Category Archives: Web Hosting

How to take (back) ownership of a ministry’s domain

 

Please follow these steps to get the domain back

This is a work in progress (Last updated 03/12/18).


1 Corinthians 14:40 Let all things be done decently and in order.

This procedure may seem unnecessary or complex to you, but it has been made necessary due to numerous problems I have encountered in the past from people acting outside of the church’s authority and/or interests. In some cases acting maliciously to get even with a church! I also have encountered numerous problems in working with untechnical people that ended up tying me up for HOURS trying to explain to them how to get a domain name transferred.


  1. The first step is to go to our hosting site at ekklesia-online.org and create an account. We are a reseller of Godaddy. If you have a Godaddy account you need to create a new/different account to accept transfer of the domain on ekklesia-online.org,
  2. Email the account number using the email address you used to create the account to bob This message should include your relationship to the church, the Pastor’s name and the hours the Pastor can be reached at the CHURCH phone number.We have had people claiming to represent a church that didn’t. While I have no vested interest in keeping (and paying) for your domain name, I also need to maintain the integrity of the domain (which is the Lord’s property), so I will need to contact the Pastor personally as the head of the local church (a deacon is NOT the head of a local church even though many seem to think they are) to verify you are acting in the best interest of the church.
  3. If you want to get your website online temporarily using another host you can provide the nameservers or the IP address. I will make those changes if you are ready to put up content, and not hold you up while trying to contact the pastor.
  4. Once approval is obtained I will initiate an account change to the account you created on Ekklesia Online.
  5. Once the account change is initiated I will email you and you must accept the domain on the Ekklesia Online account you created. Once this is completed I have no more visibility or control over the domain, it is YOURS. If you are planning on moving the domain somewhere else you must NOT change the Organization name on the Registration or you will NOT be able to transfer the domain for 60 days! You MUST update the email addresses in the contact information so you can receive emails if you are planning to move the domain. When you change the email address, if you are prompted, make sure you check the box to NOT place the domain on hold for 60 days!
  6. Once you have taken ownership of the domain, I would ask you to prayerfully consider making a donation to the ministry. We do not charge for anything we do, but we have incurred the expense (about $10 per year) of keeping your domain from being taken over by advertisers and pornographers.