New Church Website

I got an interesting email today from a friend named Rich Hunter (a friend I met when I was living in Hong Kong) who works for the public relations department of the LDS church. The email contained the link to a new website the church launched today about the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. He is writing an article about for the Church's media site and wanted some feedback/comments about the site to help him write the article. I really enjoyed looking through the new website and wanted to share what I shared with him here in our blog.

First, I was excited to see the multimedia page. It was one of the first things I looked for. As I've visited temple and church history site visitors centers I've been impressed with the interactive multimedia tools. It was nice to have some of the same clips from Special Witnesses of Christ on this site. I was also very glad to see the transcripts of the video clips printed below the video for easy quotability. It was nice to see the addition of Elder Bednar, and I was wondering if all of the clips (including the apostles who have recently passed away the newly called apostles) would eventually be available on the site. I have the DVD, but it is obviously missing the clips with Elder Bednar and President Uchtdorf that I saw at the Laie temple visitors center.

The other part of the site that really drew me in was the page on Worship Through Hymns. The page effortlessly guided the reader through the different functions of hymns in our worship. I thought the hymn selection was very appropriate and that the page gave an excellent glimpse into how latter-day saints worship, thank, learn of, remember, and praise the Lord through song. As I read about how the hymns can help teach us the simple truths of the restored gospel, I thought back to my own childhood at the feet of my parents as we learned and sang the hymns of Zion as a family. At a very young age I knew, in no small part because of the hymns my mother taught me, that I am a child of a loving Heavenly Father who sent me here to Earth and wants me to return to Him someday. As a child I understood this simple and wonderful truth about the nature of God that much of the world does not understand. As a future father expecting my firstborn daughter in May, I am looking forward to teaching her many of the simple truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as we sing the hymns of Zion together in our home.

I was also impressed with the hyperlinks throughout the site. It was nice (and will be useful for those learning about the church) to have links to the Gospel Library: Gospel Topics definitions of terms. It was also nice that I could click on the hymn links and go to the Church's interactive music player where I could see the music and text as well as listen to the hymn being played or sung. Very cool!