Extending the NE1 to WP-EZ Migration

After a lot of discussion and careful consideration, we will be extending the deadline to migrate from the old NE1 Website Builder to our new WP-EZ Website Builder.

Allow me to explain why and provide additional details…

Three months ago I explained 4 Reasons Continuing NE1 is Impossible. Of those 4 reasons, the most critical was security…

Originally, we thought for security reasons we had to upgrade software on all of our servers, and doing that upgrade would break NE1. Therefore we needed everyone to migrate to WP-EZ before could do the security upgrade because we didn’t want organizations with broken websites.

At the end of May we migrated all free sites from NE1 to WP-EZ, and then we replaced that server with one that is now running the latest, secure software. During this time we figured out a way to continue running the old software on the servers that host Gold, Silver and Bronze accounts with minimal security risk.

NE1 Cannot be Updated

One of the other 4 reasons explained is that we can’t update NE1. This is still true. NE1 was developed by another company and they are no longer updating it. So, if something in NE1 stops working, there is no way to fix it. We did not want to take that chance, so we thought it’d be better to end all support for NE1 and require everyone to migrate before problems developed with NE1.

What we’ve seen, however, is that requiring migration has resulted in some anxiety, frustration and resistance among our loyal NE1 users. 🙂

• Some of you expressed anger that you were being forced to change.
• Some of you rushed to meet the deadline, didn’t edit the site to make it look good with its new WP-EZ theme, and activated a WP-EZ website that wasn’t ready and looks poor
• Some of you decided to shut down your OCC site and build a new one elsewhere.

Our mission is to help you live out your mission online…

…frustrating you or rushing you into launching a new website that’s not ready, does not help you live out your mission online. We see ourselves as partners in ministry with you, and we want to walk through this transition with you at your own pace.

So, here’s how we’re going to move forward…

1) We will continue support for NE1 beyond June 30. If you’re still using NE1 after that and you have a question, you can email, call, chat or create a help desk ticket. We’ll do our best to help. Problems with the NE1 software itself, we won’t be able to fix, but everything else we can and will.

2) We will continue to operate NE1 beyond August 31. We still strongly encourage everyone to migrate to WP-EZ as soon as possible, but we’ll leave the timing up to you. Eventually circumstances will force us to shut down NE1 (nothing lasts forever, right?) but we’ll continue to run NE1 as long as we can.

3) We’ll do whatever it takes to help you with the migration to WP-EZ. Don’t wait until your totally frustrated. And whatever you do, don’t quit! Let us know early on if something doesn’t seem to be working the way you expected. We’ll walk you through editing your WP-EZ website, we’ll even make changes to your website for you if it will help you live out your mission online.

If you already migrated your website…

…first of all, kudos to you! You made the right choice! WP-EZ is 10x better than NE1! Your site is mobile-friendly! It does dozens of things your NE1 site never could! If there’s anything at all that you’re not happy with, let us know how we can help address your concerns so the end result is a website you’re proud of, excited about and is helping you live out your mission online.

Yesterday, we completed our mid-year strategic planning, and I am super-excited about what we have in the works for WP-EZ. In the coming months, we’ll be adding more themes, new functionality, more video tutorials and some other really exciting things I can’t wait to tell you more about (but I’ll have to because this post is already too long 🙂

We’ve updated the info in the WP-EZ Migration FAQs post to reflect this update.

As always we want to hear from you. Post your questions and comments below.

Paul Steinbrueck

Co-founder & CEO, OurChurch.Com

Paul has been the CEO of OurChurch.Com since its founding in 1996, combining his passion for faith and technology to lead the organization.

An accomplished writer, Paul has authored over 2,000 articles on faith and technology, featured on platforms like ChurchLeaders.com, The JoyFM, and his personal blog, LiveIntentionally.org.

Beyond his professional achievements, Paul serves as an elder at Journey Community Church and is deeply engaged in his community through his involvement with the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranch and the Safety Harbor Chamber of Commerce. He is a contributing author of the book Outspoken! Conversations on Church Communication.