Christian Computing Magazine

Founder & Editor-in-Chief Steve Hewitt - steve@ccmag.com Managing Editor Kevin Cross - kevin@ccmag.com

Applying Tomorrow’s Technology to Today’s Ministry Volume 24

December 2012

No. 12

4 cover story Catching Up With Church Windows

Contributing Editors Yvon Prehn Nick Nicholaou Kevin A. Purcell Russ McGuire Bradley Miller Michael L White

By Steve Hewitt

3 Editorial

Do more than just survive! Steve Hewitt – steve@ccmag.com

Corporate Home Office

9 Minstry Leadership

The Christmas rush is here: How to protect kids in your care from ACS Technologies

12 Logos CMS

2013 Staff Survival Kit

15 One Call Now

from LOGOS Management Software

Eliminate the Calling Tree, Improve Communication Calvary Baptist Church of Oak Hill

from Church Windows Software

Things on a Church Website Home Page

from Liturgical Publications

Logos 5 Brings Streamlined Interface and Speed

Kevin A. Purcell – kevin@kevinpurcell.org

The Greatest Gift of All

become the property of Christian Computing®, turned. Christian Computing® Magazine reserves the right to make any changes to materials submitted for publication that are deemed necessary cation may not be copied in any way, shape or form without the express permission of Christian Computing®, Inc. Views expressed in the articles and reviews printed within are not necessarily the views of the editor, publisher, or employees

Michael White - mlwhite@parsonplacepress.com

28 Digital Evangelism

submitted to Christian Computing® Magazine

for editorial purposes. The content of this publi-

Higher Power With Kevin

Christian Computing® is a registered trademark

Inc. upon receipt and may not necessarily be re-

of Christian Computing, Inc. Written materials

Satan in a Sunday Hat: “It Could Never Happen to Us”

18 Engaging Your Parishioners Online

from One Call Now

Church Windows Software

Mailing address: PO Box 319 Belton MO 64012 Delivery address: 306 Eagle Glen Ct Raymore MO 64083 Phone: (816) 331-5252 FAX: 800-456-1868

Copy Editor Gina Hewitt Magen Cross

of Christian Computing® Magazine, or Christian Computing, Inc.

32 The Power And The Danger

Chromebooks

36 Ministry Communication

By Russ McGuire - russ.mcguire@gmail.com

What every church leader needs to know about church communications Yvon Prehn - yvon@effectivechurchcom.com

Christian Computing® Magazine

Articles that are highlighed are provided by our partners www.ccmag.com/2007_03/2007_03editorial.pdf

December 2012

editorial

Do more than just survive! Steve Hewitt - steve@ccmag.com

As I write this Christmas is around the corner. Our church will be having a Christmas party at our house this Friday and I love all of the “trappings” of Christmas and love this time of the year. However, there are also many things that worry people. Some think the world will end in a week according to something with the Mayans. Others are worried about our nation falling over a fiscal cliff. I am sure there are many other things people could add to the list of things to be worrying about as 2012 comes to a close. However, I encourage you to put those fears aside and celebrate the birth of our Savior! Christ, the Son of God, came to this earth! That trumps anything and everything else! Recently, I was reminding that fear and faith are a choice. Both deal with how and what we believe about the future. We can spend our time fearing the future, or we can accept the fact that God is still in control and HE holds our future. I have some big plans for 2013. There are things I hope to accomplish, ministries I plan to launch, messages I hope to preach and people I want to touch. I can think of a hundred reasons I won’t be able to accomChristian Computing® Magazine

plish any of them, and I could quickly give in to these fears. However, I can decide to put those fears aside, and instead live in faith. I believe God wants to bless me this year. I believe He has called me to start new ministries, preach His Word and use me to love other people! I hope you have a very Merry Christmas. And, I hope as you end 2012 and move into the new year that you will move forward with faith and not fear! This is the day the Lord has made, let us be glad and rejoice in it! Together We Serve Him,

Steve Hewitt Follow me on Twitter @stevehewitt Email me at steve@ccmag.com

December 2012

cover story

Catching Up With Church Windows By Steve Hewitt

hen I first began to promote Christian Computing Magazine in 1989, there wasn’t an Internet that any of us was aware of, neither was anyone using Windows! Back then, CCMag had a thing called a BBS that ran on a computer across the room from my office (people used that to “log into” using their modems, to exchange messages or files). And, back then most of us were using MS-DOS and learned a long list of directory commands. But, one thing that WAS around back then it was Computer Helper Publishing (most now know them by their product name, Church Windows). I remember those first conversations with Mel Wygant, as we both shared our visions of helping churches better use this new technology (the computer)! Over the last 25 years we have had a lot of conversations and a lot of cover stories as Mel, and his wife Maureen, have continued to grow Church Windows into a leader in the ChMS marketplace. I thought it was time to catch up with them so I recently spoke with Craig Chadwell who has been with them for about eleven years. He is the Marketing and Social Media Specialist for Computer Helper Publishing and I thought you would enjoy the conversation.

So let’s jump right into Church Windows: What new things are happening with this software? You’ve known us and have seen us grow for decades, Steve. And in that sense, there’s nothing new: We’re still growing! We continue to listen to the requests and suggestions of our many dedicated customers. Of course, our programming team continues to respond, enhancing Church Windows based on what we hear. The Christian Computing® Magazine

number of churches using Church Windows Web has grown greatly, although many churches are still perfectly happy with their locally-installed desktop version. We’ve also recently adapted for the US Postal Service’s new “Intelligent Barcode” system to help churches continue to save on postage costs. I’m guessing you’re prepared for the new IRS Payroll regulations, also? December 2012

Definitely. For those who may not have heard, employers who distributed over 250 W-2s for 2011 will need to include the employer’s portion of health insurance on the 2012 W-2s. We consistently keep Church Windows ready for US Postal Service regulations and, of course, Payroll current with IRS regulations. Backing up a bit, Computer Helper Publishing has been around since the 1980s. Talk me through a brief history. We came around about the same time as you did with Church Computing, which became Christian Computing Magazine. Originally, we produced the DOS-based LCCS, Local Church Computer Software. But we jumped early into the advent of Windows© programming and quickly morphed into a full-fledged Windowsbased program by the mid-1990s. We’re still family owned, have a very-committed work family, and treat our customers like family. They truly are the reason that we’re here. We’re constantly amazed at the huge majority of new churches who come to us recommended by a current customer.

Soon, you’ll see a Support Blog connected to the Church Windows website and also Live Chat Support coming in the very near future. It’s an exciting time for both Church Windows Desktop and Web. Church Windows Web is a newer product for Computer Helper Publishing. Has it been well-received? How does it differ from the Desktop version? Church Windows Web is great either for someone just coming aboard to Church Windows, or for an existing customer whose church is looking to work “from the cloud.” The screens, reports, and functions of the Web version are 100% identical to the Desktop version. But with Church Windows Web, you’ve got the convenience of access from about any Internetenabled device at any location. Users of iMACs, iPads, and Android Tablets love the ability to use what has largely been a Windows-based software. And with the Web version, the church never has to worry about installing new software updates or making backups. Those things are done automatically.

You mention treating customers like family. Church Windows is known for its support. You have some new tools on the way to help customers get answers in new ways? Though we’re very proud of our software product, we’re also very proud of the people who represent Church Windows on a Support level. A statistic that is simply unheard of not just in the Technical Support arena, but with employers in general: Church Windows Support Techs average more than 10 years’ experience with Church Windows. The Techs definitely “know their stuff” and are just amazingly patient, understanding people who have truly “heard it all.” And yes, we’ve got new, additional ways to help Church Windows customers get in touch and to find answers to questions. Christian Computing® Magazine

December 2012

But churches who use the Desktop version can still access data from multiple locations, right? Absolutely! Church Windows Desktop is fully networkable for an unlimited number of computers within the church. It can be accessed from outside the church, if the computer administrator sets up access and the church uses something like PCAnywhere or GoToMyPC to access the main church computer. It’s easy to do and still very secure. So we have churches with Church Windows Desktop on one computer, on a network, and on remote access. But since it isn’t networked, a Finance person may have a separate installation at home that is not connected to the church network or computer. For that example, he or she may certainly install the software and there’s no additional cost or Networking license needed. The networking – you said an unlimited number of churches. Does the number of computers affect the price of Church Windows? Not at all. As long as the users are working for the same congregation (or in some instances, a multi-point parish), the Networking License for Church Windows Desktop allows an unlimited number of computers. I understand where you’re coming from. We have heard of other software where the price increases as you add computers. We like the “keep it simple” approach! Can you give me a simple rundown of the various parts of Church Windows? I think you call them “modules,” right? That’s right, we call each section a module. The nice part about this being a software package of integrated modules is that the different modules can “hand off” or transfer information from one part to another. Yet, with the in-depth Security section of Church Windows, the church has complete control of who may access which sections of the program. Anyway, here’s the rundown of modules: • Membership keeps track of who joins, transfers, and passes away. It’s extremely versatile and you can always add whatever fields for information you wish to track. Attendance, Groups & Classes, Christian Computing® Magazine

Skills & Interests, Visits, Directory Printing, and Visitor Tracking are all a part of Membership. • Scheduler keeps track of the comings and goings of the church facility and its equipment. It prevents double-booking rooms and ensures that events have the proper equipment reserved and have enough volunteers to help out. • Donations tracks giving and pledging and does all giving-related reporting. It’ll handle in-kind gifts and other gifts such as stock. Donations statements – all reports, actually -- are so customizable. Entry of monies received is a quick process with Donations and, of course, there’s full reporting. Giving totals can post over into Accounting with a couple clicks. It’s a very streamlined, efficient process. • Accounting handles paying the bills and handling the budget. There’s a full suite of reporting that’ll adapt to any level of detail a church council might request. Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable sections are contained within Accounting. Churches with preschools who issue statements and receive payments really appreciate the Accounts Receivable section. Payroll reports are extremely flexible and are also easily exportable into Excel, to PDF, or sent by Email. • Payroll is a part of Church Windows that really saves time, money, and headaches. We do all of the hard work by issuing updates that will always contain the latest Federal and State tax rates. It can do electronic filing and also pay employees via paper check or direct checking deposit. I’ve heard horror stories of people using manual tax tables and needing hours to calculate every single pay. Payroll reduces this time to literally minutes. {whew} There’s the rundown! OK, take a breath and think for a moment. What would you say is the one thing about Church Windows that your customers like most? Wow, no pressure on that one. I can narrow it down to two areas. Church Windows is a very comprehensive church office software. It does December 2012

a lot! To get the best output from the program, there is a little bit of setup and, of course, data upkeep required. But after the setup, it’s so easy to extract whatever information you want – print reports, create PDF to email, or grab raw data. We’ve had many customers say, “I love how Church Windows makes me look smart and I barely lifted a finger.” The other part is what we consider to be our most important company asset: our people. Customers know there’s always a friendly voice answering the phone. Only during very busy times do those calling in get something other than a person answering their call. The people of our Support Team are unintimidating, compassionate, patient, and highlyexperienced. Any final thoughts about Church Windows or otherwise? Well, just be sure to go to www.churchwindows.com for information. And with specific questions about the program, anyone can always call 800.533.5227 or send questions to info@ churchwindows.com. We’ll always make sure that questions are answered quickly. Other than that, we’d like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and thank the men and women of our Armed Forces who are unable to be with their families as they serve our country. We also extend our heartfelt gratitude to their families. All of us here at Church Windows are grateful to our many, many long-time customers. You are our fan club and you continually motivate us to keep moving forward in enhancing Church Windows. Thank you!

How will you reach them... ĂŌĞƌ the service? SPREAD THE WORD… with One Call Now Voice, Text and Email messaging for churches. Visit us online at onecallnow.com or call 877-698-3262 to learn more. 201208LS259

onecallnow.com

Interviewed today was Craig Chadwell, Marketing and Social Media Specialist for Computer Helper Publishing, the publisher of Church Windows Church Management Software. Craig has been with Computer Helper for more than 10 years in the areas of Technical Support, Marketing, Social, and Website Administration.

Christian Computing® Magazine

December 2012

Christian Computing速 Magazine

December 2012

ministry leadership A special note to CCMag readers: We at ACS Technologies are, like you all, devastated by the recent tragedy in Connecticut. We wrote the following article on child security at the beginning of the month, not knowing what was coming. While we considered changing the article topic out of respect for the victims of the horrible events, we ultimately decided that many churches would, in fact, be looking more closely than ever at security concerns. While we are here for the church in this important area of concern, we also join you in praying for the victims and for our nation.

The Christmas rush is here: How to protect kids in your care

from ACS Technologies

ore people will be attending your church for Christmas, and with more people, security weaknesses come into sharp focus. You know how important it is to ensure children and families feel safe in the sanctuary your church provides – especially when those families are new visitors trying to decide whether they feel at home in your church!

“We take the necessary preparation to protect our homes, we go to meetings to ensure our schools have safety programs in place, but do we invest the time to make sure our churches are safe and secure, especially when it comes to our children? Churches are subject to these occurrences just like any other place,” write the authors of the ministry guide Is Your Children’s Ministry at Risk? There’s a lot to know when it comes to children’s security in a busy ministry, and there are no second chances in this essential arena. Here are a few facts we should know, excerpted from Is Your Children’s Ministry at Risk? • According to the National Incidence Studies Christian Computing® Magazine

of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children (NISMART), more than 350,000 family abductions occur in the US each year. This amounts to about 1,000 family abductions each day. Question for your church: What are you doing to assure that your volunteers know what to do if a non-custodial parent tries to pick up a child? • According to the Christian Post, there were at least 1,237 crimes committed against Christian Churches and ministries in the U.S. in 2009, ranging in severity from vandalism to violent crimes. Question for your church: Does your December 2012

church have lockdown and shelter-in-place procedures ready to go at a moment’s notice? • According to the National Fire Protection Association, fire departments attend more than 1.3 million fires each year. Thousands of these fires occur at worship centers, causing millions of dollars of damage. Question for your church: If you need to evacuate your facilities, do you have the ability to see a complete, accurate roster of all the children in all of your classes? If not, how will you ensure that all are present at the designated evacuation area outside? Technology to help you succeed “Using relatively inexpensive technology, churches have the opportunity to provide an added degree of security and safety to their ministries. Ministries can benefit from replacing old, paper-based processes vulnerable to human error with electronic solutions that can drastically minimize judgment calls,” according to Is Your Children’s Security at Risk. You may not have time to implement new technologies that can help your children’s ministry operate more safely and effectively before Christmas this year, but now’s a great time to make your plans for 2013. Have you budgeted for a system upgrade? Have you assessed the needs of your check-in station? Now is the time to figure out what’s best and plan accordingly. Look at your maximum attendance days from this year and make sure you’re better prepared to handle the additional visitors when the next year rolls around. Christian Computing® Magazine

December 2012

Here are some key points to consider when assessing your check-in system: • Is the system a standalone system or can it be integrated into your existing church management software? If your systems aren’t integrated, you may end up maintaining two, independent databases on churchgoers, which can be a headache for staff and an annoyance to attendees. After all, if parents update their phone number with the church, they will expect the children’s ministry to have that updated phone number as well – it won’t do any good to tell them, “sorry, we have two databases!” • How are the check-in stations or kiosks supported – volunteer or self-service? Some combination? Depending on the method, this could mean a larger pool of volunteers to keep your system running properly. • Speed of checking in is important. Families don’t want to wait in long lines to get their children into the classroom. You should consider a system that takes seconds instead of minutes to check a family in.

Christian Computing® Magazine

Hot technology alert: Biometric scanners can provide some of the quickest check-ins available, and the best security available. A palm-vein reader, for instance, means quick and easy check in, and families don’t have to remember anything special for check-in! The bottom line Christmas is a wonderful time for your congregation to gather together and for new and old visitors to come back to church to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Providing a safe and secure environment will make families feel more comfortable at your church, and more likely to come back regularly. Now is a great time to review your security needs so you can make sure you’ve budgeted appropriately for 2013. For helpful, practical security advice and tips, including a detailed infographic on laying out a check-in system, download Is Your Children’s Ministry at Risk? today.

December 2012

logos cms

LOGOS

2013 Staff Survival Kit from Logos Management Software

anuary is the time of year when life seemingly brings a fresh new start. What better way to kick off 2013 than with a Church Staff Survival Kit, customized to the needs of your people? What your kit is comprised of will look different for everyone. Think on some of the following questions to get you going. Where is your staff at spiritually? Physically? What skills do they need to develop or improve (technology and otherwise) to better manage their positions? Was 2012 a difficult year? A victorious year? A year of sowing? What can you learn from your past year to help set the tone for the new one? What is needed to validate, encourage and prepare your team for another year of ministry? Begin with an Affirmation An affirmation is always a good place to begin. If you’ve brainstormed some of the questions above you’ll have a good starting point for this, even if you’re not a natural encourager. For example, if 2012 was a difficult year with many trials for a staff member, acknowledging that will go a long way toward building trust for the New Year. Include milestones in your affirmation such as, “In the last year, we’ve baptized XXX amount of people. Your contribution to this staff matters eternally. Thank you.” Or if you have bookkeepers, what about mentioning, “We posted xxx offering contributions last year. What would we do without you?” Thank them for service they rendered that helped make that a reality.

Christian Computing® Magazine

Sometimes, people behind the scenes of ministry have a hard time connecting what they do (like accounting) to ministry results, so tying their work to tangible results can be inspiring. For example, you might add, “Because of the work you do, we were able to send letters of gratitude to xxx generous members…and we were able to tell our people throughout the year exactly which ministries their funds were supporting. Train toward Mastery, Engagement In Daniel Pink’s book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, he points to Gallup’s extensive research on worker engagement that tells us more than 50 percent of employees are not engaged at work—and nearly 20 percent are actively disengaged. December 2012

(p. 111) Pink’s premise is that mastery is one of three key factors that motivate us and keep us engaged. In order to move toward mastery in an area, one should be appropriately challenged. Meaning, the task should not require skills that are so far above them that anxiety happens and not far so below their skill level that they are bored. For much of your staff, technology is a big part of their job. Have they been getting the technology training they need to move them toward mastery? Here are some questions to help you determine the best technology training needed to improve levels of mastery and job satisfaction. • Does Operations staff know how to pull reports and make that data work for your church? Do you know how to track giving trends? Do you know which months of the year have historically been your “harvest” months? • Does your staff excel in “customer service?” This extends beyond the greeting at the front door to every channel where people interface with your church: web, video, and social. Do they customize the church’s Online Giving portal with a “thank you” when someone gives? Do contribution statements show how someone’s giving tangibly made a difference that year? Excellence is in the details. • Can your leaders grow in the area of leadership? (I think the answer here is always yes, even with amazing leaders.) Have you budgeted in opportunities to learn from others? • The end-of-year is coming. Is the bookkeeper comfortable with closing out the current year chart of accounts and creating a new year? Christian Computing® Magazine

• Do you have a creative department? Do they have the creative outlets they need to bring their great ideas to life? Your church software provider likely offers trainings and webinars on many church management topics. LOGOS offers webinars on many of the above topics and more. Promise each member of your church staff at least one learning opportunity during the following year, and present that opportunity as one of your best gifts in your survival kit. It’s okay to let them choose which webinars, trainings, or confeerences they attend…you’ll get better buy-in if you give them a say in their own development.

December 2012

Reevaluate Technology Mastery is essential, but the technology tools themselves should be up to date and user friendly. It can be frustrating to staff to use technology that creates more grief than finished projects. In the long run, poor technology tools may cost you heavily in terms of decreased productivity and morale. Providing your staff with the tools they need helps them feel valued. The cost for good tools can run the gamut of budgets, from updated laptops to overhauling the church technology systems to artistic software tools to smart phone apps. Again, this will vary depending on the church and technology skill levels of staff.

when you get away. Your local spiritual retreat center, conference center, park, or even a quiet cabin on the water can provide the relaxed atmosphere you need for a full day of idea sharing, fun, socializing, good food, and prayer.

Creating Your Kit Take all the ideas you have brainstormed and you’re ready to put together your kit. Include items that represent every gift you have planned for the year—affirmations, trainings, improved technology tools, off-site retreats, and whatever else you have on the docket. For those aspects of the kit that aren’t Plug-Out of Technology tangible (and you cannot find an object to represent We all need to “plug-out” sometimes. Taking your it), you can type out your commitments to your team staff away on a retreat is a great way to show you onto cards. Make it a wonderful presentation to infuse care. It provides opportunities for spiritual developyour people with excitement over the gifts they will ment and soul care, allows you to refocus on the orga- be getting all year long—gifts that help you all in the nization’s mission, opens doors for team building and long run. Tuck in some fresh fruit, candy, Starbucks provides opportunity for rest in the midst of heavy gift card, some office supplies, hand sanitizer, a box ministry times. The temptation will be to create a of Kleenex, etc., wrap it in a pretty package, and retreat at the office to keep costs down. However, this you’re all set to deliver a beautiful, thoughtful gift to will likely prove to be uninspiring and may hinder your staff! some of the out-of-the-box thinking that can happen

Christian Computing® Magazine

December 2012

one call now

Eliminate the Calling Tree, Improve Communication

ONE CALL

Calvary Baptist Church of Oak Hill

he Calvary Baptist Church of Oak Hill is located in Oak Hill, WV. With just over 120 attendees each Sunday, this congregation is a close-knit family of believers who worship, pray, and fellowship together. Pastor Mark Wood and the church leadership staff are charged with distributing prayer requests, event cancellation/delay notices, as well as special event reminders. While having more than 120 members is a blessing in and of itself, it can be a logistical nightmare to coordinate timely, accurate, and effective communication with all members. THE SITUATION Prayer Chains, emergency service cancellations, and event delays/reminders are just a few of the reasons Pastor Mark might initiate a churchwide message. Pastor Mark would start the calling tree, one person would call the next person, they would call someone else, and so on. Pastor Mark commented on the use of manual calling trees, “The traditional calling tree is never effective. Messages often do not get to their intended recipient and when they do, it is rarely the original message.” Relying on such an ineffective method to communicate important information was simply not acceptable any longer.

They recently had a record turnout for their Christmas Day Dinner. People from the community kept coming through the doors as the food supply was dwindling and getting dangerously low. A phone message was sent out to all church members informing them of the situation and within 20 minutes of placing the call, food began to arrive.

THE SOLUTION Calvary Baptist Church partnered with One Call Now in 2007. Since then, they’ve saved over 4,250 hours of phone time! This is equivalent to hiring a person part time to do nothing but make phone calls for four years! Pastor Wood sends between 3 – 4 calls per week, and from his calculations, receives the return on his investment every three weeks. Calvary Baptist Church of Oak Hill has also experienced some unforeseen benefits of using the One Call Now emergency notification system.

Christian Computing® Magazine

“Effective communication is key in maintaining and growing a church. One Call Now allows me to communicate with my church in a timely and effective manner.” Pastor Mark Wood, Calvary Baptist Church of Oak Hill

INDUSTRY - Religious, Church - Small PROBLEM - Slow, ineffective manual calling tree delaying message delivery PAYBACK - Return on investment realized every three weeks, saved over 4,000 hours of phone time TOOLS UTILIZED - Phone Call, Subgroups GEOGRAPHY - Oak Hill, WV REPLACED - Manually dialed calling tree

December 2012

church windows Software

CHURCH WINDOWS SOFTWARE

Satan in a Sunday Hat: “It Could Never Happen to Us”

Christian Computing® Magazine

December 2012

Sadly, this is a true story from November 2012. These details were conveyed to us from a disheartened secretary who wishes to remain unnamed to retain privacy for the congregation. There are so many things this church could do to head off this disaster. Having internal controls set up and following them can help. In some cases, a church already has controls set up but they aren’t consistent. The first most common form of money loss involves a division of duties. Most churches make sure that the person in charge of paying bills and tracking this in the computer NEVER has contact with the money coming into the church. This division of duties not only protects the church but also the individuals involved. Having multiple unrelated tellers count the Sunday offering is essential – not only recording the checks received but especially the cash. However, there are other times of the week when money comes into the church. The youth group director brings in money from the car wash fund raiser, someone drops off money to pay for Sunday School books or tee shirts, someone mails in their offering, etc. Cash transactions are the most common source of fraud. For example, the petty cash fund in the office safe or pastor’s desk drawer is particularly vulnerable. ANY cash transaction should require a duplicate receipt to protect everyone involved. On the bill pay side, some churches require two signatures on any check. Some churches have a second person who reviews bill paying for the month and does the bank reconciliation for the checking account including transfer of funds between different asset accounts. Monthly reports to your church governing body should be detailed and understandable. Many committee members don’t understand and just glaze over assuming that all is above board. Limiting access to asset accounts is critical – anyone who has the pin number for the checking account can go online and enter a transaction. Setting up a computer password and limiting access to the software program is also crucial. Any person who has the responsibility for the church’s monies should be diligent in asking questions of anyone requesting a payment. Don’t assume they are legitimate. You have the fiduciary responsibility and you can be liable if there are illegal activities. In the area of payroll, don’t hesitate Christian Computing® Magazine

to enlist the aid of an attorney or payroll specialist to be sure what you are doing in the way of allowances and deductions, especially for pastors, is really legal. In general, if you feel uncomfortable about the actions or practices going on around you, ask questions and request clarifications. If you have even an inkling that something doesn’t seem right at your church, now might be a good time to take a look at the webinar provided by Church Windows Software on our website to help you insure and assure that your church is protected. Here is the link to the free webinar, or you can go to www.churchwindows.com, on the left side, click on “Educational Webinars” listed under “Church Windows Training.” There you will find the “Internal Controls” webinar. Topics Include: • Developing Internal Controls • Separation of Duties • Recording Transactions • Authorization and Approval • Custody of Assets • Cash Internal Controls • Computer Security • Fraud Risk Assessment The computer software that you are currently using should already provide a double entry process and an iron-clad audit trail. Make sure that your system is password protected and that you have plenty of off-site backups as double/triple protection. Over our 25 years providing the best in software for churches, it has been our mission and ministry to aid churches in their work. For me, one of the most heart-rending stories I hear is the one from someone trying to reconstruct the business of the church after they have suffered the financial and emotional loss of fraud or embezzlement. Unfortunately, we hear it far too often. I hope this article will help someone to avoid this loss. Maureen Wygant, Vice President of Training Church Windows Software/Computer Helper

December 2012

engaging your parishioners online

ENGAGING YOUR PARISHIONERS ONLINE

Things on a Church Website Home Page from Liturgical Publications

n larger companies or design agencies, there’s a formal role on every web development project for what’s called a User Experience Designer. This person’s role is to consider the user’s wants, needs, and understanding when they go to your website. Unfortunately, without that professional training we too often don’t consider why a person goes to our website and what they’re looking for. If we have the technical skills, or worse, if we don’t, we too often get caught up with adding the ‘flash and splash’ to our church website or assuming that more content is always better. The old adage, less is more, can indeed imply to church websites and their home page The home page is your church’s narthex to the Internet, but when a user is on the home page they’ve really only just opened the door. Google will tell you that you have less than 5 seconds for a user to decide if they’re going to stay and keep reading or go elsewhere looking for information. What you have on your home page is critical for getting users to walk on in and stay awhile. Unfortunately, most church websites don’t do a good job of providing the users the information they need. If you’d randomly survey 100 church websites, there’s a good chance you’d come up with conclusions like these: Christian Computing® Magazine

• Church website visitors are architectural buffs. Why else would most church’s feature their buildings so prominently? • Church website visitors are time travelers. What other reason could there be for so prominently featuring this past summer’s Bible Camp or the Easter school pageant from? • Church website visitors are also historians. Why else would you feature the history of your parish so prominently?

December 2012

When designing your church’s home page you need to thoughtfully consider why people are coming to your website. What information are they really looking for? Chances are you have some good content there. Your church’s mission, its history, even a welcome message is valuable and important content, but is it really what the end user is looking for when they go to the website? You need to understand your user’s perspective and put the information they’re really looking for at their fingertips when they first come to your website.

church lives on the Internet and proclaims, “Here we are; come visit us”. Put yourself in a parishioner’s and then a non-parishioner’s shoes. Have a neighbor or friend who doesn’t go to your church take a look at your website. Ask them to tell you when mass is this weekend, the directions to get to your church, and what the upcoming events are. Don’t say anything but watch them try and find the information on the website. Having someone not familiar with your website or better yet your church and then observing what they do on your website can help identify some areas for potential improvement. By focusing first on the home page, you help lay a foundation for user’s to come back and explore your church website.

The graphic above illustrates on the right hand side what items most people are looking for when they go to a church website. You can hope for more, provide them additional content, and ultimately try and engage them online, but first focus on satisfying the basic needs of your audience. Make sure accurate and timely updated listings of mass times, contact names, and a calendar of events exists prominently on the home page. All of these items need to be at most one click away. While none of us may ever become a User Experience Designer, there are some simple steps that we can do to help improve our church’s website. First, remember that your church website is marketing your church to the world. It’s where your Christian Computing® Magazine

December 2012

higher power with kevin

Logos 5 Brings Streamlined Interface and Speed

Kevin A. Purcell - kevin@kevinpurcell.org

ogos 5 is here! The upgraded Bible software suite offers a number of really nice new features, a cleaner and streamlined user interface and a speed boost over version four. Unfortunately, the marketing team at Logos confused some of their users. The confusion led to disillusionment from faithful users and frustration for both users and the company leaders alike. More on that later. First, let’s take a look back. For Logos users, the initial release of the previous version felt like a step forward and a step backward at the same time. We got cool new features and an attractive new interface, but with it some serious bugs and crashes along with performance issues. It also pulled a few popular features at first, like the Personal Book Builder, a tool for making books that the software can display. My biggest frustration came in the notes editor. The editor lagged so badly that I quit using it. With Logos 5 most of these shortfalls were Christian Computing® Magazine

fixed and they added some cool new features making it best version of Logos Bible Software ever. What’s New in Logos 5 Logos surprised users by dropping version five November 1st. So what’s new in Logos 5? First, a solid edition that hasn’t crashed in the weeks I’ve used it. Also, much better performance gets exhibited in things like the notes editor. There’s no lag. What else is new? December 2012

We get a cleaner and more useful user interface. The Logos home page that showed up in version 4 now shows more on a single page. They moved the prayer lists, reading plans and library discovery tools from the top to the left. They also still offer Home, Library and Search buttons.

Three new menus offer your content in an easier to find fashion. The Documents menu shows links to create new documents but also gives a list of the user’s own documents – things like notes files, highlights files, reading plans and sentence diagrams. If you created the document, it shows up here. Search the list with the included search box to find your documents. A Guides menu will let you start a new Passage, Exegetical, Bible Word Study, Sermon Starter or Topic Guide. The last two are new. The menu also lists the guides previously created. This helps when a person starts a guide and wants to reuse it, like a Bible Word Study guide on Love. That word will show up in a bunch of verses, so just use the same guide again. Users can also create their own guides.

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Here’s the list of new tools: • Timeline – Timeline puts events from the Bible and Christian history on an interactive and customizable timeline – see more at my site: http://www.kevinpurcell. org/1965/logos-5-bible-facts-tool-timelineand-sense-lexicon/ • Clause Search – Clause Search gives more granular control of searching by things like a Greek verb based on the verb’s lemma or exact form and English words by subject and verb relationships. Read a post at Biblical Software Review by Reuben Gomez with a video to learn more: http://bit.ly/bsr-clause or Logos’ explanation at http://www.logos.com/ clause-search • Bible Facts – In the previous version Logos included tools called Biblical People, Things and Places. It now comes together in a central location called Bible Facts and adds Biblical Events. See more at http://www.logos.com/bible-facts • Sermon Starter and Topic Guides – My two favorite new features. The Sermon Starter Guide (see http://www.kevinpurcell.org/1966/logos-5-sermon-starter-guide/ to view a video of the guide) gathers content based on a passage or topic that might help me in my sermon prep. I do my passage study and then use the Sermon Starter Guide to find illustrations, visuals, cross references, sermons and more. The Topic Guide does the same thing with topics. It focuses on topicdriven resources like Bible dictionaries, illustration databases and media resources. (http://www.logos.com/topic-guide) • Bible Sense Lexicon – (http://www.logos. com/bible-sense-lexicon) This tool helps users find meaning of words based on relationships to other words and ideas. Logos explains it like this: “Imagine you want to find specific instances of words that mean ‘angel’ in the Bible. The Greek and Hebrew words for ‘angel’ can refer to other things, but Bible Sense Lexicon only brings you results for when they mean ‘angel.’” It finds passages based on December 2012

a unique meaning using “semantic domains”. • Bibliography Tool – Bibliography Tool builds bibliographies in the various forms that different educational institutions use. • Search Suggestions – People who search in Google and see a dropdown of suggested results before they’re even finished typing the search terms understand what this is. Go to Google.com and give it a try. • Scripture Memory Tool – Scripture Memory Tool helps people learn verses by heart. Improvements Over Logos 4 These are just the new features. Logos still includes the great Exegetical Guide, which takes a verse and gathers all the language study information about that verse including lexicon entries, grammar study and cross references based on Greek or Hebrew words. The Passage Guide reports content from resources organized by Bible passages. They still give users the Reverse Interlinear Bibles. Logos also offers thousands

Christian Computing® Magazine

of resources to read and study. Many of these include new features that make them even easier and more useful. Logos offers mobile apps for the iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Android tablets and Phones and soon they’ll offer one for Windows 8 and Windows RT (see last month’s article at http://www. ccmag.com/2012_10/ccmag2012_10kevin.pdf. In addition to the old tools and new tools, Logos upgraded a number of others. Towards the end of the last version’s life, they began to implement their new Faithlife community. Now users can interact with other Logos users in more powerful and useful ways built right into Logos 5. If you don’t like this, just ignore them or turn them off. As mentioned above, the under the hood improvements make Logos 5 what Logos 4 should have been, in terms of speed and power. I can now type in the notes editor without waiting for them to show up online. An improvement to that interface is still in the works, so expect a better notes feature still. Logos includes an Information Panel, which shows content based on your currently displayed

December 2012

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passage. For example, open a Bible to John 3:16 and open the Information Panel, and hover over the word “love” and you see some dynamically changing information. I’ve just scratched the surface on all that Logos 5 brings to the Bible student’s desk. So, who should get Logos 5? Recommendations and Value of Logos 5 For anyone who uses a previous version of Logos 4, go get the upgrade. It’s a valuable and more powerful tool. The first versions of Logos 4 caused a lot of problems for me. It crashed a lot and took forever to load. Certain functions didn’t work and others were removed. But this first version of Logos 5 runs fast and with stability. Like any software in an X.0 version, it will crash. The good news is that it’s just five days old as I’m writing this, and they already posted some updates fixing some problems. UPDATE: There’s another update that makes it even more stable and adds something called popular highlights which underlines text in nonBible books that many people have highlighted. Kindle users will be familiar with this feature. Mac users of Logos will love Logos 5 because it’s more comparable to the Windows version. We still miss a few minor features, but not many. All of the new features show up in both platform versions and Logos promises to get feature parity between Mac and Windows soon. We’ll see if they deliver in a timely manChristian Computing® Magazine

December 2012

ner, but things are getting better for Mac users. I’m not sure that Logos 5 offers enough to force users of other feature-rich software to switch. Users of Accordance, WORDsearch, PC Study Bible or other programs may want to keep what they have. Logos plans to offer the free Logos 5 engine and a minimal “crossgrade” version of their update. By the time you read this those should each show up on their website. If not, they will within weeks. It might not cost that much to test Logos 5 to see if the program offers enough to switch. As always, they offer a generous money-back guarantee so even if you buy a package, you can get your money back if you’re unhappy. Which package should you get? Logos offers seven base packages (http://www.logos.com/ basepackages). Here’s the list with their names and how many titles included in each package and the regular price. • Starter – 207 titles $294.95 • Bronze – 426 titles $629.95 • Silver – 699 titles $999.95 • Gold – 1,037 titles $1,549.95 • Platinum – 1,327 titles $2,149.95 • Diamond - 1,993 titles $3,449.95 • Portfolio – 2,563 titles $4,979.95 • Compare the package contents at http://www.logos. com/comparison To get all the features mentioned in this review, users must Christian Computing® Magazine

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December 2012

own the Gold package or higher. See the Logos comparison site and scroll down two sections to compare what new features they include. Find the last two categories on that page that are called Data Sets and Feature Distribution. For example, the new Bible Sense Lexicon only comes in the Gold or higher packages. Clause search only shows up in the Bronze package. Starter Package buyers won’t get most of the new features, like Timeline or Sermon Starter Guide. My recommendation is to get the most you can afford. Use their monthly non-interest payments to get as much as you can for a small fee. For example, you can buy the Gold package for $114.79/ month. The Portfolio, which offers a ridiculous number of titles that most will never be able to use in a lifetime, can be yours for $240.16/ month. I’d try to get the Silver or Gold at least. They offer the most bang for the buck without going crazy. I owned the equivalent of the Silver package and went up to the Platinum. Logos will also take into account the books you own. The above prices are for brand new users. The Platinum packages costs new users $2,149.95 but I paid just over $500.

a mistake. The first days after the launch their website got slammed with traffic, so I assumed it was messed up. A little later it said the same thing. I started to get a little confused. Why did they say I had a lower package? Many others were not only confused but angry and disillusioned. Posts showed up in the user forums with users saying they were angry that Logos would charge them $500 or $1500 to upgrade to the same

The Upgrade Marketing Snafu Logos did a poor job of communicating how the upgrade process works with this new release. The day it showed up I went over to the “Upgrade” page at https://www. logos.com/upgrade and checked out how much it would cost for me to move up. Logos actually gave me a free copy of the new version for this review, but I wanted to see what buyers will have to pay. I owned the Platinum package in Logos 4 plus some other books I added individually. But the upgrade page told me I owned the Logos 5 Silver package. That had to be Christian Computing® Magazine

December 2012

package they owned now. This was just a terrible misunderstanding based the company’s use of the same package names for drastically different package collections. Logos used the same package names for Logos 5 that they used in Logos 4. But the packages had little to do with what the user owned already. The new Platinum package contained hundreds more books than the Logos 4 Platinum package. That’s why it costs so much. Second, Logos made the basic Logos 4 engine available on launch day three years ago, so some assumed that they were not getting any new books. They thought they were paying $500-$1500 just for the new Logos 5 engine and some new features and a pretty interface. Since Logos 4 didn’t have some of the features in Logos 3 and struggled to run on older hardware, they were angry. They felt like Logos was charging a huge amount for a small upgrade. Fortunately, Bob and Dan Pritchett quickly jumped on the user forums to explain what was going on. First, they were not offering a simple engine upgrade yet. It will come and by the time you read this it should be ready or will soon. Second, they used the same package names, but these were not the same packages. Here’s how I describe it. I own a Honda Pilot. I really like the car, but I didn’t buy the model with the navigation package or rear-facing camera. What if I wanted to add just those two features. Honda might retrofit my car for a couple thousand dollars or offer to sell me a new 2013 Honda Pilot for $40,000. Why would I pay $40K when I can get the same features for $2K. The answer is I’m getting a new car that has more than the same I had in my car. At launch Logos only offered the “new car” version of their package. Within a month or two they planned to offer the simple upgrade version. Why didn’t they offer it on launch day? The answer is simple. Money! That sounds crass, but it’s actually a good thing. Logos is a for-profit business that seeks to serve the church. I asked Dan Pritchett that question and he didn’t shy away from saying they are a business. Their mission is to support the church, but they make money doing that. They have to eat and pay their employees. He told me it is hard to hire qualified programmers who can make the awesome tools they offer. No users who want Logos to remain available Christian Computing® Magazine

should mind them making money. If you want a free Bible software package, they’re available. But if you want a tool like Logos, then it will cost some money. He said: “Logos base packages are professional level tools for people that want the best and are willing to pay for it.” To his credit, Dan Pritchett admitted that they didn’t get “the proper messaging in place” as we all looked at the upgrade page. I don’t think anyone should feel betrayed or angry about how this took place now that we understand what happened. They might be disappointed that Logos didn’t communicate how it worked and what they would offer at a later day. They also might feel a little disappointed that they chose not to offer the basic upgrade option at launch. Let me finally sum things up by saying, Logos 5 is a great upgrade for present users. It’s the only tool that works at this level offering this much functionality on both the Mac and Windows without relying on emulation. So I recommend it without reservation for those willing to pay the price.

December 2012

digital evangelism

The Greatest Gift of All

“

Michael L White - mlwhite@parsonplace.com

or there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11 NKJV). It has become glib, perhaps even trite, to say in Christian circles nowadays, but salvation through Jesus Christ truly is God’s greatest gift of all to the world. Without it, we would have no hope of ever gaining anything good, let alone receiving forgiveness for all our sins and being allowed to spend eternity living and reigning with Him in His glorious Kingdom. As we celebrate another Christmas Season with gift exchanges, doing deeds of kindness, enjoying parties with scrumptious sweets, and devouring delicious feasts with our family and friends, will we pause to acknowledge the gift of salvation which Jesus came to make available to us, which is, after all, the real reason for the season (another trite saying)? Have we considered lately what Jesus had to suffer and endure in order to make this salvation available to us? Have we contemplated just how priceless this wonderful gift is? Have we, in fact, truly received this greatest gift of all from God, or have we deceived ourselves into thinking that we have? If indeed we have received this greatest gift of all, are we treating it with the highest respect that it truly deserves? Will we take time to share with the ignorant the same glorious hope we have received? When we perform our token few deeds of kindness for “the needy and less fortunate,” will we dare to tell them we’re doing so in the name of Jesus Christ, because He really does love them and desires a relationship with them, or are we actually doing these deeds for Christian Computing® Magazine

our own glory and praise rather than for His? Will we bother to tell these poor souls that every human soul (including theirs) must decide whether to accept or reject Jesus’ offer in order to be forgiven and saved from eternal damnation (John 3:18 & 14:6)? I’m sorry to bombard you with so many questions, but as I consider my own failures in these areas of service to my Lord, I can’t help but wonder how many other Christians are in the same mindset. Since I have awakened from my own spiritual slumber, I feel compelled to try to wake up as many others as I can before our Lord returns. I don’t know how much longer we have until He returns, but I am convinced that it is much less than we think. Those who mock and scoff at this idea should consider the numerous “last days” prophetic fulfillments that have been occurring over the past 64+ years, the first and perhaps the most significant of which was the reconstitution of the nation of Israel on May 14, 1948, which God plainly said through His prophets over 2,500 years ago that He would do (see Isaiah 43:5-7; Jeremiah 32:36-44; and Ezekiel 11:16-17). December 2012

It appears to me that we have taken too much for granted in the United States of America because of our unmatched peace and prosperity for generations. We seem to have lost our focus from the most important mission Jesus left for us to fulfill – the Great Commission – and have grown comfortable catering to our own selfish interests and desires, both as individual Christians and as local congregations. Pastors and lay leaders alike seem to be more concerned with increasing attendance and financial receipts accompanied by “nonjudgmental” entertaining sermons and attractive activities than with truly evangelizing the lost. We emphasize the grace of God and de-emphasize the demands and judgment of God in order to avoid driving away potential attendees and their financial contributions. In the process, we fail to make true believers even out of those we attract. On Judgment Day, what benefit will church attendance be for those who have never truly repented of their sins and put their faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior instead of trusting in their church attendance and other works? Not only are we doing them the greatest disservice possible by failing to challenge them to accept the full Gospel as contained in the Holy Scriptures, but we will forfeit a great reward in the eternal Kingdom of Christ (assuming we ourselves have a saving relationship with Him). No wonder Jesus said, “… there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” among those who fail to enter the Kingdom (Matthew 8:12 & Luke 13:28)! As I listen to a good many preachers on radio and TV nowadays (and even a disturbing number of grassroots preachers), I am quite distressed by their misguided focus almost entirely upon God’s grace with no mention of the need for repentance from sin. If they do mention repentance, it is a passing reference with little or no explanation of what true repentance is Christian Computing® Magazine

December 2012

or why it is essential for receiving God’s forgiveness. The pendulum of popular theology has swung from the extreme of compassionless “hell-fire and brimstone” preaching in previous generations to the other extreme of soft-pedaled universalism preaching in recent generations. The true Gospel of Jesus Christ lies in between these two extremes where we preach the impending judgment of God upon a lost, rejecting generation and then offer them the glorious grace of God in exchange for their confession of sin, repentance from their sinful lifestyle, and obedient service to our Lord Jesus Christ ever after. God simply does not extend His grace and forgiveness to an unrepentant

sinner. The Scriptures are clear on that. In other words, the thief cannot continue his lifestyle of thievery after claiming to have accepted Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior. As the Apostle Paul instructed the Ephesians, “Let him who stole steal no longer…” (Ephesians 4:17-32 NKJV). The same is true for the practice of all other sins, such as lying, sexual immorality, murder, covetousness, etc. (Compare 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 and Revelation 21:8.) One who claims to be a Christian and yet persists in the practice of sin (which is very different from committing an occasional sin while striving for righteousness) is deceiving himself into a false sense of eternal security. As the book of Hebrews exhorts, “Pursue … holiness, without which no one will see the Lord…” (Hebrews 12:14-17 NKJV). Holiness is attained through sanctification, and sanctification is attained through the indwelling influence of … reach out the Holy Spirit within the believer. Thus, the reason no one can see the … minister to people Lord without holiness is because … create fellowship an absence of holiness means an absence of the Holy Spirit, and an … contribute to absence of the Holy Spirit means your community no saving relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. It really is just PowerChurch Plus was that simple. created for just that! If you think I’ve drifted into the realm of discipleship in this article, you’re right, but it seems to me that Jesus coupled evangelism and Membership We provide you with the tools to discipleship together in His Great Commission when He commanded increase administrative efficiency us to “‘Go therefore and make disand streamline accounting tasks, Accounting ciples of all the nations, baptizing freeing you up to perform the work them in the name of the Father and that matters. of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Contributions teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, Install on your PC or network, or access online. I am with you always, even to the Events Choose which fi ts your needs. end of the age.’ Amen.” (Matthew Calendar 28:19-20 NKJV). We can’t disciple anyone Check In without first evangelizing, and we shouldn’t evangelize someone and then leave him to his own ignoCompletely rance to figure out how to live the We provide software tools, Integrated Christian life thereafter. I liken this freeing you up to fulfill your mission. grievous error to birthing a newborn and then leaving him to fend www.PowerChurch.com • 800.486.1800 for himself. We wouldn’t do that to

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December 2012

a newborn, so why would we do it to a new believer in Jesus? As soon as we win a new convert to Christ, we should direct him or her to a body of believers who will take over the duty of discipling him or her. Of course, if we’re evangelizing our own communities as we ought, we should direct them to our own fellowship of believers where we ourselves attend and assimilate them into a welcoming place of worship, as well as a Sunday School class and a men’s, women’s, singles, youth group, or children’s ministry to be further discipled. For our digital evangelism efforts, however, we should direct them to search for a local fellowship of believers near where they live, but we may also continue discipling them ourselves from afar. We can accomplish long distance discipling of believers by pointing them to articles on our Web site and/ or blog and by responding to their questions via email, private chat areas, and/or instant messaging. I cover the use of these digital media pretty well in my book Digital Evangelism: You Can Do It Too! I have also published an excellent tool to help with both being a good disciple and with being an effective disciple-maker. It is entitled Dangerous Discipleship: A Practical Guide for Making Disciples by pastor and author Ryan Whitson. It contains insightful instruction and loads of discipleship prompts, as well as stimulating key questions at the end of each chapter, to help you succeed both as a disciple and as a disciple-maker

for Jesus. It is excellent for both small and large group instruction. Ryan is also open to conducting on-site seminars on this topic for those who are interested. You may purchase this book at http://www.parsonplacepress.com/store/#discipleship or wherever books are sold. You may also contact the author at r.whitson@ goodnewschurch.org to arrange for speaking engagements. The Christmas Season is a wonderful time of year to evangelize and disciple others by digital and face-toface methods alike. However, as we celebrate the First Advent of Christ to save the world, may we not forget to warn people to be ever-expectant of the Rapture and the Second Advent of Christ to redeem those sealed by His Holy Spirit at the end of this age. Both of these events are closer than we think. For the time being, though, I pray that you will have a very Merry Christmas and a most blessed New Year! Michael L. White is the founder and Managing Editor of Parson Place Press, an independent Christian publishing house in Mobile, Alabama. His book Digital Evangelism: You Can Do It, Too! (Parson Place Press, April 2011) is available wherever books are sold. For a list of his other books and articles, visit his Web site at books.parsonplace.com.

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December 2012

the power and the danger

Chromebooks

By Russ McGuire - russ.mcguire@gmail.com

he Christmas season is always a time of year when I consider new technologies. Being a gadget guy, it seems like a great time of year to think about whether there are any great new products that I want to humbly recommend to my wife as a potential Christmas gift for me. This year, my list for review includes the new Chromebooks from Acer and Samsung. Especially as follow-up to last month’s column on the Cloud, I thought it would be particularly relevant to consider the pros and cons of a cloud-based computer. What is a Chromebook? A Chromebook is simply a notebook computer that runs the Google Chrome operating system. The Chrome OS has a linux-based kernel and the Google Chrome browser as the primary user interface. Most Chromebooks have very little local storage – instead they rely on the Cloud for application operation and data storage. Because of the heavy reliance on the Cloud, using a Chromebook requires a completely different approach to most computing tasks. Although embracing this change is valuable in preparing for a cloud-centric future, making the transition isn’t painless. What are the Chromebook challenges? Using a Chromebook is different from using a laptop computer. Most Chromebook models have a very small storage drive (typically 16GB). You don’t install software on a Chromebook – you run Christian Computing® Magazine

applications inside the Chrome browser. You don’t store files on your computer – you store them in the cloud. The Windows or Mac applications that you’re used to probably don’t run on a Chromebook, although there may be an equivalent in the Chrome app store. There’s no optical drive for installing software and not much of a hard drive to install software to. Even if there was a physical way to install the software, the Chrome OS doesn’t run Windows or Mac applications. Although you can use Microsoft Office Live via the Cloud, and Google’s own Docs capabilities (now part of Google Drive) are getting better at working with Microsoft files, the way in which you interact with traditional PC documents will fundamentally change. The way in which you handle collaboration and version control will be different - you’ll probably come to consider it “better” but it will definitely be different. December 2012

The device is completely dependent on the Internet. As long as you can access WiFi, everything should work fine. But once you go off-net, most of the functionality will cease or change. While most Google apps (most notably Mail and Docs) have strong support for offline use, you do need to think ahead a bit and make a few extra steps to be ready for offline use. What are the advantages of the Chromebook? Counterbalancing those challenges are the significant unique benefits of the Chromebook. The simple operating system means that the device boots very quickly (less than 10 seconds). The minimal hardware means the devices are very thin and light and generally have very good battery life. Because there’s no software to install, there’s also no need to worry about anti-virus solutions. Since the software resides in the cloud, you always have access to the latest version without buying and installing upgrades. There’s no need to back up your data, because it’s already securely stored (with disaster recovery) in the Cloud. Most applications you’ll use are actually free – no need to worry about expensive licensing fees. The latest versions of Chromebooks are also quite affordable, ranging from $199 to $549. Should Churches and Ministries consider the Chromebook? For a use case that is totally web-based, the Chromebook may be a great solution. If you have a place in your ministry for a computer that you want people to be able to use to access the InChristian Computing® Magazine

December 2012

ternet, then a Chromebook can be a low cost option with the added benefit of not having to worry about software or files being installed on the computer that could cause problems. Similarly, if you are ready to embrace cloudbased documents, a Chromebook may be a great solution for all the touchpoints for those documents – from the church secretary to the sanctuary media booth. With a Chromebook, you never need to worry if a critical file is locked up on someone’s hard drive, or if you’ve got the final version with the latest changes. Especially if your church is using Google Mail, Google Apps, Google Calendar, Google Voice, etc., then it may be worth considering Chromebooks for many of your church staff. The upfront cost and ongoing support benefits could be significant. However, for anyone that regularly uses specific desktop software that hasn’t yet been moved to the Cloud, the Chromebook could be a disaster. For any use that requires traveling out of WiFi range on a regular basis, a Cloud-centric solution may be very frustrating. And of course, as with any new technology, you might also think about who in your organization is quick to embrace the latest and greatest and who is more change-averse. As Paul charges us in Romans 12:18 “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” (ESV)

able with my local set-up. I’m not ready to disrupt that. Finally, in many ways I still live in the old world, including how I buy music. I buy the physical CD, then rip it into digital format for distribution across multiple devices. Although Google Drive and Google Play work well with digital media, the Chromebook isn’t designed for ripping CDs into the process. It is my hope and prayer that these articles on the power and danger of technology will encourage you in your daily walk with Christ. Whether it is the printing press, radio, television, personal computers, the Internet, the Cloud, mobility, WiFi, or Chromebooks, new technologies continue to advance our ability to know God and to serve Him, wherever we go. Russ McGuire is an executive for a Fortune 100 company and the founder/co-founder of three technology start-ups. His latest entrepreneurial venture is Hschooler.net (http://hschooler.net), a social network for Christian families (especially homeschoolers) which is being built and run by seven young men under Russ’ direction.

What about me? I started this article noting that the Chromebook was on my list for consideration as a possible Christmas gift request. Am I hoping to find one under the tree come Christmas morning? I’m afraid the answer is no. The Chromebook looks like exciting technology, and I’ll continue to monitor for future gift requesting potential, but there are three key issues that are holding me back. First and foremost, my laptop continues to serve me well. Lord willing, I think it’s got at least another year of life in it. Second, I spend a fair amount of time programming. Although there are cloud-based development environments, I’m pretty comfortChristian Computing® Magazine

December 2012

ministry communication

What every church leader needs to know about church communications …..a free ebook as my Christmas present to you

Yvon Prehn - yvon@effectivechurchcom.com

n effective church communication ministry that enables unchurched people to find Jesus as Savior and grow to mature disciples takes the combined efforts of all the church staff. To help you do that, this article has some initial advice and at the end is a link to my Christmas present to CCMag readers, a free 33-page ebook: What every church leader needs to know about church communications.

What a lack of understanding does to the church The lack of involvement by church pastors and leaders in church communications results in less than effective communications created for the church, lower response rates for outreach and discipleship growth, and often frustrated church communicators. Though a pastor might recognize his church has a problem in this area, he might ignore it because he thinks it will be too much work to do anything about it. Though it is work, the work usually isn’t what pastors assume it will be. For church pastors and leaders to be involved in church communications does not mean they need to know how to do church communications, but they need to understand how they are done. This is incredibly important because technology seldom works like we want it to work or as we assume it works if we aren’t actually doing it. When this misunderstanding is between a pastor who wants something done a certain way and a church communicator who is asked to do the task, big problems can result. When the time is taken to understand, not only does the church beneChristian Computing® Magazine

fit from improved technology, but the relationships between the members of the church staff are strengthened. The story of two approaches to new technology The following story and the two versions of the outcome is a composite of many experiences church communicators have shared with me. The situation: A pastor goes online and sees a great set of graphics and video used at a worship service. The pastor shows it to the church secretary and tells her he wants something similar for the service next Sunday. The pastor is then off to hospital visitation or a study time or elder meeting. He assumes his desire for the new media means it will be ready by the next Sunday. Outcome #1: The church secretary goes online, watches the video and has no idea how to reproduce what she’s looking at. December 2012

She starts searching; she emails friends; she talks to the worship leader who agrees the video is great looking, but he also has no idea how to do it. She puts aside the work on the bulletin (most people don’t have the needed material in on time anyway) and tries to figure out how to create similar graphics with PowerPoint. It doesn’t look the same; she keeps trying. The next morning the pastor asks how it’s going. By this time the secretary is behind on necessary work needed for Sunday and totally frustrated because she has no idea how to make the worship media look like what the pastor wants. He is unhappy with her because she didn’t do what he wanted. Sunday is coming quickly; her work on the bulletin isn’t done and his plans for a great new worship experience are fading. Let’s stop here and imagine a different scenario. Outcome #2: Imagine the pastor sees the video and then says to the church secretary, “I really like this, how do you think they did it? Could we do something like this?” There is no deadline in his question. He is exploring options with the communication professional in his church. At that point, she would honestly respond, “I have no idea, give me a few days and I’ll try to call or email them Christian Computing® Magazine

and see what software and equipment they used to put it together.” In between her regularly scheduled tasks, it takes a few days to make a connection, but she finds out that the group who created the great-looking video uses specialized software and graphics from a source the church currently doesn’t use. They assure her that, though time-consuming, it isn’t difficult to use or learn, but it is a new way of doing worship media. She puts together what she has learned and takes it into pastor with information on cost, software, and training time needed to create what he wants. She is genuinely excited about learning the new software and the worship leader is in agreement that it would be a great asset to the worship service. At first the pastor is a bit shocked at the cost of the software and graphics and the time involved to learn how to use it. But he understands the time and cost because he’s learned, from asking questions and watching his staff create graphics and videos for the worship service that what is over in 2 or 3 minutes on the screen can take hours to create. He knows the final result in communications on the screen, on the web, or in print is never as easy to create as it appears after the hours of creation, editing, and production are done. With the correct time and money information, he now can consider if the changes he wants will be worth the cost and whether or not to try to raise the money from special gifts or talk to the elder board about putting the new system in the budget. The church secretary knows that if they get the software she will have the time to learn and practice it before using it for a worship service. The above illustration is not only about effectiveness in the church communications process, but a practical application of how we can put into practice Jesus’ commands to be at peace and to mutually serve one another. This is just one example of how church leadership needs to be involved in church communications for both the effectiveness of the communication ministry of the church, but also for good working relationships in the church office. To give you more information and ideas on this, I am making my ebook, What Every Church Leader Needs to Know About Church Communications, a free gift to my CCMag audience. Here is the link to it: http://www.effectivechurchcom.com/2012/12/freefor-december-2012-what-every-church-leader-needsto-know-about-church-communications/ May the Lord give you great joy and hope this Christmas as we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus.

December 2012