New Homepage Design

We have been talking about making our website at North Side more user friendly lately.  I decided to design a sketch on my anointed whiteboard and see what came up for a constantly updated homepage.  Here goes:

Here’s the concept:

• Main Image – one image that is the ongoing series or big announcement – the image could be clicked and go to a video announcement
• Top Buttons – no drop down boxes, these will all go to another page – must make simple
  • I’m New
  • Services
  • Blog (we will need to add this feature to the website)
  • About Us
• Left Section
  • Adults – bucket ad (can we add a thing there that says, “For more info on adult activities…” and link to a page; same for the next two)
  • Students – bucket ad
  • Children – bucket ad
• Below Section
  • Latest Message – automatically pulls last mp3 and sermon icon to front, link for more sermons here
  • Upcoming Calendar – automatically pulls next events, link to full calendar
  • Blog Updates – automatically pulls from North Side blog and North Side staff blogs
  • Give
• Really Below Section
  • More visible “Signup” for updates
  • More visible “Search”
  • Simple icon links for:
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
    • Flickr

What you think?  Would the homepage be a onestop shop for all your North Side needs?