Welcome to the Introductory Version of
the Maywood Baptist Church Online Pictorial Directory!

If this is your first time to visit this page, please clickon one or more of the links below to find out more about how to access and use this directory. If you are revisiting the directory, CLICK HERE TO LOG IN AND ENJOY!

Q1. Why an Online Pictorial Directory?

Q2. What Information Will I Find Here?

Q3. How Might the Directory Expand in the Future?

Q4. Who Can Obtain a Password?

Q5. How Do I Obtain a Password?

Q6. What if I Forget My Password?

Q7. Can Privileges Be Revoked?

Q8. What Would be an Example of Abusing Privileges?

Q9. How Do I Find Who I’m Looking For?

Q10. How do I Send an Email to Several People or to an Entire Group?

Q11. My Picture is Missing, Bad, or my Information is Wrong. How Can it be Updated?

A1. WHY AN ONLINE PICTORIAL DIRECTORY?

Have you ever tried to put a name with a face or explain to someone who it is you’retalking about? Ever needed to get a message to someone (or several someones) and using the phone or sending a letter was either inconvenient, impractical, or too costly?

Along with many other possible future uses, an online directory can be a tremendous help. The ONLINE construction means that images and information can be updated regularly. You will be able to get acquainted with the most recent members and new members will be able to put names with all the faces in their new hurch family.

Another reason is that due to the email features, an online directory has the potential of saving he church hundreds of dollars each year in postage, as well as time spent folding letters, and addressing, licking, stamping, and stuffing envelopes. This is an important act of stewardship as we continue to depend on God to provide for new ministries and increased staff.

A2. WHAT INFORMATION WILL I FIND HERE?

Even though this portion of the Maywood website is not only password protected, but also encrypted to commercial banking standards, still, due to anticipated concerns over private information getting into the wrong hands, in this Introductory Version we have chosen to provide only three kinds of information— Names, Pictures, and Email addresses.

However, you will also be able to sort people according to groups they may belong to. For instance, if you want to know who is in a particular Journey Group or Sunday School class, you will be able to pull up only those pictures. This will be helpful when trying to become better acquainted with people in your group, or in order to send everyone in that group an email.

Then there is the game “Who Goes There?” which can be accessed through the People / Households menubar. This game is not only fun, but it also helps us learn to put names with faces. Check it out!

A3. HOW MIGHT THE DIRECTORY EXPAND IN THE FUTURE?

As the usefulness of this resource grows in popularity, we will consider adding other categories of information. We realize that the practical possibilities here are tremendous. Not only could the directory provide obvious information such as phone numbers, addresses, birthdays, membership dates, occupations, etc., but it could also access such services as mapquest.com to provide maps or show what other church members live nearby. Actually, this information is already in the database, and these features built-in to the software. But for now only staff members and selected departmental directors have access to what we are presently considering “high-level” information.

We also realize that in not providing this information we are actually doing very little to protect anyone’s privacy. With a name, a city, and an Internet search engine, anyone has a pretty good chance of finding out much of this information anyway. However, we still thought it wise to start small and ultra-safe. If you would like to see these features made available to all directory members, please use the SUGGESTION BOX under the HELP menubar to make your request known.

A4. WHO CAN OBTAIN A PASSWORD?

Church members, 19-years or older who are included in the directory and provide an appropriate** and working email address for use in the directory are eligible to receive a password. Others will be considered on a case-by-case basis. However, you must have your information included in the directory in order to be set up with a password. The directory software itself makes this necessary as it must correlate a username with an email address in order to administrate access to the directory, as well as respond to password reminder request forms.

The main purpose of the directory is as a tool for us to get to know the faces and names of those we see at church each week, not as a precise log of church members. Therefore we have only included those who are ACTIVE members and attenders.

Youth should not hesitate to apply for a password just because they are younger than 19. But please be patient as the approval process may take a few days.

**The directory staff will have discretion about the appropriateness of email addresses. We realize that a chosen email name may not have been intended to offend anyone. However, the Online Directory is a community where we must work together as a family and one of the difficult jobs of the directory staff is to try to consider the entire congregation in anticipating and alleviating issues before they occur. If you are denied access for an inappropriate email address, please consider changing your address to something less controversial. Obviously, names that will be disallowed are any containing profanity, sexual innuendo, satanic jargon, or those which refer to the user as diety such as “god”, “goddess”, or “lord”.

A5. HOW DO I OBTAIN A PASSWORD?

Simply click here, then fill out and submit the form that comes up. Most of the questions in the form are for church use only, along with adding a layer of security to make sure you are who you say you are. Again, only your name, picture, and email address will be made available online.

You will probably receive a reply within 24-hours or less (perhaps considerably less, depending on the availability of the site administrator). If you are a church member and your information is already contained in the database, you will be emailed a confirmation and password of your choosing to use along with your name. If you are not a church member or you are not in the database, the site administrator will need to receive approval from church staff before giving you a password. Upon approval, your information will be entered into the database, and at that point you will be emailed your confirmation and password (this could take a few days) Once you enter the site, at any time you may visit the MAIN menubar and change your password to whatever you like.

If you are not desiring access to the directory, but would like to request that your email address not be available for those using the directory, please click here to email Vinnie Gessley and she will make sure your wishes are acted upon. However, it should be noted that the directory is also what the church staff uses to get in touch with the congregation electronically.

NOTE: WE MUST BE ABLE TO EMAIL YOU in order to send you a password or communicate with you in any way. If you have your email software set up to only receive mail from certain persons, then please at least add the following email address to your list:

webservant@maywoodbaptistchurch.org

Please also add Vinnie Gessley’s email address (at the bottom of this page) to your list.

Also, if you have been expecting to hear from us, but have not, those who have a SPAM BLOCKER should check their SPAM folder to see if our email to you has ended up in there.

A6. WHAT IF I FORGET MY PASSWORD?

Unfortunately, we will have to RESET your password. However, you can trigger this quite quickly by clicking here! You will be prompted for your first name, last name, and the email address that we have on-file for you. Your password will then be reset and a new password will be emailed to your email address. Please note that once you log in with this new password, you may visit the MAIN menubar and change your password to whatever you like.

A7. CAN PRIVILEGES BE REVOKED?

We hope to not have to address this, but if a person abuses the privilege of having access to directory information, then those privileges can certainly be revoked.

A8. WHAT WOULD BE SOME EXAMPLES OF ABUSING PRIVILEGES?

Giving your password to someone else, or other breeches of security. Using the directory as a tool to spread gossip, dissension, or anyone’s personal agenda throughout the church. Forwarding non-church-related information, requests, surveys, or petitions to large numbers of people within the directory; the act of sending unsolicited emails is called “spamming.”

Please do not use the directory to promote your business.

Remember that some consider their email address more private than others. Whatever information you would like to share, please strongly consider confining it to groups of people you are a part of, such as your Sunday School class or Journey Group.

On the other hand, the purpose of the directory is to edify the Body by helping to build community. We call each other brothers and sisters in Christ, so we encourage everyone to be tolerant of a few emails you may have preferred not to receive. If the volume of email becomes an issue, please contact the site-coordinator, Vinnie Gessley, and she will look into your complaint. If everyone will be considerate and thoughtful in their grouped-email messaging, this shouldn’t be a concern.

A9. HOW DO I FIND WHO I’M LOOKING FOR?

Note: You might want to print out these instructions so they will be available after you log on to the directory.

When you enter the directory, underneath the directory logo, you will see a search/filter area. All of the fields / menus work together to show the pictures which appear on the main page. Clicking on an image in the Main page will bring up a window with a larger picture of that person as well as their email address, if that person has provided one for directory use.

Upon first entering the directory, the main page will default to the first 100 “Faces at Maywood” (the default setting of the GROUP TYPE menu on the right). From there you can change things to your liking in order to find the person or persons you are looking for. Scan through the page numbers, or push a letter of the alphabet to change the main page to reveal those persons.

Example 1) If you are looking for a specific person and you know their name, you can enter that name in the SEARCH BY NAME field, press the APPLY THESE CHOICES button, and everyone with that name will come up in the Main Page. Note: You don’t have to know their entire name. Enter “Sherry” and everyone with that name will appear on the Main Page. Enter “Smith” and everyone with that name will appear. In fact, you can enter any part of any name, and everyone with that part in their name will appear. Keep in mind, however, that we have attempted to use first names (and in some cases, nicknames) that people are normally recognized by. This can cause some problems with names like Dave, David, Bob, or Bobby. In those cases, you may want to enter only the part of the name that is consistent, such as “Dav” for both David and Dave, and “Bob” for both Bob and Bobby. You get the idea!

Example 2) If you don’t know the name, but you know he or she is part of a specific class or group, try changing the GENDER pop-up menu to the gender you are looking for, then change the GROUP TYPE pop-up menu on the right to narrow your search to a general group category. As soon as you make your choices, the main page will render those results. A second GROUP pop-up menu will appear underneath the GROUP TYPE menu where you can narrow your search even further to a specific class or group if you wish. And then you can narrow things down further by choosing to show only particular people in that group, according to their group role, such as “teacher” or “member”. hopefully, this will help you to find the person simply by identifying their picture.

Example 3) If you are looking to become better acquainted with everyone in a particular class or group, select a general group from the GROUP TYPE pop-up menu. Then select a more specific group from the GROUP pop-up menu that will appear after that. This will display everyone in that particular group or class.

Note: In one of the pop-up menus you will notice that there are two ways to display results – either as Individual or Household. The INDIVIDUAL selection will display results in a strictly alphabetical manner in rows. Family members may not be right next to each other. For example, for everyone with the last name of Brown, the order would appear: Cassie, Dan, Katherine, Lindy, Pam, Richard. This will give you the most images on a page. The HOUSEHOLD selection displays results in three columns according to the main household last name. Pictures and names of each person in that household are displayed down and to the right of the family name. This will keep families together but may require more scrolling. In the INDIVIDUAL display, clicking on the household name underneath the individual name will change the Main Page to a HOUSEHOLD view of all of the members of that household. When the HOUSEHOLD VIEW is chosen, the GROUP TYPE and GENDER pop-up menus disappear.

A10. HOW DO I SEND AN EMAIL TO SEVERAL PEOPLE OR TO AN ENTIRE GROUP?

There are two ways to do this, depending on which is most convenient for you.

1) In your Main Page search results you will see an ADD PERSON TO CART link underneath each person’s picture who has provided their email address. Press as many of these as you wish and they will be added to your cart… kind of like shopping for email addresses! You will notice an ITEMS IN CART number at the top right of the main page…which will increase each time you add someone.

2) There is also a button at the bottom of each directory page which allows you to add EVERYONE on that page to your cart. This is most useful after you have filtered the main page to a particular group of people.

Any combination of individuals or groups of people can be added to the cart. Each time you add people you will see the ITEMS IN CART number increase. Choose LIST CART ITEMS from the CART menu in order to remove any individuals from the cart. Everyone remains in your cart until you either send an email or sign off of the directory.

To compose and send your email, go to the CART drop-down menu and choose EMPTY CART TO EMAIL, and follow the instructions when they come up. Whenever you choose to EMPTY CART TO EMAIL your cart is indeed emptied. To empty your cart without sending an email, simply choose EMPTY CART from the drop-down menu. Regardless, your cart will automatically be emptied when you leave the directory.

Only persons with the ADD TO CART link underneath their picture have their email address listed in the directory. However, when adding an entire page of people to the cart, everyone is indeed added to the cart regardless of their email status. it is therefore probable that some of those people will not have email addresses on file, and therefore will not receive your email. Choose LIST CART ITEMS from the CART menu in order to see each persons email status. There is no need to remove those without email. They will simply be ignored and emptied from the cart when you send your email.

Note: Most free email services (such as yahoo and hotmail) limit the number of emails you can send at one time. If you use one of these services, you may need to confine your grouped-emails to a certain number of people at a time (such as 25 or less). The first few times you email a large number of people, you should check the address portion of your email to make sure everyone you intended is included.

A11. MY PICTURE IS MISSING, BAD, OR MY INFORMATION IS WRONG. HOW CAN IT BE UPDATED?

Actually we are counting on families, friends, and individuals to give us updated pictures and information as time goes on. You may submit that information to the site-coordinator by clicking here. If you are wanting to update a picture, please contact Vinnie Gessley to schedule a time to have your picture taken. Though we prefer to take your picture ourselves, if you prefer, we can accept a photograph that you already have, as long as it is not a STUDIO photograph where a professional photographer’s copyrights might be infringed upon. To submit a photograph for use, either email it to Vinnie Gessley or contact her about making arrangements to scan your photograph

Should you choose to submit a photo, please keep in mind that the main purpose of the directory is for people to be able to recognize your face and associate your name with it. If your photograph is not recent, or if it does not reflect the way you normally look, then this purpose is defeated.

Regarding Information: As best we could, we have implemented information that we believe to be up-to-date. If your information is incorrect or has changed, please don’t be offended. We would like to update it as quickly as possible. If you prefer that your email address not be published in this directory, please contact Vinnie Gessley and let her know. We will make the changes to reflect your wishes. However, please keep in mind that since early Fall of 2003 the directory has been available and used by the Maywood staff when sending emails. Removing your email address could keep you from receiving email from the church.

Please rest assured that since the directory is not only password protected, but also heavily encrypted, it is virtually impossible for spammers or businesses to search and confiscate your email address.

Regarding Group Assignments: If you find that you have been assigned or unassigned to a group erroneously (Worship Choir, Sunday School Class, Journey Group, etc.), again, contact the site-coordinator, Vinnie Gessley, immediately, so that the information can be updated.

To contact Vinnie Gessley, please send an email to: