Walking Through A New Church Install

it's OK to install to a subdirectory.
you might want to do this if you intend to let drupal supplement your static html pages, rather than replace them.
also, it shouldn't be too problematic to move the installation up to the root level later.

Calendar module is not included in the default drupal install, but there are a couple to choose from:

http://drupal.org/project/calendar
http://drupal.org/project/event

For help with the calendar, start by searching the drupal site for calendar.
http://drupal.org/search/node/calendar

Direction/Map modules:
Check out the Location category in the modules list
http://drupal.org/project/Modules/category/65

Spell Check module:
no, not in the default. However, Firefox does some live spellchecking in normal textarea fields. I think the Google toolbar adds that to the IE browser.

If you need more, check the filters/editors category of modules
http://drupal.org/project/Modules/category/63
or search the drupal site for "spellcheck"

One good way to find modules is the search box on the drupal site.
Go to
http://drupal.org/search/node
and expand "Advanced Search"
and limit your search to "only in the category" -> Projects -> Modules
Searching for spellcheck there showed me this:
http://drupal.org/project/spellcheck

One final thing, it's always a really good idea, especially when you're getting started with drupal, to have a separate installation to play with, test out, mess up, throw away and start over with. That could be on a server on on your own computer.

Hope that's enough to get you rolling!

Some additional notes...

Here's a list of Drupal learning resources I recently compiled (I plan to organize it into a section on my site later):
http://forums.neverside.com/post/806952/#post806952

To get Calendar module working, you'll also need the Views module and the Date module, and the CCK module. This combo of modules makes for extremely customizable calendars, though it requires a bit of knowledge about working with CCK and Views. I also found a cool post the other day that does a good job of communicating the purpose and use of Views and CCK, the modules which serve as the primary building blocks in Drupal for... just about everything: http://www.johnandcailin.com/blog/john/fantastic-four-drupals-unofficial...
I haven't used it, since it is said to be on its way towards being phased out in favor of the above solution, but you may consider the Event module, as it is evidently easier (though less flexible and powerful). The above setup is not "too" hard though - have a look at the first few guides listed here for step by step instructions: http://drupal.org/search/node/calendar
It can be themed to look different, though here's an example from my site of the calendar: http://www.aguaviva.com/calendar

So far as file permissions... as you have a linux/unix server running cpanel it should be a pretty standard setup. Outside of the "files" directory, no files or folders in Drupal should ever need to be chmodded - the standard permissions as uploaded are correct... 644 for files and 755 (or less) for directories should do fine. Definitely don't make everything 777 though. The files directory "might" need adjusted permissions depending on the server's settings, though often no change at all is required. If I were you I would go ahead and delete Drupal's files (being sure not to delete your own files, such as the files directory, and the sites directory), and upload a fresh copy to ensure all your permissions get back to default - then if there's a problem, report back here and we can try to sort it out the right way. By the way, make sure that your personal modules and themes are stored in: /sites/all/modules and /sites/all/themes ("not" in the modules and themes directory in the Drupal root directory. Keep them separate so you'll have an easier time upgrading in the future).

Cpanel's file manager should be capable of editing the user/group and permissions of the .htaccess file if necessary. If not and you need to edit or delete it, see if your host offers Shell access... if so a few quick commands should get it set right (chmod, chown, etc).

The "files" directory Drupal is referring to is located in the root directory of the Drupal install... e.g. not in the root of the server. Drupal creates the directory automatically when you go to the File system page, at for instance: /public_html/drupal/files

I would recommend against installing Drupal in a subfolder if you plan on moving it into the root later.... you may run into various path problems, particularly with any uploaded images or other files.

If you don't have one yet, I can't recommend highly enough that you get a local development environment on your computer... it is soooo much faster to work with, and learn how to use Drupal. Depending on your OS, look up: LAMP, WAMP, MAMP, XXAMP ... it's as easy as pie to setup - just download the file, install it, and you have a copy of Apache, PHP, and MySQL running on your own computer.

Hope this helps :)

theres a module called poormans cron that will do the cron function for you if you dont have access to the cron in the server

you dont need to 777 every folder, but every folder that drupal needs and the sub folders in those folders will need it
so the files and tmp folder, image and audio import and any user upload folders and associated sub folders

i would recommend the event module for calendar

check out the church websites we have built
www.hopecommuntychurch.org.nz
www.lifezone.org.nz
www.riversbaptist.com

let me know if you want any more help - we specialise in not for profits and church groups

I have backed up and reorganized.

1. I have printed 10 pages of the Drupal 5.1 (version on my host server) Documentation
   relevant to getting started. I am reviewing that carefully.

2. After poking around and making a mess I have uninstalled Drupal and will reinstall as
   soon as I have some clarifications.

3. First Clarification - Are these resources appropriate or do I need to ask my server host
   to upgrade any of them, such as PHP to 5.2 perhaps?

General server information:
Operating system Linux
Service Status Click to View
Kernel version 2.6.9-023stab043.1-smp
Machine Type i686
Apache version 1.3.37 (Unix)
PERL version 5.8.7
Path to PERL /usr/bin/perl
Path to sendmail /usr/sbin/sendmail
Installed Perl Modules Click to View
PHP version 4.4.4
MySQL version 4.1.22-standard
cPanel Build 10.9.0-RELEASE 10737
Theme cPanel X v2.6.0

Thanks!

Required Site Settings:
- Name
- Email Addresses

Default Home Page:
- I'd leave it as node until you get it working - then you can change it

Missing Images:
- I looked at your page source and it looks like the image tags have been stripped out by the input filter
- This means that the problem is probably that you need to be able to adjust your input filters to not strip out the HTML tags
- I'm trying to remember what comes with a stock install. But here's the basic steps to make sure image tags are allowed
1. Go to admin/settings/filters
2. Click on the configure link by whatever is your default filter (probably Filtered HTML)
3. Click on the Configure tab at the top
4. In the Allowed HTML tags, add the tags you use in your page (like img and image)
5. Click Save Configuration
Now try to view your page again and see if the tags are showing

The recommended alternative would be to create a new input format that does not have the HTML filter checked/enabled. Give the authenticated user role access to it. Then you can use this filter when you want to just dump in raw HTML.

Missing My Account options:
- your new user is an authenticated user (role) - which by default does not have access to a lot of these settings
- go to admin/user/role and add a new 'admin' role
- go to admin/user/access and check off the permissions you want admin users to have (everything under node, system, and user modules at least)
- go to the new user you created and check them off as an admin user

Let me know how those things go.

Keep hanging in there - it will be more than worth it once things start clicking!