Ministry Tech Magazine - December 2017 by Now - Ministry Tech Magazine

serve like it’s christmas all year long • re-engage the bible in 2018

5 TECH TIPS TO UNIFY YOUR CHURCH

• DISCIPLESHIP AND TECHNOLOGY

TECHNOLOGY EMPOWERING

MINISTRY

christmas convenience What’s the real cost?

DECEMBER 2017

www.ministrytech.com

CONTENTS

12.17

16 Re-engage the Bible in 2018 From YouVersion to Google, Bible reading has never been easier.

4 the magic key

DISCIPLESHIP AND TECHNOLOGY

We’ve already allowed Amazon ears into our homes; are you now willing to give Amazon eyes in your home?

Discover four critical metrics of the discipleship health in your church.

26 Serve Like It’s Christmas All Year Long Set the tone for the coming year: Carry the celebration forward!

TECH CHECK 12.17.........................................................................................11 STARTUP: Telechoice's Purpose Pyramid (Part 3)..............13 High Tech Can Serve High Touch.................................................. 19 FILMPAC Provides Accessible Videos......................................... 24

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8 5 TECH TIPS TO UNIFY YOUR CHURCH ACROSS MULTIPLE CAMPUSES If you want to truly be unified across many campuses, these tech tools will help.

A Word from the editor Ray Hollenbach

Marketing Director

Joey Tindell

Marketing Manager Rudy Kovac

Managing Editor

Ray Hollenbach

Art Directors

Troy Irvin, Henny Vallee

Contributing Editors

Matt Farrand, Steve Hewitt, Russ McGuire, Caleb Neff, Nick Nicholaou YvonPrehn, Jonathan Smith, Steven Sundermeier

Copy Editor Laura Severn

ADVERTISING

VP Advertising Sales Jared Bryant

National Media Consultants

Charles Fleece, Joseph Landry, Stephanie Large, Seth Rankin, Dan Whitfield, Barbara (McDonald) Wolfe

Account Associates

Pamela Burton, Megan Foster, Alice Gifford, Trish Hughes, Gabriel McKinsey, Bethany Payne, Syndie Porter, Lara Whelan

Administrative Director Rebecca Meyer

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 within are not necessarily the views of the editor, publisher, or employees of Ministry Tech® magazine, or Outreach, Inc. © Copyright 2017 Outreach, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Merry Christmas From MinistryTech! Wait . . . what? It’s December? Each year we look up from the busyness of family, work, ministry and a thousand other things and BAM! The holidays are upon us, the year is drawing to a close, and again we are astonished at how quickly another year has flown by. And of course, the season of Advent is a perfect way to bring this year to completion and look forward to the next with hope and expectation. Christmas itself is a gift—to us! It is our annual reminder of God’s love and care toward the entire world, and toward us as individuals. The original Christmas gift, even before the gold, frankincense and myrrh, was the gift of the Christ Child, in whom the Creator visited our life. God himself took on the robe of flesh-and-blood. God immersed himself in a world of schedules and chores, responsibilities and all the workaday tasks that make up so much of our lives and cause time to slip past unnoticed. But even in the rush of Christmas, some things do not go unnoticed. As the editor of Ministry Tech Magazine, it’s my joy to notice—and express my thanks for— everyone who makes this ministry possible. Our regular staff of writers

serve us well: Jonathan Smith, Nick Nicholaou, Steven Sundermeier, Russ McGuire, Caleb Neff, Mike O’Brien and Yvon Prehn. They combine technical competence, writing skills and a heart for ministry—a very rare combination! Also, the steady hands of the Outreach production team serve behind the scenes. People like Chris Yount Jones, Henny Vallee, Troy Irvin, Laura Severn, Rudy Kovac and Joey Tindell all play vital roles in producing both the PDF magazine and the MinistryTech.com website. Finally, MinistryTech is also a collaboration between Outreach, Inc. and its business partners, firms that do more than advertise, they contribute useful and thought-provoking content for the readers as well. This is one of the unique strengths of MinistryTech: business partners who share their knowledge base and make the magazine possible. All of these are our gifts to you, the readers we hope to serve, because we know you are serving your churches and ministries, largely as volunteers and always as servants of Christ. To you we wish a very Merry Christmas!

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.

December 2017 | 3

PROTECTED WITH PURPOSE

Magic TH E

Key

Do You Trust Amazon as Much as You Trust Santa? [

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by Steven Sundermeier

]

PROTECTED WITH PURPOSE

anta Claus for me was always more mysterious than magical. There always seemed more questions surrounding this white bearded man than logical answers my parents could provide. For example, of all the places he could call home and set up a toy making shop, why did he choose the North Pole? Also, how could one man utilizing a bunch of flying reindeers (Flying reindeer! And one with a glowing red nose, to boot!) ever be able to deliver millions of presents to all the children of the world in a single night? However, the most perplexing questions of all centered on his home delivery service. My house had a wood burning stove and chimney, and since I grew up in Ohio, both were always in use. With all the chimneyed homes across the world, wasn’t the scorching of clothing and skin an occupational hazard for Old Kris Kringle? And as would be particularly true with our wood-burning chimney—Santa would have been absolutely filthy from all the chimney soot. And how was he able to fit down every chimney in the first place? And even more confusing yet, what happens if a house (apartment, townhouse, condo, orphanage, etc.) didn’t have a fireplace, as is the case with many newer homes that often will vent without a chimney? The facts, it seemed, were not in jolly old St. Nick’s favor! Finally some good news: While for decades parents have struggled with similar Santa questions, future parents and parents of Santa-believing little ones need not struggle anymore. We no longer have to convince our

precious children of Santa’s “magic key” into our house, as we can now have a perfectly acceptable and logical answer: Our 21st-century high-tech Santa can use the “Amazon Key.” Problem solved. Well, not exactly. If you haven’t already heard, back on October 25 Amazon announced its release for the Amazon Key. The Amazon Key is a new service offering In-Home delivery service

for its Amazon Prime Members. According to Amazon, the Amazon Key provides you the opportunity to receive packages just inside your front door and lets you grant permanent or temporary access to family, friends, neighbors and other folks you trust (Santa Claus?). Amazon Key would also allow you to give temporary access to recurring visitors like “dog walkers, house cleaners or out-of-

December 2017 | 5

PROTECTED WITH PURPOSE town guests.” In order for Amazon shoppers to take advantage of the Amazon Key service, those interested must first purchase the Amazon Key In-Home Kit. The In-Home Key consists of the Amazon Cloud Cam and an Amazon compatible Smart Lock. The Amazon Cloud Cam, carrying a price tag of $139.99, is an indoor security camera

where users can monitor their home in 1080 Full HD, and for those wondering, it also sports night vision capabilities (didn’t I see a movie about this once?). For the Smart Lock option, users are given a couple of options, each offering similar functionality (Yale Assure Smart Lock Touchscreen or Kwikset SmartCode Keypad Smart Lock). Users will also be given the

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option to select ‘Free “Professional” InHome Installation. Once the In-Home Kit has been purchased and installed, shoppers then move forward in shopping on Amazon as they always have, and when completing the purchase process, they will select “free in-home delivery” at checkout. At the time of this writing, the InHome delivery wasn’t yet available for all zip codes. After checkout and on delivery day, you’ll receive a notification in the morning and another just before the delivery arrives at your address. Amazon goes on to state that the driver will always knock first before requesting access and that the scheduled delivery driver is verified through an authentication process. Amazon will then turn on your Cloud Cam to record the delivery, and then grant access for the driver to deliver your package just inside the front door. Does this sound complicated, detailed and even a little fishy to anyone else? There are too many steps! And no matter how it’s packaged or presented, our privacy is being sold under the title of “Amazon Key.” Are you willing to give Amazon a key to your house? Are any red flags going off in your head? Before you answer, let me detail a couple of additional facts about the Amazon In-Home delivery. First, in order for the In-Home delivery to be completed successfully, all homeowners with a home security system must first disable it the scheduled day of delivery. (Red flag.) Second, all pets (guard dogs, etc.) must be properly caged (they can’t be responsible for pets that go missing), and lastly, you

PROTECTED WITH PURPOSE are also granting Amazon the right to open your door willingly. I live and breathe technology, and am someone who greatly enjoys new technology. However, as a security professional, I am also realistic in the understanding that technology isn’t always reliable. Amazon, on the other hand, has been very bold in its initial statements, boldly attempting to convince that all will be OK, and that they have solved the delivery theft problem. The problem is people know this isn’t just about solving the delivery theft problem; it’s about getting eyes into our homes. It’s about beginning a deep sales-process and progression for Amazon In-Home services to become more marketable/profitable. Amazon is set to roll out 1,200 home services from pet sitting to cleaning services in the near future. But are we ready for it? Per social media chatter and popup polls, it appears most people (over 47 percent) feel the new service is a “disaster waiting to happen.” Other than the obvious risks (burglary, shady delivery drivers, pets/toddlers gone missing) let’s also explore some cyber risks. Remember the Mirai malware? The one that penetrated and exploited networked devices, turning devices like security cameras into a massive botnet to launch large-scale network attacks to take down major websites. I believe it would be safe to assume that if vulnerabilities were ever found in the Amazon Key's software those cameras could also be turned into a botnet, too. At the moment, there is less transparency surrounding the underlined technology used in Amazon associated products, since neither Amazon nor

No matter how it’s packaged or presented, our privacy is being sold under the title of “Amazon Key.” the manufacturer's technical specifications pages list the security protocols used within the locks. Other questions could be raised about the lock's software: Will this software be frequently updated and if so, how frequently? Will the updates be automated? As we learned with the WannaCry scare over the summer, users simply don’t bother updating their software even for the most critical updates. Lastly, what would happen in the event the company ceased to offer support for the locks? Or the software needed upgrading? Looking through the SmartLock products on the Amazon website, at least one of the locks uses WiFi, which could lead to an insecure potential dangerous situation. Some of the others utilize the Bluetooth low-energy technology, which offers additional security but still leaves users vulnerable. With the In-Home delivery being done in the Cloud, there are legitimate concerns about Man-in-the-Middle style attacks if the Cloud servers should be breached. Bottom line is that there is a lot to consider, as one major security breach could give virtually any hacker access to your home, your children and your privacy. For perhaps millions, we’ve already allowed Amazon ears in our homes (the Echo, Echo Dot, Echo Spot); are we now willing to give Amazon eyes in our homes? For me, the answer is no. I’ll take my chances hiding the keys under the mat. When my kids really want to know

the truth about how Santa gets into chimney-less homes, it will be an ideal time to reiterate the true Reason for the Season: the miracle of Jesus’ birth. It’s fun folklore and a treasured bedtime story to hear about Santa’s Christmas Eve escapades, but proving it would be tricky, and might have some hidden angles. I feel the same about some of today’s advancements in technology. We still have to keep our wits about us. Every new toy out at Christmas doesn’t have to be under the tree, especially a “security system” toy that might have the capability of keeping tabs on us inside our homes. Technology should not make us vulnerable. And just because I am a techy doesn’t mean that I have no street smarts. I know how “Santa” really gets presents under our tree, and I also know when marketers are inviting themselves into our home. I think it will be simpler and safer for me to pick up any delivered boxes outside my door when I get home. Just like I do every year. Blessings to you and yours this holiday season and thanks for making 2017 such a positive year! 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.

December 2017 | 7

serve like it's christmas

all year long by Jonathan Smith

Christmas Is the Beginning of the Good News

here are a zillion ways to effectively and creatively proclaim the Christmas message, but perhaps in all the busyness it would help us all to stop, rest and read what the Bible says.

Luke 2:1-20 At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s 8 | MinistryTech.com

we celebrate Easter more often than just on Easter Sunday – so why not Christmas? ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. He took with him Mary, to whom he was engaged, who was now expecting a child. And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them. That night there were shepherds

staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this

sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.” Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying, “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.” When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them.

church a few times a year, making the importance of a solid Christmas presentation critical, and maybe a little stressful. The Christmas story was the fulfillment of hundreds of years of prophecy coming true, paving the way for us to get to Heaven. Christ had to come as a man, suffer, die and rise again in order for us to be saved from the curse of sin. That narrative gives us Christmas, and Easter.

Recently I was reminded that we celebrate Easter more often than just on Easter Sunday—so why not Christmas, why not play Christmas music all year long. Music and songs often reference the resurrection and our risen Savior. Churches often refer to our God who is risen; He’s alive and not dead. We often ask folks if they believe in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. That isn’t to say that Christmas is more or less important than Easter,

Available Now By Jonathan Smith

MinistryTech Monthly Contributor & National Speaker

Matthew 2:1 continues the story. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.” When was the last time you read that? While we work hard to share the Christmas story, have we taken the time to let it impact us? Christmas, like Easter, is a time when the fields are often ripe for the harvest. Churches are filled with those who may only attend

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you can’t have one without the other. You’ve heard of Christmas in July. Even the Hallmark Channel shows a round of Christmas movies to help get everyone in the spirit in July. Perhaps we should have an Easter reminder in October. Regardless the point is Christmas is worth celebrating all year long. As we enter this busy time of year, busy with family, busy with traditions, busy with celebrations, and busy with ministry, let’s not think that this is for December only. Let’s remember that our message this Christmas season is worthy of celebrating year round. As we minister through technology, sound, video, lighting, staging and nontech areas like greeting and parking lot attending and nursery and much more, let’s not think this is a one and done until next year. Let’s minister to the lost around us as if it is Christmas all year long! We can learn something from the shepherds. After going to Bethlehem to see the baby Jesus, the Bible says they “returned to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.” They didn’t stop praising after they saw Jesus and left the stable. They continued even after they got back to their flocks. When the productions are over, the visitors have gone, and the holiday season hustle and bustle is over, let’s remember to continue to praise Him for the miracle of Christmas the other 11 months of the year. Merry Christmas! MT Jonathan Smith is the Director of Technology at Faith Ministries in Lafayette, Indiana. You can reach Jonathan at jsmith@faithlafayette.org and follow him on Twitter @JonathanESmith.

tech check

12.17 Live Streaming Made Easy Any church can become a church without walls via live streaming. Whether it’s your Sunday morning worship service of mid-week Bible-study, inexpensive and accessible services like

TRAINEDUP.CHURCH Hundreds of churches have begun to look for help in training volunteers for ministry. Many of them have found the answer at Trainedup.church, an online service that has created more than 400 videos for covering nearly every church function. The monthly subscription service starts as low as $49 and allows unlimited access to their library of practical training videos. Check out their site here. This service has the potential to bring deep change to a church. “If you're like me, you know the power of good training and the cost of bad training,” said Jonny Craig, co-host of the 200Churches podcast. “The best ideas still need people who have been equipped to pull them off. Even ministries that have been operating in your church forever can be broken by bad training. When you get a new volunteer, are you prepared to introduce them to a new ministry in a way that keeps them engaged and excited?” n

Boxcast and ChruchStreaming.tv provide tools to extend your reach. These services offer free trails or monthly subscriptions starting at $19.99, which mean even the most modest church budget can take advantage of the latest technologies. One significant difference between the DIY option on social media sites and services from other firms is the array of options and expertise available, like archiving, data integration and scalability. Rather the locating your live stream exclusively at a social media site, these sites provide the ability to embed the live stream on your current website of mobile app. You can manage the distribution and collect data for follow-up. n

Why Have All Your Meetings Onsite? One of the most difficult parts of training volunteers or planning events is getting everyone together in the same place. That’s why more and more churches—even smaller or newly-planted churches—are using services available from Google, Skype, Microsoft, GoToMeeting.com or any number of other services that can put all your committee members together in the same room, digitally. Many of these services (like Skype or GoogleHangouts) are free. Other (for-fee) services like GoToMeeting.com provide premium enhancements or even expert assistance from tech experts while the meetings are going on. If you’ve been having trouble assembling your team, you may want to consider sampling the best of what the web has to offer in virtual meeting spaces.

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.

December 2017 | 11

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STARTUP

Telechoice’s Purpose Pyramid (Part 3) Move From Message to Purpose | by Russ McGuire

ver the past couple of months I’ve introduced you to the Purpose Pyramid and shown you how to use it to uncover a powerful purpose statement for your organization. This month we’ll start from that purpose statement and use the pyramid to develop a strategic plan for achieving that purpose.

What Is the Purpose Pyramid? As a reminder, the Purpose Pyramid is a tool that can be used early in the life of an organization to coalesce on an overarching mission; it can help teams deeply understand what they need to do to achieve that mission; and it can be used to communicate what they’re doing, why they believe they’ll be successful, and why it matters. Below is a diagram representing the Purpose Pyramid. As you can see, there are three main layers to the pyramid. The top layer is the overarching Purpose. The middle layer is made up of the Pillars that support that Purpose. The bottom layer is a foundation of Proof that grounds the Pillars and Purpose in reality.

Last month, we started at the bottom of the pyramid and worked our way up to develop a powerful purpose. This month we start at the top and work down. Starting

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. 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 think and act entrepreneurially in your ministry and career. Are there Christian startups I should know about? Contact me at russ.mcguire@gmail.com.

with our purpose (developed last month), we identify the pillars—the core elements that must be in place to achieve our purpose—and then work down to the specific capabilities and assets foundational to supporting those pillars and the overarching purpose. What we end up with is a strategic plan that should guide all of our activities over the next several years of building our venture!

What Is a Strategic Plan? Proverbs 24:3-4 says, “Through wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.” Proverbs 16:9: “A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.” So we know that God wants us to use wisdom, understanding and knowledge to achieve our success and that He wants us to plan, even though we know that He is sovereign over the outcomes. Inherent in a biblical understanding of these simple truths is the necessity of spending time in God’s Word to gain access to His perfect knowledge and spending time in prayer with God seeking His perfect wisdom and His favor on our endeavors. Only with prayer and discernment from God’s revelation can we move through strategic planning and execution. My definition is that a good strategy is a framework that makes hard decisions easy. December 2017 | 13

STARTUP Those specific projects, however, are likely to change over time—either because we’re thankfully successful in completing them, or because we’re surprised and prayerfully change our focus based on the knowledge, understanding and wisdom that God has now practically revealed to us. By having the clear framework of purpose and pillars, when those hard decisions come, we can prayerfully change direction and yet continue to move forward. A strategy requires foresight and involves planning, but, unlike God, we can’t perfectly know the future. Furthermore, as a 19th-century Prussian General once said, “no battle plan survives first contact with the enemy”—in other words, our plans will change when things don’t go exactly as we expected. A strategic plan clearly defines the end goal (our purpose), identifies the fundamental ways we will pursue that goal over time (our pillars), and specifies detailed projects that we’re going to undertake right now to firmly establish those pillars and move toward our end goal.

How to Develop the Right Pillars As should now be obvious, after setting the right purpose, defining the right pillars is essential to having a strategic framework that makes the hard decisions easy. The right pillars are the three things that have to be true if we’re going to achieve our purpose. We will know we have the right pillars when we strongly believe that a) if we successfully build the three pillars, we will be successful in achieving our purpose, and b) if we fail to build any of the three pillars, we will not be successful in achieving our purpose. The pillars are not

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STARTUP detailed capabilities and resources, or else you couldn’t get it down to just three. But at the same time, the pillars are not intangible lofty concepts or else they won’t provide you with any meaningful guidance. An example might help clarify. A few months ago I wrote about VisuALS Technology Solutions, LLC, one of the businesses I’m currently involved with. VisuALS’ purpose is to love our neighbors by restoring independence, dignity and hope through affordable assistive technology solutions. That’s a little long for a purpose statement, but it works for us. Our three pillars are: 1. Make assistive technology solutions affordable; 2. Restore independence, dignity and hope; and 3. Demonstrate Christian love in all of our relationships. Right now we have a number of initiatives underway that align with these three pillars, but we will face (and are already facing) hard decisions. These three pillars set very clear boundaries for what we can do, what we must do, and what we must not do. For any given hard decision, because we’ve set these pillars in place, many possible options are immediately eliminated and, in some cases, the right answer quickly becomes obvious. Of course, we continue to approach all of these decisions with prayer. I apologize that the length constraints on this article keep me from providing a detailed step-by-step process or a more detailed example, but I hope that the process is clear. Start with prayer, God’s Word and a clear understanding of your purpose.

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Clearly define the three pillars that are necessary and sufficient to achieve your purpose. Then identify a small number (as many as you can reasonably take on) of projects to pursue right now which will put in place concrete capabilities and resources to provide the trustworthy foundation for each of the pillars. Next month we’ll talk about how to use the Purpose Pyramid in communicating about your venture. MT

www.oc.edu/tech

Russ McGuire is a trusted advisor with proven strategic insights. He 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 he’s 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.

December 2017 | 15

COMMUNICATIONS

Re-Engage the Bible in

2018

Here’s How: Reading, Reading Plans and Handouts: All Free! [

by Yvon Prehn

ible engagement is at an all-time low. That might be true, but technology provides numerous tools to help us engage with the Bible more deeply. Following, I’ll share some personal technology tools I use to engage with God’s Word and then at the end I’ll share a practical, free resource for you to use to challenge your people to read through the Bible in the coming year and a way to make handouts or booklets for them to do that.

For Overall Bible engagement There are numerous Bible apps available in both iTunes and Google Play that can help you engage with the Bible anytime, anywhere. My favorite is at Bible.com. Their app, YouVersion, is free and has no advertising. They have a verse of the day and numerous Bible reading plans from short, topical ones 16 | MinistryTech.com

]

to reading through the Bible in a year. In addition to having the text available in 900 languages and hundreds of translations, they also have an audio version of the Bible in many versions.

One of the greatest benefits of technology today: audio Bibles Even those in the church (who consider themselves serious Christians) are not engaging with the Bible today. In discussing this with them and asking why, the answer that comes up frequently is that “they don’t have time.” Aside from the reality that we all have time to do what we consider most important, I’ve found it helpful to respond, “I understand how busy life can be—how hard it can be to sit down and read the Bible. Have you ever thought about listening to it? Tech today makes it easy to do.”

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For most of human history, people listened to the Bible read to them in corporate settings. People are often surprised that you can do that, and I go on to share how listening to the Bible has helped me understand it in new ways. And it’s so easy to do! I listen while on the exercise bike, when making dinner, when driving. The YouVersion app makes it simple! I choose a contemporary version like the Message to listen to. When I’m listening, I feel like God’s words are being spoken to me more directly than when I quickly read through a passage. I also remind people who feel like they aren’t serious about engaging with the Bible if they just listen to it, that reading your own copy of the Bible is a recent and rare way to experience the Bible. For most of human history, people listened to the Bible read to them in corporate settings. Remember Ezra standing up to read to the people or Jesus reading to the members of the synagogue? Through the Old and New Testament times and much of human history, people didn’t sit down with their private scroll and read. In many ways you are joining with your historical family of faith as you listen.

Technology for in-depth study There are many excellent in-depth resources available to us online. There are scholarly programs such as the Logos programs, but for many of us the free online resources are more than adequate to add a depth of understanding to our reading. One of my favorites is The Blue Letter Bible; it’s one of the oldest Bible websites (started in 1996) and is still extremely useful. I use it as a quick way to look up a word in Strong’s Concordance. To do that, you enter the verse in the search box on the home page and then it links directly to it. Click on Tools and Strong’s comes up with the word in the original Greek or Hebrew and links to its meaning, how many times it is used in the Bible, and a wealth of other information. There are many other excellent study sites, and recently I’ve enjoyed doing a quick search on my phone when I’m reading the Bible. You can google “commentaries on Luke 22,” as I did recently for a class I was teaching, and you have

a wide variety of commentaries to skim, and if they are useful, to take notes from. This is so easy to do, I’ve started doing it not only when preparing to teach, but in my daily devotional reading to increase my understanding of a passage.

Tiny technology tip that is incredibly useful I’ve been a Sunday school teacher since I was in third grade helping with the kindergartners. I’ve loved every moment of it. But in the past I haven’t loved looking up verses (more often than not I can remember what the verse says, but not where it is). Nor have I loved retyping verses because I’m a lousy typist and often would make mistakes on my notes. Technology has come to my rescue on both these issues. I share this tip with hesitation because it’s so obvious I suspect everyone else doing Bible study figured it out already, but if you are like me and didn’t, here goes: I realized I could just type into Google any part of the verse I remembered and before I finished the phrase, Google gave me the chapter and verse. Sometimes I only needed the reference for a study or article I was writing. Sometimes I wanted to quote the whole verse and with one click I am taken to a site like the BibleGateway, and could copy and paste the verse (from a large selection of versions/translations) into my work. Though life seems to get busier and busier, technology has helped me prepare for studies or cite verse references with confidence in much less time.

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COMMUNICATIONS

Challenge your people to go through God’s Word in the coming year One of my most important personal spiritual disciplines is that I read through the Bible every year in chronological order, and it is the most important action I can encourage anyone to take to grow in their Christian life. Once again, technology makes creating the tools to equip your people to do this very easy. To make that practical, I’ve created a group of FREE resources for you, here. You’ll find motivational articles, reading schedules and free templates to enable you to create either handouts or booklets to share with your congregation. Each year I look forward to once again reading God’s story from start to finish. I hope this coming year, with all the incredible tools and encouragements we have, that you’ll join me. MT AN UPDATE: Yvon Prehn’s ministry to church communicators now has two parts: http://www.effectivechurchcom. com, now a training, template and resource site, and http:// www.yvonprehn.com, a church communication blog.

18 | MinistryTech.com

high tech can serve high touch It’s Not “Either/Or” by Dean Phelps

he most critical aspects of ministry are high touch. Being in ministry means being in relationship. It requires that you connect with people, hear their stories and understand their experience. The practice of ministry involves giving a piece of yourself over to those you are called to serve. Ministry compels the church to be high touch in its interactions with people. At the same time an abundance of communication and information tools exist that can keep your ministry on the leading edge of high tech. Using current audio-visual technology can enhance worship experiences. Social media, text messaging, and even that tried-and-true workhorse of electronic communication, email, can provide an ever-growing number of channels for staying in touch and creating connections. The landscape of ministry has changed dramatically as well. During the second half of the 20th century, many churches, especially in the American mainline traditions, began an increasing trend to leave the high touch ministry to the professionals. Churches depended more and more on trained, credentialed clergy for high touch activity like pastoral care, visitor follow up and new member assimilation. As the 20th century turned to the

Sharing the ministry of pastoral care requires the ability to share information, to assign roles and responsibilities, and to provide accountability in follow-up. 21st century, though, congregations and clergy alike have heard again the call to build up the body of Christ by equipping the saints for the work ministry. As a result, ministry networks have become more distributed, and the need to move information quickly with accountability has skyrocketed. Ministry today demands high tech tools. However, we should be cautious that our high tech tools for ministry do not create a low touch approach to ministry. It can be easy, even tempting, to engage in ministry from behind our technology. Communication and data technologies, better than ever before, can build up and equip our ministry. At the same time, technology should never become our ministry.

High Touch Ministries As a community of faith your church consists of a network of relationships. Cultivating and strengthening the network requires tools that use the latest advancements in communication and database technology.

The church needs high tech to maximize its effectiveness. It needs the best tools available to manage the flow of information and maintain accountability. Used well, our technology can enhance our high touch ministries. Studies have shown (and experience has demonstrated) that visitors are far more likely to become full participants in your church’s community and ministry through a high touch approach. Beyond experiencing a genuine welcome at your church, visitors that become members and participants receive follow-up contact within 48 hours, and they are much more likely to return if they receive that contact from someone other than church staff. Visitors that experience the church’s high touch are much more likely to return. Visitors are also more likely to continue their journey of faith with your congregation when they feel a sense of connection. High touch ministries invite visitors to return for events other than worship and create opportunities for them to learn more about the church. As you learn more about the people who are exploring fellowship with your church, gathering and using that information increases the ways you help them connect with people who share their experiences and interests. Having an active, energetic and

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connected visitor follow-up team can build and expand your church’s ministry. If your high tech tools enhance the work of these volunteers and provide a consistent pattern of visitor follow-up, they also build up one of your church’s important high touch ministries. Tending to the spiritual needs of your church and its members, as well as your neighborhood, represents another critical aspect of the church’s call to serve. It is another high touch ministry, one that is built on, and steeped in, relationship. Like the ministry of welcoming visitors and incorporating them into the life and ministry of the church, the work of pastoral care is no longer the sole responsibility of trained and credentialed clergy. It, too, has become a distributed ministry. The professional clergy can supplement their ministry and enhance the church’s network of relationships through the work of elders, deacons and trained volunteers who have gifts for shepherding and caregiving. When the vital work of pastoral care is shared with gifted people in the church, the pastor can allocate more time to the work of growing and expanding the church’s ministry. Sharing the ministry of pastoral care requires the ability to share information, to assign roles and responsibilities, and to provide accountability in follow-up. This high touch ministry benefits from the use of high tech tools to keep the care team connected and engaged. Providing nurture, support and care to members of the congregation also carries the need for confidentiality and security. Staff, volunteers and members alike need confidence that personal information is protected and only shared on a need to know basis.

High Tech Tools CDM+ Mobile from Suran Systems builds on the power and security of your church’s CDM+ database to connect staff and volunteers in ministries of hospitality, welcome and care. CDM+ Mobile is available for smart phones and tablets running Android and iOS. By working on a variety of platforms, CDM+ Mobile keeps leaders and team members connected in real time without tying them to a desk, office or computer. With CDM+ Mobile, your team stays connected while engaging in ministry on the move. CDM+ Mobile connects in real time with

your churchâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s CDM+ database. So as staff and volunteers are making contact with church members and visitors, they can record those contacts using their tablet or smart phone, and the record of that contact is stored directly into the database. These records of contacts and interactions with members and visitors can be a valuable tool in evaluating the effectiveness of the churchâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work in vital ministries like welcome, hospitality and care. Often the contacts made by staff and other leaders require follow up, and it is not unusual for the follow up to involve someone other than the person recording the contact. CDM+ Mobile allows team members, using their phone and mobile devices, to create a follow up contact reminder for themselves or for other team members. They can also create reminders for a person or persons to follow up at a particular date and time. These reminders are then visible to those users within CDM+ Mobile. In addition to setting reminders for ministry leaders, CDM+ Mobile can alert them to reminders coming due by sending notifications to their devices. If they have notifications enabled for CDM+ Mobile, they will receive an alert for follow-up and always be aware of key information in real time. Important follow up contacts never need slip through the cracks of communication again! CDM+ keeps sensitive personal information secure by providing user level access to the records of contacts. As contacts are recorded from CDM+ Mobile, the access to those records and reminders can be set as private so that they are only available to the person who created the record. Public access makes a record available to all staff and group leaders. Access to contact information and follow-up reminders can also be restricted to specific staff members or volunteer leaders. CDM+ Mobile is another way that Suran Systems helps churches and ministries utilize the power of information to expand their impact. In the cloud, on the desktop or on the move, CDM+ keeps the network of ministry in your church connected and informed, giving you access to the information you need, when and where you need it. MT

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5 tech tips to unify your church across multiple campuses Maintaining Unity Takes Work

here was a time in the '90s when the idea of one church meeting across multiple sites felt pretty revolutionary, but that’s no longer the case. Multisite churches are common now. In fact, there’s been a lot of talk about gigachurches that are choosing to expand by adding new sites and services. But it’s not just 10,000-member churches that are going the multisite route. Church plants are coming right out of the gate with this model in mind. A good multisite church is harder to pull off than you might think. If you’re not careful, it’s easy to become a series of loosely affiliated churches rather than one church meeting in multiple locations. If you want to truly be unified across many campuses, these tech tools will help:

1. Use one Church Management App for all Locations Multisite churches have a unique set of challenges. The volunteer needs are great and the staff roles are specific. This can become a headache when using church management software. There’s a temptation to run a separate account for each location, but that’s exactly what 22 | MinistryTech.com

helps contribute to your one church becoming separate churches with one name. Make sure that your church management app allows for ministers and volunteers to move between sites, for information to be gathered in a way that’s accessible to the entire organization, and staff to be maintained at individual locations.

where they worship. When people read content on the blog, they’ll see faces they will identify, and become familiar with staff from other campuses, too. They should also be able to read stories and testimonies from each campus. This helps them visualize how their site fits in with the larger church body.

2. Take Advantage of Live Streaming 4. U se One Social Media Account For Every Platform For multisite churches that are just getting off the ground, live streaming is a must. It’s a simple way to share your service across multiple sites. People who meet in a church building can share their entire service with a group that meets in a home. Check out services like Boxcast and Churchstreaming.tv to see how live video can get your multisite up and running.

3. Create ONE Church Blog Maintaining a church blog can be a great way to provide inspiration and teaching to your members while reinforcing that your campuses are all part of one cohesive church. Solicit content from staff members and volunteers from every campus, and make sure that the author bylines include a picture and mention the campus

Someone might have a good argument for maintaining Facebook pages for each site, but you should avoid it if possible. Sharing one Facebook page or Instagram account for the entire organization is the better way to go. This way you’re creating one brand instead of multiple brands that are competing for attention.

When they log into your app, they’re experiencing the church, not just their church site. If you try to maintain multiple social media platforms, you’ll ultimately have some that are being done poorly, which puts a drag on the

whole organization. Put your best people from every campus on a communications team that can create a singular stellar brand. The upside for the church is that, this way, everyone becomes more familiar with each of the campuses. As you share stories, videos and testimonies from each campus, church members are moved to pray for and celebrate with them. This helps create and sustain a sense of unity.

5. Get a Church Mobile App Amazon has over 90 warehouse locations, but no one really thinks about them when they open the Amazon app. In their mind, they’re just making a purchase from Amazon—that one store with many locations. Having a singular church app can have the same effect on your members. When they log into your app, they’re experiencing the church, not just their church site. They receive updates from the church blog, they receive prayer requests from each campus, and they get access to the church ministry information. When they’re inspired to give, they know they’re giving to maintain the entire church.

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DOWNLOAD NOW Maintaining unity takes work. Many multisite churches are really just a number of loosely related individual churches. It takes intentional effort to ensure that your multi-campus church feels like one community of faith. Thankfully, there are more tech opportunities than ever before to help maintain a sense of unity. MT December 2017 | 23