"Tell us something of how you make use of AO in your life."

I'd like to, but a proper explanation would take far too long. I am the person who most closely resembles a website administrator for the Diocese of Maryland. I am not an employee of the Diocese, but a volunteer like yourselves. It is no exaggeration to say that, at least once or twice per week, I find a new reason to be grateful for AO.

There are any number of Anglican resources on the Web. Some excellent -- the official Anglican Communion site comes to mind. Others are so besotted with Flash and other gimmicks that they are almost unusable, as anyone who has visited the dreadful ECUSA site will testify. None of them approach the simplicity and excellence of AO. No other site provides so much information in so easily accessible a manner as AO. And no other site does it less self-consciously and with less axe-grinding than AO.

When I need information about another Diocese or Church in the Anglican Communion, AO is my first stop. If I'm looking for the latest Anglican news, AO is where I look first. If I decide that it's time for a change of content on our homepage but can't for the life of me think of anything new, AO is a bottomless well of ideas and inspiration.

But best of all, AO makes me feel connected. I know that thousands of other Anglicans around the world read this site regularly, just as I do. And in some indescribable way, just knowing that makes me feel better.We have a Book of Common Prayer, and we have a Site of Common Surfing. I am thankful for both.

Mike Byrd
Mount Calvary
Baltimore, Maryland, USA