Faith Baptist Church of Sterlington
Website Server Setup

From Chance · October 13, 2026 · Download as PDF · Part 2: the domain name · Part 3: intake form

Kevin, this walks you through renting a small server (DigitalOcean calls it a "droplet") for the Faith Baptist website and giving Chance's build system a key to it. It takes about 20 minutes and nothing here needs technical knowledge beyond copy and paste. When you finish, send Chance the server's IP address (Step 4) and he takes it from there.

Before you start

Cost is about $7 a month. The server plan is $6 per month and weekly backups add $1.20. Billing is hourly, so if something goes wrong you can delete the server and start over for pennies.

Have these ready:

• An email address for the church account. Use a church address (not a personal one) so the account stays with the church if people change.
• A credit or debit card, or a PayPal account, for billing.
• A phone that can receive a text message. DigitalOcean may ask for one to verify the account.
• This page open so you can copy the key in Step 2. Doing Steps 1 to 3 on a computer is easiest; a phone works too.

Write down the account email and password somewhere safe. The church owns this account, and whoever runs the website later will need it.

Step 1: Create the DigitalOcean account

1. Go to cloud.digitalocean.com/registrations/new.
2. Choose Sign up with email. Enter the church email address and make up a strong password. (You can use the Google or GitHub buttons instead, but email keeps it simplest to hand off later.)
3. Open the church inbox and click the confirmation link DigitalOcean emails you.
4. Add a payment method when it asks: card or PayPal. New accounts sometimes get a promotional credit; take it if offered, it just delays the first charge.
5. If it asks you to verify your identity (a text code, or occasionally a photo of an ID), do it. This is normal for new accounts and usually clears in minutes. If it says the account is "under review," wait for the email saying it is approved before going on.
6. You may land on a "What are you building?" questionnaire. Pick anything or skip it.
7. Once you are in the control panel, click your profile picture (top right) → My Account → Security, and turn on two-factor authentication using your phone. This protects the church's card and server.

You are done with Step 1 when you can see the DigitalOcean control panel with a green Create button at the top.

Step 2: Add Chance's access key to the account

This is the part that lets Chance's system log in to the server without a password. The key below is a public key. It is safe to paste, email, or text; it only lets the matching private key (which lives on Chance's server) connect.

1. In the DigitalOcean control panel, click your profile picture (top right) → Settings.
2. Click the Security tab.
3. Under SSH keys, click Add SSH Key.
4. In the big SSH key content box, paste this whole line exactly as it is. It is one single line with no breaks. Tap the button to copy it:

ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3NzaC1lZDI1NTE5AAAAIDGroODuUQwhniXtfztEP0YUntjx2bqeHxDcPeJ4WRsa claude-hq@clworks

5. In the Name box type: Claude-HQ
6. Click Add SSH Key.

If DigitalOcean says the key is invalid, the paste got cut off. Copy it again with the button and paste it fresh. Don't add any spaces or line breaks.

You are done with Step 2 when Claude-HQ shows up in the SSH keys list.

Step 3: Create the droplet (the server)

Click the green Create button at the top of the control panel and choose Droplets. You get one long page of choices. Set each one like this and leave everything else at its default.

Click Create Droplet at the bottom. A progress bar runs for about a minute. When it finishes, the droplet appears in your list with an IPv4 address next to it that looks like 164.90.xxx.xxx. Hover over the address and click Copy.

You are done with Step 3 when the droplet shows a green dot and an IP address.

Step 4: Send Chance the details

Text or email Chance these three things:

1. The droplet's IPv4 address you copied (e.g. 164.90.xxx.xxx).
2. The email address you used for the DigitalOcean account (not the password).
3. The church's website address if you already own one (e.g. faithbaptiststerlington.org), and where it is registered if you know (GoDaddy, Google Domains, Namecheap, etc.).

Chance will log in within a few minutes using the key from Step 2, lock the server down, and start building. You never need to log in to the server yourself.

Optional, if you want Chance to see the DigitalOcean account too (for example to turn backups on or resize the server later): in the control panel click your profile picture → Settings → Team → Invite Members, and invite chance@nevillschapel.org as a Member. You stay the owner and the card stays yours.

Later: the church's domain name

Nothing to do now. Once the site is built, it needs to be reachable at the church's web address instead of a bare IP number.

• If the church already owns a domain, Chance will need to log in to the registrar (GoDaddy, Namecheap, etc.) or have you add one DNS record he gives you. Plan on a 5-minute call for that.
• If the church doesn't have a domain yet, Chance can register one (about $12 a year) in the church's name, or walk you through buying it. Think about which name you want, for example faithbaptiststerlington.org or fbcsterlington.org.
• Until then the site will be viewable at a temporary address Chance sends you, so you can review it as it comes together.

If something goes wrong

Questions at any point: call or text Chance. Don't change anything inside the droplet's Access, Networking, or Recovery tabs unless he asks; those can lock him out.