MinistryTech.com | September 2015
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CONTENTS
SEPTEMBER 2015 Founder & Editor-in-Chief Steve Hewitt shewitt@ministrytech.com
Cover Story
Editor Kevin Cross kcross@ministrytech.com
4 Church Now
One Call Now Announces
By Steve Hewitt 3
Editorial
Do You Have Curtains or Blinds on Your Bedroom Windows?
18 Higher Power With Kevin
Contributing Editors Yvon Prehn Nick Nicholaou Kevin A. Purcell Russ McGuire Copy Editor Rachael Mitchell Outreach Inc. 5550 Tech Center Dr. Colorado Springs, CO 80919 Phone: (800)-991-6011
26 Ministry Communication
The Importance of Internal Marketing in the Church
28 Nick at Church
On Making Difficult Decisions
11 Awesome Tricks for Mastering Accordance 11
23 Startup FamilyArc
PARTNER ARTICLES 9
Ministry Leadership
Engagement And Building Disciples
16 Deeper Impact
THE #1 REASON YOUR VOLUNTEERS DON’T STICK
12 Protected with Purpose Windows 10 Try It On Now or Later?
Ministry Tech® is a registered trademark of Outreach, Inc. Written materials submitted to Ministry Tech® Magazine become the property of Outreach, Inc. upon receipt and may not necessarily be returned. Ministry Tech® Magazine reserves the right to make any changes to materials submitted for publication that are deemed necessary for editorial purposes. The content of this publication may not be copied in any way, shape or form without the express permission of Outreach, Inc. Views expressed in the articles and reviews printed within are not necessarily the views of the editor, publisher, or employees of Ministry Tech® Magazine, or Outreach, Inc. © Copyright 2015 Outreach, Inc. All Rights Reserved
MinistryTech.com | September 2015
FROM THE
Do You Have Curtains or Blinds on Your Bedroom Windows?
Together We Serve Him,
Steve Hewitt shewitt@ministrytech.com
EDITOR
Why is the title of this editorial an important technology question? Because I am assuming the answer for most would be YES! And why do we have curtains or blinds on our bedroom windows? Because we don’t exactly trust our neighbors not to peek if we give them the opportunity. The reason this is a technology question is because we have all assumed technology that affords others the opportunity to listen to every word that goes on in our house, spy on every place we visit and watch us through cameras we have allowed to be installed inside of our living rooms and bedrooms! I have been a strong technology advocate for more than 25 years, but I find myself becoming more and more suspicious of the wonderful world of technology we have surrounded ourselves with these days. First rule of understanding today’s technology is that IF it is connected to the Internet it WILL be hacked. And I am not talking about being hacked from someone in China or Russia, these days there are programs available to anyone to easily hack into anything, if it is connected. Last Christmas two young people hacked Sony and Microsoft, causing the new games for Xbox and Playstation to deny players access to connection through the Internet. I wonder how many people have figured out how to hack into these boxes of their friends in order to access the camera and microphone whenever they wish? We know it has been done hundreds if not thousands of times to cameras and microphones of notebook computers. Ever loan your phone to someone for more than 15 minutes without your supervision? If so, your phone could now contain one of several apps that do not appear on your phone YET they allow others to access your camera and microphone without your knowledge. The phone will not appear to be on, and the app will never appear on your phone. Someone took the time earlier this year to read all of that privacy information provided with their SmartTV’s EULA from Samsung, and it warns “Please be aware that if your spoken words include personal or other sensitive information, that information will be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party through your use of Voice Recognition.” Samsung has stated that other smart TV’s with voice recognition may be doing the same thing, but they felt the need to include the warning in their privacy statements. How about Amazon’s Echo. It is ALWAYS ready (and always listening). It works like Siri on an iPhone, except Siri is activated by pressing a button. Echo is always listening for your command word which you are to say before you ask it a question or give it a command (example – dim the lights). If it is always listening and is connected to the Internet, how hard can it be for someone to hack into it and access it to listen to everything being spoken in your house? As we continue to move into more and more of “the Internet of things” and our cars become connected (and also use voice commands), we are going to have to realize a private conversation may become very rare. We might all need to find a wheat field miles from anything electrical and connected if we really want to have a really private conversation!
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One Call Now Announces Church Now Upgrade and New Congregant App! So Bob, I hear you have something new and exciting to announce. I do. We’re very excited about our new product for the church market, called Church Now.
Cover Story
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By Steve Hewitt
am not in the habit of endorsing specific products or companies, but as many of you might remember, last year I announced that One Call Now was my pick for the year! I love that they offer a variety of notification tools for the church that work across the network of different ChMS companies, products and services! And, of course, I love that they can offer churches the ability to send text messages to specific groups in their church. Bob Wolfe, Senior Marketing Manager at One Call Now has something new and exciting, and I knew our readers would want to know about it!
One Call Now has been in the notification business for some time. What is Church Now? Church Now is a completely new set of communication and engagement services built on top of One Call Now’s leading voice, texting and email technology. The combination makes for the most comprehensive church communication solution on the market today. It consists of a separate Church Now dashboard for the church messenger – often the pastor – and a convenient Church Now “companion app” for the congregant. So, One Call Now is in the app business now? Well, we’ve actually been in the app business for years now, and have just released our new group leader app for all One Call Now customers. That allows leaders to access all of our traditional One Call Now services through a smartphone or tablet. So you’ve got a group leader app for One Call Now. How is Church Now different? Right now, we’re offering Church Now as an integrated, upgraded set of services for One Call Now cus-
MinistryTech.com | September 2015
tomers. It consists of two parts, the Church Now Admin Page and the Church Now congregant app. For the church messenger – often the pastor – there is now a separate dashboard for managing a whole host of new services: Announcements, Event Invitations/Calendar, Prayer Requests, Audio/Video Streaming, Facebook/Twitter integration, Online Giving, and an About Us section for all the basic church contact, service times, and location information.
You want the freedom to
It’s almost like you’ve rolled notification, prayer chains, Vimeo, and a web site into one. Yes, it’s kind of like that. We’re looking to give churches the ability for deeper and more consistent engagement with visitors and members. This means going beyond just routine and emergency messages to being able to communicate about all phases of church ministry and community life. Now, you said something about a congregant app? Yes. While the Church Now Admin Page allows a pastor or other church leader to create and manage content, the Church Now congregant app provides a 24/7 connection to members and visitors. This is essential for a richer, more vibrant experience of church life… and sometimes that means providing access to information after hours or when people need it most. The Church Now app just brings everything together in the palm of your hand. Need it most? Can you explain? Take the traditional prayer chain, for instance. One Call Now revolu-
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7/14/11 10:23 AM
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MinistryTech.com • September 2015
Helping You Spread the Word
Hey, it’s only a matter of time.
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MinistryTech.com | September 2015
tionized the way prayer requests were managed by taking the people intensive – and sometimes, clunky, hardware-intensive – calling tree out of the equation. Now, we have thousands of clients who send prayer requests through regular One Call Now voice, text, and email messages.
Instead of the oneway nature of the original prayer chain, this provides an environment for sharing, in real time. But with Church Now, a congregant could have an emergency or spiritual need at any time of the day or night, submit a prayer request through the app, mark it for private or public consumption, and receive prayers and support from church leadership and/or the rest of the congregation. It’s much more interactive and personal. That’s kind of like the “prayer wall” that some church web sites use. Exactly. Instead of the one-way nature of the original prayer chain, this provides an environment for sharing, in real time. And those requests – and the ability for others in the community to respond to them – happen right within the congregant app. How is that different from social media…say, a church’s Facebook page? Well, firstly, Facebook can sometimes have tendency to be a little
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“too public,” and often personal information can get posted and sometimes misconstrued. The Prayer Request function in Church Now is a much more intimate, community-oriented environment, and those requests can be made and reviewed along with other important church announcements and activity.
You mentioned online giving. That would have to interest a lot of churches. Yes, of course, stewardship and giving are essential components of church life. But many churches recognize now that individuals and families can’t always be present every weekend in church, and that the older methods of passing the
basket and church envelopes and such can be a little cumbersome. With Church Now, a congregant can make a regular or special donation – or even a tuition payment – in the palm of their hand, when it’s convenient and top-of-mind. It simplifies the “mechanics,” of giving, if you will. It’s another way we believe that we can enhance the lives of church members and visitors. Beyond what you’ve shared, how do you expect Church Now to help churches and pastors? Pastors are concerned with being able to nourish their flocks. They also want to grow their church communities. Church Now does both by providing a rich environment where everything is in one place – communication, engagement and outreach. It’s as comprehensive a tool as there is today for interacting with the faithful. How can a church start using Church Now? The Church Now app is included with a One Call Now subscription. The congregant companion app is free. Where to get the app? The Church Now companion app for congregants is available in the Google Play and iTunes stores. If a congregant’s church has Church Now activated, the congregant will find that church on the app and begin deepening their relationship with his or her community.
MinistryTech.com | September 2015
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MINISTRY LEADERSHIP By Michael Jordan
Engagement And Building Disciples
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hurches exist to connect people with Christ. Connecting people with each other is one of the best ways to do that. Approximately 74% of the United States* spends 11 hours a day online** through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and other social media networks connecting with each other.
Is your church doing what it needs to do to connect with everyone it can? The authors of the ministry guide “Building Disciples Through Engagement” provide insight on how to achieve meaningful connections and discipleship growth using online tools. “(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 are several key things to address when discussing building disciples through engagement, but there are a few which are essential.
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 social media platforms can be great information tools for people interested in getting to know a little about your church prior to visiting. But, they have finite effectiveness in connecting people into the real, dynamic life of your community,” said the authors of “Building Disciples Through Engagement.” “As a result, many churches are seeing the necessity of a more private, community-oriented social network to enable truly effective, high value com-
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MinistryTech.com • September 2015
MINISTRY LEADERSHIP munication.” tently listening and steering 2. Never think your communication is done. If you’ve been According to the “Building conversations toward real relationships, you’ll be leading a leader for long, you probably Disciples Through Engagement” by example. Ask other leadunderstand this point far too guide, this “relational communication,” as it has been deemed, ers to do the same. Together, well. You can’t say something does four very important things: you’ll build a community of once and expect it to stick well-connected and meaningwith everyone. You need to • Builds real life relationships ful relationships. continually remind people of • Enables people to know and what’s important. Thankfully, digital tools make effective be known communication very inexpen• Provides opportunities to take sive and also make it easy to action mobilize other people to dis• Moves people from the margins to the center tribute your communications for you. There’s no need to do Best Practices for Digital all the work yourself. Usually Communication you just need to ask people to “Good communication is help you accomplish the set good communication, no matter goals. how you slice it. So, don’t be in- 3. Invite people to interact. timidated by that one little word: Interaction is no longer an option, it’s a necessity. The digidigital. The things that make you tal tools available today give an effective communicator elsewhere are still of value. There are, you an amazing opportunity however, some unique challenges to invite people to join a conversation. While it might iniand opportunities in the digital tially seem like more work, the world,” according to the authors return is far greater than the of the ministry guide, “Building investment. Your interaction Disciples Through Engagement.” and sincere listening will help So, follow these few best practices to help you avoid common create an engaged community. You’ll probably discover pitfalls and enable you to make gifts and abilities you didn’t the most of your communication realize people had, and you efforts. Provide opportunities might just learn from others 5. for meaningful action. A 1. Focus on the mission. Don’t along the way too. church social network makes put the focus on methods, be- 4. Cultivate meaningful recause methods are disposable. lationships. The speed and it easier for you to delegate responsibility, without sacrificGet to the heart of the matter. simplicity of digital communication can sometimes lead ing accountability. So, rather Jesus has given your church an to overuse and misuse. As a than feed the impulse of coneternally meaningful mission. sumerism, give people opporleader, it’s your job to show Be sure to explain why your tunities to get involved. It can the way and help people unchurch needs a private social derstand the methods being be as simple as sharing stories network and keep the focus on used to reach the destination. of the everyday, informal minhow it will help your church istry happening within your By asking good questions, inaccomplish the mission.
As a leader, it’s your job to show the way and help people understand the methods being used to reach the destination.
MinistryTech.com | September 2015
MINISTRY LEADERSHIP 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. 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. *: Pew Research Center: www. pewinternet.org/fact-sheets/social-networking-fact-sheet/ **:Mashable: www.mashable. com/2014/03/05/american-digital-media-hours/
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Protected With
PURPOSE
By Steven Sundermeier
Windows 10 Try It On Now or Later?
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ast night’s fireworks mean more than just the closing evening of our county fair. As an adult, I now realize that those sparkly firework showers signal the closing doors of another summer. Whether we are ready or not, fall beckons, and in our house, fall brings soccer. Sport cleats and ball advertisements take center stage in the Sunday newspaper ads, and it is my first clue that our fall soccer season is right around the corner. I have to admit that nothing seems to give my second son more pleasure than flipping through the well-timed soccer catalog that arrives in the mail. He has a passion for sports, especially soccer! Even at six years old (should I be concerned?), he has an incredible eye for spotting the newest or brightest ball or the latest player-designed shoe. Just last month, he begged us for a new Nike ball that he promised was the coolest thing around (it wasn’t even out yet and needed to be prepurchased), and sure enough that ball turned out to be the ball displayed on next month’s soccer catalog cover featuring Team USA. My son’s anticipation each month for what’s new in the soccer (equipment) world got me thinking about the world’s anticipation for Microsoft’s new Operating System, Windows 10. As the owner of Thirtyseven4, a leading provider
of Windows, Mac and Android security solutions, my anticipation for the scheduled release was likely different from that of the average consumer. You see, whenever Microsoft plans to release a new Operating System (OS), software companies need to immediately drop their current and future product project lists to develop, test and receive certification for the new platform, because Joe Public’s first concern is “What about existing applications/software?”. Every new OS comes with new features and enhancements, and security products like Thirtyseven4 utilize Windows System Services, and are therefore dependent on many/most system core components; e.g. Windows Security Center, Kernel ( file system drivers, network drivers), binary signing process, etc. And the above is true with Windows 10 as well, so we
MinistryTech.com | September 2015 Protected With
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tested our existing builds using the provided “Windows 10 Developer Preview edition” and performed the following: 1. Applications that were not compatible under the new Windows 10 format (like OS version check, functionality, etc.), were made compatible. 2. Windows Security Center integration-related changes were performed and tested per Microsoft guidelines. 3. Other functionality-related bugs were solved (specific to the new features and additions within Windows 10). The process takes months and sets software vendors back in reference to releasing their own product upgrades and improvements, because resources are taken away from certain projects and placed on the Windows 10 project. Of course I know better than most people that technology does not stand still, but can you tell that I don’t get super excited about new OS releases? I warned you that my anticipation for the release was not high. As many of you know, Microsoft began rolling out Windows 10 on July 29th, 2015. And just like my son with a new soccer catalog, I was actually quite surprised by how many people immediately downloaded and installed the new OS. I was even more surprised by how many inquiries we (Thirtyseven4) received on that first day regarding Thirtyseven4’s compatibility with Windows 10.
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MinistryTech.com • September 2015 Protected With
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All the necessary preparations paid off, as we were ready and fully compatible on release day. Should you go out and download Windows 10 right away? I’m not convinced. My son often tells me that a particular shoe in the catalog is the best shoe he’s ever seen, and that he “loves it!” My advice to him is the same advice I am giving to friends, family and colleagues asking me similar questions regarding the new “best ever” Microsoft OS: Wait. Regarding my son’s shoe, I tell him that if it is truly the best shoe he’s ever seen and that he needs it badly, wait one season. You have a very good pair of soccer cleats now, they fit and aren’t
broken and if these shoes are truly the best shoes you’ve ever seen, next season they’ll be 50% off or more, as the new arrivals for that season show up. With the Windows 10 case, if you are still running Windows 7 or Windows 8, your computers are still in full Microsoft support. They still are receiving all their critical security updates from Microsoft, and the free upgrade to Windows 10 lasts until July 29th, 2016. I say wait and let Microsoft work out all the kinks and bugs that are sure to come with any new OS (you can read about all the already discovered flaws online). If it is not broke, why feel the need to fix it right away? Let the millions of other users “test” Windows 10 for
you for a while. Yet, I say again, I was blown away with how many of our users immediately downloaded the new OS, and dropped us an email making sure we were supporting the new OS. One more bit of caution: be careful for phishing scams relating to downloading the new Windows 10 updates. We have seen a dozen or more variations at this point tricking users into downloading malware. The scheme used by cybercriminals is simple- create an email disguised as coming from Microsoft. The subject lines of these emails have included things like – “Get Your Windows 10 Update” or “Windows 10 Update For FREE”.
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Protected With
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These emails are directed towards the users who are anxiously waiting their Windows OS upgrade. What about the security protection offered by Windows 10? The built-in security module, known as Windows Defender, is very similar to the version of Windows Defender found in the previous Windows 8 OS. As a security solution, Windows Defender acts as a basic level protection scanner for file based malware like spywares and viruses. While of course my opinion will be biased, professionally I feel the detection is limited and weak as compared to other competitive and dedicated Anti-Virus or Endpoint Security solutions like Thirtyseven4. Apart from weak file-based malware detections, Windows Defender also doesn’t provide any protection settings against Phishing Attacks; Network based attacks, SPAM or Malicious URL links while browsing. That being said, it is worth noting that Windows 10 does also integrate Smartscreen technology embedded inside its browser, Internet Explorer, that does offer a level aid against phishing websites. However, it only works for Internet Explorer and not other browsers. Thirtyseven4 not only protects users from the above mentioned threats but also provides additional security through features like Secure Browser, Firewall, Behavior Detection, Anti-Rootkit, AntiMalware, etc. Lastly, Thirtyseven4 prides itself with its customer service and offers our technical support experts to our valuable customers in case of any issues at no additional charge.
So the seasons are beginning to transition. Summer to fall. Swimming pools to soccer fields. And for Windows users, the latest transition has occurred—Windows 10 has been released. Are you seduced by the allure of the latest and greatest in the Windows line? The way my son is mesmerized by skilled product placement in soccer magazines? There’s no shame in upgrading now to Windows 10. But I also argue that there is possible gain in patience and delayed satisfaction. Such as the benefits of patches/ upgrades/ and solutions that will come from the experiences of those “first-in-line” if you will. Maybe I am
jaded, but on the Windows-side of things, I recommend letting others work it out, and then we can settle in when it is tweaked and well-oiled. Just my opinion, but you are still reading, so you must trust me on some level. ;-) The choice is really yours, and either way (Windows 10 now or later): you will be fine. But being prudent has often proved a steady course for me, and believe me, they will still have a pair of Windows, size 10 for you in a few weeks or months. But they will be broken-in and a better-fit because someone else will have gotten the blisters. See you on the field!
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MinistryTech.com • September 2015
Deeper Impact By Steve Caton
THE #1 REASON YOUR VOLUNTEERS DON’T STICK
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t was one of those sleepy kinds of Sunday mornings. Maybe it was because it was the early service; maybe it was because nobody had quite adjusted to Daylight Saving Time yet. One way or another, there wasn’t a surplus of energy in the room as the pastor gave the announcement for the third week in a row: “I ask you again to pray about where you can serve. The nursery and children’s church both need volunteers to serve in Sunday morning and Wednesday night services…”
Looking out over the congregation, the response It’s most important to remember that you should wasn’t encouraging. About half the heads in the pews always approach the serving conversation from the were averting their eyes, another chunk were only kind perspective of the person, not the position. You may of keeping theirs open, and several smartphones were need greeters, but Jeremy is shy and introverted — being fiddled with in laps. A few faces looked guilty. Those you shouldn’t ask him to join the hospitality team. faces were his best bet. The owners of those faces might He’s an audiophile, so he’d be much happier helping volunteer in the children’s ministry … before burning out run the sound booth. When you know the person, and leaving three months later. you know which positions they might feel fulfilled in This is a scenario everyone knows they want to avoid and which they won’t. in their churches, and yet the end result of burnout still 2. Record what you know. All the information in the happens so often. Too often, we ask people to volunteer world won’t do you any good if you can’t access it based on what we need, and sometimes, someone gets and cross-reference it! Maybe Jeremy isn’t a good fit guilted into contributing in a ministry they don’t really for the hospitality team, but Angie is a big people have much interest in. They don’t stay long, or if they person who always makes folks feel at home. If do, the blowup is often spectacular when the pentsomeone else — or even Angie herself — recorded up frustration bursts and they do at last leave. This is this, the head of your hospitality team can find out because of the number one reason your volunteers and have a chat with her to see if she’s interested. don’t stick: Software can help you here, especially your church management software, if it’s designed to. You already You’ve been trying to stick them in the wrong spot. keep contact records and so much more in your church management software. It makes sense — not Four Steps to Prevent Bad Placement Burnout to mention prevents data silos — to keep the rest of 1. Get to know your people. The first step to making what you need to know about someone in the same sure your volunteers get plugged into the right serving place. position is obvious: getting to know your potential 3. Match people and positions. Here’s where volunteers! Often, someone’s gifts, talents, passions, technology can really play a big part in helping you and personality will only be discovered relationally. prevent bad placement burnout. If your software’s
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Deeper Impact designed for it (and it should fit. Let technology do the crossis still a good fit for them. be!), take advantage of your tool referencing busywork! Technology can help you here to match people’s gifts, passions, 4. Follow up afterwards. You too. A tool like a Process Queue abilities, and personalities with can’t afford to just say ‘mission could give you a process and a positions. You’ll need to spend accomplished’ as soon as reminder for regular followup the time thinking about what someone’s on the roster. Nobody with volunteers, or volunteer your positions are like too for volunteers just to have a second attendance reports could give this to work. What are the job. Jesus called His followers to you an early warning if someone traits of a person who would serve not for the benefit of the is starting to pull away and be happy and fulfilled in this organized church, but for their serving less often. role? In Church Community own spiritual journeys. If they’re Builder, you can record those in not growing spiritually, it’s a More than for any other reason, the volunteer position and then waste of time. Keep pouring volunteers don’t stick because easily search and cross-reference into your volunteers, keep they’re stuck in the wrong spot. that position with people mentoring them, keep up the With a little technological help and profiles to find the people in your relationship and let them know a lot of intentionality, you can buck congregation who are the best fit your door is open if they want the trend in your church, and get — or start with the person who to talk. Take them out to lunch your volunteers in a place where is interested in serving and find from time to time to ask how they’re healthy and thriving — and them a position that’s a great they’re doing and if the position so is your church.
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Higher Power With Kevin
11 Awesome Tricks for Mastering Accordance 11 By Kevin Purcell
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ast month we looked at a new tool available from Accordance Bible Software, the Virtual Bible. Read about it here: www.bit.ly/1IMMBTg . This month, let’s take another look at Accordance. I’m using the Mac version to show off these 11 awesome tricks for mastering Accordance 11, but they work in Windows the same way or similarly. Where different, I include the Windows examples as well. Learn to Use Library Window Settings while another shows only recent texts. There’s Buttons a button to only show your Bible texts, Tools, Open Accordance and open the Library using Background (things like atlas and timeline the icon on the toolbar second from the left, if you’re information) and My Stuff (user created using the default Accordance toolbar. It looks like content). three books standing up vertically, like they would in • Gear icon with down arrow next to it : a bookshelf. This opens a window along the left edge changes the library window in different ways of the screen, just like most Bible software. as listed below. At the very bottom of the Accordance Library tree window there are three tiny icons. A plus icon with an arrow next to it, a box with a down arrow inside it, and a settings gear icon with a down arrow next to it. Here’s what they do… • Plus icon with down arrow next to it: add new module or add new workspace. Adding a new module means adding a file to the library. If you backed up your files locally and want to add them instead of downloading, then you’d use this. The add workspace adds the current workspace to the favorite workspace list at the bottom of the Library list. • Box with down arrow inside it: shows or Customize the Library Tree hides the filter menu, which helps users sort When I open the Gear pop up (the last of the or change their library list. Click the buttons three icons listed above) it shows a menu with the to see what they do. One shows everything following features:
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Higher Power • Add folder – puts a new folder in the library list. This way you can organize books your own way inside the folder. For example, put a folder with My Favorites as the label and put your favorite books and Bibles in it at the top of the list. • Add divider – creates a new divider in the library list. These are the horizontal lines between sections in the library window. • Remove item – takes an item out of the library list. • Alphabetize – orders the resources listed in a folder by alphabetical order. • Add To User Group – select a resource and click on this to add it to a user group, which is a collection or group of resources that shows up in the My Groups section of the Library list at the bottom of the Library tree window. • Rename Item – changes a selected item’s name. This doesn’t work on Accordance created books. Another way to do this is to slowly double click on the folder or user created resource name.
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• Set Default Display – set the current library list look as the default display when opening the library. Create groups of your favorite tools and then use the middle button at the bottom of the library list to choose only My Stuff. This makes it easy to find the most used books in your library. You can quickly get back to all your stuff by clicking the Show All button in the grid of six buttons that shows up when you use the middle icon on the bottom of the Library window. The middle button toggles this grid of six buttons on or off. Customize the Toolbar to Put Library Categories on the Toolbar For those with a small or low resolution screen, put buttons on the toolbar to show library content with a click. There’s a button for each kind of major types of library books. This way you will always have a drop down box for that kind of resource. The user can put one of the following types of buttons for an instant drop down box on their toolbar: • • • • •
English Tools Greek Tools Hebrew Tools Reference Tools General Tools
To add drop down boxes, right-click on the toolbar and choose Customize Toolbar from the pop up menu. Now drag and drop buttons to the toolbar or drag them off the toolbar. For example, I never use Accordance to read daily devotions, so I drag the Daily
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Higher Power Reading button off the toolbar and it disappears. I dragged the tools buttons for each kind of library content to the toolbar to create the drop down button. Set Up Workspaces for Different Kinds of Studies People use their Bible software differently, so Accordance, and other Bible software makers, created a way to save your screen layout into workspaces or desktops, depending on the software. Accordance uses sessions and workspaces. A workspace is a collection books arranged on screen and saved using the Workspace button on the toolbar. See below for how to do it. A session is all of the open workspaces, whether that’s one or more of them. Save that using the File menu as described below. Here’s a few purposes someone might want to create a different workspaces or sessions: • Read daily Bible readings and devotions • Study commentaries • Word studies • Create Bible studies • Write sermons • Teach a live class using screen mirroring Accordance includes some nice workspace and session features, but it’s not as intuitive as others to create a workspace. Here’s how to create a workspace. First, create a new workspace using File and New Workspace. This opens your default Bible. Now, open all of the resources you use want to use and then arrange them on the screen the way you want them
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Higher Power arranged. When it looks the way you want, click on the start session. Click Save. From now on Accordance will Workspaces button on the toolbar and choose Add open to that workspace. Workspace. (see the image below) This offers to save the workspace in the default Accordance user files Quickly Switch Between Workspaces folder. Give it a short describe name and click on OK. Users can quickly switch between saved workspaces using the Workspaces button near the right end of the toolbar (see image above) or by opening the Library tree as described above in the Library tricks. At the bottom of the list in the Library window there’s a section called MY STUFF with My Workspaces below it. Expand it and double click on the workspaces to open them. This opens it but doesn’t close the current open session, so you may end up with many workspaces open at once. That’s fine, especially if you want to save them as a Session. You want to quickly switch between multiple open workspaces using the Window menu. If you have two monitors hooked up, put one on one monitor and the other on the second monitor.
You can create and save a new session in a similar fashion. Open all the workspaces you like and then choose File and Save Session. You might do this if you want to open one workspace called Commentary Study and another called Word Study and then save them as a Session called Sermon Prep. That way you can open just the Commentary workspace or Word Study workspace, but at some other time you could open both quickly by opening the Sermon Prep Session. By the way, the Save or Save As items under the File menu will just save the current workspace, but won’t put it on the Workspace button on the toolbar unless it’s already there. Set a Default Workspace To set a workspace as the default workspace to open each time you open Accordance, make sure the workspace is open and then go to Accordance and Preferences (on Mac) or Edit and Preferences (Windows). On the General tab look for the Startup section. A drop down box shows a list of options. Click it and choose Default Session. Now Click on Set Default Session. A warning box pops up asking if you’re sure you want to save all the open windows as the default
Quickly Add a Note to a Verse Every Bible software should make adding a note to a verse as fast as Accordance. Select the verse or click on a verse and use the CONTROL+U or COMMAND+U keystroke. Change Font Size Quickly Sometimes we can’t read the text on our screen or it’s too big to fit the window. Use the CONTROL++ or CONTROL+- buttons to increase or decrease the font size in Windows. Substitute CONTROL with COMMAND on a Mac. There’s also a set of buttons on the toolbar just above the text of your open book. They look like a small A with a larger A next to it. The left smaller A decreases font size while the right side larger A increases font size.
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Higher Power from the left just above the text of the Bible or book. It has a drop down menu that opens when a user clicks on it. Select Enter Reading Mode. Use the same method to leave Reading Mode. On a Mac use a keyboard shortcut to enter or leave Reading Mode. This only works on a Mac using CONTROL+R. That’s not a mistake. Use CONTROL+R, not COMMAND+R. Triple Click a Word to Open Strong’s The most useful tip I ever learned attending an Accordance Bible Software training seminar was the triple click trick. Open a Bible with Strong’s tags, like the ESV with Strong’s. When you want a word definition, click on the word three times quickly. This opens up the default Strong’s dictionary to that word’s entry. Select the default dictionary in Preferences. Find the Amplify section and click on the drop down box next to Greek, Hebrew and Latin. Select the preferred dictionary for each language. Click OK. From this point forward the triple click trick opens the dictionary you chose for each language.
Use Reading Mode for Uncluttered Bible Reading While reading a book for pleasure, devotion or other reasons, the extra formatting and links may get in the way. Use the Reading View to display only the text without all the toolbars and extraneous stuff. Open it using the Gear icon in a book pane. It’s the right most button on the toolbar just above the Bible or book text on a Mac. In Windows it’s the third button
Watch Great Accordance Training Videos Most Bible software makers want their users to learn to use the software with some expertise. Accordance does this as well as or better than most. Here are a few links to some great online training. • Accordance Webinar Archives - www. accordancebible.com/Webinar-Archives which includes… • Preparing Topical Sermons • Sermon Preparation With Accordance • Searching In Accordance • What’s New In Accordance 11 • Advanced Hebrew Part 1 and 2 • Accordance 10 and IOS Videos as well • Accordance Vimeo Channel - www.vimeo.com/ accordancebible • Accordance YouTube Channel - www.youtube. com/user/AccordanceBible/playlists • Accordance Lighting the Lamp Podcast - www. accordancebible.com/Lighting-The-LampPodcasts • Theotek Podcast – we often talk about Accordance on the Theotek Podcast, which you can find at www.Theotek.com. Kudos to Rick Mansfield (www.thislamp.com) of Accordance Bible Software and Wes Allen (www. painfullyhopeful.me) who both helped a lot with the tips in this article. They are my fellow Theotek Podcast hosts.
MinistryTech.com | September 2015
O STARTUP By Russ McGuire
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FamilyArc
ver the past several months, we’ve discussed what it means to be a startup (in business or ministry) and defined a startup this way: a new venture working to solve a problem where the solution is not obvious and success is not guaranteed. We’ve also discussed what it means to be an entrepreneur, and specifically a Christian entrepreneur, which we defined as: a person, driven to glorify God in all he does, and ruled by the Word of God, who starts a new venture and is willing to risk a loss in order to achieve the success of the venture.
Over the past couple of months I’ve started introducing you to specific startups and Christian entrepreneurs. Some of these ventures and people may be ones that can help your church, ministry, family, or business, but my main intent is to encourage, inspire, and educate you as I hope you too will be growing as a Christian entrepreneur. This month I’d like to introduce you to Chad Meyer and FamilyArc. First Came Fellowship One Today, Chad Meyer is CTO of FamilyArc, but back in 2004, Chad was a young man who was greatly blessed to be one of the original developers at Fellowship Technologies. Working on the Fellowship One church management system provided Chad not only the opportunity to grow in his skills writing software for highly scalable web-based platforms and as a manager, but also to be part of a Christian startup and part of a team leaning on their faith as they grew from almost nothing to a fast-growing small business and finally part of a larger company. In 2013, as the Fellowship family was going through changes with it’s incorporation into ACTIVE network, Chad’s own family was going through changes, with the impending birth of their first child. Chad and his
wife prayerfully considered how God would use their gifts and talents. Chad felt called to start his own company. The Birth of BeFamily With fatherhood looming, God placed on Chad’s heart a growing appreciation for family and stories that cross generations. About the same time, fellow Christian entrepreneur, Ray Gary, shared with Chad about a road trip he took with his grandfather and how special it was to hear stories from his life, dating back to World War II and before. Gary had never heard these precious memories before, and, as delighted as he was to hear them, it saddened him to think that his children and grandchildren likely would never have the same opportunity. Hearing Gary’s experience helped crystalize for Chad an opportunity to use his technology skills to help families capture those stories. From that seed, BeFamily sprouted - an online digital media platform for preserving family memories. While still working at ACTIVE, Chad started building the platform and developing the business model. Working nights and weekends, while also managing the transitions in his growing family, stretched Chad. He’s thankful to God for using these experiences to grow and shape him.
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STARTUP From BeFamily to FamilyArc When I talked to Chad, it was clear that his passion is for bringing families together. Most of the time, technology is anti-personal; it drives us apart. As he worked on BeFamily, his vision became more clear and he realized that
the intimacy inherent in family relationships requires a focus on privacy that is largely absent in today’s online world. It also requires a loving human touch that technology, by itself, cannot replicate. Launching BeFamily provided the opportunity to see what
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worked and what didn’t and to learn from people what they are really looking for when capturing family stories, images, and videos. After 6 months of developing BeFamily, Brian Patrick Donaghy joined with Chad in this mission. As CEO Brian brought fresh perspectives and new direction. I asked Chad if this was a “pivot,” like most startups go through and he said that it was more. It was a fresh start. Chad rebuilt the entire technology platform and Brian built a team to more fully address the needs of their client families, including curators, editors, biographers, photographers, videographers, and consultants. With this new direction, the company also took on a new name - FamilyArc. According to their website “At FamilyArc, we believe that sharing family memories connects current and future generations. Our private digital archive platform allows your family’s history to be captured beautifully and securely for years to come.” How is Chad a Christian Entrepreneur? When you visit FamilyArc’s website, you won’t see any references to God or Jesus or the Bible. There’s no explicit focus on Christian families. So, why have I included them in this article series? I do believe that Chad is operating as a Christian entrepreneur, serving all kinds of families in a God honoring way. The family is one of the foundational elements that God uses in his redemptive work. God instituted the family in Genesis 1, and throughout the Bible He uses family
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STARTUP relationships (e.g. God as our heavenly Father, the church as Christ’s bride) to reflect our relationship with Him. I believe that Satan focuses so heavily on destroying the strength, integrity, and even definition of the family because of how powerfully God can use families. Chad said that even non-believers, as their hearts are softened through family love, get a sense of God’s love, and may become more open to spiritual truth. Chad and other Christian leaders at FamilyArc actively incorporate prayer into their daily lives, and they seek how to best love God and love their neighbor when making business decisions. But to me, the most clear demonstration of how
Chad and other believers at the company are different as Christian entrepreneurs from others is in their attitude towards their decisions. They make a decision and move forward with confidence. As Chad explained, “either God will make it successful, because He’s the one in control, not us, or He won’t, but he’ll use it for our growth and His glory.” In talking to Chad, I sensed something that you don’t expect from a technology entrepreneur - a focus on humility and love. Reflecting on the famous love passage in 1 Corinthians 13, I think all of us entrepreneurs could benefit from considering how to apply this truth to our startup journey: “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love
does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” Russ McGuire is a trusted advisor with proven strategic insights. He has been blessed to serve as an executive in Fortune 500 companies, found technology startups, be awarded technology patents, author a book and contribute to others, write dozens of articles for various publications, and speak at many conferences. More importantly, he’s a husband and father who cares about people, and he’s a committed Christian who operates with integrity and believes in doing what is right. Learn more at sdgstrategy.com
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The Importance of Internal Marketing in the Church
Ministry Communication By Yvon Prehn
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ost churches put the majority of their church marketing and communication efforts on getting people to the Sunday morning service. Though this is important, we shouldn’t stop there. Remember, Jesus commanded us to make disciples, not simply worship attendees. We need to learn to use every tool of technology available to get people involved in the activities and ministries of our churches that will take them to the next step of Christian maturity. To do this we need to shift to internal marketing.
Internal marketing defined Internal marketing includes all of the communications you create for people already attending your church to get them involved in the activities of your church or ministry that will help them grow to maturity in their Christian life. Far too often this aspect of marketing and communications does not take place in the church and if it does it is done in an often haphazard and spotty manner. This lack of attention to this aspect of marketing is seldom intentional. It happens because the staff does not see the importance of using this kind of marketing because of the unspoken assumption that people will automatically attend small groups, training times, and other activities of the church. Sadly, this doesn’t happen. Following are suggestions on how to begin to remedy this situation:
This growth to maturity takes place best in the context of the local church. Your church has many activities to help people grow: workshops, adult education classes, small groups, fellowship activities. For your people to be in them, you have to intentionally advertise them-again and again and again. If you are honestly reaching previously unchurched people, they don’t know all about Sunday School, small groups, and discipleship classes. They have no idea what you are talking about or what takes place in them. You have to educate them about the value, invite them, remind them and do everything you can to get them involved. When a person becomes a believer in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit lives within that person and he or she wants to grow. But the Holy Spirit most likely will not tell him, “Go to the small group that meets at the Johnsons at 456 Everystreet Lane, 7:30 on Thursday night and you’ll learn what it means to Become convinced of the need for internal marketing have a meaningful devotional life.” You’ve got to inform people Outside of the four gospels, the rest of our New Testament of those details and help them see how important it is for them was written to people who were already Christians, and it to attend. could be argued that even the gospel audience was primarily To solve this challenge doesn’t involve complex marketing for Christians who didn’t know Jesus personally. Paul, Peter and strategy-but it involves a lot of communication, explanatory John all realized that becoming a Christian was just the FIRST brochures both in print and in digital format, notices on the step in the Christian life. People must grow to maturity to be all Web and in the newsletter, bulletin, and follow up phone calls the Lord wants them to be. and emails.
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Ministry Communication In your social media you have to be especially in- way to advertise an event and repeat it exactly the same tentional because most church social media sounds way through all your repetitions. Professional marketers like the conversation of an insider group to anyone not do not change their message through an entire advertising campaign and you should also keep yours the same or you will confuse your readers. This repetition is especially important if your church is growing. People with little or no church background have no history of loyalty to any church program. If you are successful at winning unchurched people to Jesus, they have no idea why a small group is good for them, or what studying the Bible will do for them, or even why some event your church thinks is “fun” is really enjoyable to a newly churched person. You have to win loyalty, acceptance, and excitement about your programs every time you put on or repeat an event. Granted, this is a huge amount of work, but if familiar with the church. To tell people that Disciple- our goal is as it was for Paul, “to present everyone pership Groups are about to start for Fall! And then to fect, mature, complete, in Christ” when we stand before not have links to the background of this program, how Him, it will be more than worth it. people can participate, and why it should even matter, doesn’t do a thing to help people get connected to the church or to grow in their faith. When I look at the social media of various churches I know I’m an outsider looking in, but I often wonder if a local visitor to the church or a new Christian would feel differently. Work on explaining and linking to explanations of what is important to you, but may be unclear to others.
When I look at the social media of various churches I know I’m an outsider looking in, but I often wonder if a local visitor to the church or a new Christian would feel differently.
Make a plan for successful internal ministry marketing The keys for a successful internal ministry marketing plan are: REPETITION, REPETITION, REPETITION and COMPLETE DETAILS EVERY TIME. For any event you want to be well attended you need to use every communication tool you have several times. This is not overkill. Keep in mind also that not every person will see every promotion you produce. They may not be in church each week; your mailer may be tossed out with the grocery advertisements; they may hate print media; they may ignore social media. Different types and challenges of communications will reach the variety of people God has given you in your church. As you create the various communication pieces, remember you do not need to be original or different in each one. It is far more effective to come up with one
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On Making Difficult Decisions By Nick Nicholaou
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NICK AT CHURCH
ometimes we’re faced with having to make a difficult decision, where every option has a significant downside. How should we process those? And how do we handle the aftermath? This weekend we had to euthanize our wonderful dog, Java. He was sixteen and in his last year he lost his sight, began having difficulty walking, and was in pain. What does that have to do with IT? As I’ve dealt with the results of the decision, and the finality of it, it made me think about decision making processes.
challenging because we really want to get them right! And sometimes there is no turning back once the decision has been made! That makes these situations all the harder. Thus the heading: a conundrum is an intricate and difficult problem (MerriamWebster).
Conundrums Abound! In all of life— including managing technology at church or for a ministry— we find ourselves having to make difficult choices. There isn’t always an obvious good option, yet we have to choose one. Invariably there are people around us who would like the decision to go in the direction for which they’re lobbying. Sometimes those are vendors, sometimes fellow team members, sometimes employees, and sometimes family or friends. We all want to be liked, and we all want to do the right thing. Those situations are very
Settle on a Methodology It is important to settle on a methodology so that, when faced with intricate and difficult problems, you have a higher likelihood of getting it right. Some help that I’ve gotten over time includes the following: • Get to know the scriptures— beginning to end. There is great wisdom there, and Psalm 119:24 says, “Your statutes are my delight; they are my counselors.” (NIV) A good decision will never violate what The Lord has said in his word.
• Talk with those you respect and give them an opportunity to weigh in. In Proverbs 15:22 King Solomon said, “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.” (NIV) Don’t make difficult decisions alone. Let others ask questions and help enhance the outcome. • Speaking of talking with many counselors, it cannot be overstated that prayer is essential. God wants to help us make wise decisions! Solomon said in Proverbs 2:6, “For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.” (NIV) So talk with God about the decision! Ask him to lead and guide you in unmistakable ways! And he will do so! • As time allows, talk about the options and the decision you’re feeling led to make with those who will be impacted to get a read on how they feel about it. Let them process through it just like you did, considering the pros and cons of the options. King Solomon also said, in Proverbs 29:1, “Whoever remains stiff-necked after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed— without remedy.” (NIV) In our context, if you find that everyone believes it is a
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NICK AT CHURCH bad decision, this will give you time to re-think your position or get better grounded in your reason for making it. It is often said that to lead effectively, you need followers; if no one is following you because they don’t like your decisions, it could destroy relationships that are important to you. • Throughout the process, be humble and gentle. Jesus’ halfbrother said in James 4:6 & 10 said, “But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: ‘God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.’… Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”
No Turning Back! Many decisions, once made, cannot be undone. Terminating an employment relationship, for example. Buying certain hardware or software solutions. In all these, make certain you can live with the results, even though you may not know exactly what the results will be! In deciding to relieve our dog of his pain, I believe I made the right decision. My wife agrees, thankfully, but there is the question of timing. The longer we put it off, the more pain he suffered; and putting it off would have been for our convenience; because we didn’t want to make the decision. Once it was made, though, there was no way to undo it. And
because we loved him, it has been heartbreaking to live with. More than I could have believed. That is the way it is with so many decisions we make though! We can’t simply unwind them, or turn back the clock. So it is important to have a solid sense that the decision is as correct as possible, and not rushed in to. Nick Nicholaou is president of MBS, an IT consulting firm specializing in church and ministry computer networks, VoIP, and private cloud hosted services. You can reach Nick at nick@mbsinc.com, and may want to check out his firm’s website (www.mbsinc.com) and his blog at www.ministry-it.blogspot.com.