Ministry Tech Magazine - June 2017 by Now - Ministry Tech Magazine

TECHNOLOGY EMPOWERING MINISTRY www.ministrytech.com

June 2017

MUST-HAVE SOFTWARE

Essential Building Blocks for Every Church, Big and Small

>>> The Real Problem Behind WannaCry >>> Why Doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Your Church Use a Text System >>> Church Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

CONTENTS

6.17 4

THE REAL PROBLEM BEHIND WANNACRY

Our laziness, or our perceived contentment (“everything is working fine”), can be summarized in one word: WannaCry.

TECH BUILDING BLOCKS| 3 VITAL PROGRAMS EVERY CHURCH NEEDS

Why Doesn’t Your Church Use A Text System? By using texting well, we can keep existing members engaged and also bring in new members.

Work hard now to have these software platforms in place so that you are ready to grow, not reacting to growth.

14 10 Church Marketing Mistakes to AvoiD You need this definitive checklist to step up your church-marketing game.

TECH CHECK 6.17..................................................................................................... 7 START-UP | The Story Behind Piktochart, Part 1............................................... 11 Appropriately Named “Breeze” Focuses on User Experience.......................... 17 My Journey From Mac to PC for Church Communication Software................ 20 Sometimes Old School Works Just Fine.............................................................. 23

CYBERSECURITY IN THE IOT ERA What all churches need to know to stay protected from potential cybersecurity issues.

How to Choose Church Management Software That’s Just Right.................... 26 Serendipitous Streaming...................................................................................29 The Real Reason Your Teams Are Experiencing Chaos..................................... 36 3 Steps to Connecting Your Ministry Team........................................................ 41 2 | MinistryTech.com

A Word from the editor Ray Hollenbach Managing Editor Ray Hollenbach rhollenbach@outreach.com

Art Director Beth VanDyke bethvandyke.com

Contributing Editors Yvon Prehn Nick Nicholaou Russ McGuire Jonathan Smith Steven Sundermeier Kevin Purcell Steve Hewitt

Copy Editor Laura Severn

Publisher

Outreach Inc. 5550 Tech Center Dr. Colorado Springs, CO 80919 (800) 991-6011 Ministry Tech® is a registered trademark of Outreach, Inc. Written materials submitted to Ministry Tech® Magazine become the property of Outreach, Inc. upon receipt and may not necessarily be returned. Ministry Tech® Magazine reserves the right to make any changes to materials submitted for publication that are deemed necessary for editorial purposes. The content of this publication may not be copied in any way, shape or form without the express permission of Outreach, Inc. Views expressed in the articles and reviews printed

The Intersection of Tech and Ministry What is “Tech?” Once upon a time the wheel and the lever could have been considered “high-tech.” Forty years ago computers were “high tech,” but now we carry smart phones that contain more computing power than the Apollo moon missions. And what about the intersection of technology and ministry? You might be surprised to learn that in the 16th century a bold new technology called “the printing press” came along during the same decades just before the Protestant Reformation. It was an intersection: even as Martin Luther proclaimed the role of Scripture in guiding the church, the Scripture became widely—and cheaply—available to the common folk. The commonplace tech of our day is software, as evidenced by the myriad choices of ChMS (Church Management Software), and this issue devotes several articles to the theme of software. But software doesn’t stand alone: are we using desktops, laptops, tablets or mobile devices? Software developers struggle to keep up with the multiplying platforms—and

functionality—required by our increasingly mobile society. Nor is software all of tech: everything from sound to stagecraft to telephones are a part of our church cultures, and all of them are “tech.” Even a word like “community” (which doesn’t seem to be about “Tech” at all) is impacted by where, when and how we interact with each other. In this issue Jonathan Smith provides an overview of musthave software for every church, even as Steven Sundermeier points out the dangers of ransomware and the importance of cyber security. Yvon Prehn reminds us that all software still serves a greater purpose: namely, helping people connect with one another—and God. And Russ McGuire presents Part One of a moving story about apps, graphics, information, relationships and conversion to Christ! Finally, there’s you: our readers. If you have insights or ideas about this intersection of technology and ministry, we’d love to hear from you! Write me at rhollenbach@outreach.com.

Ray Hollenbach is the Editor of Ministry Tech magazine. He has previously served as the editor of Outreach’s Better Preaching Update, and as the editor of the Pastor channel at Churchleaders.com. You can reach him at rhollenbach@outreach.com. June 2017 | 3

LEAD STORY

TECH BUILDING BLOCKS

The 3 Vital Programs Every Church Needs [ by Jonathan Smith ]

ll churches, whether they have attendance of 100 or 10,000, need software to properly minister in todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s world. Not using software today would be equivalent to not using a telephone 30 years ago. While software is not part of the Great Commission, I think every church would agree it is a valuable tool in accomplishing the Great Commission. > > > >

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Illustration: Schroeder Creations, Lightstock.com

If churches are accomplishing the Great Commission they should be growing, and growing churches need software to help manage their growth and ensure they are meeting the needs of their members and their communities. Standing still in ministry is dangerous: no matter what the size of your church you should be using software that helps you grow and get to the next level. Here are some basic types of software that all churches need.

ChMS (Church Management

Software)

You may say this one is obvious, but hear me out. Many churches are not using any sort of software to manage their church non-financial data. Most churches have figured out the financial data part due to IRS requirements to report on giving and contributions. Non-financial data is everything not related to finances: names, addresses, email addresses, attendance history, children’s checkin, small groups and communications. This data should be managed in a way that makes sense and helps the church accomplish its mission. Some churches still use homegrown solutions; often these solutions are a hindrance, as only a few people know how to use them. There are so many ChMS options on the market today that there really isn’t a reason to create your own software solution. Find a platform that works for you: one that can help you grow to the next level. Most scale well. Hopefully the days of doing your own thing in Excel or Access are long gone.

A seamless option is to make sure your financial and non-financial data talk to each other. This allows for greater efficiencies and ensures that demographic data only has to be updated one time and in one location.

How are you using your volunteers? Are your service metrics being met? Sometimes staff or volunteers claim they are too busy: wouldn’t it be great to have the numbers to back that up?

Help Desk Management

Facilities Management

Emailing a single person for IT or A/V support creates an instant logjam, as that one person has to disseminate the information. It also prevents faster support, as the more skilled folks know about your need, the faster that need can be met. The days of emailing the IT guy should be well behind us. Every church has some sort of IT or audio/visual require-

Here again, software can help you become more efficient with everything from work orders to repairing broken light bulbs to event management (like making sure you serve the family that has been part of your church for 20 years well when their daughter gets married). Whatever you call this function, whether facilities, or buildings, or

If churches are accomplishing the Great Commission they should be growing, and growing churches need software to help manage their growth and ensure they are meeting the needs of their members and their communities. ments that need to be supported. In addition, churches like to use volunteers to help, and using software can greatly increase your efficiency. There’s also the issue of logging and tracking maintenance history. How many times have you been asked to fix something and you know you’ve fixed it before, but you can’t remember how you fixed it? A ticketing system of some sort allows you to track notes on tickets so you can review them later when and if the issue arises again. Ticketing software also helps with accountability.

operations, you need a way to stay organized and stay accountable. Whether you have 1,000 square feet or a million, you have things that break and need fixing. You also probably have some sort of HVAC that needs programming and maintenance. Plus, linking event management with energy management could probably save you some money. The use of volunteers for mowing, painting and cleaning is a key facet of church ministry. Software can help you deploy those volunteers so they feel valued and needed June 2017 | 5

without wasting their volunteer time. You want to try to avoid scheduling clown conventions and funerals in the same room at the same time. (Don’t laugh; it’s a true story!) Or having a group locked out of your building on a Saturday morning because they reserved a room but no one met them to unlock the front door and let them in. These issues are not unique to churches based on size: only the scale is different. All churches should want to serve well, and software allows us to do that. It helps manage the vast amount of information that flows around the operation of our ministries. There are many providers for each of these types of software. Some offer

it in the cloud and others allow you to host your own. The argument I hear most often is that a church can’t afford such software. I would argue that you can’t afford not to have this software. The loss of efficiency, energy cost or lost ministry opportunities all justify this software. Don’t put it off until you grow larger. Work hard now to have the platforms in place so that you are ready to grow, not reacting to growth. If you have one tech volunteer, you should plan now for the day when you have two on staff. If you have one paid custodian today, plan for the day when your facilities staff is four full-time employees. We serve a big God: are we ready for Him to bless us, or are we not growing because God

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knows we aren’t ready? The Great Commission applies to us all. Software today, much like the telephone from days gone by, is a powerful tool to help us accomplish what we are called to do. MT

Jonathan Smith is the Director of Technology at Faith Ministries in Lafayette, Indiana. You can reach Jonathan at jsmith@faithlafayette.org and also follow him on Twitter @JonathanESmith.

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6.17 Security is for Everyone High-tech security systems used to be the province of larger churches, but the wireless revolution has made visual and audio security a DIY project for congregations of nearly any size. If there’s any problem with choosing a security system these days, it’s the problem of having too many choices! Wireless cameras come in a bewildering array of sizes, making blanket-coverage of your property (both exterior and interior) a very affordable project. Reolink provides a one-page overview of the equipment you need, along with links to motion-activated and audio options as well. Protect the children within your church and steward the property of your church for just a few hundred dollars, which puts the project within reach of every church’s budget. n

“DOODLE” has a new meaning Who said working with volunteers has to be like herding cats? Apps and software now make scheduling groups of people less of a nightmare and more effective. Instead of endless rounds of calls or texts, apps like Doodle and TimeBridge are streamlining scheduling. Look into the 16 Best Meetings Scheduler Apps and Tools listed by Zapier.com. These apps will change your life! (You don’t have to thank us—that’s what we’re here for!) n

Mind-mapping software

Will Alexa be your next usher?

Project management has become a growth industry in the business world in the last decade, and now churches are beginning to get on board for this means of prepping for sermons, organizing volunteers or just plain dreaming big. Check out PC Magazine’s excellent matrix of the best mind-mapping software of 2017, complete with links to in-depths reviews and free on-line demonstrations of the products. This top-ten list could revolutionize the way your staff and volunteers work together. Whether you’re looking for help in brainstorming or trying to spur creative ministries, mind-mapping software has gone both portable and collaborative. It’s good stewardship of the most valuable resource of every church: the thoughts and hopes of our people. n

FastCompany.com reports that the hospitality industry is pioneering new ways to serve guests using automated concierges. Aloft hotels have produced a two-minute video featuring Botlr, an automated room-service bot that serves their patrons in (where else?) their Cupertino and Silicon Valley locations. n

Illustration: Freepik

tech check

Editor’s Note: Who can possibly keep up with all the tech options available these days? TECH CHECK highlights tech news and new gadgets that save you time, energy, money—and keep you from re-inventing the wheel. Have a hot tech tip or news item? Email rhollenbach@outreach.com.

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PROTECTED WITH PURPOSE by Steven Sundermeier

The Real Problem Behind WannaCry The Ransomware Attack Was Avoidable

otholes can be dangerous. They’re also a big-league annoyance. And alas, potholes are everywhere. They’re caused by the expansion and contraction of ground water after it has entered into the ground under the pavement. The city of Cleveland (my home town) uses approximately 3,000 tons of material every year to fill potholes. The city also allocates 10–12 crews per day to repair potholes. These depressions in our road surfaces can cause many problems, and just like their varying shapes and sizes, the issues they cause also vary greatly. A minor pothole issue may result in a $100 setback for re-alignment or a cracked rim. Potholes can also result in a $2,000 (major!) re-alignment or even a traffic accident. As I drove into work one morning recently, I was forced to veer sharply to the side of the road to avoid a massive pothole. Frustration washed over me because this pothole hazard

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in the road was not fixed. The funny thing is, I have likely driven by this pothole over a hundred times previously without concern or irritation.

Connecting potholes to technology may not seem logical to you, but as a cyber security expert all things relate to technology for me. Previous to the pothole swerve, earlier that same morning news broke of the WannaCry ransomware. WannaCry is a form of ransomware that spreads rapidly using the Microsoft Windows “Eternal Blue” exploit. Like most forms of ransomware, business networks and regular home users alike impacted by WannaCry found their files encrypted with a $300 ransom note. While WannaCry was not overly complicated or sophisticated, what made it stand out was its worm-like behavior (the ability to propagate to other at-risk systems on the

network) not previously seen in ransomware and its association with the Microsoft Windows “Eternal Blue” exploit leaked from the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA). A patch for the Eternal Blue exploit was released by Microsoft back in March 2017, meaning that at the time of the outbreak, corporations, hospitals and users affected by WannaCry had to be two months behind in their Windows Updates patches. Any system that contained the patch was not affected. (When was the last time you updated your machines/devices with the latest patches available?) According to reports at the time of this writing, WannaCry may have impacted over 300,000 organizations (including hospitals, utility providers and home users) in over 150 countries. In fact Microsoft, which discontinued support (patches, etc.) a long time ago for its 16-year-old Operating System Windows XP, was forced to issue a patch for it. There was also so much initial concern out

of the White House that President Trump ordered two emergency meetings regarding the global ransomware attack. The bigger discussion should surround NSA’s (or any intelligence agency’s) decision to hoard security vulnerabilities for surveillance purposes, gathering intelligence on targets. Should the intelligence community immediately make these exploits known to software companies like Microsoft? However before we can dive deeper into the bigger political picture we need to really discuss the elephant in the room: how this incredible WannaCry massive cyber attack was easily avoidable by simply maintaining regular software updates.

We need to do some soul searching. So, raise your hand (yes, I really want you to raise your hand!) if when an installed application on your system asks you to ‘Update Now’ or ‘Remind Me Later’ your tendency is to click Remind Me Later. Don’t feel bad, I’m a security expert and I can be guilty of the same thing. We live incredibly busy lives, and the last thing many us want is to sit still and let a program update for two minutes. Am I right? Our laziness, or our perceived contentment (“everything is working fine”), can be summarized in one word: WannaCry. Another image of how to combat exploits like WannaCry is to think of

the immediacy of stopping a water leak in your home. In February, my wife went downstairs to our basement and noticed water flowing from under the utility closet door. When she opened the door, she immediately knew we had a major problem on our hands regarding our water heater. Thanks to excellent area plumbing companies, within an hour, we had a professional onsite fixing a damaged hole in one of the pipes. Translation— when something needs fixing, DO IT! The real problem is that we treat patching and updating our machines and devices, even for very critical vulnerabilities and exploits like “External Blue,” like potholes. We are aware they’re a security hazard but we often swerve around them; we June 2017 | 9

According to reports, WannaCry may have impacted over 300,000 organizations (including hospitals, utility providers and home users) in over 150 countries. However, this massive cyber attack was easily avoidable by simply maintaining regular software updates.

don’t take action until it’s too late. We need to treat patching more like a flooding water heater and with the same level of urgency! We need to stop clicking ‘Remind Me Later,’ or ‘No Thanks,’ and take immediate action. If we do so, we greatly minimize the risk and exposure to cyber attacks. Cybercriminals will continue to get increasingly sophisticated and our first layer of defense is patching our systems. The WannaCry outbreak was avoidable. When we click “remind me later” we are (in a sense) swerving around a possible vulnerability. But the risk remains: the pothole is still there. I encourage you to take the time and keep your programs and applications current: a two-minute update could save you the time and frustration of a ransomware infection. In effect, this “fills in your pothole,” and you can move forward smoothly and without risk in that area. City streets and your devices may not have much in common, but preventative maintenance and cautious care can make a difference in the longevity and safety of your travels, whether on the road or on the Information Superhighway.

Make the effort to stay current in your updates and patches, because out-of-date programs may make you WannaCry. MT Steven Sundermeier is the owner of Thirtyseven4, LLC, a leading provider of antivirus/security software. With 17 years of experience in the cybersecurity field, he is one of the nation’s leading experts in virus, malware and other threats. Before founding Thirtyseven4 in 2009, Steven worked in a number of roles in the antivirus industry dating back to 1999. 10 | MinistryTech.com

STARTUP

The Story Behind

Piktochart (Part 1)

A worldwide story of Faith, Love and Tech by Russ McGuire

his is a big story: it stretches from Malaysia to Italy to England to Korea and back to Malaysia. It stretches across three cultures, and two lives. It is so big it will take two articles to tell it all. Ai Ching Goh was raised Buddhist in Malaysia. Andrea Zaggia was raised a non-practicing Catholic in Italy. God used technology to bring them together, helped them launch an innovative web business, and, most importantly, saved them. I am thrilled to share their story with you over the next two months.

A Global Scholar Ai Ching was born and raised in Penang, Malaysia. Her culture and her family life were permeated with Buddhism and Taoism. Both religions deny that there is a personal God. She was ambitious and had the opportunity to study abroad. As a teenager, Ai Ching was an exchange student to southern Italy. While there she started to learn the Italian language, and when she returned home, she used Skype to find Italians

with whom she could practice her language skills. One of the people she began conversing with was Andrea. Andrea’s family, like many in Italy, was Roman Catholic, but faith wasn’t an important part of his life. Andrea studied computer science in high school and began studying it at university. Meanwhile, Ai Ching had the opportunity to go to university in Bristol, England. During a school break, she visited her Skype friend in Venice, and in return Andrea visited his friend, Ai Ching, in Bristol. Their virtual friendship became a real world romance. Ai Ching earned her degree in Experiential Psychology and tried to start her career in Europe, but the global recession was in full swing and there were no jobs to be found. She returned home to Malaysia and Andrea joined her.

Moves and Pivots They both immediately got jobs in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia’s capital city: Ai Ching in marketing for a large corporation and Andrea working for a web development

Russ McGuire russ.mcguire@gmail.com A trusted advisor with proven strategic insights, Russ has been blessed by God in many ways including serving as a corporate executive, co-founding technology startups and writing a technology/business book. More importantly, he’s a husband and father who cares about people, and a committed Christian who seeks to honor God in all that he does. His newest venture is as Entrepreneur in Residence at Oklahoma Christian University.

firm. But they weren’t happy in the big city. Before long they moved to Penang and started their own web design firm. They enjoyed working together, and loved the creative work. Doing digital work on the Internet was efficient and liberating, but managing demanding customer relationships seemed to take all the joy out of it. They began searching for a way to build a business where the customer relationship could be simplified as well. In 2011 they came up with the idea for Piktochart, a simple online tool for creating infographics. These fun, graphical ways of presenting information and telling a story were becoming popular online, but there was no easy way to create them. Andrea and Ai Ching set out to change that. That wasn’t the only thing that changed. At the end of 2011 they joined a startup accelerator in China. When June 2017 | 11

“How To Start” graphic, at left, is an example of what can be created easily with Piktochart, the simple online tool for creating infographics founded by Andrea and Ai Ching.

they returned to Penang at the beginning of 2012, they launched the Piktochart beta version and began chasing startup capital. They made many pitches of their new business to investors and in pitch competitions. They won a scholarship to a program in Silicon Valley, which meant more pitching. They received funding offers, but none that they felt compelled to take. They also got married—in two ceremonies—a Buddhist one in Malaysia and a one in Italy for family and friends who couldn’t make the trip.

Broken As you can imagine, this was an emotionally challenging time for Andrea and Ai Ching. In fact, it was too much for Ai Ching and the day after the first ceremony, she suffered a breakdown. Ai Ching’s housemate in Bristol, So Young, had attended the wedding in Malaysia and was staying at her house. She watched the breakdown and prayed for Ai Ching. Ai Ching had always been very focused on financial success: she had achieved much. But no matter how much success she enjoyed, it was not fulfilling. She had chased fulfillment down many paths, including new age and occult practices, but it continued to elude her. Now, after a simple Christian 12 | MinistryTech.com

prayer, for the first time she felt peace. This peace intrigued Ai Ching. So Young lived in Korea and Ai Ching visited her for a week. Her stated reason for going was to pursue opportunities related to Piktochart, but it was clear that God was at work. So Young attended a very large church and it was hard to schedule a meeting with the pastor, but God created an opening and Ai Ching sat with this godly man. Her first question for him was a challenge: “If God is good, why does he allow bad things to happen?” Ai Ching’s friends had nicknamed her the “iron woman,” but through her own question, God broke her heart. For most of that meeting, she was in tears.

Restored For the rest of her Korean visit, it was as if Ai Ching was seeing the world through the eyes of a child. Everything was new and bright and beautiful. The beauty of God’s creation overwhelmed her. The Korean pastor found a good church for Ai Ching and Andrea in Penang, and Ai Ching began reading the Bible, using the YouVersion app on her phone. She had come to believe that there is only one God and that Jesus is real. But God wasn’t yet finished with this newly married couple. As Paul wrote in Romans 10, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”

Andrea and Ai Ching decided to attend the church in Penang once, out of respect to So Young and her pastor. The sermon was from James 1. The pastor spoke on anger and the biblical way to deal with it. “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” Ai Ching cried uncontrollably through the entire sermon, as God put a magnifying glass on the sin in her life and she had an intense desire for repentance and a clean heart. At first Andrea thought that, since he was raised Catholic, he already was a Christian. He thought that Ai Ching’s emotional response and interest in Christianity was a passing thing, as many of her previous religious pursuits had been. But they continued to attend the church every week and, thanks to the multilingual Bible app, they began reading the Bible together. He started to learn what true saving faith looked like, and God used the dramatic change in his wife to minister to him as well: it was less than three months between when Ai Ching first learned about Jesus and her baptism into the faith. This month I have focused on how God used technology and even their nascent business to minister to this young couple’s deep need for the Savior. Next month, I will share with you how God is using them—and their business to minister to others. MT

In this article series, we’ve defined a Christian entrepreneur as a person driven to glorify God in all he or she does, and ruled by the Word of God, who starts a new venture and is willing to risk a loss in order to achieve the success of the venture. Each month I’ve been introducing you to specific Christian startups and entrepreneurs, some of which may be helpful to your church, ministry, business or family, but my main intent is to encourage and inspire you to be entrepreneurial in your ministry and career. Are there Christian startups I should know about? Contact me at russ.mcguire@gmail.com.

June 2017 | 13

Why Doesn’t Your Church Use A Text System?

[ by Ken Rhie ]

A growing number of people of all ages are texting regularly.

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odern churches are facing big challenges in keeping members informed and interested. Some of this is societal—parts of the population are becoming more interested in seeking their own spiritual paths, rather than

following older traditions. A 2015 Pew Center study shows that people who attend services weekly are declining by age: 51 percent among the “silent” generation, (born 1928–1945), but only 27 percent of Millennials (1981–1989). At the same time,

a growing number of people of all ages are texting regularly, especially the same Millennials. It’s time for every church to develop a text system. Texting can offer easy outreach to congregation members and leadership, and inform everyone on the subscriber list quickly and effectively about church activities, especially when compared to past outreach tools like bulletins or phone trees. By using texting well, we can keep existing members engaged and also bring in new members. Though texting can sometimes be considered a quick, simple and generally informal way of interacting with one or many people, it also can be a useful tool to help bring a congregation together in celebrating its faith.

Try these strategies with your text system:

parents like a link to the registration form or reminders about drop-off and pick-up options. Texting can also help find volunteers for various events, either a mass text to all subscribers or specific personal invitations to people who the church would like to see assist or enroll.

■■Find consensus. Texting can be a good way to collect input and make members feel like they

size of the subscriber lists and your outreach budget, people can text their responses to a certain in-box, or you can offer a mobile keyword and a short code that they can text to indicate their preferences—“If you would like fish, text CHURCH and the word fish, and if you would like chicken, text CHURCH and the word chicken.”

■■Encourage support. Text interaction can take place any

It’s time for every church to develop a text system. Texting offers easy outreach to congregation members and leadership, and informs everyone on the subscriber list quickly and effectively about activities.

■■Lots of reminders. Busy churches are great, especially ones with various ministry and outreach programs. A text system can remind members of upcoming meetings of different groups. These could include regular info about upcoming activities or meetings, or alerts if a time or location for a regular event has changed. It can also let people know about other special gatherings, such as Vacation Bible Schools. Parents can send the church a text to confirm that their kids will attend, which will help organizers know how many students to expect. The church can also send out information to VBS

have a voice in the goings-on of the institution, rather than top leaders deciding everything and everyone else not being consulted. Your text system can allow people to vote on everything from what food can be served at the next potluck to their thoughts on themes at a future social event or to cast their votes for leaders like deacons. Youth group members can text suggestions for entertainment at a future event. Depending on the

time, even during regular services. Imagine if a celebrant asks the whole congregation questions about their faith and commitment and invites them at the end of a sermon to demonstrate it by texting “yes.” Doing so can also constitute a legal opt-in which puts them on the church’s official SMS subscriber lists. Existing members can use this yes/no choice as an easy way to reaffirm their faith and sign up for communication. Newcomers June 2017 | 15

wanting more info about the establishment can be placed on a “contact for more” mailing list. If your church offers Purity Rings or other faith-based tools for teens, you can invite them to text yes or no about their commitment. Choosing either option can put them onto different subscriber lists

for different sets of information and future communication. Saying yes to a simple question, “Would you like regular Bible readings?” can lead to regular texts with a short reading or to a link to more analysis and discussion about a particular passage. This can allow people to study the reading further

on their own time, rather than during service time. Allowing people to choose yes or no to so many options can provide church leaders with info about the amount of interest in different programs, provide members with specific info related to their interests, and keep people from getting overwhelmed by too many texts. Texts can also help reinforce a certain message or encourage positive values and actions—members who say “yes” can receive regular notes about the importance of honoring their parents or helping their neighbors. The tone doesn’t have to be heavyhanded, but something positive and inclusive.

A church that considers a text system can appeal to congregation members already accustomed to this type of interaction. For more information on setting up a Text System for your church, download the complementary Mobile Marketing Success Kit. MT Ken Rhie is the CEO of Trumpia, which earned a reputation as the most complete SMS solution including user-friendly user interface and API for mobile engagement, Smart Targeting, advanced automation, enterprise and cross-channel features for both mass texting and landline texting use cases. Rhie holds an MBA degree from Harvard Business School. He has over 30 years of experience in the software, Internet and mobile communications industries. 16 | MinistryTech.com

ChMS REVIEW

Appropriately Named “Breeze” Focuses on User Experience Ease of use is the highest priority for this ChMS by Steve Hewitt

on VerLee, Founder and CEO of the ChMS software Breeze, started thinking about the need for Breeze back when he took a pastoral position in the student ministry department of a megachurch. While on staff, the church decided to change ChMS systems. The church had a staff of 80-90, among them an IT technician and a database professional, yet it was still a difficult transition. Jon began to think, “If a church of 80-90 staff with all of the resources a church could dream of is having this much trouble using church management software, how on earth does the typical 200, 400 or even 600 person church ever navigate these waters?” As a result, he started to build what became Breeze, and after several years of work, he launched. Breeze has become a hit with churches, with nearly 2,700

churches using it, and Breeze has grown their staff to 15 people. Their biggest claim to fame is that Breeze is so easy to use. It isn’t easy to keep a ChMS easy to use and offer great features. When I asked Jon about their biggest challenge, he shared, “The biggest challenge we’ve seen is balancing user feedback. We love making churches happy, however we’re adamant about creating software that is extraordinarily easy to use. Sometimes we get feature requests that, while we can see the church’s rationale, would require creating all sorts of complexity. In

these cases we search hard to find solutions that maintain the ease-ofuse and clean interface.” With Breeze, ease-of-use begins when you become a customer. They provide complementary import of your data if you are moving from another ChMS, or even if you’re housing your data in-house. While pricing can be complicated with some other ChMS companies (pricing frequently depends on size of church or services you use), Breeze has a flat rate pricing policy. You can add people and users without any limits or pricing changes. There are also no extra charges for support or training via telephone or email. Breeze allows you to store an unlimited amount of information on each person because you can add custom fields unique to your church and ministry. You can assign people a tag and then use that tag to communicate with specific groups, adding members to an event. Tags can June 2017 | 17

“

The biggest challenge we’ve seen is balancing user feedback. We love making churches happy, however we’re adamant about creating

”

software that is extraordinarily easy to use. —CEO Jon VerLee

18 | MinistryTech.com

be used to group volunteers, event attendees and members of the same small group. Breeze helps with events. You can set up online registrations. Check in allows you to check people into an event, keeping track of who attended what and when. (Plus, you can print out child and corresponding parent nametags to make sure the right person is picking up the right child.) You can simply navigate to an event and see who was checked in. Check in is designed to work on desktops, mobile phones, tablets, etc. You can have people

check in by individual or family names. Breeze does not provide complete accounting for your church’s business and payroll, but it can track your membership giving, pledges, generate giving reports and send out giving statements. Breeze provides for online giving, and members can access their giving record. Breeze also allows the church staff to prepare and send out statements at any time. It has been shown that sending out quarterly giving statements can improve giving by your members. Recently, I was talking with one of the persons that helped create some of the first online giving solutions for churches. When I asked him to look into the future and predict what needs to happen, he replied that giving needs to connect with other important church data to help predict giving trends. Breeze provides some of this with their contribution reports, allowing you to see trends and important metrics on the contributions you receive. Breeze allows members to take advantage of text giving. Some services have amounts limited and set, but Breeze allows a donor to give a custom amount to a text number local to the church. Integration with accounting systems varies depending on church needs but Breeze offers a QuickBooks export option. Breeze allows you to create an online directory (print a pictorial directory too) and, since members have the ability to check into their own records and edit their information, the directory will always

Jumpstart Your Facebook Outreach contain current information. And, any church knows they need help when it comes to using volunteers (which are vital to a church). Breeze allows you to schedule volunteers and use their contact tools to send notice of schedules as well as reminders. Because Breeze is web-based, staff and church members can access it at any time, on any device including desktop, tablets and mobile smart phones. Besides the ease-of-use that is making Breeze famous, their pricing is just as easy. One simple price, $50 a month, regardless of how many records/members you have, and regardless of how many times your database is accessed. There is no setup fee, contracts or any termination fees—this means even if you already have data in a spreadsheet or with another ChMS and switch to Breeze, your first cost is your first month’s $50. There is no fee to transfer your data into Breeze. One exception to this pricing policy: if you use the full-integrated texting service that Breeze provides, there will be a small fee depending on how many texts you send out (first 250 are free). Breeze also includes leadership/volunteer tools, allowing you to assign follow up tasks to staff and volunteers to be sure people get contacted at the right time. If you’re looking for an inexpensive, price fixed, no surprises, easy to use ChMS with lots of features, I encourage you to take Breeze out for a spin. Learn more by visiting their website at www.breezechms.com MT

Every church’s outreach efforts should include an engaging, active Facebook page—one that reaches new people and makes your other outreach and marketing efforts more effective. But keeping up with social media posts can be tough. Social Reach Daily is the solution! Social Reach Daily provides your church with daily, automated Facebook posts that are inspiring, meaningful and shareable.

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June 2017 | 19

COMMUNICATIONS by Yvon Prehn

My Journey FroM Mac to PC for Church Communication Software Must-Have Communication Software for Cost-Conscious and Little-Trained

t the risking of over-simplification, there are two groups that exist in church communication ministries, regardless of the size of the church: GROUP #1: The Mac people who use Adobe products, are often at least somewhat trained in professional communication skills (design, typesetting, publication design, video creation and editing, etc.), and are part of a church that has a communications budget. GROUP #2: The PC people who use primarily MS Word and MS Publisher, have little to no training in professional communication skills,

20 | MinistryTech.com

and are part of a church where budgeting colored paper periodically is a challenge. This article is for Group #2—but there’s something for everyone to learn here. Stay with me: I started out in Group #1. I had one of the first MacPlus machines ever produced (it was hand-signed inside the case by everyone who worked on it). I had one of the first copies of Aldus PageMaker (before it was Adobe). I was trained in part by Jan White, one of the great early publication designers. I did design, writing and publication work for many of the major Christian organizations in Colorado Springs.

I LOVED my Mac, my high-end software and design for four-color printing. Then I felt the Lord calling me to help churches where people had no training in design and little or no money for high-end software and equipment. And so, kicking and screaming, I got a PC. I had to sell my Mac (a greatly upgraded incredible machine by this time) because I wouldn’t use the PC while my Mac was in the office. I cried the day it left. Screaming even more, I realized I had to learn to use Microsoft Publisher, because that’s what the churches I was trying to help used. Today I am a proud member of Group #2—I love what can be created

with a PC and MS Publisher, and my Effective Church Communications ministry uses these tools for all the communication templates and training we create for church communicators. I realized that if I’m going to talk about what is Must-Have Software, the best thing I can do is to recommend what over the past many years I’ve learned works best for churches that are cost-conscious, with little professional training and are PC-based. With those guidelines in mind, my first recommendation should be no surprise:

Must-have software for communication creation: Microsoft Publisher

n Reason #4: MS Publisher can create an identity and a consistent communication look for a ministry within the church. n Reason #5: MS Publisher can be used to create your own PR for a church campaign. (Actually, there are nine reasons, and you can download my e-book on this topic for free by CLICKING HERE.)

Must-have software for graphics There are several programs here, but most importantly for ease-of-use and cost-effectiveness, these programs prove you don’t need Illustrator or Photoshop to manipulate, modify

and create great graphics. Paint.net: This is a fantastic FREE program you can use to do many needed image manipulations: crop, image re-sizing, changing the format of the image, changing colors in the image or parts of it, many special effects such as posturizing, pixelating, inverting the colors, turning an image into an ink drawing and lots more. The program is very easy to use. This is a secure place to download it. When you download Paint.net or visit sites that talk about it, you will often see an advertisement for what is often called a similar program,

Here are the top five reasons why MS Publisher is a great program for churches: n Reason #1: MS Publisher can create quality designs equal to those created by the Adobe Creative Suite programs. (I copied one of Adobe’s designs they used to advertise the program in MS Publisher in the booklet; it’s hard to tell the difference). n Reason #2: Templates are more flexible and easier to use in MS Publisher than in MS Word. n Reason #3: MS Publisher can greatly improve the look of a previously text-based publication.

June 2017 | 21

GIMP: lots of people really like it to create images. I don’t. Paint.net is very simple to use and that’s why I recommend it to churches with little or no graphic arts training, but I’ve found GIMP overly complex and confusing. Canva.com and PicMonkey.com are two additional programs I consider Must-Haves for graphics in churches, with Canva the most useful for editing or creating images for the web, though they do have some

cost and you can do the basics these programs provide for free with Paint.net. If you want to see some demos on how to use these, check them out HERE.

Must-have software for video: animoto Let me explain why I chose this program, because it isn’t cheap.

At $22 a month (yearly rate) it is still very cost-effective and is perfect for a church staff that wants to create professional-looking ministry and announcement videos with absolutely no training, fancy cameras or editing experience. With animoto you simply take images (from your camera, PowerPoint Slides, artwork, from the web, whatever), load them up into the program, add text, add a sound track (they have thousands of sound tracks including some good Christian tracks and songs). Then you hit “produce” and it turns it all into a great video! Click on the following link for an article on how to use animoto and three short videos I created using it: How to create ministry videos with emotional impact & how I do that with animoto videos

The most important thing to remember Though software is important, the most important thing to remember is that your message is the most important thing. It isn’t the software you use, but your creativity and caring as you create your message—that is the most important “Must-Have” of all. MT For more training, templates and resources for church communicators, go to: www.effectivechurchcom.com.

Yvon Prehn is the founder and director of Effective Church Communications, effectivechurchcom.com, a ministry that helps churches create communications that help fulfill the Great Commission. She has been writing and teaching about church communications for over 20 years. Her latest book is The Five Steps of Effective Church Communication and Marketing. 22 | MinistryTech.com

Sometimes Old School Works Just Fine Data, and How We Access It [ by Nick Nicholaou ]

The world of computing is going through more changes thanks to the cloud and its ability to make dataâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and access to itâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;pervasive. Anywhere and everywhere! How does a church or ministry decide what technologies to adopt? The answer is surprisingly Old School. June 2017 | 23

New & Exciting Technologies There are so many new ways to access and process data: iPads and Androids are changing everything. Or they at least want to. Between those devices and our smartphones, it doesn’t seem like we need desktop and notebook computers anymore. There are two issues worthy of addressing here: 1) the hardware, and 2) where our data is located in the cloud.

Hardware Tablets are terrific tools, but are they the right tools for those jobs we are called to in the church? For some jobs they are, but for some they aren’t. How can you tell which is correct for your organization? My perspective is impacted by my degree and subsequent studies in management. That affects how I approach and strategically use technology. I told a member of our team recently that I like to manage as though I were a NASCAR driver: I want maximum RPMs and output, but I need to be equally focused on maintenance and care. With regards to maintenance, different members of the crew need different tools to get their job done (imagine giving the jackman’s jack to the engine tuner, or the engine tuner’s computer to the jackman!). This relates to the hardware options available today. Depending on someone’s role, they may do best to use a tablet (iPad or Android) rather than having a desktop or notebook computer. This might be true for those who rarely work in accounting or databases, for example. 24 | MinistryTech.com

Tablets are terrific for email, browsing, or organizing thoughts in preparation to teach or lead a meeting. Others, however, can only be efficient with a desktop or notebook computer. This might be true for those who work in accounting or databases, as well as graphic design and audio/video editing. Those roles need full keyboards, mice or trackpads, and monitors (“displays” in the Apple world). While it’s true that some of this work can be done on a tablet, the process will very likely take a big hit in efficiency. As those who want to hear “Well done” at the end of this earthly journey, good management means balancing efficiency with maintenance and care.

Data Location in the Cloud The cloud is the vehicle driving us toward more use of tablets and smartphones to do the operational side of ministry. To be fair, some solutions have focused on creating very good and efficient apps to help us do more on those devices. But some solutions, like accounting systems and databases, are so large and intense that apps only access a subset of all that the computer version of the solutions have to offer. There’s another issue that should be strategized when trusting our data to the cloud. The issue is the safety and availability of our data. The practical issue is whether our data will be available to us when we need it. Let’s break this into two categories: 1) how the data is available, and

2) the safety of the data. n Churches and ministries function most efficiently and safely when certain kinds of data are sharable among members of a group or department. For instance, the children’s or youth department of a church may have multiple team members on staff, and those team members each need to access the same data. Their data needs to be in a shared folder. The administrative or human resource departments may have similar needs, but their data is sensitive and needs to be secure so that only the members of those departments can get to their data. It is important that whoever we’re entrusting the hosting of our data to can meet those sharable and security needs. There are some providers that can’t, and thus may not be good candidates to host our data. n Not all datacenters are created equal. The key issues are how they protect the data stored within their buildings (physical and technical security), and how redundant the necessary systems are to ensure uptime. The redundancy is the easiest to score. I created the chart shown on next page for my book, Church IT: Strategies and Solutions. I recommend only entrusting your data to a certified Tier 3 or Tier 4 datacenter. Anything less may mean you can’t get to your data when you need or want to. Remember, your busiest day of the week is when many others might schedule maintenance!

Tier Rating

Redundancy

% Uptime

Downtime

no redundancy (only one source of power, only one internet trunk, only one way to manage HVAC)

99.671%

up to 22.8 hours of downtime annually

partial redundancy

99.749%

up to 22 hours of downtime annually

full redundancy, a.k.a. N+1 fault tolerance

99.982%

up to 1.6 hours of downtime annually

at least double redundancy, a.k.a. 2N+1 fault tolerance

99.995%

up to 26.3 minutes of downtime annually

There are so many exciting technologies we can use today! Good management means getting optimal output from our team members, and that is dependent on providing them with the right tools based on their role in our organization. MT Nick Nicholaou is president of MBS, an IT consulting firm specializing in church and ministry computer networks, VoIP, and private cloud hosted services. You can reach Nick at nick@mbsinc.com, and may want to check out his firmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s website (www.mbsinc. com) and his blog at http://ministry-it. blogspot.com.

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How to Choose

Church Management Software

That’s Just Right

Nuts, Bolts and Exceedingly Practical Tips | by Bill Gifford

hurch software comes in all different shapes and sizes. Some work best for small to medium size churches. Others work really well for large churches but are too robust and expensive for a small church. There is no single platform that will work for every church. So, how do you find the right one for your church? To start, hold a brainstorming session with your team and make a list of the features you need. If you’re currently using church management software, also make a list of what is and isn’t working for you. Also keep your goals in mind and choose software that will accommodate as you grow. Where do you plan on being in three years? Five years?

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How can your church management software help you get there? Note: Church software shouldn’t be picked based on bottom line pricing. Ever. (Here’s why.)

Some basic features you’ll likely need: Membership + groups + communication n Names, contact info, special dates n Attendance for worship services + events n Small groups and classes n Email, text messaging, mailing labels n Printed and online church directory n Easily accessible—wherever you are n Members can access/update their own contact info

Contributions n Pledge tracking n Record donations to different funds n Print contribution statements (bonus points if you can email the statements and/or members can view their donation history online) n Reports on pledging and giving

Fund accounting n Payroll n Reporting—compliant with FASB guidelines for nonprofits

Miscellaneous n Ability to scale up for multisite locations, church plants, denominational offices, etc. n Bonus points if you can get all of this in one software package!

Guidelines based on church size: Church size—it’s the single biggest factor to consider when it comes to purchasing a church management system. Based on our decades of experience helping churches, we’ve put together some general guidelines for evaluating a church’s needs for a software system based on its size. The following guidelines are based loosely on household count. If you don’t know your household count, divide your individual head count by three. For example, if you have 500 individuals, then you would have about 166 households. Include everyone in your database with whom you are actively communicating: active members, inactive members, friends and visitors.

Small churches (fewer than 100 households): Sometimes smaller churches think they should grow before they use software. This is a myth. To use an analogy, let’s say you take a few minutes to tidy up your home every night before bed. You wash the dishes, throw the dirty laundry in the hamper, and put the junk mail in the recycling bin. Now imagine if you waited to tidy until the end of the week. The dirty dishes would be piled up in the sink, the floor would be covered in laundry, and the counter would be buried underneath junk mail and newspapers. And the longer you wait, the bigger the mess and the longer it takes to tidy. The same thing is true when it comes to organizing church data. Cleaning the data and bringing it into a software system is easier

Where do you plan on being in three years? Five years? How can your church management software help you get there? when there isn’t as much of it. Also, scaling up is easier when you have already built a sturdy foundation of accurate, neatly organized data. Even if you don’t plan to grow, it’s still a good idea to maintain church management software. First, it helps you keep proper checks and balances in place to prevent fraud and embezzlement. Second, it helps keep things running smoothly through transitions. If a secretary or treasurer is using a proprietary brew of spreadsheets and documents to track everything, it could be very difficult to hand off to the next person—especially if your secretary leaves suddenly or unexpectedly.

Medium churches (100 to 900 households): If you haven’t already, it’s time to get serious and consistent with your data. It becomes increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to keep up with all the people, donations, accounting and payroll without a proper church management software, and it will only get more tangled and unmanageable as your church grows and develops. For example, let’s say you’re using a series of spreadsheets to manage your data. If someone moves, you need to update their address in multiple documents, and each place where the address needs to be stored is a

potential error. Church management systems use a relational database, which means you only have to update the address once and it changes throughout the entire system. Consistent data also helps by giving you information about people so you can maintain a personal connection to them. This is so important at this stage because the larger a church gets, the greater the chance that church members feel unnoticed or neglected. For example, I sometimes visit a large church with more than 2,000 members. One Sunday, the pastor wished me a happy birthday. (My birthday was earlier in the week.) I was surprised because he doesn’t know me very well and I didn’t tell him it had been my birthday. The church must have had my birthday on file from when I registered my daughter in the nursery. By using that data, the pastor was able to connect with me in a meaningful and delightful way.

Large churches (greater than 900 households) Larger churches are going to need a more robust church management system. A small team is no longer sufficient to carry out everyday tasks. You’ll have a network of staff and volunteers sharing the workload. A shared software system will help the team collaborate and stay June 2017 | 27

Rubix

The next generation in church management software.

Collaborate and stay

connected.

on the same page. Speaking of collaboration, you’ll want reports to be easily accessible and sharable. When everything is happening on a larger scale, it’s even more important to track who is doing what and what’s going where. Reviewing the appropriate reports on a regular basis will keep the organization in touch with its people, financially healthy and on track with its mission. A certain level of personalization is also lost in larger churches. There are so many people: you can’t connect with them all one-on-one. This is where small groups and classes come into play; they allow members to connect with each other and church leaders in a more intimate setting. So, you’ll want a church management software that offers small group management and child check-in.

What about your church? Time to start exploring? Church size is not the only factor to consider; however, it does play a big part in when the church should start thinking about getting a software package. Having an organized and consistent system for maintaining records is important for any church. No matter the size, church management software can help a church build and maintain relationships, stay organized and prevent fraud. MT

Get my free trial

Bill Gifford is president of Icon Systems in Moorhead, Minnesota. For more than 20 years, Icon Systems has been developing software that will meet the needs of any religious organization—from church plants to denominational offices. (www.iconcmo.com)

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Serendipitous Streaming:

How an idea to help a pastor led to automated streaming. Decide if it’s right for your church.

s an engaged couple sat waiting for their usually prompt pastor, they didn’t know they were about to solve a problem they had no idea existed. It was a summer evening in 2008. Their pastor was apologetic when he finally arrived to the meeting at his church just outside of Cincinnati, Ohio. He explained that he had been at a nursing home, playing back his sermons on a tape recorder for the residents who weren’t able to attend church that week. The couple wanted to help, and with backgrounds in broadcast,

technology and production, they knew they could provide a streaming solution for this church—and for any house of worship—so that no community members had to miss out on being connected. At the time, streaming was in its infancy. The couple knew that in order for streaming to work for their pastor, the process had to be simple, with no onsite buttons to push or switches to flip. The camera and encoder needed to work in tandem automatically and reliably every

time, which was key to the solution the couple ultimately developed. By automating the process, including the recording, live streaming and content delivery of the broadcast, streaming became something that the church in the Ohio town was able to do without a dedicated staff and without major expense. And, to the couple’s surprise, the solution they created for their pastor would begin serving many more who wanted a simplified streaming process, and StreamSpot, a robust June 2017 | 29

By automating recording, live streaming and content delivery of the broadcast, streaming became something that any church, any size, is able to do without a dedicated staff and without major expense. streaming platform now used by houses of worship of all sizes across the United States and around the world, was born. While promptness is certainly a virtue to celebrate, a pastor being 10 minutes late turned out pretty well, too.

How does StreamSpot’s automated streaming work? The founders of StreamSpot had experience with streaming from their time working in broadcast television, but the development of automating the technology made the platform most useful for the growing need in churches. While StreamSpot customers can select whether they want their account to be placed in automatic or manual streaming mode, automating the streaming schedule is most popular among church customers. Here’s how it works: using a simple online interface in automatic mode, customers can schedule their broadcasts in advance of their events on a one-time schedule, 30 | MinistryTech.com

which is great for weddings and events at church, or recurring schedule, for the same service at the same time each week. Customers also select where they would like each broadcast to appear, including popular destinations like Facebook Live, Chromecast, Roku, Vimeo and i-Tunes for podcasting for true multi-platform delivery and syndication. The onsite streaming equipment is in constant sync with the customer’s broadcast schedule, and each live broadcast starts and stops based on the defined schedule. Within minutes of the broadcast ending, an archive of the live stream is posted directly to the customer’s player, which is typically embedded on their site for on-demand playback. StreamSpot also integrates seamlessly with most third-party players and apps including the Church Online Platform, Subsplash, JW Player, Flowplayer and many more using custom XML, MRSS, RSS feeds or by integrating with StreamSpot’s powerful API. Regardless if you have 10, 100 or 100,000 viewers tuning in, StreamSpot’s global content delivery network (CDN) can scale to meet the

demands of any size congregation.

Is Automated Streaming Right for Your Church? There are several considerations when deciding if automated streaming could benefit your church: Equipment: StreamSpot integrates with the most popular encoding hardware and software available and can fully automate Open Broadcaster Studio, Wirecast, vMix, Flash Media Live Encoder and FFmpeg. For nonautomated solutions, StreamSpot is available for popular mobile apps such as Teredek Live Air Solo, Wowza Go Coder or Switcher Studio, which are low-cost options for streaming at your church using your existing phone or tablet. Whether you’re working with equipment you already have, or looking to invest in equipment for your church, you can easily be up and streaming on the StreamSpot platform very quickly. Staffing: For smaller churches without a dedicated media team, automating the streaming process is not only ideal, but completely necessary. There’s simply not enough hands on deck or hours in the day to manage the church’s streaming equipment, start and stop the broadcast, syndicate to the church’s Facebook page, and manually upload an archive. Automation handles all of this seamlessly. For churches with a dedicated technical staff, automating the streaming process still allows staff members to monitor the

broadcast, while also giving attention to graphics, audio levels and monitoring live statistics during the stream. Many churches with a dedicated media staff still say that automating their recurring streaming schedule to begin and end at exactly the same time increases precision for reporting their weekover-week analytics. StreamSpot takes care of the streaming and allows you to focus on what’s really important: your ministry. Budget: Streaming has become extremely affordable, particularly for automation. The StreamSpot Lite plan is $79 per month, while the StreamSpot Pro plan is $149 per month and includes the StreamSpot Sync® automation, plus countless great features and priority phone support every step of the way.

Ultimately, selecting to automate your streaming depends on the needs of your church. For one church in Cincinnati, Ohio, automated streaming created an important outreach for congregants who otherwise wouldn’t have been able to connect, making a big impact on their ministry with minimal equipment investment, budget allocation or staff interaction. MT StreamSpot specializes in automated content distribution for multi-platform delivery. StreamSpot’s core services allow you to focus on your event, not the stream. For more information, check out streamspot.com.

June 2017 | 31

10 Church Marketing Mistakes to Avoid Step up your church-marketing game Whether or not you recognize it, your church is doing marketing: that sign in front of your church; the Facebook post about your upcoming sermon series; or the announcement from the pulpit about your new small-group ministry. These are all examples of marketing. And the better your church markets, the more quickly it will grow. When it comes to church marketing, it’s almost as important to avoid mistakes as it is to pursue success. We’ve put together a list of the top 10 church marketing mistakes you’ll want to avoid as you improve your church’s marketing game.

32 | MinistryTech.com

Church Marketing Mistake #1: A weak social-media strategy When you’re creating a social-media strategy, you need to ask yourself: “What is my church hoping to achieve with social media?” Do you want to grow your local church? Do you want to communicate with your own congregants? Do you want to grow a large following of people who watch your sermons or use resources you’ve created, but may never physically attend? Set your objectives first: the rest flows from here. Who’s going to maintain our social media? Which social network should we prioritize? If you’re looking for a better understanding of the various socialmedia platforms, check out this

piece on the pros and cons of various platforms for churches.

Church Marketing Mistake #2: No email list Studies have shown that, on average, if you have 2,000 Facebook fans, 2,000 Twitter followers and 2,000 email subscribers, and you message them all: n 40 Twitter followers will see your message n 120 Facebook fans will see your message n 435 people will open your email Create incentives that can help you generate email addresses. Create a campaign of three or four emails that people will receive when they sign up for your list. It should start

with a thank-you email, and then should include tools and information about your church that people would find useful.

Church Marketing Mistake #3: No visitor game plan No one wants visiting a new church to feel like stepping onto a used car lot. You need a tactical plan for making visitors feel welcome, capturing their information and getting them to return—all without pressure! It starts the moment they pull into the parking lot. Clear signage or a parking-lot attendant can help ensure that visitors don’t have to hunt for a place to park or walk from the back of the lot. The next order of business is getting their contact information. Without this, you’ve lost your ability to be proactive with them. So make sure there is ample time in the service dedicated to encouraging visitors to fill out contact cards. And ensure that the cards don’t require so much information that people opt out of completing them.

Church Marketing Mistake #4: Failure to advertise your sermon series Sermon series can be a huge draw. You spend a lot of time and effort coming up with sermon series ideas that will appeal to people both inside and outside the church, but if you’re not marketing those sermon series in advance, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity. There are a number of potential

ways that you can market your sermon series: Promote it on social media; create a page on your website; purchase banners and signage; send emails, invitation cards and direct mailing.

Church Marketing Mistake #6: Website neglect

Church Marketing Mistake #5: Neglecting local SEO

n It’s non-responsive on mobile. Eighty percent of Internet users own a smartphone and 47 percent have a tablet. If your website looks all goofy when someone tries to visit it on a mobile device, they’re not going to visit your church. (And Google will penalize you in search engines, negatively impacting your SEO.) n The design is dated. Web design isn’t static. It doesn’t take too long before what was hip yesterday becomes passé. n Only the IT guy can use it. You want a website that allows you and your team to make updates and changes when you need to.

Imagine that someone has just moved to your city and they’re looking for a church. What do you think is the first thing they do? Chances are they’re Googling “churches near me.” Google serves up the churches in the area based upon local SEO (Search Engine Optimization). To neglect learning about and improving your local SEO is an egregious church marketing mistake. Here are some tips to winning at the local SEO game: n Nail your NAP (Name, Address and Phone number). Everywhere you write your church information online needs to be the exactly same. You want uniformity on your website and anywhere you display your church information. n Put your church address everywhere. There shouldn’t be a page on your website that doesn’t include your church address. Google should find it on every page it indexes. (Our advice: make it part of your universal footer on your website.) n Collect Reviews. One of the key ways to ensure your church gets a high SEO ranking in your city is through reviews. Encourage people to review your church on Google+, Facebook and Yelp!

When was the last time you updated your church website? Here are some signs your website needs an update:

It’s important to update your website every couple of years, and not just so that people enjoy looking at it. You want your website to rank well, and updating your website is going to ensure that Google is finding the things it needs, like responsive design, a fast page-load speed and an increase on the average time people spend on your site.

Church Marketing Mistake #7: Forgetting about word of mouth Word-of-mouth is marketing 101—but that doesn’t negate its importance! Nothing influences people’s decisions like hearing a recommendation from June 2017 | 33

a trusted friend or family member. It’s a mistake to not consider ways you can put endorsements to work for you. Get involved in your community. When you do good for people, they talk about you. Weird, right? You should be finding ways to serve your community anyway—but creating

positive buzz is an awesome perk!

Church Marketing Mistake #8: Ignoring mobile technology You know, the Internet isn’t going away. Unfortunately, churches

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are struggling to understand how mobile technology is just as revolutionary and important. Churches utilizing mobile to meet these needs have a marketing legup on other churches. Not only are they forward thinking and improving their word of mouth by providing the tools that people rely on, but they’re finding it easier to keep their church engaged and connected. If you don’t have a church app, it’s time to start looking into one. The Total Engagement Package from echurch is an example of an app that keeps people involved in ministry and community while giving them the tools they need to make giving easy and quick.

Church Marketing Mistake #9: Promoting a “generic” church Too many churches market themselves in ways that make them completely indistinguishable from every other church. For people looking for a church home, it can be really hard to understand what sets one church apart from another. Denominational differences can help: sometimes people will just show up at your church because it’s the same “brand” that they’re familiar with; people who don’t know the differences between a General Baptist church and a Reformed Baptist church won’t necessarily have a greater draw to one over the other. You might think that it will put you at a disadvantage to market your differences instead of your

similarities, but here are a couple things to keep in mind: first, they’re going to find out what sets you apart eventually, and second, marketing your distinctives will actually help you stand out.

Church Marketing Mistake #10: Marketing to everyone Similar to #9, this church marketing mistake is about making too broad of an appeal. You’re not going to be what everyone’s looking for. And that’s fine. When you know who your ideal audience is, you make better ministry decisions. Figuring out what kind of church you are can help you know what your ideal demographic is. It’s just that you’re going to have a better idea how to tailor your messaging, how to approach sermons, how to use your resources, and how to make decisions regarding the ministries you start.

Improve your church marketing You don’t have to be locked into making the same church marketing mistakes. You can learn from churches that are nailing church marketing without having to copy them. If you’re wondering where to start, we put together a free eBook titled 5 Principles of Fast Church Growth. It’s full helpful tips and ideas pulled from interviews with America’s 100 fastest-growing churches. We’re sure that you’ll find it full of “Eureka!” moments. MT

June 2017 | 35

My Church Place

The Real Reason Your Teams Are Experiencing

Chaos

Two Keys to Smooth Operations How would you answer the following question? The teams in my church are currently: a. Running smoothly b. Hitting some bumps but we’re getting by c. Experiencing chaos Now, if we asked the people on your teams the same questions, what would they say? Would their answers match up with yours? You see, as leaders and managers, it’s easy to get into a bubble and 36 | MinistryTech.com

think that what we’re doing is working when in reality it’s not. The two biggest contributors to chaos within your teams are lack of clarity and lack of systems. Clarity creates a road map of where your team is going and what each person on the team is responsible for. Without clarity, people waste sideways energy creating their own tasks and goals that may not actually contribute to the accomplishment of overarching ministry goals.

How do you create clarity?

1 2 3

Help staff and volunteers know what the “win” looks like in their respective roles. Create clear priorities so everyone knows what they’re aiming for. Create clear responsibilities for each team member.

The second problem that creates chaos is a lack of systems. Not sure what a system is? A system is a set of processes and tasks a person or group of people follow to produce an outcome. If you find you need to call meeting after meeting to address

issue after issue, you’ve got a systems problem. Another indication of a systems problem is you continue to put out the same fires. In other words, recurring problems and challenges provide evidence of a systematic problem that needs a solution.

How do you create a system?

1 2

Gather everyone impacted by the problem together. Start with the end result in mind. A great place to start is by filling in the blank to “it would be great if __________________.” That answer becomes the outcome you’re trying to achieve. L ist out all the things that need to happen to make that outcome a reality and who is responsible for each task. Determine the list of tools used to implement the system.

And voila! You’ve created a system. The best tools allow individuals and teams to communicate seamlessly without friction. My Church Place allows your congregation, staff and volunteers to effortlessly share prayer requests, praise reports, announcements, team messages and more, all from an easy-to-use dashboard. MT Learn more about how My Church Place can serve your church at mychurchplace.com. June 2017 | 37

necessitates heightened levels of cybersecurity vigilance for today’s churches, nonprofits, businesses and other organizations.

UNDERSTANDING IoT

Cybersecurity in the IoT Era What All Churches Need to Know LAST FALL’S WIDESPREAD INTERNET OUTAGE caused by a massive attack during which hackers hijacked hundreds of thousands of personal connected devices might have brought down the web, but it didn’t come as a surprise to security experts. In fact, they’d long warned of the rising threats to security and business continuity in the “Internet of Things” (IoT) era. Still, it took the crippling assault to bring this critical issue to the surface. While faith organizations may not immediately come to mind when we think of the IoT, the reality is that they too are increasingly interconnected—and are therefore not exempt from potential cybersecurity issues. Here’s a closer look at IoT, along with why it 38 | MinistryTech.com

While the term “Internet of things” may sound enigmatic, it’s a surprisingly straightforward concept. The Internet of Things Global Standards Initiative defines it as “a global infrastructure for the information society, enabling advanced services by interconnecting (physical and virtual) things based on existing and evolving interoperable information and communication technologies.” Forbes breaks it down even further: “Simply put, this is the concept of basically connecting any device with an on and off switch to the Internet (and/or to each other). This includes everything from cellphones, coffee makers, washing machines, headphones, lamps, wearable devices and almost anything else you can think of. The IoT is a giant network of connected ‘things’ (which also includes people). The relationship will be between people-people, peoplethings and things-things.”

CHURCHES AND IoT Certainly, churches derive benefits from operating in the IoT era. Says DesignerPub, “The BYOD trend means that it isn’t just the technology that is changing. The culture of the people who use the technology has changed. Assistive listening is now an app. Conference rooms are now run via iPad. Did you know that with the right infrastructure you can use an iPhone as a microphone on the main loudspeaker system? It

isn’t just the Internet of the Church’s Things that is changing the design; it is the Internet of EVERYTHING—including the worshippers.” While these developments can certainly improve the way people worship and may even bring more people through the doors—physical or figurative—of your church, there’s a lesser-known downside: the increased risk of cyber-security breaches. Church computers, networks and financial systems are all targets for Internet predators searching for easy prey. In fact, according to data aggregated by Hackmageddon, roughly 3.4 percent of the 40,000 daily hacks that occur are against religious organizations. The takeaway? No matter how unlikely it seems or how secure you may feel, your ministry cannot afford to be complacent when it comes to cybersecurity.

THE FUTURE OF IoT Not only that, but we’re only at the very beginning when it comes to what IoT has to offer. In fact, according to data from Cisco, 500 billion devices are expected to be connected to the Internet by the year 2030—each of them exponentially improving our collective ability to “aggregate, analyze and deliver insight, which helps drive more informed decisions and actions.” Echoes Forbes, “The reality is that the IoT allows for virtually endless opportunities and connections to take place, many of which we can’t even think of or fully understand the impact of today.” However, as we discover more ways to connect and engineer more

devices through which to do so, we’re also creating more opportunities for cybercriminals looking to penetrate our pews.

THE IoT AND SECURITY AND PRIVACY According to a recent Hewlett Packard (HP) study, a full 70 percent of the most commonly used IoT devices contain serious vulnerabilities. Even more alarming? Of the devices tested, an average of 25 vulnerabilities was found for each across a broad range of measures, including privacy concerns, insufficient authorization, lack of transport encryption, insecure web interface and inadequate software protection. The Wall Street Journal recently set forth a set of best practices for consumers aimed at stepping up their smart-home security and personal devices. However, this problem is far from isolated to the consumer side. In giving hackers backdoor access to all of these billions of connected devices, IoT also grants access to the massive amount of data contained within the networks of organizations, including churches. Compounding the situation are a number of related factors that escalate the threat, including the speed of change in today’s fast-moving business world; the interconnectedness of devices and networks; more open infrastructure; cloud computing; application vulnerabilities; the growth of mobile and, specifically, BYOD; bandwidth consumption; governance and compliance; privacy and data protection; and breach preparedness, including investigation and notification.

SAFEGUARDING YOUR CHURCH IN THE IoT The mandate for contemporary organizations, according to Datafloq? “Security needs to be built in as the foundation of IoT systems, with rigorous validity checks, authentication and data verification, and all the data needs to be encrypted. At the application level, software development organizations need to be better at writing code that is stable, resilient and trustworthy, with better code development standards, training, threat analysis and testing. As systems interact with each other, it’s essential to have an agreed interoperability standard, which is safe and valid. Without a solid bottom-top structure we will create more threats with every device added to the IoT.” Failure to prioritize cybersecurity, meanwhile, can be costly: According to AT&T’s recent Cybersecurity Insight’s The CEO’s Guide to Data Security, cybercrime damages will skyrocket to $6 trillion annually by the year 2021. Luckily, there are some things your church can do to minimize risk in the increasingly dynamic IoT landscape, including the following four priorities as delineated by AT&T: 1. IDENTITY AND ACCESS MANAGEMENT—Establishing and implementing access policies for applications, devices and people 2. THREAT ANALYTICS— Automating processes for identifying and responding to unusual activity

May 2017 | 39

3. VIRTUALIZATION—Improving flexibility and consistency through software-defined security

CAN TECHNOLOGY BE THE ANSWER TO

Better Church Communications?

This also means reframing your faith organization’s attitude toward investing in cybersecurity. According to multinational professional services firm EY’s report, Cybersecurity and

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4. INCIDENT RESPONSE— Instituting a plan that outlines roles and actions in the event that a breach occurs

the Internet of Things: Insights on Governance, Risk and Compliance, “Security is usually positioned as an obligatory cost—a cost to pay to be compliant, or a cost to pay to reduce risk. But moving to a model of security as risk and trust management implies looking upon security as a business enabler; for example, managing consumer data access leverages the monetary value of the data instead of focusing on the protection of the data itself. In fact, this transformation means enabling the development of even more extended networks of networks, of more and new forms of collaboration and mobility, and of new business models.” The underlying principles absolutely apply to faith communities, as well. Rather than thinking of cybersecurity as an expense or hassle, think of it as an investment in the well-being of your church and its constituents. Which begs the question: Where does your ministry stand when it comes to IoT and cyber security preparedness? Contact One Call Now to find out how our innovative communication solutions can help your church proactively prepare for cybersecurity threats in the age of IoT. MT

Steps to Connecting Your Ministry Team Disconnect = Bad | Effect ive Connect ion = Good!

by Amy Bechdel

our ministry team is most likely made up of many people doing a lot of very different things at very different levels. There’s your full-time staff, which pastors and leads ministry; your volunteers, who give a couple hours a month doing everything from highlevel administration to setting up coffee stations; and a wide variety of people in between. Keeping your ministry team working together, connected and on the same page can be a challenge. And disconnect can lead to ineffectiveness, wasted time and even a decrease in willingness of people to be involved. Here are three steps you can take to help everyone work together to accomplish your mission.

Step 1. Get everyone using

the same database.

The first step and one of the most important aspects of getting your ministry team on the same page is making sure they are all working from the same database. This is important for several reasons:

Information changes take place all the time, especially contact information. If volunteers are working on their own spreadsheets or different databases and programs, then a lot of time and energy will be spent getting new or updated data to and from everyone else. When your team all uses the same database everyone immediately has updated information.

Participation by church members is more easily updated. If teachers use separate databases or spreadsheets, one of the most painful parts of the Sunday School

ministry will be grade school promotion. If everyone is on the same database then you can simply “promote” all students to the next grade and the teacher’s rosters will automatically be up to date. It’s even easier if volunteers can do things like take attendance, add visitors, and access or update data on their own mobile devices.

Communication between volunteers concerning those they are ministering to will happen more often and more securely if they are all sharing the right database. Things like confidential notes, scheduled appointments, visitor follow-up and more can happen a lot more smoothly and efficiently. You may be concerned about the prospect of your newest volunteer having access to the same database as your full-time treasurer or pastor. And the truth is, without the right June 2017 | 41

security features, this could open the door for potential issues. After all, pastors keep highly confidential notes on counseling, and treasurers need a secure place to enter private giving information. Good church software will allow you to employ numerous layers of security so you can ensure that each person only has access to the data, features and even specific areas of the software program they need to fulfill their role. You also need the ability to create a security profile, and quickly assign that profile to anyone in that role. For example, you may establish security settings for your full-time secretaries that allows them access to your entire system, and then another security profile for part-time administrative volunteers that only allows them to view, edit or delete specific areas of information. Finally, you should be able to view who accessed your database and when. This creates an audit trail and increases accountability. Find church software that gives you the ability to view detailed history of not only database access, but also actions performed.

Step 2. Hold quarterly

meetings or trainings.

Getting your ministry team together on a semi-regular basis is another important aspect of connecting the team. No matter how much technology advances, nothing can replace face-to-face meetings in the same room. You will not only help unify your volunteers and leaders, but you will have the opportunity for vital two-way communication with your team. There are a couple things you want to keep in mind as you schedule

42 | MinistryTech.com

and prepare for these meetings.

Invite your ministry team to the meeting with plenty of advanced notice. Many if not most of the members of your ministry team probably also have another job, family and maybe even other organizations at which they volunteer. While they care greatly about your ministry and want to be involved, you’re going to need to help them to make that happen. Give them enough advanced notice to plan ahead and rearrange their schedule if necessary to attend. The only issue with advanced notice is that it allows people more time to forget the date and time of your meeting. Solve this problem by sending a couple reminders. Schedule a simple email campaign that sends out an email a few days before and the day of the meeting, or even schedule a text message to go out to the whole team a couple hours beforehand.

Make the meetings valuable. No one wants to go to meetings that don’t seem important, or that don’t seem to accomplish anything. Define a challenge or goal, then define how each member or segment of your ministry can work together to address that challenge or reach that goal. Then assign practical, actionable and specific steps to each member so that everyone walks away knowing what they need to do.

assigned tasks, assist and delegate where necessary, and possibly even have smaller, more focused follow-up meetings.

After the meeting, have effective follow-up. Make sure ministry team leaders follow up on the

Step 3. Send a monthly

volunteer update

Your ministry, no matter the size, has a variety of goals that may include everything from coordinating outreaches to your community, feeding and clothing the poor, helping recovering addicts, discipleship, fundraising for a new building and more. A monthly communication (whether it’s an email or a letter) to volunteers helps keep people on the same page and engaged with your ministry. You can remind people of your overall vision, keep them up to date on changes, and help them see the impact their volunteering is having on the lives of others. And let them know where you see your ministry headed next. You can even identify areas for others to get more involved, and share new challenges and prayer requests. You send out communications every day. But if they aren’t effective or engaging, they may get ignored due to the busyness of life, or lost in overstuffed inboxes and mailboxes. You need to make your communications more effective. Do this by:

Sending the right email to the right people. When it comes to effective email communication, you want to stay in touch often enough to stay on top of people’s minds, but not too often that they start ignoring what you send. Create groups based on specific ministry interests and skills, attendance at past events, and age

and gender just to name a few examples. Send messages that are relevant to everyone in your entire ministry, and then send additional, more ministry-focused updates (like updates on the youth group, seniors group, food pantry) to those in your ministry-specific groups.

Painting big pictures to keep volunteers engaged. It’s a great time for vision casting. Write a couple fresh sentences where you remind your volunteers of why the ministry exists and talk about the overall vision/mission, etc. In other words, share your excitement and get them excited!

Grow Your Ministry & Connect Your Team Free Demo SERVANTKEEPER®8

Sharing and explaining new or anticipated changes. Change is always a-foot. People resist change until they see the benefit. Take time to explain changes that are taking place, give the reasoning behind the changes, and give volunteers a chance to respond or express concerns. Addressing these concerns proactively is always better than addressing them after the fact.

Telling stories. Stories engage, are easy to remember and demonstrate an idea in a way that helps people understand. Plus, people share stories with others. Each month tell a story on how someone’s life was impacted by the ministry. This will help to remind everyone why all the work and effort is worth it, help to spur your volunteers on to doing more for the ministry, and ultimately help your team to continue striving to work together. MT

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THE LAST WORD

But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.

Psalm 69:13 ESV

Photo: Danka & Peter, unsplash.com