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 26
March 2014
No. 3
4 cover story
Connect and Communicate with Your Church Through Your Own App! By Steve Hewitt
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Copy Editors Gina Hewitt Magen Cross
Corporate Home Office
Editorial
The Truth about Social Media for Your Church!
Steve Hewitt - steve@CDPublishers.com
Ministry Leadership
Mobile Apps that Promote Spiritual Health
13 Church Windows Software
By: Erin McManaway
15 The Browser
Three Free Graphics Applications if You Don’t Have Photoshop By: Susan Codone
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Higher Power With Kevin
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The Power And The Danger
Christian Computing® is a registered trademark of Christian Computing, Inc. Written materials submitted to Christian Computing® Magazine become the property of Christian Computing®, Inc. upon receipt and may not necessarily be returned. Christian Computing® Magazine reserves the right to make any changes to materials sub-
Kevin A. Purcell – kevin@kevinpurcell.org
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Digital Evangelism for Websites - Making Your Website Maintenance Easier (Part 2) By: Michael White
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What’s New in Bible Software
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Important Change in Health Insurance Premium Reimbursements By: Craig Chadwell
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Protected with Purpose
Don’t Be a Target of Retargeting! By: Steven Sundermeier
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Contributing Editors Yvon Prehn Nick Nicholaou Kevin A. Purcell Russ McGuire Michael L White
and reviews printed within are not necessarily of Christian Computing® Magazine, or Christian Computing, Inc.
Is your website an open door or barrier to your church? Yvon Prehn - yvon@effectivechurchcom.com
30 Nick At Church
Surprising Email Facts
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March 2014
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editorial
The Truth about Social Media for Your Church! Special Issue from CCMag is Coming! Steve Hewitt - steve@CDPublishers.com
The purpose of this editorial isn’t to give you the truth about social media, but to let you know that I have a lot of opinions on this subject! So, I am happy to announce that for only the third time in the 25 year history of Christian Computing, we will be producing a special issue about churches and Social Media. I won’t spoil what is coming but if you know the history of Christian Computing, I only do a special issue when I am taking a stand that is different from much of the hype is being produced in the Christian/church community. I have had my fill of blogs, videos and articles that seem to imply that if a church isn’t making the most of Social Media, they are doomed to die and are failing in ministry. I am also bothered by the “business” that is growing around this push. I certainly believe that larger churches should have someone in charge of communications, and I also believe churches Christian Computing® Magazine
are well served by having a Facebook page, but some of the suggestions that are floating around for churches simply won’t work because people don’t seem to understand how Facebook and Twitter work, or even understand why they are a success in the first place! So, watch your email address for our special issue on Social Media. It should arrive within the first week of April!
Together We Serve Him,
Steve Hewitt steve@cdpublihsers.com
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cover story
Connect and Communicate with Your Church Through Your Own App!
L
By Steve Hewitt
ast month I had the privilege of having lunch with Tony Caudill from Aware3 and learned much about what they have to offer. Their company is in the business of helping churches connect and communicate with their membership by providing a branded app just for their church. This idea is fantastic, and every church, regardless of size should be working on an app for their membership by now. Over the last couple of years I have seen a few other companies make a weak attempt at reaching out to the church to sell apps. The problem with other companies I have seen, is they haven’t made a real connection or effort to reach out to the church market. What impressed me about Tony and Aware3 is they were already in development and had a rollout of some apps for some great churches, but they also had been announced as a Preferred Service Provider with Community Church Builder. Tony shared with me they are open to helping to connect with any and all other ChMS companies as well, so that the app will not only just provide content coming from the church office, but will help facilitate connection with the member to the church office as well as to other members. I hope you enjoy this interview I had with Tony as I learned more about what they have to offer for all of us!
app. The app will help them engage their current and prospective members and take their outreach efforts to a whole new level.
Aware3 is a new company to many of our readers - tell us what you do. We help churches grow their ministry through mobile. We do that by helping them to quickly and cost-effectively launch and manage a branded mobile
Why does a church need an app? Today’s average smartphone user looks at their phone over 150 times a day. That level of 1-on-1 connection gives churches an opportunity to engage with current and prospective members like never be-
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fore. People want to connect with the things that are important to them anytime, anywhere and from any device - the ministry is no exception. Our apps make things like the church calendar, sermon videos, giving, small groups and much more available on the device that is with most of us all day every day. Recently a church partner of ours ran a campaign on small group participation. In the past, their pastor asked everyone to remember when they go home to look at the church’s website, browse the list of small groups and sign-up. We’re all busy people and the chances of us remembering to do that are slim, and their small group participation showed it. Now that they have an app for their church, that same pastor is able to ask everyone to pull out their phones, launch their app and sign-up for a small group right from their pew. That’s the type of engagement we are looking to drive through mobile. What does your average church partner look like? The only shared trait across our church partners is that they’re all churches. Beyond that, our church partners come in all sizes, demographics, technicalsaviness, etc. Today we are powering apps for everything from small 100-member church plants all the way up to mega-churches with average weekly attendance in the tens of thousands. I see that you have a relationship with Church Community Builder. Can you tell us more about that? We are very excited about our relationship with CCB. They recently announced us as a Preferred Service Provider. What that means is that we’ve integrated with many of their key member-facing features such as calendar, small groups, attendance and giving. For our church partners this is great because it means that as they update CCB, their mobile apps are automatically updated. They don’t have to worry about entering and managing that content in multiple places, which reduces the workload and eliminates potential for human error. Another key benefit of the integration is that we can help our church partners drive adoption of CCB. For example, we now have a screen in our apps allowing users to request CCB login credentials; this is another example of where pastors can encourage their members to make that request on the spot versus relying on them to remember when they get home. Layering a mobile app on top of CCB is a powerChristian Computing® Magazine
ful solution for the church leaders and congregation alike. Do you have to be a CCB church to launch an app with Aware3? No. Today we power apps for churches running a wide-range ChMS solutions and some that don’t have a ChMS at all. With our solution, our church partners are able to manage the graphics and content in their app through our management console, which means it doesn’t have to be tied to a ChMS. We’re in active dialogue with a handful of other ChMS providers and are excited to extend our integration with other partners in the near future. What is the process to launch an app with Aware3? We walk our church partners through a simple 3-step launch process. • Step 1 – Graphics: With our platform, our church partners get to design the look and feel of their app. We give them the specs on the graphics we need and from there they get to make it look and feel consistent with their overall marketing strategy. • Step 2 – CCB Set-Up: Creates the connection between our app and CCB. • Step 3 – App Submission: Once the app is built, we handle walking it through the Apple and Google submission and review process – our clients don’t have to deal with the process at all! We know our church partners want to stay focused on running their church, not on technology, so we’ve spent a lot of time and effort on designing a streamlined process that’s painless. How long does it typically take to launch an app? On average, it takes 4-6 weeks from start to finish. The vast majority of that time is in graphics creation and the Apple review process. How do you differentiate from other mobile app providers? ChMS integration is key for our clients and their end-users alike. We also have years of experience developing and releasing software and actively update our monthly releases, focusing on new and exciting features for our platform. Our solution is definitely not a static one – we’re listening for feedback and March 2014
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updating with great new features and integrations. What does it cost to launch an app? We have created a simple package that works for churches of all sizes. Our pricing starts at $999 set-up (one-time) and $99/month. That pricing includes:
this weeks bulletin!” or “Good Morning, Tony. May I go ahead and check you in for the 11AM service?” The possibilities are endless and we are very excited to make it a reality this summer.
What is next for Aware3? Features, features, features. Our team keeps up • Native iPhone, Android and iPad optimized with the latest-and-greatest in mobile tech so we can app. bring it directly to our church partners, and we main• Unlimited Downloads tain a detailed release calendar for new features so we • CCB Integration (as applicable) can keep our clients on top of the complicated ecosys• 24x7 access to the Aware management console tem. We focus on being the best at what we do so our • Unlimited push notifications clients can do the same. • Vimeo & YouTube Integration How can people find out more about Aware3? How do you compare to other app providers? As you can tell, we are very passionate about Building a mobile application from scratch is an helping the Church grow through mobile. We’re seeincredibly complicated process and almost always ing some amazing results from our church partners out of reach, so a typical marketing agency or develand we’re really excited about what the future holds. opment house just can’t compete with our pricing – If you would like to find out more information, we’ve made the investment in the framework so our you can visit our website, follow us on Twitter, or call church partners don’t have to. us at 816-226-7AIR. You can also watch a demo of We’re also extremely competitive when it comes the New Life Christian Church’s app to really get a to other “framework” providers – and offer many fea- feel for how a church is leveraging mobile to drive tures where they fall flat; we were the first company growth. worldwide to offer dedicated integration with CCB and will continue to outpace the competition with other cutting-edge features. What are some of the mobile features you’re most excited about? Currently one of my favorite features is adult attendance tracking. At my church in Kansas City we’re still passing binders up and down the pews every Sunday morning. Our adult attendance feature is the “2014 version” of the attendance binder. Now, instead of writing my name in the binder, I’m able to check my wife and myself in directly through the app. I especially love this feature for our church partners that aren’t taking attendance today – many are only doing head count. This is a fun/innovative way to learn more about who is walking your doors each week. Another feature that is in the works that I’m extremely excited about is geo-targeted push notifications. Our phones today have the ability to know when we walk through the doors of the church; wouldn’t it be great to be able to push content to people as they walk through your doors on Sunday AM? How about a message that says, “Good Morning! Thanks for visiting us again. Click here to down Christian Computing® Magazine
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protected with purpose
Don’t Be a Target of Retargeting!
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By: Steven Sundermeier
or our family, March is a month of celebration and fun. During March we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with our annual corned beef supper, we rejoice with the start of Spring (Winter has been brutal THIS year!), and as the clocks change and temps hopefully rise, we anticipate the excitement of Easter. However, the kids and my favorite day in March is the celebration of my wife’s birthday. With 3 kids seven and under, pulling off any birthday surprise is difficult, but this year I realized how targeted technology truly complicates “surprises” as well. My wife and I each have smart phones and use our own separate PC’s at home, but our mobile devices and computers are interchangeable by necessity of the moment. For example, if I want to check the weather and her phone is within reach—I use it, and if she needs directions home and my phone is closest, it becomes our navigator. But, with recent-call-history and logs of texts, this complicates things when I am tip-toeing around contacting family and friends to organize and get RSVP’s for a surprise party for her. But the larger obstacle that quickly became evident was the overuse of internet tracking while I shopped online. Search something on Ebay, and the next time anyone opens Ebay (including your wife days before her birthday) they can clearly see pictures of similar “Interests you follow”. On Amazon, it’s the same practice, but it is more blatantly titled “Your recently viewed items.” In my case, I wanted to surprise my Christian Computing® Magazine
wife with a new dress and visited a particular store online. After deciding not to purchase that dress, I saw that same dress as a targeted advertisement on almost every webpage I went to, whether it was a reputable news outlet site, a sports site or the webpage of my local newspaper. I’ll be honest, it can creep you out, almost as if you’re being stalked by these retailers. Personal shopping isn’t so personal anymore. What is happening is a common practice called “retargeting”, and it is an increasingly popular method for digital marketers to display their ads to potential customers. Retargeting involves displaying follow-up advertisements on recently and specifically viewed items after the user has left an advertiser’s website. The retargeting practice helps companies advertise to users (like me with my wife’s dress) who leave without a purchase (a high percentage of visitors), and draw them back to close the sale. It is a low-cost March 2014
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method of advertisement that is very effective at getting already interested users back to the retailer’s site and finalizing the purchase--- giving the company a nice return on investment (ROI). And while marketing and advertisement companies are constantly coming up with new methods (ie. retargeting) to increase the display frequency and viewership of retailer’s digital ads, there are some underlying privacy concerns that should be taken into account. How does retargeting work? Retargeting tags website visitors with a usually invisible identifier, such as a web cookie (a small piece of data communicated from a website and stored in a user’s web browser while the user is browsing that website). Other forms of identifiers may include an email or tracking pixel and their primary function is to monitor the activity of customers at a site. After tagged, that visitor is shown ads (for the website or a specifically searched product) all over the Internet with the help of that identifier. It can be a bit unsettling to realize the basics of retargeting, and that all of the information relating to your browsing behavior is being tracked and stored. This stored data can get misused or stolen. What can you do to minimize retargeting? 1) Customize your browser setting as per your need. For example, managing and deleting cookies. [Please note that different web browsers have different settings and options.] For Internet Explorer: To delete cookies • Open Internet Explorer for the desktop. • Tap or click the Tools button, point to Safety, and then tap or click Delete browsing history. • Select the Cookies check box, and then tap or click Delete. To block or allow cookies • Open Internet Explorer for the desktop. • Tap or click the Tools button, and then tap or click Internet options. • Tap or click the Privacy tab, and then, under Settings, move the slider to the top to block all cookies or the bottom to allow all cookies, and then tap or click OK Additionally, Internet Explorer 10 also introduced a new privacy feature called Do Not Track. When the Do Not Track feature in Internet Explorer is turned on, Internet Explorer will send a Do Not Track reChristian Computing® Magazine
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quest to the sites you visit and to the third parties whose content is hosted on those sites. To turn the Do Not Track request on or off • Open Internet Explorer for the desktop, tap or click Tools, then tap or click Internet options. • On the Advanced tab, under Settings, under Security, do one of the following: To turn off Do Not Track, uncheck the Always send Do Not Track header check box. To turn on Do Not Track, check the Always send Do Not Track header check box.
Christian Computing® Magazine
2)Avoid registration on web sites un-necessarily. 3)Use dedicated web browsers when visiting known (retargeting) web sites. Lastly, because we understand the importance of privacy, our Thirtyseven4 software was built with a tool to assist in this area. The Thirtyseven4 feature “Track Cleaner” within our Tools section is a privacy tool that securely cleans program activity traces and Internet tracks that are stored in the system registry and other hidden files. In day to day Internet use, business, and birthday partyplanning, it’s hard to believe that we may be leaving a bread-crumb (or cookie!) trail of where we’ve been. But the truth is, there are crumbs, and there are some very savvy mice following us around, and dangling the cheese right back in front of us. Big Brother seems to have eyes in more and more places, but we can defend our privacy and still enjoy some goodold fashioned surprises by taking the right pre-cautionary steps. Invest your time in purchasing a strong antivirus product for your machines (desktop and mobile). The benefits are far reaching, and often protect you in areas that you will never be aware of. As we begin to see signs of Spring, I encourage you to keep an eye open for signs of retargeting as well. If you notice ads online about items you’ve recently viewed, take care of your cookies, and decide on a Do Not Track initiative. Being proactive about the tips we’ve included will benefit you and your family. Safety is often grounded in precaution, and so is a well-orchestrated surprise party. (Which was a success by the way!)
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ministry leadership
Mobile Apps that Promote Spiritual Health
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By: Erin McManaway
here’s no denying that all things mobile have become integrated into our everyday life. Whether you have the newest Apple device, or explore the wide possibilities of Android technology, mobile apps remain the heart of any mobile experience. While you may already use integral mobile apps such as Evernote®, Dropbox , Facebook, Kindle™ and Angry Birds™, you may be curious to discover apps that are designed to support Christians in their daily walk with God. Whether you’re looking for a mobile app for personal use, or for a suggestion for a loved one or member of your ministry, you can find many possibilities for both iOS® and Android™ devices. YouVersion Bible It’s only natural that this list starts with the Bible, the most important Christian spiritual foundation. There are a number of Bible apps to choose from, but the free YouVersion® Bible app developed by LifeChurch.tv integrates your mobile Bible with the features of the Bible.com website. You must register for a free YouVersion account, but this app provides access to many Bible versions in several different languages. Some versions also include audio, which allows you to listen to scripture on the go. Add to this Bible search, extensive reading plans, bookmarking, note taking and lots of customization, and you have a robust Bible in your pocket at all times. iOS Version | Android Version Bible Study When you want to go deeper into the Word, Olive Tree™ Bible Software presents a free study app. Named Bible Study for Android and Bible+ for iOS, this app provides over a hundred free study resources with the option to purchase other resources as you Christian Computing® Magazine
need. With several available Bible versions and sideby-side referencing, you can bookmark, highlight and create your own study notes on your mobile device. You can also study in the off-line mode, sync with other mobile devices in the cloud, and share verses through your favorite social networks. iOS Version | Android Version Bible Memorization Learning and memorizing scripture is an important part of living in God’s Word. With so much on your mind each day, this may be easier said than done. Apps, such as Bible Memory for Android and Bible Memory Verses for iOS, provide numerous ways to make memorizing Bible verses more accessible. Use flash cards, audio readings, word puzzles and other methods to overcome the challenge of memorization, even when you only have a little time each day. iOS Version | Android Version Catechism of the Catholic Church For children (and adults) who want to learn the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the New City Catechism© app is a great study tool. This app provides 52 questions and answers about catechisms, one for each week of the year. You can track your progress, watch videos, read historical teachings, and pray historical prayers related to the weekly question. The app provides both NIV and ESV scripture options, and offers a joint study experience for both children and adults. iOS Version | Android Version March 2014
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Church Life If your church uses Access ACS™ and Facility Scheduler™, the free Church Life™ app lets you remain connected to your staff and congregation at all times. This app features online mobile giving, church event calendars, and access to member contact information, all in the palm of your hand. You can also manage your church staff’s tasks and automatically call or text church members while viewing their contact information within the app. It’s an excellent solution for the church leader on the go! iOS Version | Android Version The City While The City™ offers a mobile version for your device’s browser, you can also access all of your Cities using the iOS app. Interact with your groups by reading and responding to topics, needs and prayers posted on the Plaza and your news feeds. This app also gives you access to upcoming events on the calendar, allowing you to RSVP for events and view a list of people who plan to attend. With The City app, you can always keep in touch with your groups through automatic notifications no matter where you are. iOS Version | Android Version is in Development A Spiritual Mobile Experience While these aren’t the only Christian and ministry-based apps available, this list starts you on the path to bringing your spiritual life to your mobile device. As our mobile devices become a more integrated part of our daily experience, we must all decide how to best use this technology to connect with others in our church and carry out God’s will.
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church windows software
CHURCH WINDOWS SOFTWARE
Important change in Health Insurance Premium Reimbursements By: Craig Chadwell
S
o let’s face it, nothing about taxes is exciting. But we also need to face the fact that ignoring changes can be costly! So under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), there are provisions that provide for an excise tax under Sec. 4980D if employee benefits do not comply with market reform rules. That excise tax is $100 per day, per affected participant. Notice 2013-54 issued guidance to employers concerning a several types of health benefit arrangements provided to employees. One fairly common benefit that we have seen with our customers is the tax free reimbursement to an employee of individually purchased health insurance (Rev. Rul. 61-146).
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Notice 2013-54 also makes it clear that this arrangement would not comply with market reform rules and to continue that practice would make the church subject to the excise tax. As of January 1, 2014 only group health insurance policies offered by the employer will qualify for the tax free benefit. If you cannot include an employee under the church’s group health insurance March 2014
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policy, then you could continue to provide reimbursement to the employee for an individually purchased policy but the amount would need to be included in the employee’s W-2 as a taxable benefit. If you have an allowance for the reimbursement that is on the employee’s file, it must be considered Taxable by Federal/ Social Security/Medicare/State/Local. Fun stuff? Not for a minute. Something you shouldn’t ignore? Absolutely!
Did you file the required Form 8822-B before the IRS’ March 1, 2014 deadline? The February, 2014, issue of Christian Computing Magazine contains more detailed information about the new Form 8822-B requirement, but here is the summary of information. In case you missed it, the IRS now requires churches (and other organizations who have Tax ID Numbers) to register the name and information for the person who is the “responsible party” at the church. So the person who controls the paying of the bills and the dispersion of monies must appear on the most recent Form 8822-B filed with the IRS. When the person of responsibility for church financial transactions changes, the IRS now requires that an updated Form 8822-B be filed. There is no set penalty yet set for failure to file the form. But, if correspondence sent You’ve been called by the IRS is not received to minister to by the appropriate person, the people of then it could quickly turn your church. costly to the church. Given the volunteer Let Church Windows nature of church treasurer manage the responsibilities, it is very information likely that the person who so you can originally filed for the minister SS-4 Tax ID Number has to your people. changed. More information about Form 8822-B is available at the IRS webCHURCH WINDOWS DESKTOP & WEB contain integrated: site, www.irs.gov. Here .FNCFSTIJQ t 4DIFEVMFS t %POBUJPOT is also a direct link to the "DDPVOUJOH t "DDPVOUT 3FDFJWBCMF t 1BZSPMM downloadable form: http:// www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/ f8822b.pdf.
The Church is people!
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the browser
Three Free Graphics Applications if You Don’t Have Photoshop By: Susan Codone
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hotoshop is the industry-standard, premium tool for graphic design, but buying it can be expensive, especially since Adobe began offering it inside the Adobe Creative Cloud via monthly subscription. As with all applications, there are free alternatives, though. I’d like to describe three free graphic design applications you can use today – GIMP, Seashore, and Image Tricks.
Of the free tools currently available, GIMP is easily the most comprehensive. Sometimes called the “free Photoshop”, GIMP is designed for raster graphics and is officially described as an image manipulation program. GIMP is free, open source software, so it is constantly being improved by interested volunteers. GIMP offers photo enhancement, digital retouching, and the ability to create files in multiple formats, including the most common ones (.jpg, .gif, .png, and .tiff) and others. If you need to retouch a photo, GIMP offers tools for cloning and healing. And best of all, you can customize the interface to your own preferences. GIMP runs on Linux, Windows, and the MAC OS platforms. Seashore is another open source image editor and is based directly on GIMP’s technology. SeaChristian Computing® Magazine
shore is designed for the MAC OS platform and thus integrates very neatly with the Apple operating system. While it is based upon GIMP, it isn’t quite as comprehensive, aimed more at the casual graphic designer. Seashore offers the ability to work with layers, a fairly expansive tool set, and many effects. If your graphic design needs are more than simple retouching or mid-level effects, you may be frustrated with Seashore. But as long as you understand what Seashore is meant to provide, it’s a great free image editor. If you are looking for a free tool that provides some artistic design power, Image Tricks may be what you need. Also designed for MAC OS, Image Tricks is really not meant for casual image editing or general image enhancements. Instead, Image Tricks works best for taking digital images and March 2014
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applying and combining effects to generate creative new designs. In fact, Image Tricks is easy enough to use that a new user may well overshoot the creativity level needed for a design. Compared to Seashore, which is a limited-capability image editor, Image Tricks will give you the capability to create brand new designs. As with every project, you need to know your audience and purpose. With image editing and graphic design, the same concept is true. Knowing the intended use of your image can help you determine what tool to use. GIMP, Seashore, and Image Tricks all offer a different level of editing capabilities. Although GIMP is the only cross-platform tool described, remember that all of these tools are free. When you compare their capabilities and then calculate the cost of commercial tools, you may well come out ahead by using one of these tools. So, if you are searching for an image editor for personal or work-related use and don’t want to buy one either now or ever, I recommend GIMP. If your needs are smaller and you work with the Mac platform, go with Seashore. If you want to be really creative, try Image Tricks. Happy Browsing! Susan is an associate professor at Mercer University. In Mercer’s Technical Communication undergraduate degree, students can specialize in Ministry Media & Technology. Contact Susan anytime for more information at codone_s@mercer.edu.
www.PowerChurch.com • 800.486.1800 3&6 &KXUFK([HFXWLYHB [ LQGG
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higher power with kevin
What’s New in Bible Software
Kevin A. Purcell - kevin@kevinpurcell.org
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ne thing stays the same. Change! That’s true in a lot of arenas including Bible software. So what’s new in Bible Software lately? We’ll take a look at some of the newest updates to the best Bible software available for Windows, Mac, iPad/iPhone and Android. Sadly, we’ve got a short list this month.
Accordance 10.4 Update One of the most mature Mac Bible Software programs got a nice update bringing with it some new features. (http://bit.ly/accordance-new). First, Accordance made it compatible with the MacBook Pro with Retina Display, a super high-resolution computer that offers incredibly crisp text and graphics. Also, the program runs in full screen mode, a special display mode that removes the Mac menu at the top of the screen and the dock at the bottom giving users more screen room for the application. Accordance 10.4 lets users open a Parallel windows pane via a drop down menu. Now, on the drop down menu that users click to open a parallel pane, recent books show up too. This saves time letting us find our books quicker, especially ones we use often. Christian Computing® Magazine
The developers added some nice notes features, like the ability to add a note by hovering the mouse cursor over a verse. A pencil icon shows up and when clicked it will create a new note on the verse. Also, users can copy a verse as an interlinear (where Greek and English show together along with parsing information). See the above link for a bunch of other new features. Logos for iPad and iPhone The Logos app on the iPad and iPhone has seen a number of nice improvements lately (http://bit.ly/ logos-ios). People who like to highlight verses or books will enjoy the ability to swipe over the text to add highlights. We used to have to tap and hold and then tap to add a highlight on a popup toolbar. Now a person March 2014
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can hold their finger or stylus on a word and start to swipe to the end of the verse or section they want to highlight. Logos Bible adds the most recently used highlight style. To change the highlight style to another color or style, just tap the highlighted section to see a popup toolbar. This gives options for choosing a different style or document for storing the highlights attached to that book. Users can create different highlighting and note documents in Logos. I make one for each book I’m studying or reading and then one for general note document for all of my Bible highlights and notes. If a Logos note/highlighting document gets too big due to holding too many notes or highlights, then it can slow things down. Logos is big on their Faithlife community, so they’ve added community notes to the app. Now users can see and add to a community note group. For example, lets say everyone in your study group uses Logos. They can all join a community that someone in the group creates and see what others highlighted or read others’ notes. The Mobile Education initiative is a set of videos that give training to Logos owners. It’s like a seminary degree on your tablet, phone or computer. People who bought the videos will see a new tab in the app called Courses, which shows the courses owned and gives quick access to them. WORDsearch 10 This isn’t that new, but LifeWay, the new owner of WORDsearch, offers a video overview of what’s new in version 10. Find it at YouTube here: http:// bit.ly/wordsearch10newvideo. Bibleworks Bibleworks offers the best language study on a PC, but they’ve also made it so that users can run it on a Mac. It’s not a native Mac app, but runs using virtualization technology which means they’ve made it run on top of a program that makes the program think its running on Windows when its actually on a Mac. People who want to use Bibleworks on tablet can now use one of the powerful, but still inexpensive Windows 8 tablets, like the Dell Venue 8. Christian Computing® Magazine
Olive Tree Bible Reader Olive Tree doesn’t have a lot to report right now. They’re in a dormant phase, at least from the public’s perspective. However, I’m told that they’re working on a major overhaul of the software on all platforms to better display their books and make things more efficient, starting with some mobile updates and then moving to the computer. The company blog offered some sneak peaks into the new iOS version at the following links: • New text layout capabilities - http://bit. ly/1fWsALN • Interlinear Text layout with parsing popups http://bit.ly/1fWt8Bj • Tighter integratin of graphics with text around it as one sees in printed layout of books http://bit.ly/1gxRH35 This will all come from the Bible+ 5.9 for iOS and then the other platforms later. They’re not saying when, but anytime a company starts posting images of a future release, expect it soon. Laridian Laridian recently created a successful Kickstarter campaign that made it possible for their company to begin work on a Mac version of PocketBible. For those who don’t know, Kickstarter (www. kickstarter.com) is a way for people to let their customers support their work. For example, Laridian offered a chance to invest in a new version of PocketBible that runs on Mac OS X (http://kck.st/OyCCYT). Users pledge financial support at different dollar amounts. Laridian set a goal of $28,500. If they reach the goal, meaning enough people promise to support the project financially, then they can make the new March 2014
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version of PocketBible. Laridian met their goal. They charged the credit cards of those who promised support and will use the money to develop the new program. I supported the project and can’t wait to see what Craig Rairdin of Laridian comes up with. Follow the progress at their blog (http://blog. laridian.com/?cat=13). Conclusion As you can see we’re in a bit of a lull in terms of Bible software advancements. The app-ification of Bible software means companies that previously focused more on desktop/laptop software seem to be making their programs more mobile friendly. In the meantime, companies that used to focus mostly on mobile platforms, like Laridian and Olive Tree, seem to be pushing more into the desktop/laptop realm. That’s a great thing because it means more competition and options. More mobile means people can use their Bible software anywhere. I look out at my congregation of people and see far more tablets and phones opened as I read the morning’s passage than I did just a few years ago. As I said in last month’s article, companies need to seriously consider going online or making their online offering more advanced than a simple book reader. This will open up the door for more platforms like Windows Phone or Windows Surface and Chromebooks. I hope to hear about a lot of new and awesome features coming from Bible software in the near future. For now, enjoy what we’ve highlighted above. If any of the companies want to show off an update coming soon, let me know and we’ll give them some free publicity right here. I’m really itching to do a review of a big update.
Christian Computing® Magazine
March 2014
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the power and the danger
By Russ McGuire - russ.mcguire@gmail.com
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ast month Facebook announced they were acquiring mobile application company WhatsApp for a record $19 billion. Obviously, Facebook sees value in what the company is doing. Is there value for churches and ministries? [Upfront Disclaimer: I am actively involved with CXfriends, a Facebook competitor.] What is WhatsApp? WhatsApp, Inc. is a startup mobile application company founded by two Yahoo veterans in 2009. They have built one product, the WhatsApp mobile messaging application, which is available on Android, iPhone, Windows Mobile, Blackberry, and Nokia smartphones. Nearly half a billion people worldwide use WhatsApp to communicate with their friends and family. The app is free for the first year of use and does not have any ads. To keep using it beyond the first year, users pay 99 cents per year. The app makes it easy for users to send messages to their friends. These messages can include attachments including location data, photos, videos, and voice messages. Your account is identified by your Christian Computing® Magazine
mobile phone number and the app uses your phone’s address book to make it easy to find friends who are already using WhatsApp. Why is WhatsApp so popular? In the United States, many cellphone plans have moved towards including unlimited text messages, but in most parts of the world, consumers are charged for each message they send or receive (typically about 10 cents per message). WhatsApp provides the same functionality over a basic mobile data connection (or WiFi) with no fees. WhatsApp is also generally more user friendly and more attractive than standard text messaging apps. Since WhatsApp isn’t constrained by the “lowest common denominaMarch 2014
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tor” standards defined for global text messaging (so that texting will work across all devices across all networks), the company is free to innovate to create features and capabilities not available with standard texting. For some mobile phone companies, WhatsApp has become a real thorn in their side. I’ve heard that, in some countries, 70% of smartphone owners use WhatsApp instead of text messaging. According to Experian, U.S. smartphone owners between 18 and 24 years of age send an average of over 2000 text messages per month. By using WhatsApp, that translates into over $200 in potential lost revenue per month per user. Of course, no one would (knowingly) send that many texts unless they were on an unlimited plan, so in countries where users pay for each message sent, WhatsApp has allowed them to “catch up” with the rest of the world. Which really points to the underlying value of communicating.
ing nature of communications. Facebook is already disrupting how people communicate. Increasingly, people simply message, call, or even video with their friends directly through Facebook (or other social networks) rather than searching for their e-mail address or phone number. However, messaging-specific apps like WhatsApp are disrupting Facebook. According to some recent analysis, Facebook has lost as many as 11 million high school and college users since 2011. It’s not that these people have stopped communicating with their friends. Instead, they seem to value the direct link that is at the core of apps like WhatsApp over the “shouting in a crowd” approach that is central to Facebook’s news feed. Just as college and high school students helped define and refine Facebook’s initial value proposition, the company realizes they need to learn from this demographic if they are going to continue to grow and generate increasing value.
Why is Facebook willing to pay $19B for WhatsApp? It’s amazing that WhatsApp has half a billion users. But, if you do the simple math, without any advertising revenue, and charging less than a dollar per year, it’s pretty clear that the company’s annual revenue is well less than $1B. Even with the app’s reported growth of 1 million new users per day, and even considering planned new services, it will take a long time for the customer base, and associated revenue, to get anywhere near a level that justifies the hefty price Facebook is paying. So, what’s the deal? I think there are two main drivers to Facebook’s outlandish valuation. The first is simply the value of gaining mobile users. Even though Facebook has twice as many active users as WhatsApp, WhatsApp is growing more than twice as fast as Facebook. While WhatsApp has a single revenue model, Facebook has multiple revenue models, and bringing those hundreds of millions of new users into the fold has the potential to drive significantly more revenue than WhatsApp could generate on its own. The second driver is the chang-
How can ministries use WhatsApp? One of the features that WhatsApp offers that isn’t built into basic text messaging is Group Chat. A group is created by one person (e.g. a Youth Pastor) who becomes the administrator. Only this person can
Is Facebook safe for your family?
Christian Computing® Magazine
http://cxfriends.com March 2014
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add and remove people from the group, but then all members can message with the group. For any collection of WhatsApp users, this can be a great way to communicate with and amongst group members.
nearly all social networking tools, they have no sense of family values and parental authority. Inappropriate conversations and exchanges of photos and other content can easily go undetected by mom and dad. Parents should view these apps with cauWhat is dangerous about WhatsApp? tion and find ways to monitor what their kids are There are many things to like about the apdoing. Better yet, check out family-friendly Chrisproach that WhatsApp has taken. They have turned tian alternatives (like CXfriends). away from ads, which we certainly don’t need to Looking forward, WhatsApp will likely become bombard our youth with. They also seem to take even more dangerous for Christian families. Faceprivacy protection seriously. However, as with book is dependent on the revenue that comes from bombarding users with enticing ads, and the company certainly has shown little commitment to protecting user privacy. The best we can hope for is that perhaps government regulators get your free demo will put conditions on approval of the acquisition that may force Facebook to treat their customers with more respect. This is one that is worth watching. As Jesus warned His Manage your ministry with disciples in Luke 26:41 “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is Track donations, Email Statements, willing, but the flesh is weak.” It is my hope and prayer that Manage: Small Groups, Classes, Attendance, these articles on the power and Visitor follow-up, Outreach and MORE! danger of technology will encourage you in your daily walk with Christ. Whether it is the printing press, radio, television, personal computers, the Internet, Keep children safe with the Cloud, smartphones, or messaging apps, new technologies continue to advance our ability Easy check-in, secure check-out, to know God and to serve Him, Syncs with Servant Keeper, wherever we go. Name badges w/ allergies, notes, alerts, class info.
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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 CXfriends (https://cxfriends.com), a social network for Christian families.
March 2014
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digital evangelism
Digital Evangelism for Websites Making Your Website Maintenance Easier (Part 2)
Michael L White - mlwhite@parsonplace.com
T
o continue our discussion from the February CCMAG digital evangelism article, I will explain now how to link an external cascading style sheet (CSS) file and one or more external Java script files to your site to make its maintenance quicker and easier.
If you already have an established Website, you will need to edit each of your Web files with a single line of code per external file. You would insert these lines of code at the appropriate places in your Web page’s content in order to reference the various sections of your page (that is, the top, footer, left, right, and center). Since the center portion of your page is the main body content (and the search engines need something on your Web page that is static rather than dynamic to index), this is the only section which won’t be contained in an external Java script file, although it will still need a reference to the corresponding section in your CSS file in order to display correctly. Of course, the link to your external CSS file must be written in the Christian Computing® Magazine
HEAD section of your HTML code, while the remaining links to the external Java script files would go in various places throughout the BODY section of your HTML code. In fact, it is actually the norm to use an external CSS file these days, so you may already be doing that. If you’re starting from scratch with a brand new site, however, you could use the template below for each of your Web files and type or paste your site’s external file link or textual content within the appropriate DIV ID tag corresponding to each section of your page. After creating your initial file, you could simply do a Save As operation and give that file the name of the next Web file you wish to create in order to save time. Then, all you would need March 2014
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to do to the new file is highlight the sectional content within the “center” DIV ID tag and type or paste the content for your new file in its place. For that matter, I suppose you could even copy and paste the content from your existing Web pages into the appropriate sectional containers within the template to expedite the conversion from your former design to this new design. You would, of course, do the same Save As operation on each new Web file you created, just as you would in creating a site from scratch. Furthermore, as long as you saved your files in a different directory from your current Web files, you could retain the same file names you’re currently using and avoid the problem of 404 Errors resulting from changed file names when folks use their previous bookmarks to your site pages. It’s up to you how you may do this. Now, here’s a suggested template for your Web files: <HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Your Page Name</TITLE> <LINK TYPE=”text/css” MEDIA=”Screen” REL=”stylesheet” HREF=”http://www.yourdomain.com/your_css_file.css”> <!-- Add other HEAD section code according to your preferences. --> </HEAD> <BODY> <DIV ID=”TOP”><SCRIPT LANGUAGE=”javascript” TYPE=”text/ javascript” SRC=”http://www.yourdomain.com/top.js”></ SCRIPT></DIV> <DIV ID=”RIGHT”><SCRIPT LANGUAGE=”javascript” TYPE=”text/ javascript” SRC=”http://www.yourdomain.com/rtcol. js”></SCRIPT></DIV> <DIV ID=”CENTER”> <H1>Your Page Name</H1> <p>Your page’s main body textual content goes here.</p></DIV> <DIV ID=”LEFT”><SCRIPT LANGUAGE=”javascript” TYPE=”text/ javascript” Christian Computing® Magazine
SRC=”http://www.yourdomain.com/ltcol.js”> </SCRIPT></DIV> <DIV ID=”FOOTER”><SCRIPT LANGUAGE=”javascript” TYPE=”text/ javascript” SRC=”http://www.yourdomain.com/footer. js”></SCRIPT></DIV> </BODY> </HTML> Of course, you can rearrange your content any way you choose. For instance, you could put your navigational menu in either the left column only or in both the top and footer sections only or in all three. You can also put other content, such as a subscription box for your e-newsletter, in the left and right columns on your pages. That’s entirely up to you. Just be sure to name your external Java script files according to the sections they are supposed to fill on your pages so that you can keep them straight. Now, let’s peek into the actual code content of these external files. As for the CSS file, if you’re already using an external CSS file just continue using what you have, but if you have been putting your CSS code directly into each Web page, you can cut that code from one of your pages and paste it into your new external CSS file, except you wouldn’t surround your external CSS code with the STYLE tag pair as you would on a Web page, so don’t forget to remove that tag pair (if present) after you paste your code into the external CSS file. Also, don’t forget to delete the CSS code from all your remaining Web pages in order to avoid any potential coding conflicts. If you’re building your first Web site and CSS file from scratch, you should consult a HTML and CSS manual for more specifics on the precise code to use in each file, March 2014
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although I will provide you with a link below to an example page on my Website containing links to an external CSS file and the other pertinent external Java script files for your perusal. As for the external Java script files, I must confess that I am not a Java script programmer, so I have borrowed from others and learned a few things on my own about how to write certain Java script coding conventions. For instance, in order for a Web browser to display the contents of an external Java script file at a particular place on a Web page, you must use the document. write command within your external Java script file and enclose all HTML code and other textual content you want displayed on your site within parentheses and single quotation marks and conclude each document.write command entry with a semicolon. Thus, each line of HTML code and textual content that you wish to display on your Website must be written within your external Java script file using the proper Java script coding conventions in order for it to work. The following example is of a navigational menu which could be used in the top and footer sections of each Web page on your site. If you use undecorated text for your menu, I recommend you use a pipeline symbol ( | ) to separate each menu item for easier viewing and selection. See the example below: document.write(‘<a href=”http://www.yourdomain. com” title=”Home Page”> Home</ a> | <a href=”http://www.yourdomain.com/about.html” title=”Learn more about us”>About Us</a> | <a href=”http://www.yourdomain.com/acts.html” title=”Take a look at our regularly scheduled activities”>Activities</a>’); Christian Computing® Magazine
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If you like, you can get more creative with your menu and give it some flair by adding button code or some color and/or font size changes during a mouse hover. You would add this code to your CSS file with some appropriate coordinating code in your Java script files. To see how I’ve done this on my site, visit www.parsonplace. com/examples/webdsign.html to watch the menu in action, and click on each of the Java Script code examples listed there to view the actual HTML, CSS, and Java script code I’ve used to accomplish this effect. The code segments in the CSS file that are pertinent for the menu in the left column of that page are those that begin with ul.navbar and those listed under the /*Button style menu*/ comment. If you like what I’ve done on my site, you can just copy and paste the entire CSS code directly from your browser window into your external CSS file for quick and easy implementation. Of course, you can tweak the code however you like to get the results you want, so just experiment and have fun with it! Unfortunately, however, not all of this code is compatible with
all browsers. Firefox, in particular, is rather disappointing in its display of some of these aspects, while Internet Explorer’s rendering looks great. Therefore, depending on your browser preference, you may want to limit your use of some of these or (if you’re more adept than I am) revise the code to display better in other browsers. I hope you agree that this approach to Website design (i.e., using external CSS and Java script files to manage various aspects of your site) makes a site’s maintenance much quicker and easier than a design without it, since editing only five files (your CSS file plus four external Java script files pertaining to the top, footer, left, and right sections of your site’s pages) is much simpler and faster than having to edit the same code and/or textual content across every page on your site. This is especially apparent if, for instance, you need to update the copyright date in the footer of your site’s pages. Can you imagine having to do that across even as few as twentyfive pages? Not only does this approach save you loads of time, but it reduces the potentiality of coding or textual content errors that could creep in from making repeated changes across numerous pages. Make the move… Well, that does it for now. from Church Management Software… If you have any questions or comments about this article, you to Church Ministry Software may contact me by email or you can get a conversation going on Built by the Church, for the Church the CCMAG Website. Either way, I’d love to hear from you! ▪ Open Source (the code is free) ▪ Web-based Michael L. White is the ▪ Church Sponsored “BTW, each day I am more founder and Managing Editor of thankful that we are using ▪ Ministry Focused Parson Place Press, an indeBVCMS. The rate you are pendent Christian publishing adding features and improving house in Mobile, Alabama. His the database blows my mind and book Digital Evangelism: You I really appreciate all you do.” Can Do It, Too! (Parson Place - Jared Coe Press, 2011) is available wherever books are sold. Visit his Website at books.parsonplace. com for a list of his other books and articles.
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March 2014
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ministry communication
Is your website an open door or barrier to your church?
Yvon Prehn - yvon@effectivechurchcom.com
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oday, if we have a question about anything, where do we look up information? If we want hours of operation, products offered, staff bios? Obviously, we go to the website. It’s the same whether we are looking up information about what computer to buy or what church to attend. In addition, we judge the organization, its people, and its products based on the website. If the website gives us winter hours and it is spring, we aren’t likely to visit the business or have confidence in it. Again, we judge a church the same way.
Though lost customers may be bad for a business, the consequences for a church are much more serious. Following is an example of what can happen and then some suggestions for change. True story here A couple hadn’t been able to attend church for some time after moving to a new community because the wife was ill. Her health improved somewhat and they were excited about attending church the following Sunday. It wasn’t easy for her to get up early, take the needed mediChristian Computing® Magazine
cations, and prepare for church, but they loved going to church and after checking out many churches in the area found one on the web they wanted to visit. The website told them the details, time it started, directions, and they assumed, all they needed to know. As they walked through the doors they were met by a woman who said, “do you know what is going on today?’ “No,” they replied. “We are not having church today, we are doing a community service day. You can stay and work or go somewhere else.” March 2014
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When the couple asked why this was not on the website—the woman replied, “It probably should have been. I’ll pass that on.” It was not a pleasant encounter and the couple left.
EASY
What if. . . The couple who related the story to me, consulted the web again, and went to another church later that morning. They were upset at that church and may or may not visit again, but they are believers in Jesus and will eventually find a church home. However, what if the visitors had been a couple in emotional crises? What if they were not believers in Jesus and had finally worked up the courage to visit a church only to be told that it was a day for the insiders to do a project and that they were not included? What if it was the last time a person who had been hurt by church leaders in the past decided to try one more time to attend before giving up on church completely? Of course we can’t know the situation of every person who comes through our doors and of course there are always people who won’t read notices no matter where we post them, but there are things we can do to prevent potential spiritual disasters and that in addition are simply good business sense and good manners.
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A primary recommendation Keep your website CURRENT! Not only on your home page should you have any changes that differ from your normal schedule, but also on the pages that list ongoing events. For example if your service is cancelled for a work day, on the home page, if you have rotating headers, one should say “WORKDAY this SUNDAY— no regularly scheduled services. Visitors welcome, but come in work clothes and get to know us in a different way.” A similar message should be on ALL listings of your service times throughout the website. This is because you never know where people will drop into a website based on the results of a search engine. If you’ve done these things and a visitor still shows up – honestly apologize and ask them how you could have communicated more effectively. A foundational to-do—learn how to create a living website Your website is not only a static brochure, but should be a living, ever-changing communication vehicle with your community. Having said that, there is also place on your website for static information that rarely changes—staff bios, overall vision and mission March 2014
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of the church, etc. Information like this is essential and having it in a consistent location is one of the primary benefits of a website as opposed to the ever-flowing river of social media. Social media is at best an interactive communication tool useful most often with people who are already interested in or involved in your church—but it is a lousy tool to find out about the background of the staff, the beliefs of the church, or for an overview of the children’s ministry. A website is the perfect tool for this factual information, but even though this information stays relatively the same, it must also be updated immediately when things change. To make your website living, you must have a website that the church office staff knows how to modify. Before the objections start, there is absolutely NO EXCUSE for members of the church office staff to not know how to modify your website. Churches have had access to the Internet for over 20 years and most churches have had websites in some form for over 10 years. But for some reason, many church communicators, including pastors and church office staff, think they can’t create a website, modify an article, or create a blog and that simply is not true. Get a grip people—if you want to communicate to your world today, you have got to learn the language of the digital world. It isn’t that hard, it is exciting, and can be tremendous fun. You’ve learned how to drive a car, use a computer, and any number of additional skills for your work and life. You can learn this. More will be coming on my website, http://www.effectivechurchcom.com about this and here in CCMAG, but in advance of that, there is an abundance of instructional videos, books, websites, and tutorials on how to create websites and blogs with WordPress— the free and easiest way to do it. Christian Computing® Magazine
Finally, all the above isn’t simply a push for church staffs to update their websites, so visitors aren’t turned away; it’s about doing all we can to help people find Jesus. Throughout history missionaries have learned new languages, given up family, safety, and comfort to share the gospel. Our challenge is to become fluent cyber communicators, let’s not be found wanting in this. For more on Effective Church Communications and articles by Yvon Prehn, go to http://www.effectivechurchcom.com.
March 2014
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nick at church
Surprising Email Facts
Nick Nicholaou - nick@mbsinc.com
D
id you know that email, when sent from your email server to another, may be vulnerable and readable by the public? Or that the route between you and your recipient’s email server may include more than a dozen destinations in different countries? These are surprising truths! Why Do I Care? We’re dealing with two issues in this article; let’s tackle this question for each. 1. Email Vulnerabilities. Churches and ministries send lots of email! And some email contains very sensitive information about team members, church members, organizational management issues, legal challenges, and more. If precautions are not taken, it’s possible that someone could sniff your Internet traffic with widely available free tools and Christian Computing® Magazine
read your email content in clear text. 2. Internet Routes. The Internet Super Highway is not like an Interstate. The route from one location to another is usually not direct, and can cross borders or even continents multiple times! And the routes change constantly. This may explain why sometimes it seems like sending an email or browsing a website can feel sluggish and even get frustrating. What’s the Problem, Exactly? March 2014
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As some might say, “These aren’t problems; they’re features!” But these features, or attributes of how the Internet was designed, can cause issues. The issue of greatest concern in this article is that of email vulnerability. If email is sent from one email user to another in the same email server, that email can be private and encrypted (assuming the server is secured properly). But if email is sent from someone in one email server to someone in another email server, the email may or may not be private. And that can be a problem for some sensitive email content. Consider, for example, that you are sending an email to a board member— from your Exchange server email account to his/ her Yahoo email account. It’s possible that the content of that email will pass through the Internet in clear text, which means that anyone sniffing the Internet may be able to easily read the email. What if that was about a staff or church member disciplinary issue, or about a legal challenge facing your organization? The tools needed to sniff Internet traffic are readily available and free. If you’d like to see how easy it is for someone with some of these tools, watch this YouTube: http://youtu.be/1O-JUaK1-wE. And yes— there are people out there who do this kind of thing!
How Can I Protect our Organization? There’s a technical and a non-technical response to this question. The technical response is to set your email server to try to communicate with other email servers via TLS whenever possible, and then to test the email addresses of each of your board members to see if their email server communicates via TLS. But that’s probably more than you want to know. The simple and non-technical solution for this problem is to simply give your board members— and members of other committees that deal with sensitive information— an email address in your server! If you’re using a Microsoft Exchange email server and you’re a church or ministry, the cost is only about $3 one time for each mailbox license. Then simply ask them to agree to only email about your organization’s issues via that email address. For the rest of your team, they need to be trained and constantly reminded about this issue. For instance, if someone decides to use their personal email address, the communication may not be secure. What About the Internet Route Issue? Here a couple of pictures I took of trace routes between my office in Southern California and a couple of clients.
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This route goes from Los Angeles to Atlanta, and crosses the country six times in the process! Too bad we don’t get frequent flier miles for all of that distance!
This route is from Los Angeles to Charleston, South Carolina, and spends quite a bit of time in a few countries in Europe!
Christian Computing® Magazine
And… Why Do I Care? Sometimes it seems like your email takes a long time to get to it’s recipient. This helps put that in perspective. But there’s a more important time when you may really care. If you’re beginning to move services into the cloud, this can impact your systems’ performance. For instance, if you have a hosted server that interacts with another hosted server, if they’re in different datacenters the efficiency of their interactions will be slower than if they’re in the same datacenter. Recommendations So, I recommend: 1. Email Vulnerabilities. Provide email accounts on your email server for any non-staff team members to facilitate the private communication of data via email. The cost is low, and the value is high. 2. Internet Routes. As you move towards cloud computing, place as many servers and service resources as possible in the same datacenter. The efficiency with which they interact with each other will be optimal, and that will speed up your processing and minimize the potential for errors.
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