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
August 2014
No. 8
Contributing Editors Yvon Prehn Nick Nicholaou Kevin A. Purcell Russ McGuire Michael L White
9 cover story Church Community Builder Web-Based Church Management Software
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Copy Editors Gina Hewitt Magen Cross
By Steve Hewitt
Editorial
Corporate Home Office
Wow! - I loved the responses from this month’s question about WiFi By Steve Hewitt
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Question of the Month
WiFi is everywhere!
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Special Feature
Churchteams A Closer Look
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Ministry Leadership
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Protected with Purpose
The #IceBucketChallenge Precaution
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August 2014
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editorial
Wow!
I loved the responses from this month’s question about WiFi
Thank you so much for the great response to my question this month about WiFi. I was overwhelmed by the responses. We could only print a small portion of them, but it really gave me some great insight into how and why churches are using WiFi. I also appreciated the email (although there were only about five) from those that are not providing WiFi, and your reasons. One of the things I stand firm on is the right for each pastor to do what he feels is right for his church. WiFi obviously isn’t for everyone. However, as you read the article in this month’s issue, I hope you will get excited as you near the end and read not only how churches have set up their WiFi, but how they are using it. Some are actively using WiFi even during their worship service since they use Proclaim from Logos. And my compliment to those that have set up smart TV displays in classrooms throughout their facilities so that teachers can access them to show videos on YouTube, or access other information available on the Internet (such as the great maps from Manna Bible Maps!) Christian Computing® Magazine
New Column Starting Next Month This month, you will note that the cover story is about Church Community Builder. I have been following the blogs that Steve Caton posts and feel he is very committed to helping churches use technology to enhance and expand their ministry opportunities. Therefore, I have asked him to write some articles for us, allowing him to share some of his insight into what churches are doing or need to be doing. Steve will do a column for at least six months, starting next month. I think we will all learn something from what he has to share! Thanks again for all who responded to this month’s question. Watch your emails for our question for September! Together We Serve Him,
Steve Hewitt steve@ccmag.com August 2014
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question of the month
WiFi is everywhere! By Steve Hewitt
W
iFi is everywhere! I can now access WiFi at all of my favorite fast food restaurants, at my doctor’s office, at my local hospital, and although I don’t like to fly, some airlines are now offering WiFi for their passengers! Some of the most popular Christian apps and Bible study software apps allow users great access to features and translations IF they have WiFi. So, this month’s question is....
Do you offer WiFi at your church for your congregation and visitors? If not, why not? If you do, how, and is it popular and well used? We have a lot of responses to this month’s question. Most either have had WiFi for two years, or they have just added it recently. There were a few that didn’t have WiFi but want it soon, and there were those that didn’t want it to be included at all. Some were under the impression that a person could do whatever they wanted with their smart phone or table via 3g or 4g connection and that WiFi wasn’t really needed. Unfortunately, that isn’t true. There are many apps, including some of the Bible study programs, that require a WiFi connection in order to access some of the translations. And, personally, I like to take my tablet into worship and access the Bible on it, and it doesn’t have a cell phone account and is dependent on WiFi. And, I was blessed to see a few of our readers really getting the value of WiFi. They use Proclaim Christian Computing® Magazine
from Logos for multimedia allowing their members to receive instant links to the scriptures used in the sermon. And, my blessings to those churches that provide WiFi throughout their church because they realize their Sunday School teachers can USE it to access videos they might want to show that relate to the lesson they are teaching. I spoke at a church recently in Texas, and was delighted to know that every class room had a video display with an AppleTV and WiFi. Anyone teaching could access a lot of multimedia materials available on YouTube and easily share with their class! Good job! Enough from me, here is a sampling of what we heard from you! Here’s one who offered it, but has cancelled the offering… August 2014
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“We did make WiFi available for anyone who asked for our password. Just this week we changed the password and will no longer make it available to all. We noticed our speeds slowed considerably. As we gave out the password, and people put it on their phone or tablet, every time them walked on campus the phone/tablet connected automatically, thus, slowing down our connection speed. We are a smaller church and, at this time, do not want to spend over twice as much to bump up our internet speed.”
someone might drown. Since most of our readers DO now provide free public WiFi at their church, maybe some of our readers can offer a solution to help answer your concerns.
And, here is a church asking for more information on how to do a better job in setting up WiFi! “We have WiFi available at our church throughout all of our buildings. Unfortunately the bandwidth is not enough for very many people to use it at the same time. I would be very interested in solutions that would provide the ability for more simultaneous users at a reasonable price. What does Starbucks do? I am looking forward to an article on possible solutions.”
“I think we are getting a little carried away. We go to church to worship, not communicate outside of the church. There is plenty of time for that after we leave.”
Nick Nicholaou did a great job last summer on an article that might provide the info you need. Check it out at http://ccmag.com/2013_07/ ccmag2013_07nick.pdf And this, from a church that is afraid of the consequences of offering public WiFi… “In your article concerning the provision of public WiFi in churches, please include a candid assessment of the risks involved (we know the benefits), how those risks can be mitigated, and what insurance can be obtained to cover those risks. Our church has looked into insurance to cover the risks of providing WiFi and has come up empty for coverage for any risks exclusive to WiFi. For example, if at a youth event, a minor whose parents have taken away her smartphone proceeds to borrow the phone/tablet of a friend and uses the church WiFi to contact a sexual predator that her parent has prohibited her from contacting, what insurance will pay any legal fees (and losses) the church incurs when the wayward teen’s parent sues? Or what if the teen uses the church WiFi to view a “fire challenge” on YouTube, and as a result is involved in an incident where they are seriously burned – and the parent sues?” I do not have a firm answer for your fear, but I would place it somewhere in the same level as worrying about adding a drinking fountain for people to use in your church because you’re afraid Christian Computing® Magazine
And here is a sampling of the rest, from those that don’t think churches should have WiFi, to those that offer it, and near the end, some that told why they have WiFi, which might prompt some readers to become more creative as well!
“I don’t have to provide Wi-Fi. Most of my people do not have computers and don’t want one. It scares them.” “We might be getting it, but I am against it due to security concerns with our network. I know there are safeguards to have a network for members and have our wireless protected on the same router, but wireless itself is still not as secure as wired. We have personal information in a computer here and also do online commerce, so I feel we need to protect members’ personal information since hackers could access it easier with WiFi. The rewards do not seem to be worth the risk. I also wonder how many people would be distracted with other things during service if WiFi were available. I believe some might already text and have other distractions at church and am not sure if getting it would be a good idea for those reasons either.” “Our church currently doesn’t offer WiFi, but we should. For starters, our WiFi signal doesn’t penetrate the sanctuary, so those of us that need to use any media at church can’t even do it. On top of that, there’s been a couple asking about bringing their tablets to church for Bible note taking, and they can’t do it. Our deacons are too tech unsavvy to understand why our churches needs WiFi in the sanctuary, as well as they’re considering replacing our office’s N router with a G router (major step backwards) just to save money. It’s not a good situation.” “We offer WiFi to anyone who asks, or if I see them using a device, I offer it. I would like to have a guest network and publish the password in bulletins and at meetings.” August 2014
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“We do offer WiFi for all. It is very popular and used a lot – by teachers in our classes, and by members who follow the sermons, lessons; looking up bible atlases, checking out additional commentary, searching for possible blogs on the subjects, etc. “
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“We do offer WiFi at our church for staff, congregation, and visitor. Our staff portal is separate and has dedicated bandwidth. We got to where hardly anyone could get on WiFi, especially on Wednesdays and Sundays, so we put in a new system that could handle over 1,000 wireless IP addresses, especially in our Worship Center and Student Center, and doubled our bandwidth. This public system has a logon screen with rules that they have to agree to, much like a hotel.” “First Friends Church in Canton Ohio offers free quest access to WiFi. It is used by many, especially the younger ones and the youth. Primary use is following along with the pastor with the scripture using You Version app. I am sure there are other online Bible sources as well.” “Yes, we offer free WiFi in our church building. Actually we have two separate WiFi systems. One that connects to the church office network and is secured by a password. The second is not connected to the network and requires no password to access. There is a filter on both systems, reducing the possibility of accessing content deemed offensive or immoral.” “We offer public WiFi throughout our church campus. From the classrooms to the fellowship hall to the worship center, we make sure our guests and congregation can get online. We have 3 APs in our 1000+ seat worship center alone with adAugust 2014
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ditional capacity if needed. With a good portion of our congregation using a smart phone or tablet to read their Bibles during the service, it is almost as “expected and necessary” as air conditioning and lights.” “I set up WiFi at Hardingville Bible Church in the sanctuary (out in the country in NJ) and although everyone in administration said “It would never be used,” within a month I was asked to add WiFi in three other wings of the church. It’s been interesting to see the oldest generations in the church adopt using iPads for their Bible reading. Now there are still a few of the oldest generation that are on the border of thinking that it is almost evil to use a computer in church. However the deacons, and most of the 20-35 year olds are using devices to look up references and to do Bible study. With the increase in Bible apps and online planning tools, WiFi has become one of the essential tools that we strive to provide throughout our facilities.” “Yes, we offer WiFi at the church, and have recently upgraded our access points so that the signal is strong throughout all the buildings. We’re a more liturgical church, so we don’t have an emphasis on social media interaction during the church service/ sermon, but I do know that some people prefer to access the Scripture readings and such on their portable devices. Greater use is encouraged during our Bible study times, but I don’t believe more than a quarter of the congregation makes use of the WiFi.” “We do offer Wi-Fi to the church. We have 100mb down from Comcast. We have 5 buildings connected by fiber, and utilize Ruckus Wireless and I manage it through Zone Director. I have separate login accounts for Teachers, Staff members, Preschool, and Guests, each with its own security and access levels. Staff members and our security team utilize the Wi-Fi by video monitoring areas of the campus via their iPad, iPhone or Android device. We have equipped our classrooms with Apple TV. This is one of the best resources for teachers and guests. WiFi is not just for kids anymore. I recently taught a class of over 40 seniors in our church, how to use the mobile device for Sunday sermons. Connected them with YouVersion Bible, Evernote and Dropbox to follow along and take notes with Sunday sermons. We are in the process of creating a worship guide app and limit our print expenses.” Christian Computing® Magazine
“We have WiFi in the main sanctuary on for our Sunday morning and evening services. Sunday morning we usually have 150-175 in the sanctuary and about 20-25 connect to the WiFi. We display the access code on the projection system just prior to the sermon. We offer the Pastor’s sermon notes on YouVersion live for our group Taylor Memorial PHC. Users may read along as the scripture verses are read. The Pastors notes are there as well and they can take their own notes using the app. The Pastors notes on the YouVersion event have more content than what can be displayed on the projection system. Users can fill out prayer requests and there is a general link to our website which includes the phone number. Also have the share button on the live event so they can post their experience to Facebook/Twitter. The people that use it love it and use it regularly. We can never go back now that we’ve offered it.” “We have just started offering WiFi on Sundays during service since July of this year. It is a very simple setup. We just ordered a separate router and DSL Wi-Fi line for the congregation that does not connect to our main DSL that we use for our administration. The reason we decided to do this is because we started offering our sermon notes on the Bible. com app on Sundays so that our members could follow along with the sermon and we would save a tree by not printing the notes out. We have a lot of our members that have mobile devices, tablets and smartphones with their Bible on it and we wanted to take advantage of the technology. On Sunday morning we post on screen the WiFi connection name and password and the sermon note locations for all of the congregation to connect to. The Bible app allows us to ask pole questions live during the sermons which I find helpful for me personally to gauge where people are at in their walk and understanding of what we are teaching. One quick note is once we made WiFi available for our members it was a very positive response. We have some members that only have internet access when they come to church on Sunday and this is helpful for them.” “We have 2 WiFi networks that cover the whole campus—a guest one and a staff one that is password protected. We get a lot of traffic on Sunday. Additionally, our small group leaders often use it in their teaching (we recently purchased some smart TVs for some of the classrooms that connect to the WiFi and have shown various videos off of them). We also August 2014
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run a check-in system with some mobile tablets that connect to the WiFi for children’s ministry. We tried several solutions at first, and finally had to go with a commercial grade option to get what we wanted—a lot of trial and error but definitely worth it.” “I do offer WiFi at my Church for attendees. It is used by many attending. Most use electronic Bibles plus we use Proclaim as our presentation software. This software helps them to connect to the Scriptures as we present them on the screen.” “Yes, we offer WiFi. We use Proclaim presentation software (Logos) in our services which generates “signals” throughout the service that allows congregants to follow Scripture on their smartphones or tablets, or add announcement details to their calendars. We do know it gets used; just don’t know by how many. Our Sunday school teachers also use it to connect to YouTube for lesson illustrations, etc.” “As a small congregation we endeavor to provide as a good a situation as possible for our people. We utilize Proclaim Church presentation software from
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Logos Bible Software to project info from the service on screens in the auditorium. Proclaim utilizes signals to Logos Bible Software and Fatihlife Study Bible, also from Logos. These signals provide the user on their tablet or smartphone with a single button to press to take the person to the specific Bible text. Proclaim also can send signals which provide calendar entries, links to web pages and other things that aid the person in the pew to worship better. WiFi is essential in that situation and provides a great resource to our people. Many of our material utilized in our Sunday School program is made available on our web site for our folks to download to their tablets or smart phones or download to their computers. In our College and Career class the kids sit in the classroom with the laptops and tablets with our study books on them accessible because of the Internet access through WiFi. We have a Bible reading program in which we read through the Bible every year. We ensure that the plan we use each year is available on the YouVersion Bible app so that our folks can read the text in the plan or even have it read to them in the app.”
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cover story
Church Community Builder Web-Based Church Management Software
By Steve Hewitt
I
n order to tell the story of Church Community Builder (many of their customers simply refer to the as CCB) I think you have to start with their name. I remember the first time I heard it, my interest peaked immediately. I think I first heard about Church Community Builder in 2001. I loved the concept, the purpose and the direction they were taking. You see, Church Community Builder didn’t even start out as Church Management Software (ChMS), but rather as a software solution for a small, new, up-and-coming church. This also makes Church Community Builder unique. Many ChMS’ started in mega-churches. There is nothing wrong with that, but has a distinctive foundation because they started from a small church seeking to grow! Church Community Builder was started with the goal inspired by Ephesians 4:11-12 which calls for us to “equip” the membership of a church. This meant they were driven to develop tools which could be used to equip leaders as they in turn equip others on their journey with Christ. Churches have needs as they grow and expand ministry. Christian Computing® Magazine
They wanted to use technology solutions to allow churches to present those needs to their congregations and allow the membership to connect back and volunteer to meet the growing needs of the church. Church Community Builder helps church staff to steward the people God has entrusted to them and, in doing so, create a deeper sense of August 2014
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belonging for members and attendees alike. THIS closes the back door. If you walk into a church and do not connect to a “community” you can easily leave and never be noticed. Frankly, I have always tried to project the direction of technology solution’s success based upon technology options at the time, and Church Community Builder came along and smartly took advantage of two new technology trends that had developed just a few years before their birth. First, the Internet was becoming a standard as people were becoming comfortable with websites and online solutions. And, second, because of the Internet computers were no longer just a tool for the office, but were becoming standard in America’s homes. Church Community Builder recognized that their services should empower leaders. volunteers and members, not just the church staff. As they developed into a full ChMS, this foundation was key! Their ChMS was about “building the church community” and not just providing data reports for the church staff. Church Community Builder believes that the church should be about equipping. Of course, when
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you check through their features and compare them with other ChMS, you will see that they do well, but it is their purpose of equipping leaders within the church that they wish to emphasize. I consult with churches all across the nation and normally encourage churches that are seeking a change to re-invest some time in their current ChMS, learning if their current ChMS would better meet their needs if they would invest in some training. Recently, in talking to a church about Church Community Builder and including Steve Caton of the Church Community Builder leadership team in the discussion, he surprised me by suggesting that the church consider other ChMS solutions than Church Community Builder because the church was centering their ChMS desires on a database for their staff, and not considering the leverage that Church Community Builder offers when used to equip and empower the entire church. Church Community Builder only wants churches as customers IF they do church in a more decentralized fashion and view a ChMS as distributive leadership tool as opposed to a staff-driven database! This isn’t because they are arrogant or exclusionary. It’s
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because they know that it is one of the most important ingredients for long term success with technology. Church Community Builder knows the importance of a good database, but prefers to start their conversation around process before features. Their goal is not to just provide robust features, but connection, community and improved operational effectiveness. They don’t celebrate new church partners nearly as much as they celebrate the story they hear from church leaders about how working with Church Community Builder has made them a better leader! It takes a lot more than cool software to make those stories possible. It takes church leaders operation within good processes which are supported by effective technology. Furthermore, it requires recognition that there is enormous value in reducing the number of technology tools you use to manage your church. The more tools you use, the more you create disconnected data silos which make it easier for people to fall through the cracks. Purchasing software based on features alone, while ignoring process, produces many challenges Church Community Builder simply wants to help church leaders avoid. So, does that mean that features don’t matter? Of course not! Church Community Builder has some great features and tools. However, they want you to know that the features and tools are only important if they are providing you a holistic view of what your people are doing within your ministry. Church Community Builder believes the purpose of features in any ChMS should be there to support key ministry processes, such as greeting visitors, ensuring children are safe and accountable, connecting potential leaders to current ministry needs, and providing overall stewardship of the entire congregation! Church Community Builder has some features that others do not. Features that I believe are important. For example, I believe the ability to deliver text messages church wide is vital. In addition, I believe individual leaders (even volunteers) within a church need to have the ability to send text messages to their groups. Church Community Builder accomplishes all of this. And Church Community Builder continues to use new technologies as they become available, such as using tablets to take attendance in classes or events. However, to really understand how to get the most from Church Community Builder, you need Christian ComputingŽ Magazine
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to understand how they use what they refer to as “Process Queues”. If you have used any database or ChMS in the past, you know that there is power in accessing the information to accomplish whatever purpose you are seeking to undertake. Church Community Builder seeks to do more than just provide you the results of your query. By creating Process Queue’s, you not only obtain the initial purpose but they help you accomplish you task by involving multiple steps and even multiple people. For example, let’s say you have a member who is in the hospital. A church can use Process Queues to help accomplish the task of ministering to this person by assigning an initial staff or elder to visit, and can then schedule and assign someone to send a get well card as well as contact that person’s small group leader. They provide the ability to schedule a review of their recovery process at one week, or even one month, depending on the hospital stay. So, an administrator can set up a Process Queue and include steps which will track the progress of what you are seeking to accomplish. For example, when someone visits your church or a specific class or event, you can set up the follow up task and set up steps to report back when a manager has completed their task (such as calling the new guest). You could assign one person to make an initial welcome call, and then, when that is accomplished, the process could move to a second step, where another person is assigned the responsibility of sending out a welcome card with information about the church. There is no limit to how a church might apply this feature, customizing their own processes to coincide with their specific ministry goals! I encourage you to not just check out Church Community Builder, but to catch the vision of what they want to do. They provide great training (I had the privilege of speaking and attending one of their user group conferences), great counseling, and have organized their users into “tribes” or communities, where they can access the user base knowledge of other churches! So, if you were thinking of giving Church Community Builder a try, would you want to know what other church leaders who are already customers are saying? I subscribe to a church administration Yahoo group and recently a church administrator posted the question to the group. They were thinking of moving their ChMS over to Church Community Builder and wanted some honest evaluations Christian Computing® Magazine
from others in the list that are using them. I picked two (and obtained permission to reprint) of the best emails sent to the group from Church Community Builder customers. I thought you would like to see them as well, since they were not solicited by Church Community Builder or Christian Computing Magazine, and should be a good representation! We just started with CCB in March. Some comments: • We are transitioning from a combination of [two other ChMS products]. We love the fact that CCB is truly cloud based... no plug-ins required. Anyone can access from anywhere. • We will be able to replace four software apps with this one. • The approach is decentralized... very new and different for us. • The power of CCB’s approach to groups and processes is very significant • CCB has no accounting module; we will stay with our present accounting service for our general ledger functions • Disappointed that we have to change merchant account vendor for online giving • Ease of use is outstanding. The algorithm for managing people is very good and forms the basis for all else. • We purchased six months of coaching which includes a weekly video conference call with our coach and our implementation team. Well worth it. Lee Walker. Executive Pastor, retired Bible Center Church Charleston, WV And here is another! We’ve been using CCB for about 4-5 years, so we’ve had plenty of time to figure out what works and what doesn’t. We like it very much, and we don’t even use all the features. To highlight the key features: Pros • Web-based, so you don’t ever have to apply updates and you can access it from anywhere. • Kids check-in ---- excellent! (Provided your August 2014
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Internet connection is viable). • Event scheduling. • Forms for event registration / ticket sales, etc. The forms are VERY versatile, so you can create an online connections card, etc. • Online giving - works very well. • Giving/contribution tracking and statement production. • Groups - would work well but most of our folks are already connected on Facebook and don’t really use the groups feature. • And more... Cons Web-based, so bad Internet connections will hamper you. (Can you tell this has happened to us?) Other observations We use QuickBooks Online and I am not aware of CCB interfacing. All I do is batch up CCB contributions and add them manually to QBO. You can create a Chart of Accounts in CCB to match your QBO CoA. Entering online giving batches in QBO is a bit of a chore, but I have streamlined that process significantly.
• Ownership Structure - Privately Held “S” Corporation • Headquarters - Colorado Springs, CO • Churches actively served - 3,700+ • # of Employees - 82 • Products / Services Offered • Three versions of Church Management Software (ChMS) - Essential, Standard, Deluxe • Coaching - Custom Implementation, ReImplementation, Connections, Volunteer Development • Tribes - Peer-to-Peer learning communities focused on operational effectiveness, best practices and leveraging software successfully. • Training and Support If you are looking for a new ChMS, I encourage you to take a long look at Church Community Builder. You can call them at 866-242-1199 or visit their website at www.churchcommunitybuilder. com.
Cris Crannigan, Director of Administration River Community Church 1200 Miracle Rd, Cookeville, TN 38506 (In talking to Cris, he made reference to the need for a good Internet connection because when they first launched Church Community Builder, they discovered that they simply didn’t have a fast enough connection and it caused some problems, specifically with check in. However, they soon brought their Internet speed up to what was needed and as you can see, he likes Church Community Builder very well!) Church Community Builder at a glance: • Company Launch - 2002 Christian Computing® Magazine
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Special Feature
Churchteams A Closer Look
By Steve Hewitt
I
recently had the opportunity to talk with Boyd Pelley, Co-Founder of ChurchTeams. I was impressed with all of the new things they had to offer and thought our readers would like an update as well. Enjoy my interview with Boyd! Why do you guys not offer an app? For a software provider, an app is a separate product built specifically for Apple’s or Google’s environment. It links to the original software but often looks and functions differently without all the features. We like simple and adding another product(s) did not appeal to us at all. In 2010 the concept and term “Responsive Web Design” appeared. In 2012 when researching the possibility of a mobile app we decided instead to update the entire user interface of Churchteams to use responsive design such that it worked well on all devices.. We redid the front end of our software in late 2012 and released the first ChMS responsive design in early 2013. Just save your login page as a bookmark on the home screen of any device. It is simple, powerful and mobile ready. How did you manage to create an event registration without requiring people to login? We recognized a long time ago that usernames and passwords were major obstacles to churches effectively using software for group, class and event registration. Many ditched their ChMS sign up tools in favor of simple forms like Wufoo or Google Forms. This added the complexity of creating another process or tool to input data into the database, but at least it was easy for the user. In late 2013 we released a merge report that compares records in Christian Computing® Magazine
the database and lists potential duplicates for easy merges. Google and others do this with their contact databases. Just this summer, we put these pieces together. So, our event registration is as simple as a Wufoo form, but when they submit the registration the software goes through a comparison process to match or add people to the database and register them. If there’s a discrepancy, the registrant’s verify themselves based on last 4 numbers of their phone number. If there’s a payment involved it takes them to the payment portal and can require payment before registration. It’s way cool. What does tablet-based check-in look like and why did you add that? Barcode scanners have been the tool of choice to speed up children’s check-in for years. Our system uses them as well, but in 2012 some of our clients began asking about using tablets for check-in to help alleviate the lines. We researched third party apps and bluetooth printer options but none of these fit our parameters for simple use and design. Last year in dialogue with a church in Austin, we found a solution we love. Just change your check-in station to a printing station with our software and then through the Internet connect 3 to 5 tablets to that one printAugust 2014
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ing station. Any tablet with any browser will work. Imagine welcoming families in the parking lot or at the door, checking them in there and by the time they get to the printing station, their tags are waiting for them. No more lines and far less expensive.
challenges including economic ones. But, as church management systems, our calling must be less about money and more about the Great Commission. Fourth. Input. We believe that eventually software will be responsible to capture it’s own information through push-out emails, notifications and alerts. In a few words, what is your story? Those who know our small group system understand We came from ministry and technology backwhat we mean. Other technologies built into today’s grounds to start Churchteams in 2000. We bootmobile devices will likely play into this as well. strapped our own development (i.e. continued to We’re working to expand this concept because the work our day jobs) and grew as the Lord brought output of the system is only as good as the input. people our way. We pioneered small group software Fifth. Output. The end game of church manand were known primarily for those features early on. agement is providing feedback to a church’s vision. In 2007 we knew churches would want all their data We email our clients a monthly small group health in one place and began expanding our unique perreport which gives them unbelievable analytics as to spective of ministry and technology to include more the health of their groups. We see a day in the near traditional church management features like member- future where you can schedule software to provide ship, contributions, online giving, check-in, assimireports and communication. Just show up to the oflation, reporting and communication. All of these fice and the information you need is already in your have been through at least 3 revisions since originally inbox. released and they continue to be refined as indicated in the above questions. Our goal is to create simple To find out more about ChurchTeams go to: software for churches that just works and provide churchteams.com world-class service at a reasonable price. We don’t have quota-driven sales staff, outbound calling staff, nor investors needing 20% returns on their original investment. The software is powerful but not so complicated that we need a boat load of support staff. We currently serve over 750 churches across the U.S., Canada and a few other countries. What do you see as the next trends in ChMS? The obvious, first big trend is moving away from locally hosted software and servers in favor of going completely to the cloud. There are so many advantages at every level to cloud-based service solutions that this is inevitable. But churches as a whole are slow adopters for a lot of reasons and not all of them bad. But, this whole Internet thing? It’s here to stay. Second. It’s a mobile world. People don’t like clunky and we love our devices. Mashable called 2013 the year of responsive web design. Churches everywhere are moving to mobile responsive websites. It just makes sense that web-based software applications do the same. Beyond that, if ChMS is ever going to serve churches in many countries in our world, it has got to be mobile. Third. Going global. I know that part of our business plan is to serve the church worldwide. That will mean new platform changes to linguistically responsive software and a whole myriad of other Christian Computing® Magazine
August 2014
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ministry leadership
Engagement Through Building Disciples By: Michael L. Jordan
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aking connections is paramount in life. From faster, more effective communication to deeper, more engaged community, the promise of connecting online in the 21st century can seem fantastic. And while it’s true that technology itself isn’t the answer, churches around the world are leveraging the power of social technologies to better connect, engage, equip and mobilize their congregations for the work of the Gospel. But in this day and age, we need to be focused on using the virtual to deliver real life impact. “(In this guide,) we’re talking about people moving from isolation into the embrace of Christian community and from the sidelines to the heart of ministry activity,” according to the authors of the ministry guide, Building Disciples Through Engagement. “We’re talking about technology being used to build relationships, equip disciples of Jesus and help them to move together in one direction, living as the light of Christ in a darkened world.” There a several key things to address when discussing building disciples through engagement, but there are a few which are essential. Christian Computing® Magazine
Structurally within the church, communication is about partnership, not control. However, some methods and tools for communication can be very impersonal. Even when one’s heart is in the right place, ineffective communication can make people feel as though they’re unimportant, or even worse, as if they’re just a means to an end. Good Communication is Relational “Outlets such as church websites or Facebook pages can be great information tools for people interested in getting to know a little about your church prior to visiting. But, they have finite effecAugust 2014
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tiveness in connecting people into the real, dynamic life of your community,” continued the authors. “As a result, many churches are seeing the necessity of a more private, community-oriented social network to enable truly effective, high value communication.” According to the Building Disciples Through Engagement guide, this “relational communication,” as it has been deemed, does four important things: • • • •
Builds real life relationships Enables people to know and be known Provides opportunities to take action Moves people from the margins to the center
Best Practices for Digital Communication “Good communication is good communication, no matter how you slice it. So, don’t be intimidated by that one little word, digital. The things that make you an effective communicator elsewhere are still of value. There are, however, some unique challenges and opportunities in the digital world,” according to the authors of the ministry guide, Building Disciples Through Engagement. So, follow these few best practices to help you avoid common pitfalls and enable you to make the most of your communication efforts. 1. Focus on the mission. Don’t put the focus on methods, because methods are disposable. Get to the heart of the matter. Jesus has given your church an eternally meaningful mission. Be sure to explain why your church needs a private social network and keep the focus on how it will help your church accomplish the mission. 2. Never think your communication is done. If you’ve been a leader for long, you probably understand this point far too well. You can’t say something once and expect it to stick with everyone. You’ve got to continually remind people of what’s important. Thankfully, digital tools make effective communication very inexpensive and also make it easy to mobilize other people to distribute your communications for you. There’s no need to do all the work yourself. Usually you just need to ask people to help you accomplish the set goals. Christian Computing® Magazine
3. Invite people to interact. Interaction is no longer an option, it’s a necessity. The digital tools available today give you an amazing opportunity to invite people to join a conversation. While it might initially seem like more work, the return is far greater than the investment. Your interaction and sincere listening will help create an engaged community. You’ll probably discover gifts and abilities you didn’t realize people had, and you might just learn from others along the way too. 4. Cultivate meaningful relationships. The speed and simplicity of digital communication can sometimes lead to overuse and misuse. As a leader, it’s your job to show the way and help people understand the methods being used to reach the destination. By asking good questions, intently listening and steering conversations toward real relationships, you’ll be leading by example. Ask other leaders to do the same. Together, you’ll build a community of well-connected and meaningful relationships. 5. Provide opportunities for meaningful action. A church social network makes it easier for you to delegate responsibility, without sacrificing accountability. So, rather than feed the impulse of consumerism, give people opportunities to get involved. It can be as simple as sharing stories of the everyday, informal ministry happening within your church and inviting people to get involved in the opportunities around them. Remember, you’re building a culture and cultures celebrate what they value. If you value the active engagement of your whole church in ministry work, celebrate it! One way you can do this is through ACS Technologies’ service, The City. Relational Communication in Action Westover Hills Assembly of God has been using The City for 10 months and more than half of their congregation of 4,500 people are using it. However, it only took their “City” four months to come alive. A serious car accident threatened the life of a young adult, and one of the pastors posted a need for prayers and meals. God’s people love to serve when given the chance. Before the staff were August 2014
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Increase engagement. Build online community & communication! Learn how some of the top leading churches are using The City to help make disciples that last.
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fully mobilized, the congregation took action, praying for the young man and serving his family. It was a moment when many of the ministry leaders said to themselves, “Hey, this works!” When a seven year old needed a heart transplant, members used The City to share the need and care for the family. The ease of communication allowed them to coordinate themselves and serve the family. The church began taking care of the older siblings and feeding the family while they were busy tending to their sick child. Westover Hills is called to share life and encourage each other in faith 24/7. The City helps them do that. Let Us Help You Better Communicate ACS Technologies can help you engage new members while going deeper with those already in your congregation. Whether they’ve just walked through your front door or they’ve been quietly warming a seat for years without engaging, the key to a healthier, thriving body is getting people connected and properly assimilated. When you do, ultimately you’ll spread the Gospel more effectively. To learn more about building disciples through engagement and put best practices to use, including stories of how other churches have succeeded, download Building Disciples Through Engagement today. You can also learn more by visiting http://bit.ly/1vfH5Ct.
August 2014
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protected with purpose
The #IceBucketChallenge Precaution
By: Steven Sundermeier
I
f you have an active Facebook, Twitter or Instagram account or have tuned in to any nightly news program lately, then you are most likely well aware of the Ice Bucket Challenge (#IceBucketChallenge), a phenomenon encouraging ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) awareness across the country. The premise of the challenge is for a person to call out/challenge their friends, family or co-workers (usually over social media) to either dump a bucket of ice water over their head within 24 hours or donate $100 to ALS. At the time of writing this article, the Ice Bucket Challenge has already generated over $30 million dollars in donations for ALS, and the “challenge” is being accepted by high profiled celebrities, such as Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, George W. Bush, Lebron James and many more! But it has also jumped the borders of the United Christian Computing® Magazine
States and is now catching fire globally. With so many of us enthralled by this (positive) global phenomenon and anxiously anticipating the next Ice Bucket Challenge video of what family member or celebrity will be accepting the challenge next, my online security senses just wonder how long it will be until cybercriminals take advantage of this August 2014
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great cause and exploit it for their own personal agenda. As predictable as the sun rising and the sun setting each day, is the common practice of cybercriminals capitalizing on our piqued interest in the hottest trends and latest news headlines. Unfortunately, past history proves that when following “hot news”, we forget to follow the basic “Internet Security Rules 101”. Studies show that computer users are more likely to experience a lapse of judgment and unknowingly click on a socially engineered link or open a maliciously crafted attachment in disguise when it involves getting breaking news information on a hot story. Attackers understand this full well, and it is why they are so quick to bait (pollute) this enticing information online. Let’s just take a look at the last week or so… Within days of the shocking breaking news of beloved actor and comedian Robin Williams taking his own life, Facebook scammers began making ‘Last Video Phone Call’ posts: the supposed video claimed to show Robin Williams saying his last goodbyes. As expected, users easily clicked on the bogus video and were not taken to the promised clip but rather to a fake BBC News website, where users were then asked to share the video with their Facebook friends and then are required to complete an online survey to see the video (which does not exist). Scammers use techniques similar to the above to generate revenue (for each completed survey or file downloaded, etc.). Next, with all the global news surrounding the recent outbreak of the Ebola virus in Africa, which has already claimed over 1000 lives, and the heightened concern of Ebola epidemic making its way to the United States, cybercriminals have again been fast at work on exploiting this global Ebola scare and creating new malicious scams and schemes. To date, we have already seen multiple variations of emails involving the Ebola theme circulating in-the-wild with malicious attachments associated with them. Here’s a quick rundown of a few sample emails we’ve intercepted (so that you can avoid them and recognize future Ebola themed malicious emails): An email offering a report on the Ebola virus. This particular email contains a phony Ebola report attached to it. Instead of an Ebola report, a user gets infected with a Trojan horse designed to Christian Computing® Magazine
August 2014
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steal personal and sensitive information. An email claiming to have an attached Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation on the Ebola infection. When the attachment is viewed, it injects malicious code into the user’s internet browser. Like the email described above, it is also designed to steal information from and make unwanted changes to the infected computer. An email describing the experimental Ebola drug ‘Zmapp’. The email claims that the ‘Ebola virus has been cured’. The email contains malicious attachments as well (a backdoor entry that many unsuspecting users will open right up). Also be wary of an authenticlooking email supposedly from CNN regarding prevention steps on how to guard against the Ebola virus. This particular email tries to lure a user into visiting a hacker controlled website. Users visiting this will be asked login using their email credentials. Given the examples above and the craze of the Ice Bucket Challenge, sadly I feel it is not ‘if’ but more a question of ‘when’ we will see a fresh cyberattacks centered on “The Challenge”. I advise you that if you should see a suspicious post or come across a questionable email, be skeptical when exercising your best judgment. Search for information by directly visiting the trusted news webpage. I support the Challenge 100% and I like to see people across our country and the world doing good together. But don’t get cooled off by falling victim to a possible Ice Bucket Challenge or similar scam.
Christian Computing® Magazine
August 2014
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church windows software
CHURCH WINDOWS SOFTWARE
Just A Snapshot? Or The Complete Picture? Fund Accounting and Reporting
By Craig Chadwell
O
n a regular basis, we hear from prospective software-purchasing churches who are leaving their business accounting packages in search of software designed specifically for churches. Conveniently, we offer one! But admittedly, we are not the only ones and there are definitely many different flavors of software ranging from on-board installation to web solutions to cloud products. While standard for-profit business software can be used to track church finances, many agree that fund accounting is the best way to track ear-marked monies as a church has the responsibility to do. When members donate to the church for a specific purpose, it is the fiduciary responsibility of the church to keep track of these separate proverbial buckets of money. Each bucket of money, or stated purpose, is known as a fund. In addition to these stated-purpose funds where money is designated for a singular use, the church will always have “the big bucket.” This is the general fund, operating fund, or slush fund. The general fund likely receives the majority of general “in the Sunday morning plate” giving for ongoing current church expenses. The general fund is also the fund from which expenditures are made for general opera-
Christian Computing® Magazine
tions such as electricity and staff salaries. Though readily-available business software packages could be configured to track the church income and expenses, the uniqueness of restricted use and non-restricted use funds make fund accounting software packages the better solution to track church finances. And to convey the complete fiscal picture to church committees or to denominational governing bodies, there are multiple reports one should provide. The heart of fund accounting is a report which tracks each separate grouping or purpose of money (each fund) and paints a picture for the reporting August 2014
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period selected, often monthly. This report conveys a fund’s starting balance for the period, then adds any income, subtracts expenses, and then notes any adjustments. Through this process, a committee can see (in business terms) the inflows then the outflows in order to then see an ending position for the period. It is also appropriate to provide a statement of financial position, also known as a balance sheet. Whereas a business balance sheet would operate via the equation Assets = Liabilities + Owner’s Equity, non-profit organizations do not technically have owners. So the church balance sheet is stated as Assets = Liabilities + Fund Balances. That last part is to say, “The sum of all fund balances.” Some churches do wish to track the value of fixed assets as part of the balance sheet. This is fine to do but, of course, there must be a liability or a fund balance dollar for each asset dollar in order for the equation to balance. So a church that tracks fixed assets will often have a fixed asset or an equity fund balance. A business will also report its profits and losses to its shareholders. In church terms, a statement of income and expenses acts as its equivalent. This report usually incorporates any type of budgeting that the church may do. So at a glance, committees can see money is coming in as expected. Similarly, the expense side of this report can be an indicator of expenses running ahead or behind pace for a particular point in the church financial year. Not all budgets need to be a standard sum total split into twelve equal parts (one part for each month of the year.) Heating and cooling costs are examples of costs that would likely be higher at certain points during the year, and lower at others. Summertime cooling
costs and wintertime heating costs, depending on the church location of course, are likely to require a higher proportion of budget. While some committees may request additional reports such as a check register, transaction journal, or cash activity report, the majority will be happy with the trifecta discussed earlier: fund activity report, balance sheet, and income/expense/budget report.
The Church is people!
Christian Computing® Magazine
You’ve been called to minister to the people of your church. Let Church Windows manage the information so you can minister to your people.
CHURCH WINDOWS DESKTOP & WEB contain integrated: .FNCFSTIJQ t 4DIFEVMFS t %POBUJPOT "DDPVOUJOH t "DDPVOUT 3FDFJWBCMF t 1BZSPMM
August 2014
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Special Feature
Are You Spamming Your Congregants?
An Interview with Servant Keeper: How Churches Can Communicate Effectively By Steve Hewitt
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ecently, I had an interesting conversation with Bill Newman at ServantPC (the people who bring you Servant Keeper ChMS). I have been talking too many of the ChMS providers about how they allow churches to communicate with their congregations and checking to see if they provide texting. Of course Servant Keeper has included texting through their “Servant Keeper Notify” service, but Bill brought some important points about the importance of a church targeting the communications. I thought I would turn our conversation into an interview for you to enjoy! Are churches really spamming their people? To a degree, yes. Basically, if we’re communicating with someone about something that is not very relevant to them, or that they have not specifically requested communication about, it will be viewed as an annoyance. It’s okay for your motherin-law to annoy you with email forwards because she’ll still be your mother-in-law. It’s very costly for businesses and organizations, churches included, to annoy their customers or members. For most churches, when it comes to conversations about communication, the word “blast” comes up way too much. Need to do a fundraiser? “Let’s blast out a mailing to everyone who ever gave us Christian Computing® Magazine
their address.” Need a last minute nursery worker? “Let’s send an email blast to everyone in the church to let them know we need a substitute nursery worker. “ (This, by the way, doesn’t make visitors feel secure in our children’s ministry.) Sometimes we spam people in the middle of the service with church announcements that only pertain to a small segment of people. So is there ever a time to send a bulk email or mass message? There are appropriate times for mass messaging the entire church body. The rule of thumb for all of this is: “send a message to someone if it is relAugust 2014
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evant to them”. For example, if we cancel services because of weather, pretty much everyone should know about it, and as quickly as possible.
ing the church their email address. 3. Stage three: Now they simply hit delete any time they see an email from the church or they throw out anything that comes in the mail without opening it. Or they may end up simply “trained” to ignore those emails or worse, they unsubscribe from your list.
But what’s the big deal if churches just send every communication to everyone? After all, aren’t they just making sure people don’t “fall through the cracks”? Actually, we will be ensuring that people do Call it spam, call it marketing, or use whatever “fall through the cracks”. words you like. At the end of the day, once people First, whether we like it or not, as churches we ignore, delete, or unsubscribe from your emails, need to realize that any time we send a message to our church members it is a “marketing” event. Many church leaders want to reject the word “marketing”. However marketing is simply the get your free demo activity of making people aware of something. As a church, we’re sending a message because we want certain people to be aware of something. Second, we should realManage your ministry with ize that it is a privilege to have someone’s attention, even for a moment. When we realize it’s a Track donations, Email Statements, privilege, we will not take advantage or disrespect that privilege, Manage: Small Groups, Classes, Attendance, and we will only send messages Visitor follow-up, Outreach and MORE! to people when it is relevant. However, if everyone gets every email the church ever sends they often go through several stages of response: Keep children safe with
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1. Stage one: They feel excited, special and “in the know”. It’s nice to be getting email from the church and to know about stuff that is relevant to them. 2. Stage two: They feel a little irritated. They are getting all these other emails from the church that have nothing to do with them. They may start to get upset every time they see an email from the church and they may have serious regrets about givChristian Computing® Magazine
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you’ve lost them. Now they will not get the messages that are relevant to them, even the important ones. So what should churches do? How can they communicate effectively? We simply need to make sure our messaging is targeted to the appropriate audience. For example, if we need a last minute nursery worker, we should only email, text, or call those nursery workers who are willing and have the proper clearance to serve in that ministry. If we need to have a special meeting after church for Sunday school teachers then we should email, text, or call only the Sunday school teachers. If we need to let parents of preschoolers know about important changes to drop-off and pick-up procedures, we should only send that message to people dropping off and picking up preschoolers. It is a lot easier to effectively communicate like this if you have some sort of church management software that integrates with communication tools for delivering email, text, and voice messages. This is one of the reasons we developed SK Notify for Servant Keeper. With this tool I can easily have an up to date group of nursery workers available to me
Christian Computing® Magazine
on any computer or mobile device, and I can send them a text, email or voice message at any time. If I’m the nursery coordinator, this makes my life very easy, and it prevents the church from spamming the entire congregation every time we need to let nursery workers know about something. In the same manner, the youth pastor could text the teens to meet him/her at McDonalds for an impromptu Bible study. The pastor could email the elders with an update about the building fund. The women’s ministry coordinator could send a voice message to all the women about the upcoming brunch. So what you’re saying is churches need to target their communication so it’s relevant to the recipients. Exactly. This is how we demonstrate respect while keeping people informed and retaining the privilege to communicate with them. For more information about Servant Keeper and all of the services provided by ServantPC, visit www.servantpc.com or contact them by phone at 800-773-7570
August 2014
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higher power with kevin
5 Tips for Better Sermon Prep Using Bible Software Kevin A. Purcell - kevin@kevinpurcell.org
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ost of our readers understand that Bible software can greatly improve our ability to effectively study and preach the Word of God. So, here’s a few tips for using your favorite Bible software tool to improve your preaching preparation.
Outlining a Text Part of any good expository sermon preparation process will include some form of textual outlining. Some of the more advanced Bible software tools available include built-in outlining tools. For example, Logos Bible Software calls this a Sentence Diagram (read about it here: https://www.logos.com/ support/logos5/sentence-diagram). Bibleworks also includes one called The Diagramming Module (learn more at http://www.bibleworks.com/bw9help/bwh25_ Diagrammer.htm). For programs that don’t include one, use the program’s built-in notes feature or a word processor. Copy the text into a note attached to the passage or a verse within the software. Rearrange the text in the note. Here’s an example of an English sentence diagram using one of my favorite verses with all verbs underlined and all key ideas in bold. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Christian Computing® Magazine
By organizing the text this way, we see that Proverbs 3:5-6 includes three commands that have equal weight and importance in the text. The last line serves as a summary of what will happen when a person abides by the first three items. With little other study, we begin to see how our message might eventually get structured. The key idea would then come from that last phrase and our outline might look like this. Main Idea or Big Idea: How can we ensure God’s blessing of “straight paths”? I. God blesses those who trust him completely. II. God blesses those who replace their understanding with His. III. God blesses those who submit to Him in everything. A good preacher will try to present it more artfully and in a more interesting way than this, but outlining the text adds a lot to our preparation process. August 2014
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Of course we’ll want to do some other study, like word studies, read commentaries, search for key ideas and the important words in other texts and more.
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Gain Greater Insight Into Text Background Using Introductions and Dictionaries Sermon preparation gains a richness when we understand, not only the meaning of words and ides, but the background of the text. Knowing that the church at Corinth was a metropolitan congregation with a rich spiritual milieu helps us understand the texts and how it applies to our multicultural setting today. Use the introductions from various electronic books, like commentaries, study Bibles, and also look up important things in a Bible dictionary entries. For example, look up Corinth in the Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary or Harper’s Bible Dictionary. Also, consult the introduction to your favorite commentary or study Bible. Read up and learn. Now, instead of just blandly regurgitating the data gleaned, share it in a creative way. For example, write a story about a person who might have lived in Corinth and worked at the docks of the nearby port. He worshipped in a local temple that sacrificed meat for idols and then used the meat left after the sacrifice for serving local union meals often held in these temples. Tell a story about his conversion and then his struggle to overcome his pagan religious background when he sees one of his house church teachers taking a meal with fellow workers at the local temple. Tell the story throughout the sermon as a narrative and connect the ideas from a text like 1 CorinAugust 2014
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thians 8 to his story. 1 Corinthians 8 discusses the way we might become a stumbling block to our brothers or sisters who don’t enjoy the same Christian freedom and maturity in these kinds of “gray areas.” Use the story to illustrate this and then update it for a modern 21st century audience. Add Interest Using Media Included in the Software Many Bible applications include things like maps, images of Biblical sites, and even illustrative images that present ideas in visual form. Most of the software that includes these kinds of things and more (timelines, charts, graphs, infographics, etc) will allow the user to copy and paste them into PowerPoint or Keynote. If they don’t, use your computer’s screenshot feature to get at them, so long as this doesn’t violate copyright. Most educational uses, which applies to church, allow for fair use of such images. Check with the software maker to make sure. Use the Digital Study Assistant Some of the programs available include a kind of digital study assistant that will take a topic or passage and then go and look for all of the pertinent information in the user’s library of books regarding that topic or passage. For example, Olive Tree includes something called the Resource Guide (see a video here: http://blog.olivetree.com/2013/08/05/the-resourceguide/). Shut Down the Bible Software I’m a Bible software aficionado, but sometimes the best thing a preacher can do for effective sermon study and preparation is to shut down the program. Open a plain text editor and think with your fingers. Type out ideas. Brainstorm sermon illustrations. Here’s a great trick I learned from Dr. Wayne McDill, my preaching professor at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He writes about it in The 12 Essential Skills for Great Preaching (buy it at Amazon: http://amzn.to/1pCT21t). It works like this: 1. Write down the idea you want to illustrate, like God blesses those who submit to Him, from our example above. 2. Rewrite the idea as a non-spiritual statement, Christian Computing® Magazine
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
like people in authority will help those who submit to their authority. Now think of the various areas of life where we might see this kind of thing happen. a. Home and family life b. School c. Sports d. Military e. Politics f. History g. Natural world h. Work and business Write down a few ideas for each category. We’ll use sports. a. Players earn playing time when they practice hard like the coach asks them to. b. Teams are more likely to win if they follow the direction of their coach. c. A pitcher will be more productive when he understands and follows the signs his catcher gives him. Pick the best idea that is something you can effectively share, will relate to your audience and fits the idea without mangling either the story or the sermon idea. Write it out using specific concrete ideas, instead of general terms like, “Joe Johnson, the catcher for the Central State Tigers baseball team, gives signals to his pictures...” Practice sharing the sermon illustration.
We could go on with more, but these five tips will really take the average preacher to a higher level of effectiveness in their preaching preparation.
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The Next Revolution
The Intelligence Revolution By Russ McGuire - russ.mcguire@gmail.com
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ast month I was asked to give the keynote address at the Nemertes Navigator 360 event near Tampa, Florida. The topic of my talk was “The Next Revolution” and I’d like to take the next few months of my column space to talk about what I see coming and how it may impact our churches and ministries. When I talk about the “Next” revolution, I’m talking about the fourth technology revolution in our current information age.
So, what were the first three revolutions? Arguably, the information age could be said to date to the invention of the telephone in 1876 or the electric telegraph in the 1830s, or even back to Gutenberg’s press in the 1450s. All of these are incredible inventions that radically transformed how we interact with the world around us (especially information) and how businesses operate. However, since this is Christian Computing magazine, I will focus on the information age spawned by the advancement of computer technology. The first revolution is sometimes called the PC Revolution, or more accurately the Microprocessor Revolution. This focus on the computer itself is understandable. Driven by the exponential improveChristian Computing® Magazine
ments in processing power density and cost reflected in Moore’s Law, computers moved from filling a room, to sitting on a desk, to being built into virtually everything with a power supply. However, I think the real revolution was in what those technology advances enabled, so I refer to this first revolution as the Digital Revolution. The truly world-changing transformation that began with the Digital Revolution was the digitization of the world. Prior to this revolution, the real world existed in physical form that we could only perceive with our senses. Through this revolution, the real world was captured as ones and zeros. Music, and images, and videos, and books, and financial transactions, and weather measurements, and vital signs all became data that August 2014
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could easily be stored, copied, and manipulated. The second revolution is known as the Internet Revolution, and this is appropriate. While the name Internet describes a vast collection of inter-connected computer networks, the transformational change follows directly from that inter-networking. The Internet revolution made it easy for digital information to cross boundaries. Before broad adoption of the Internet, it was hard to move data from one company to another, or from one family to another. Companies could pay for proprietary Electronic Data Interchange network connectivity and work through complex implementation plans to connect with other companies, and individuals could copy up to 1.4MB onto a floppy disk and carry it to their neighbor (sneaker-net), but virtually overnight, the Internet made it easy for data to flow. Now, it was not only easy for the real world to be digitized, stored, copied, and manipulated, but also transported and shared. The launch of Napster in 1999, and it’s rapid growth in popularity, sent a wake up call to all industries that the world had changed. Some people see the mobile and social revolutions as distinct. I see them as one integral Mobile/Social Revolution. Neither could have had as significant of an impact without the other. This revolution enabled all people, things, and content to be connected all the time and everywhere. Consider the impact that the combination of the smartphone and social networks like Facebook has had on photography. We take pictures we never would’ve taken before. We enjoy our own pictures in new ways, rarely printing them. We also share our photos differently, no longer laboring to put them in Christian Computing® Magazine
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a physical photo album. Finally, our friends have a much better experience enjoying the photos we share because they control how they view them and they can join in a dialog about the pictures in real time with far flung friends around the world. In the same way, as wireless connectivity gets integrated into virtually every product with a power supply, the ways in which we interact with those products and with each other will continue to be transformed. What impact have these revolutions had on the church? Each of these revolutions have significantly impacted the church. As the Digital Revolution rolled onto our desktops, our churches learned to become more efficient, digitizing the people, relationships, ministries, and transactions that organically defined each local body of believers. The entire church management software industry was born. Bible software started to appear, so pastors and lay people could more thoroughly and efficiently search the Word. And of course, this publication itself was on the forefront preceding all of these advances. The Internet Revolution brought church websites, Sermon Audio, and Bible Gateway, amongst other advances. In the
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Mobile/Social Revolution, iPads and Facebook have transformed how we interact with the Bible and other content, and how we interact with each other in Christian community. The YouVersion Bible App has been installed nearly 150 million times on smartphones and tablets. Church Management solutions have gone mobile and social, engaging the congregation. In general, I’d say that churches tend to move a little slower in adopting technology, although some churches are always on the leading edge, but clearly each of these revolutions has advanced our ability to know God and to serve Him, wherever we go. Obviously each of these revolutions has also brought new “dangers” into the church and into our congregations. The duty of the church is to determine how best to capture the power of the technology while managing the danger and limiting its negative impact on the church and our people. As we consider the next revolution, I believe this will be particularly challenging. What is the next revolution? I refer to the next revolution as the Intelligence Revolution. It incorporates buzzworthy elements such as cloud computing and big data analytics to enable organizations to better serve their constituents. We will begin to explore this next revolution in next month’s column. It is my hope and prayer that these articles will encourage you in your daily walk with Christ. As 1 Peter 4:10 teaches us “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.” 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.
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digital evangelism
Daisy-Chain Digital Evangelism Michael L White - mlwhite@parsonplace.com
D
on’t ask me where the term “daisy-chain” originated, but according to Webster’s Online Dictionary, it means either “1 : a string of daisies with stems linked to form a chain” or “2 : an interlinked series.” Since I suspect most of us have never actually seen a chain of daisies, I think we use this second definition as the standard. What has this got to do with digital evangelism? That’s what I want to write about in this article. Since the goal of digital evangelism is to share the Good News of Jesus Christ using whatever digital media available, I’d like to discuss using the “daisy-chain” method of evangelism with social media. Perhaps the broadest use of the term “daisy-chain” has referred most frequently to linking multiple devices to one source device, such as a network hub or router or a network server. However, my own personally intended Christian Computing® Magazine
meaning of this term is more in line with a cascading interconnectedness from one source to another, similar to another popular event and phraseology called “the domino effect”. In fact, if I may combine these two descriptions into one, I want to apply this term “daisy-chain” now as a cascading, interconnected, domino effect. With the multitude of social media sites these days, it’s exceptionally hard to stay abreast of August 2014
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them all, let alone to post regularly on all of them. However, with a clever little trick which we could call a “daisy-chain� we can make short work of the practice of posting across multiple social media sites. Whenever we want to post a short and quick comment on all of our social media sites, such as a spiritually inspiring epigram or a Scripture quote, we can actually set them up with their respective cross-posting features so that the same post makes its way onto each of our other social media accounts from one to another in swift succession. The only caveat is that we need to keep our posts concise enough to fit the Twitter limitation of 140 characters (which includes blank spaces, by the way) in order to avoid having our comment truncated, especially if we post the comment on a site that will forward it to Twitter. Furthermore, we need to be careful not to have either of our social media accounts post back to the site that is forwarding our comments or else we will end up with numerous duplicate posts on the same social media sites! Therefore, we should choose one site as our primary starting point for each post and always post our comment there. Then we can link our other social media sites to that one in whatever succession we choose. Of course, we can have our blog(s) post to our primary social media site, too, and have that announcement broadcast from one to the others in swift succession using this same daisychain method. I presently have my sites set up for sharing from LinkedIn to Twitter to Facebook, and my locally-hosted blog posts new article announcements to both Google+ and LinkedIn, Christian ComputingŽ Magazine
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which then follows the same succession as I just mentioned. The option also exists for Pinterest, but I have that account set up for Facebook only. Most other social media sites, including Google+, offer cross-posting as well. The way to implement this nifty feature is found in the settings of each social media service’s site. Since it would exceed the time and space allotted to me to attempt to explain all of the different steps for each of these sites here, I will simply point you in the right direction and let you sort out the details for yourself. After logging into your social media account, look for the settings option on the site’s menu. If you can’t figure out how to do it from there, you will need to read the Help files for each respective site and follow their guidelines for setting up the other social media accounts of your choosing. It’s not as complicated as it may sound. It usually involves selecting the site(s) you wish to grant access into your current social media account, setting the read and write permissions and privacy settings, and then inputting your login credentials. You can test the functionality by posting a comment to your primary social media account and then checking each of your other accounts to ensure it cross-posted as you expected. If it failed to cross-post, go back to the site that was supposed to forward to the site that failed to post and check the permissions for that site to post to other sites to make certain you gave it permission to do so. Contact the site’s help desk for assistance if you can’t get it to work as you desire. That’s all there is to it! I discuss the topics of using social media, email lists, and much more in my book Digital Evangelism: You Can Do It, Too!, so I invite you to read it for even more insight. It’s available wherever books are sold. 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, 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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ministry communication
More Than a Pretty Face
3 Essentials for an Effective Church Website
Yvon Prehn - yvon@effectivechurchcom.com
M
uch emphasis on websites today is on how they look and while important, looks are not the most important feature of your church website. It’s similar to when we meet a person who is physically attractive and are drawn to him or her. After a few interactions, we may find the person as attractive on the inside as they are on the outside and the relationship grows. However if we find that underneath that beautiful exterior is an empty mind or heart, we won’t continue the relationship.
Following are 3 characteristics to keep your church website from being a just a pretty face and being a resource that can grow your churches relationships with members and seekers. . . . Content-rich - it really doesn’t matter if people think your website looks great or not. What matters is what content is in it. There has been a big shift in the design of church websites over the past few years and unfortunately many churches concentrate so hard on keeping up on design trends, they lose sight of the reality of the unspoken expectations people have of your website. People don’t come to your website to keep up with design trends, they come to your website to find out content about your church and the Christian faith. If you haven’t been involved in a website redesign, please don’t worry about it if your website format hasn’t been changed from the day it was created, don’t make redesign your priority until you have a solid foundation Christian Computing® Magazine
of content. The content that makes an effective church website should be driven by the overall vision and goal to fully fulfill the Great Commission, that is to help people come to know Jesus as Savior and to grow to become Christlike disciples. To do that you need to go beyond the basic brochure details needed on every church website such as: Location and contact information - If you don’t already have it on there, the footer of your website is a great place to include address, email and phone number. Staff and who does what and how to reach them - the important issue here is that if you include email, or social media accounts for staff, be sure they actively answer their emails or participate in the social media. Please do not include email or social media links for staff who don’t engage in them. It is a huge disappointment if you post contact information and people don’t answer inquires. August 2014
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These and other expected basics such as what newcomers can expect; sermons in audio and video, current bulletins and newsletters, denominational information, etc., are very important, but to fully fulfill the Great Commission with your website—go beyond each of these expected areas and be sure each area of your website has the two following website characteristics: Comprehensive and Connected. Comprehensive - This goes beyond labels that a website template or list has and actually gives people concrete information. To illustrate the importance of this characteristic, how often have you seen a website with sections or labels, such as: Children’s, Adult Ministry, etc., but when you clicked on the label to find out more they have nothing but a statement that says something like, “We believe in Biblical education for all ages and our church provides it through classes on Sunday morning and during the week.” Or it had the current lesson, but only the topic and nothing more. Or worse yet is the label “under construction.” It is better to leave a label off than to not have a comprehensive explanation about what is really going on in that ministry area. Some ideas to make your site more comprehensive: Show pictures of people and activities with captions that explain what is going on; have staff members share about themselves and why they do what they do; tell about how staff and lay leaders came to know Jesus, were called to ministry, or became involved in the church. Profile members of the congregation who lead ministries and have them tell their story and show what they do by pictures of them teaching kids or on a work project. Give up-to-date details about what is taught and why those topics were selected. Also be comprehensive about what you believe. A Statement of Faith is expected, but very few church websites actually tell people why they believe what they believe or even explain the terms in it. This is such a missed opportunity because comprehensive explanations can be a wonderful way to engage people about the Christian faith. To do that, expand the parts of your Statement of Faith with links to blogs or discussions by staff or teachers about them the topics (e.g. why we believe the Bible is the word of God, not just stating that we do), and invitations to interact with people who may have questions and who visit the website. In the past the church has done outreach in many ways—missionaries braved jungles, oceans, and death; churches sent out mass mailings and volunteers went door-to-door sharing the gospel. Today people search for answers to life, death, and spiritual issues on the internet Christian Computing® Magazine
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and if your church has content that gives answers and people who will answer questions and interact with seekers via email and social media, your website can be one of your most effective outreach tools. Also, be comprehensive about explaining the most important thing about your church, what it means to be a Christian and how to become one (quick—check yours out and see if you have this on your site). If you don’t clearly share how to become a Christian, or how to explore what it means to be a Christian, or what ways your church welcomes seekers—talk with the staff about what to put on the site explanations and invitations in ways
that fit your church tradition and the ministries it offers to guide people towards a relationship with Jesus. Most importantly, again, be sure you have links to people who will respond if someone has questions or makes a decision. Connected - though we have one purpose in all our communications—to fully fulfill the Great Commission by helping people come to know Jesus as Savior and grow to spiritual maturity in Him—we have many channels through which we communicate this message and you need to have connections on your website to all of them to appeal to the various audiences your church reaches. Connected means that website updates and key content are linked to social media sites. But even more important than this is that when you mention something on a social media site that it links back to more information on the website. It is extremely frustrating to be on the receiving end of social media that advertises and announces “Come to this or that special event!” “Mark this date on your calendar!” “Don’t miss out!” but when you go to the website of the church, there is nothing about the event and no place to easily find the details of cost, location, childcare, schedule, and the other critical details necessary to actually connect people with the ministry. This is where a website can answer questions, make the connections and give people the details they need to be part of what you mention on the website. Content-rich, comprehensive, and connected—these essentials that make your website more than a pretty face are time-consuming and challenging to do, but if you want to make your website more than a pretty face, but something that helps people find Jesus and grow in their faith, the time spent is more than worth it. For more information, resources, and training on effective church communications, go to: www.effectivechurchcom.com
Christian Computing® Magazine
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nick at church
Smartphones iPhone vs Android
Nick Nicholaou - nick@mbsinc.com
I
get asked for smartphone recommendations a lot. So I decided to put both platforms to the test and see which I like best today, and why!
What Did I Test? For some time I have been using an Androidbased Motorola Razr Maxx, and have liked it a lot. People would look at me somewhat askew, though, because my computer is an 11” MacBook Air and I carry an iPad Mini Retina. “So why aren’t you using an iPhone?” they ask. My response has been that in my role I need to have my feet in every operating system (OS), and I accomplish that as follows: • MacBook Air 11” keeps me in Mac OSX and in Windows (I can’t accomplish the same thing reliably on a non-Mac computer). • iPad Mini Retina keeps me in iOS. • Motorola Razr Maxx keeps me in Android. Well, as my firm continues to grow, the requirement for me to have a foot in every OS is not as strong. So I decided to test an iPhone 5s, knowing that the iPhone 6 is on the horizon, to see if I might want to move to the new iPhone when it hits the streets. Christian Computing® Magazine
My Hardware and Software Bias I’m about as neutral as a guy can get. Because I’m an enterprise-focused IT guy, I see hardware and software for what it really is. I spend time fixing things on every hardware and software platform, so I don’t have a leaning towards anything as though it is something totally awesome. Macs need support, Dells need support, HPs need support, the Mac OSX has issues and versions we recommend never adopting, Windows has issues and versions we recommend never adopting, the Android OS has issues, and iOS has issues. None are perfect, none eliminate users needs for help, none achieve some sort of Nirvana where there is no suffering. I know saying that upsets some fanboys, but it’s the truth. And the truth sets you free! Benefits of Being All-Apple That said, there is probably no better synthesis of benefits than that found in Apple products. Macs and iOS devices can share and pass information amongst each other more seamlessly and effortlessly than any August 2014
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other platform available today. For the end user, the benefits include similar interfaces and apps and configuration. I know that Microsoft is working at getting to the same place and is making progress, but their across-the-board synthesis has some distance to go before achieving an Apple on par status. Some specific things I like about iOS devices over Android devices:
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• The apps for mail, contacts, tasks, notes, and calendars has a much better interface with Exchange servers than does the Android. In fact, to get the kind of Exchange interaction I wanted on the Android I had to buy a third-party app (Touchdown), but it is native in iOS. • The camera is superior on the iPhone, as is the camera app. SloMo and Pano are terrific features that I will use—especially on vacations. Earlier this summer my wife and I visited Niagara Falls for the first time. To get a good panoramic picture of the falls, I had to take multiple stills and stitch them together with another app (Photoshop), but in iOS I could have taken one panoramic photo. Brilliant! • I prefer Facetime over Skype because, as an IT guy, I don’t like Skype’s end user agreement that allows them to use computers running it as a communications node. In the malware world, that’s called turning systems into zombies, but people like using Skype because they’re unaware of what they’ve agreed to. Facetime on iOS devices is terrific. • The thumbprint reader is pretty cool. It doesn’t necessarily add to the security of the device, August 2014
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but it can make unlocking the device faster and easier. • Having the ability to access my iTunes songs that are not mp3 format is good. What I Lose Using an iPhone After reading all that, you might think I love the iPhone! But there things I like about my Android smartphone over the iPhone: • The biggest issue that puts the Android phone over the iPhone is battery life. With the Motorola Razr Maxx, the battery life is rated at 2880 minutes of usage, vs 600 minutes on the iPhone. That’s 48 hours vs 10 hours! Where that really makes a difference to me is when I’m traveling and using my smartphone as my GPS, sometimes for more than an hour. • I like typing on the Android phone using Swype! It’s so much faster and easier when texting! The rumor is that iOS 8 will include the same capability, but until then I’m a clumsy texter. • I like the way the Android OS lets you set
Christian Computing® Magazine
a wallpaper background that moves sideto-side slightly when sliding from screen to screen. I also like how the Android OS lets you place shortcuts and widgets in specific locations in a grid on the screen so you can maximize the enjoyment of your wallpaper. • Widgets! There aren’t any on-screen widgets in iOS! Where I Think I’ll End Up Well, there you have it. So, what will I use going forward? There was no risk in getting the iPhone 5s now since my wife needed a new phone and wanted the iPhone. So will I buy a new Android smartphone, or get the iPhone 6 when it comes out? Because of the synthesis across all devices, I’ll go for the iPhone. My hope is that the battery life will be better on the iPhone 6 and that I won’t have to plug it in to rental cars when traveling, and that they include Swype as an input method in iOS 8.
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