ChristianWebsite.com is sixteen years old! Wow! That doesn’t seem possible.

Way back in 1996 I started a website called Best of the Christian Web and registered the domain botcw.com. I didn’t feel led by God to start a Christian website. I wasn’t trying to start a business. I really didn’t even think about anyone else seeing the website. In fact, in 1996 very few people knew what a website was. I was simply trying to learn this new programming language called HTML.

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I decided to practice writing HTML code by compiling a list of the best Christian websites (there weren’t many back then, good or bad) and writing a short review of each site. After about six months and 100 Christian website reviews later, I noticed that more and more people were visiting the website. Within a year there were 3,000 people per month visiting a site that I had created on a whim, or at least that’s what I thought. It didn’t take long before I realized that this was God at work.

Over the next 15 years I was blessed with many opportunities to promote Christian websites on the Internet. For over three years I wrote a monthly website review column for Christian Computing Magazine and was a frequent guest on the Christian Computing radio show. I partnered with Thomas Nelson Publishing to create Safe Sites Internet Yellow Pages, a 784 page website directory which featured many of the sites reviewed on Best of the Christian Web. I had the opportunity to assist many Christian ministries and businesses in establishing their online presence. But the most rewarding experiences have been to see people in several countries come to know Christ on this website, thanks to some awesome moderators on ChristChat (the old BOTCW chat room) and the forums. The forums have been a place of prayer, bible study, encouragement, fellowship, and even heated theological debates at times.

The site has changed direction several times over the years and Best of the Christian Web gradually became a smaller part of the site, a

nd finally ceased to exist altogether. I think it’s time to bring it back!

Each week I’ll be featuring five Christian websites in various categories. Not just any websites, but the BEST Christian websites I can find. Here’s what I’m looking for:

1. Most importantly, I’m looking for sites that provide great content or services that will keep users coming back. Without great content, the rest of this list doesn’t matter.
2. Clean and attractive design. 
3. Ease of use, efficient menu layout making site navigation simple.