21 Michael
While I agree that a template website with a basic CMS shouldn’t cost so much…that doesn’t mean that all work for the church must be done for free. I design for churches, websites, print ,etc. and I get paid to do so. Not only do I not feel bad about it, I am glad I can do it. No, I don’t charge what I would be charging a corporation but I don’t think it’s okay for the church to take advantage of individuals any more than it is okay for individuals to take advantage of the church. Funny how a church can send a mailer out to 4,000 people pay for the postage, pay for the printing but expect what’s being sent -the communication itself to be done for free by a volunteer and later wonder why it’s not working. The profession of designer is simply not respected, possibly because of some of he bad apples, but it shouldn’t be discounted. By discounting it we see what we have now…communications that are a far cry from excellence, a stance that Christ expects from us.
Part of me would love to be able to offer my abilities for free to the church, but the other part of me knows that what is free is considered to have the equivalent value – 0.
#22 Nathan Smith
Michael: I think for me, it’s not so much an issue of cost. I realize that the church will have to spend their money somewhere, whether that be for a CMS / hosting / designer, etc. The issue to me is that of quality and stewardship. I want churches to be aware of the quality of product that they are getting, so that they can be good stewards of the money that God has given them.
I think that pastors who throw away their congregation’s money on things like E-Zekiel are not doing a very good job of that. I also agree, and Mike Boyink made this point on his blog, that when a church has to pay money for a service, they appreciate it more than if it’s volunteered. My guess is, his pastor was following this mentality when they got rid of the excellent Expression Engine site that Mike had done, and then threw away money on the E-Zekiel system. Thankfully, they’ve since overturned that decision.
#23 Michael
Right on Nathan.
I also think it’s a matter of letting people work within their giftings and not just there interests. Don’t get me wrong, I like to encourage people to learn and expand…but when it comes to a live communication piece (web, print, etc) it needs to be put together by someone who understands the medium and the principals that relate to it (grid anyone).
One size does not fit all…they can be okay for the temporary beginning, but at some point a church needs to suck it up and make the move.
#24 Nathan Smith
Michael: I agree. While there’s nothing wrong with having volunteers run your church website, ths site itself should be created with utmost care and respect for both the medium of communication and the message itself. Also, the person who is developing the site should train at least one other who can take on the role of webmaster once it’s launched. Otherwise, it’s pointless to even create a site, if it’s just going to sit there dormant.