We want to encourage everyone to upgrade to the latest TYPO3 version 4.2 due to its many enhancements. We have posted instructions to help you through the upgrade process you can use if you have basic server administration skills. This version of TYPO3 requires PHP version 5.2 or higher on your web server. We have learned that some WEC users are finding that their current hosting companies do not offer PHP 5. Unfortunately, this makes it impossible to upgrade.

In order to help, Vine Hosting has created a special offer to help you upgrade to TYPO3 4.2. As you may know, if you are already hosting at Vine, you can be upgraded for free. The special offer is for non-Vine customers. If you cannot upgrade to TYPO3 4.2 because your hosting company does not provide PHP 5 or if you are dissatisfied with your hosting service, then Vine's special offer may help you. More...

We recently reviewed about 500 WEC-TYPO3 church/ministry websites to learn which WEC templates are most widely used. Here is how the WEC templates ranked in popularity:
#1 Nature of Hope *
#2 Welcome Hearts *
#3 Beautiful Creation *
#4 Global Community *
#5 Love in Action *
#6 Sacred Traditions *
#7 New Beglnnings
#8 Flan 2.0
#9 Against the Flow
#10 Go to the Mountian
#11 Bright Side of Life
#12 Morning Light
#13 Church Family
* The top 6 templates were included in the WEC Starter Package. They tend to be more popular because they do not need to be installed manually.

Version 0.9.3 of the WEC Knowledgebase Extension has been released. This extension is used to implement the WEC How-Tos. The update includes many minor enhancements. When you upgrade or install the extension you must add a static extension template to the page template record. This is common to many modern TYPO3 extensions. Without it, the extension will NOT display.

We are excited to announce the formation of a new not-for-profit ministry organization called "Christian Technology Ministries International, Inc. (CTMI)." As you may know, the Web-Empowered Church (WEC) has been funded by The Foundation For Evangelism (FFE). The FFE funds a wide range of other outstanding ministries as well, most of which are not technology focused. With God's blessing, the WEC ministry has grown into a large ministry that is providing powerful web ministry technology to hundreds of churches and ministries around the world. More...

If you have an account on the Web-Empowered Church (WEC) website or if you are receiving services from Vine then this week you probably received an email from The Foundation for Evangelism (FFE) requesting that you participate in a survey regarding the WEC and Vine ministries. As you may know, the FEE has generously funded these ministries and will continue to provide funds for them. We encourage you to respond to this request. The WEC-Vine team will have access to your responses. The FFE plans to send periodic survey requests to you in the future as well. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact the FFE.

The WEC Starter Package for TYPO3 version 4.1.6 is now available. This version also includes many updates to WEC and other extensions. The local PC and Mac WEC-TYPO3 Server versions are also available for learning and testing. See the Installing page to get the latest downloads.

In addition TYPO3 version 4.2 was recently released! You can see the Announcement on the TYPO3 website. We are excited about all the enhancements 4.2 provides, and we will be encouraging everyone to upgrade to 4.2 in the near future. A WEC Starter Package for TYPO3 4.2 will be coming out shortly as well as instructions to help you upgrade your existing website.

The challenge with 4.2 is that it requires PHP version 5 and your server may be running PHP version 4. In the near future many extensions will require PHP 5 to operate including WEC extensions. Please check that your server is running PHP version 5. More...

If you'd like to keep up to date on what is happening in the Web-Empowered Church ministry, then please sign up for the weekly HTML email newsletter. Learn more on the WEC Email Newsletter page .

Please be sure that you have PHP Version 5.2 or higher running on your web server. It will be required for TYPO3 4.2 and above. For more information, please see the previous blog post about this issue here.

Prayer Connector (version 1.7.1) - Added spam checking for the response form. Fixed the cancel button so it returns. Enabled utf-8 support in emails. Moved a few remaining text items into the locallang file. When you upgrade, please be sure to update the contents of theFields tab in Flexform if you customized previously.

Discussion Forum comments (version 1.6.1) - Adding comments and replies now works more like most blog systems. Now you can preview an entry before it is posted. You can also create categories for posts. The outbound email formatting is improved. Several RTE/reply fixes were made such as better HTML tag handling and spam link checking. Made several other minor fixes.

The new WEC Map version 2.0 provides more features to utilize the power of Google Maps on your website. Enhancements include:
1. A new plugin that will plot maps using address information from any list configured for WEC Map. By default fe_users, tt_address, and cal tables are supported.
2. Reduced the extra white space in the popup information bubble on the map, and moved the directions option inside the bubble.
3. Added a radius search that will only display markers within a given distance from a specified address.
4. Added ability for custom mark icons.
5. Added the capability to overlay information on the map via a standard KML file.
6. Added an optional sidebar that lists the names of markers.
7. Added many minor fixes.
In addition, a static template was added. As a result, when you upgrade or install the extension you must add a static extension template to the page template record. This is common to many modern TYPO3 extensions.