“IN ORDER TO engage Christians on a daily basis and for the long term, we had to make iBelieve.com more than just e-commerce. We had to make it a true destination site. A void exists for Christians on the Internet today.”
That’s the word from Jef Fite, president of iBelieve.com (www.iBelieve.com), a new commercial – yes, commercial – site spun off from Family Christian Stores, a Grand Rapids, MI chain of religious bookstores.
When clicking on the box on the home page called My Faith, users can find Biblical scripture, a “weekly memory verse,” and a host of inspirational sayings. More features intended to help users build an online community through ministry partnerships, interactive chat rooms and ever-changing discussion boards are in the works.
In My Store offers religious books, compact discs, videos, software and artwork. Among items for sale are the “Wow Gospel 2000” album and Elvis Presley’s “He Touched Me” gospel album – all at a discount.
“Just as Jesus and his early followers addressed issues facing them with passion and engaging dialogue,” says the site’s welcome statement, “iBelieve.com will attempt to do the same.”
But iBelieve.com – which claims to be an alternative to “a larger assortment of video games that put your brain on auto-pilot” – is not without the secular site features such as free e-mail, and the news, sports and weather links found increasingly on all transactional Web sites. Not to mention a shopping cart function.
