Flat Jesus, Meets WordPress: A Custom Community Photo Campaign
A photo campaign that runs itself
Every summer, First Presbyterian runs a beloved tradition called “Summer Adventures with Flat Jesus.” Members take a paper cutout of Jesus with them wherever they go — vacations, gardens, road trips — snap a photo, and share it with the congregation.
The idea was wonderful. The mechanics weren’t. Photos came in by email, and a staff member manually edited one line on the website each week to note where Flat Jesus had turned up. No gallery, no map, no history — and a recurring chore that fell on one person all summer.
What we built
Rather than duct-tape existing plugins together, we built a purpose-made WordPress plugin — designed from day one to be generic and reusable. Nothing about “Flat Jesus” is hardcoded, so the same tool can power any mascot or community campaign on any future client site, configured entirely from a settings screen.
Effortless submissions
Members share a photo, a short story, and a location from their phone in seconds. Each submission becomes a private draft automatically — no email, no re-keying.
One-click approval
Every entry waits in a review queue. Staff glance at the photo and click Publish. That’s the whole weekly task now.
A living map & gallery
Approved photos instantly appear on an interactive map and in a browsable, lightbox-enabled gallery that grows on its own.
Privacy by design
Map pins are softened to neighborhood level and house numbers are hidden from displayed addresses — exact details stay private in the admin.
The result
The church went from a single hand-edited line of text to a living summer experience that runs itself. Members participate from their phones, staff approve with a click, and the congregation follows the journey on a map that fills in week by week.
A thoughtful custom plugin didn’t just solve one church’s problem — it removed the ongoing manual work, gave the congregation something genuinely fun, and produced an asset we can reuse again and again.
Need more than an off-the-shelf plugin?
We build custom WordPress solutions that fit the problem — not the other way around.
