One of the more consistent issues I've seen in the Christian web design world (and artistic world in general) has been the "standards" we tend to use for what is good. In the Christian world, we tend to compare our art and creativity with other Christians who are doing the same thing. Unfortunately, a lot of times it's like playing sports at a small school. You know, those schools where you can be a half-way athletic person and play varsity football, basketball, tennis, lacrosse, golf, be chess team captain, voted prom king, student body president, and even most likely to succeed. I propose it's time we begin looking a little further outside our creative comfort zone. Here's a great place to start... As a church or para-church, the easiest (and maybe most obvious) place to look when searching for design ideas is at other church or ministry websites. This is why websites such as www.churchbeauty.com are so popular to churches. Instead of perusing sites like this (which are still good sites that fulfill a big need for churches), check out sites like www.strangefruits.nl. Anyone can tell the difference in design abilities between these two sites:

There's a whole big, bright world out there full of creative genius to explore. Let's not limit our designing to what works in our little community just because it's better than the other church sites out there. Explore strangefuits.nl and be mesmerized, discouraged, encouraged and blown away like we are every time we hop on it.

// Jim