Revitalizing El Shaddai Ministries: A Complete Digital, E-Commerce, and Streaming Transformation
The Challenge
After more than 20 years online, ESM’s website had become an outdated, fragile system held together by hacked PHP and inefficient development practices. Their critical archives—sermons, articles, and events—were trapped in an unstructured, static format, stored only on the live site with no database or backups.
Beyond content management, their e-commerce store was running on a legacy GoDaddy platform, making it difficult to maintain and scale. Meanwhile, their video and live streaming strategy was scattered across multiple platforms, limiting accessibility and engagement.
Then came the pandemic. With COVID-19 driving an explosion in online demand, the website was overwhelmed, and their infrastructure struggled to keep up. They needed a complete overhaul—fast.
The Solution
Jirehnet approached this transformation with a focus on scalability, structure, and long-term sustainability, ensuring ESM had a future-proof digital foundation.
Data Extraction & Structured Content Migration
The first step was rescuing two decades of content from the live site, where it was at constant risk of being lost. We meticulously extracted, cleaned, and formatted the data before migrating it into a structured WordPress database. Custom post types (CPTs) were implemented for sermons, events, and resources, making content easily searchable, filterable, and manageable.
Website Redevelopment & Performance Optimization
With the old PHP system scrapped, we rebuilt the website using Beaver Builder on WordPress, implementing modern coding standards to eliminate security risks and improve maintainability. Optimizing site performance was a top priority, and our work led to faster load times, improved SEO rankings, and a vastly better user experience.
E-Commerce Migration to WooCommerce
To modernize their online store, we migrated all products and transactions from GoDaddy’s outdated platform to WooCommerce. This upgrade allowed for better inventory management, a streamlined checkout process, and support for digital and physical product sales. With the new system in place, ESM was able to increase store efficiency while improving the donor and customer experience.
Live Streaming & Video Content Integration
With a fast-growing online audience, ESM needed a centralized hub for video content. We integrated live streaming and on-demand video directly into their new website, pulling from multiple sources—including YouTube, Facebook, and custom streaming services—to create a seamless content library. The result? A dynamic, ever-relevant media experience that ensured visitors could always find the latest teachings and sermons.
Scalable Infrastructure & Cost Optimization
To prepare for future growth, we designed a flexible hosting architecture that could scale on demand. When traffic surged unexpectedly due to COVID-19, we quickly scaled up the servers multiple times over six months—all while keeping costs under control.
The Results
Following the relaunch, ESM saw dramatic improvements across every aspect of their digital presence. Their structured database provided a clean, organized content system, their new e-commerce store offered a seamless buying experience, and their video strategy engaged more viewers than ever before.
More importantly, their website was now built to grow—ready to scale with their mission.