Founder & Editor-in-Chief Steve Hewitt - [email protected] editorial

Managing Editor Kevin Cross - [email protected] Applying Tomorrow’s Technology to Today’s Ministry Volume 26 August 2014 No. 8 Contributing Editors Yvon Prehn Nick Nicholaou Kevin A. Purcell 9 c o v e r s t o r y Russ McGuire Michael L White Ch u r c h Co m m u n i t y Bu i l d e r

We b -Ba s e d Ch u r c h Ma n a g e m e n t So f t w a r e Copy Editors Gina Hewitt By St e v e He w i t t Magen Cross

Ed i t o r i a l 3 Corporate Home Office Wow! - I loved the responses from this month’s question about WiFi By Steve Hewitt Mailing address: 306 Eagle Glen Ct 4 Qu e s t i o n o f t h e Mo n t h Raymore MO 64083 WiFi is everywhere! By Steve Hewitt Phone: (816) 331-5252 FAX: 800-456-1868 14 Sp e c i a l Fe a t u r e Churchteams A Closer Look © Copyright 2014 by Christian Computing®, Inc. By Steve Hewitt 16 Mi n i s t r y Le a d e r s h i p All Rights Reserved Engagement Through Building Disciples By Michael L. Jordan Christian Computing® is a registered trademark 19 Pr o t e c t e d w i t h Pu r p o s e of Christian Computing, Inc. Written materials The #IceBucketChallenge Precaution submitted to Christian Computing® Magazine By Steven Sundermeier become the property of Christian Computing®, 22 Ch u r c h Wi n d o w s So f t w a r e Inc. upon receipt and may not necessarily be re- Just A Snapshot? Or The Complete Picture? Fund Accounting and Reporting turned. Christian Computing® Magazine reserves By Craig Chadwell the right to make any changes to materials sub- 24 Sp e c i a l Fe a t u r e mitted for publication that are deemed necessary Are You Spamming Your Congregants? An Interview with Servant Keeper: By Steve Hewitt for editorial purposes. The content of this publi- 27 Hi g h e r Po w e r Wi t h Ke v i n cation may not be copied in any way, shape or 5 Tips for Better Sermon Prep Using Bible Software form without the express permission of Christian By Kevin A. Purcell Computing®, Inc. Views expressed in the articles 30 Th e Ne x t Re v o l u t i o n and reviews printed within are not necessarily The Intelligence Revolution the views of the editor, publisher, or employees By Russ McGuire of Christian Computing® Magazine, or Christian 33 Di g i t a l Ev a n g e l i s m Computing, Inc. Daisy-Chain Digital Evangelism By Michael White 36 Mi n i s t r y Communicatio n More Than a Pretty Face 3 Essentials for an Effective Church Website By Yvon Prehn Articles that are highlighed are provided 39 Ni c k At Ch u r c h by our partners Smartphones iPhone vs Android www.ccmag.com/2007_03/2007_03editorial.pdf Nick Nicholaou Christian Computing® Magazine August 2014 2 editorial

Wow! I loved the responses from this month’s question about WiFi

Thank you so much for the great response to New Column Starting Next Month my question this month about WiFi. I was over- This month, you will note that the cover whelmed by the responses. We could only print story is about Church Community Builder. I a small portion of them, but it really gave me have been following the blogs that Steve Caton some great insight into how and why churches posts and feel he is very committed to helping are using WiFi. churches use technology to enhance and expand I also appreciated the email (although there their ministry opportunities. Therefore, I have were only about five) from those that are not asked him to write some articles for us, allow- providing WiFi, and your reasons. One of the ing him to share some of his insight into what things I stand firm on is the right for each pastor churches are doing or need to be doing. Steve to do what he feels is right for his church. WiFi will do a column for at least six months, starting obviously isn’t for everyone. next month. I think we will all learn something However, as you read the article in this from what he has to share! month’s issue, I hope you will get excited as Thanks again for all who responded to this you near the end and read not only how church- month’s question. Watch your emails for our es have set up their WiFi, but how they are us- question for September! ing it. Some are actively using WiFi even during their worship service since they use Proclaim Together We Serve Him, 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 Inter- net (such as the great maps from Manna Bible Steve Hewitt Maps!) [email protected]

Christian Computing® Magazine August 2014 3 question of the month

WiFi is everywhere!

By Steve Hewitt

iFi is everywhere! I can now access WiFi at all of my favorite fast food restaurants, at my doctor’s office, at my local Whospital, 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 ques- from Logos for multimedia allowing their members tion. Most either have had WiFi for two years, or they to receive instant links to the scriptures used in the have just added it recently. There were a few that sermon. And, my blessings to those churches that didn’t have WiFi but want it soon, and there were provide WiFi throughout their church because they those that didn’t want it to be included at all. Some realize their Sunday School teachers can USE it to ac- were under the impression that a person could do cess videos they might want to show that relate to the whatever they wanted with their smart phone or table lesson they are teaching. I spoke at a church recently via 3g or 4g connection and that WiFi wasn’t really in Texas, and was delighted to know that every class needed. Unfortunately, that isn’t true. There are many room had a video display with an AppleTV and WiFi. apps, including some of the Bible study programs, Anyone teaching could access a lot of multimedia that require a WiFi connection in order to access some materials available on YouTube and easily share with of the translations. And, personally, I like to take my their class! Good job! tablet into worship and access the Bible on it, and it Enough from me, here is a sampling of what we doesn’t have a cell phone account and is dependent on heard from you! WiFi. And, I was blessed to see a few of our readers Here’s one who offered it, but has cancelled the really getting the value of WiFi. They use Proclaim offering… Christian Computing® Magazine August 2014 4 “We did make WiFi available for anyone who someone might drown. Since most of our readers asked for our password. Just this week we changed DO now provide free public WiFi at their church, the password and will no longer make it available to maybe some of our readers can offer a solution to all. We noticed our speeds slowed considerably. As help answer your concerns. we gave out the password, and people put it on their phone or tablet, every time them walked on campus And here is a sampling of the rest, from those the phone/tablet connected automatically, thus, slow- that don’t think churches should have WiFi, to ing down our connection speed. We are a smaller those that offer it, and near the end, some that told church and, at this time, do not want to spend over why they have WiFi, which might prompt some twice as much to bump up our internet speed.” readers to become more creative as well!

And, here is a church asking for more information “I think we are getting a little carried away. We on how to do a better job in setting up WiFi! go to church to worship, not communicate outside of “We have WiFi available at our church through- the church. There is plenty of time for that after we out all of our buildings. Unfortunately the bandwidth leave.” is not enough for very many people to use it at the same time. I would be very interested in solutions that “I don’t have to provide Wi-Fi. Most of my would provide the ability for more simultaneous users people do not have computers and don’t want one. It at a reasonable price. What does Starbucks do? I am scares them.” looking forward to an article on possible solutions.” “We might be getting it, but I am against it due to Nick Nicholaou did a great job last summer security concerns with our network. I know there are on an article that might provide the info you safeguards to have a network for members and have need. Check it out at http://ccmag.com/2013_07/ our wireless protected on the same router, but wireless ccmag2013_07nick.pdf itself is still not as secure as wired. We have personal information in a computer here and also do online And this, from a church that is afraid of the conse- commerce, so I feel we need to protect members’ per- quences of offering public WiFi… sonal information since hackers could access it easier “In your article concerning the provision of public with WiFi. The rewards do not seem to be worth the WiFi in churches, please include a candid assess- risk. I also wonder how many people would be dis- ment of the risks involved (we know the benefits), tracted with other things during service if WiFi were how those risks can be mitigated, and what insurance available. I believe some might already text and have can be obtained to cover those risks. Our church has other distractions at church and am not sure if getting looked into insurance to cover the risks of providing it would be a good idea for those reasons either.” WiFi and has come up empty for coverage for any risks exclusive to WiFi. For example, if at a youth “Our church currently doesn’t offer WiFi, but we event, a minor whose parents have taken away her should. For starters, our WiFi signal doesn’t penetrate smartphone proceeds to borrow the phone/tablet of a the sanctuary, so those of us that need to use any me- friend and uses the church WiFi to contact a sexual dia at church can’t even do it. On top of that, there’s predator that her parent has prohibited her from con- been a couple asking about bringing their tablets to tacting, what insurance will pay any legal fees (and church for Bible note taking, and they can’t do it. losses) the church incurs when the wayward teen’s Our deacons are too tech unsavvy to understand why parent sues? Or what if the teen uses the church WiFi our churches needs WiFi in the sanctuary, as well as to view a “fire challenge” on YouTube, and as a result they’re considering replacing our office’s N router is involved in an incident where they are seriously with a G router (major step backwards) just to save burned – and the parent sues?” money. It’s not a good situation.”

I do not have a firm answer for your fear, but “We offer WiFi to anyone who asks, or if I see I would place it somewhere in the same level as them using a device, I offer it. I would like to have a worrying about adding a drinking fountain for guest network and publish the password in bulletins people to use in your church because you’re afraid and at meetings.” Christian Computing® Magazine August 2014 5 “We do offer WiFi for all. It is very popular and used a lot – by teachers in our classes, and by mem- bers who follow the sermons, lessons; looking up bible atlases, checking out additional commentary, searching for possible blogs on the subjects, etc. “

“We do offer WiFi at our church for staff, congregation, and visi- DATABASE tor. Our staff portal is separate and has dedicated bandwidth. We got to + where hardly anyone could get on WiFi, especially on Wednesdays and CHECK-IN Sundays, so we put in a new system that could handle over 1,000 wireless + IP addresses, especially in our Wor- ship Center and Student Center, and WEBSITE doubled our bandwidth. This public system has a logon screen with rules + that they have to agree to, much like MOBILE a hotel.” “First Friends Church in Canton + Ohio offers free quest access to WiFi. It is used by many, especially the GIVING 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 net- work 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 Simplifying church management accessing content deemed offensive with integrated solutions. or immoral.” Supporting church growth since 2002. “We offer public WiFi through- out our church campus. From the 888.997.9947 ELEXIO.COM 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 ad- Christian Computing® Magazine August 2014 6 ditional capacity if needed. With a good portion of “We have WiFi in the main sanctuary on for our congregation using a smart phone or tablet to read our Sunday morning and evening services. Sunday their Bibles during the service, it is almost as “expect- morning we usually have 150-175 in the sanctuary ed and necessary” as air conditioning and lights.” and about 20-25 connect to the WiFi. We display the access code on the projection system just prior to the “I set up WiFi at Hardingville Bible Church in sermon. We offer the Pastor’s sermon notes on You- the sanctuary (out in the country in NJ) and although Version live for our group Taylor Memorial PHC. everyone in administration said “It would never be Users may read along as the scripture verses are read. used,” within a month I was asked to add WiFi in The Pastors notes are there as well and they can take three other wings of the church. It’s been interesting their own notes using the app. The Pastors notes on to see the oldest generations in the church adopt us- the YouVersion event have more content than what ing iPads for their Bible reading. Now there are still can be displayed on the projection system. Users can a few of the oldest generation that are on the border fill out prayer requests and there is a general link to of thinking that it is almost evil to use a computer in our website which includes the phone number. Also church. However the deacons, and most of the 20-35 have the share button on the live event so they can year olds are using devices to look up references and post their experience to Facebook/Twitter. The people to do Bible study. With the increase in Bible apps and that use it love it and use it regularly. We can never go online planning tools, WiFi has become one of the es- back now that we’ve offered it.” sential tools that we strive to provide throughout our facilities.” “We have just started offering WiFi on Sundays during service since July of this year. It is a very “Yes, we offer WiFi at the church, and have simple setup. We just ordered a separate router and recently upgraded our access points so that the signal DSL Wi-Fi line for the congregation that does not is strong throughout all the buildings. We’re a more connect to our main DSL that we use for our admin- liturgical church, so we don’t have an emphasis on istration. The reason we decided to do this is because social media interaction during the church service/ we started offering our sermon notes on the Bible. sermon, but I do know that some people prefer to ac- com app on Sundays so that our members could cess the Scripture readings and such on their portable follow along with the sermon and we would save a devices. Greater use is encouraged during our Bible tree by not printing the notes out. We have a lot of study times, but I don’t believe more than a quarter of our members that have mobile devices, tablets and the congregation makes use of the WiFi.” smartphones with their Bible on it and we wanted to take advantage of the technology. On Sunday morn- “We do offer Wi-Fi to the church. We have 100mb ing we post on screen the WiFi connection name and down from Comcast. We have 5 buildings connected password and the sermon note locations for all of the by fiber, and utilize Ruckus Wireless and I manage it congregation to connect to. The Bible app allows us through Zone Director. I have separate login ac- to ask pole questions live during the sermons which I counts for Teachers, Staff members, Preschool, and find helpful for me personally to gauge where people Guests, each with its own security and access levels. are at in their walk and understanding of what we Staff members and our security team utilize the Wi-Fi are teaching. One quick note is once we made Wi- by video monitoring areas of the campus via their Fi available for our members it was a very positive iPad, iPhone or Android device. We have equipped response. We have some members that only have our classrooms with Apple TV. This is one of the best internet access when they come to church on Sunday resources for teachers and guests. WiFi is not just for and this is helpful for them.” kids anymore. I recently taught a class of over 40 seniors in our church, how to use the mobile device “We have 2 WiFi networks that cover the whole for Sunday sermons. Connected them with YouVer- campus—a guest one and a staff one that is password sion Bible, Evernote and Dropbox to follow along protected. We get a lot of traffic on Sunday. Addi- and take notes with Sunday sermons. We are in the tionally, our small group leaders often use it in their process of creating a worship guide app and limit our teaching (we recently purchased some smart TVs for print expenses.” some of the classrooms that connect to the WiFi and have shown various videos off of them). We also Christian Computing® Magazine August 2014 7 run a check-in system with some mobile tablets that Logos Bible Software to project info from the service connect to the WiFi for children’s ministry. We tried on screens in the auditorium. Proclaim utilizes signals several solutions at first, and finally had to go with a to Logos Bible Software and Fatihlife Study Bible, commercial grade option to get what we wanted—a also from Logos. These signals provide the user on lot of trial and error but definitely worth it.” their tablet or smartphone with a single button to press to take the person to the specific Bible text. Proclaim “I do offer WiFi at my Church for attendees. It is also can send signals which provide calendar entries, used by many attending. Most use electronic Bibles links to web pages and other things that aid the person plus we use Proclaim as our presentation software. in the pew to worship better. WiFi is essential in that This software helps them to connect to the Scriptures situation and provides a great resource to our people. as we present them on the screen.” Many of our material utilized in our Sunday School program is made available on our web site for our “Yes, we offer WiFi. We use Proclaim presenta- folks to download to their tablets or smart phones or tion software (Logos) in our services which generates download to their computers. In our College and Ca- “signals” throughout the service that allows con- reer class the kids sit in the classroom with the laptops gregants to follow Scripture on their smartphones or and tablets with our study books on them accessible tablets, or add announcement details to their calen- because of the Internet access through WiFi. We have dars. We do know it gets used; just don’t know by a Bible reading program in which we read through the how many. Our Sunday school teachers also use it to Bible every year. We ensure that the plan we use each connect to YouTube for lesson illustrations, etc.” year is available on the YouVersion Bible app so that our folks can read the text in the plan or even have it “As a small congregation we endeavor to provide read to them in the app.” as a good a situation as possible for our people. We utilize Proclaim Church presentation software from

Christian Computing® Magazine August 2014 8 cover story

Church Community Builder Web-Based Church Management Software By Steve Hewitt

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 Itheir 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 They wanted to use technology solutions to allow the goal inspired by Ephesians 4:11-12 which calls churches to present those needs to their congrega- for us to “equip” the membership of a church. This tions and allow the membership to connect back meant they were driven to develop tools which and volunteer to meet the growing needs of the could be used to equip leaders as they in turn equip church. Church Community Builder helps church others on their journey with Christ. Churches staff to steward the people God has entrusted to have needs as they grow and expand ministry. them and, in doing so, create a deeper sense of

Christian Computing® Magazine August 2014 9 belonging for members and attendees alike. THIS you check through their features and compare them closes the back door. If you walk into a church and with other ChMS, you will see that they do well, do not connect to a “community” you can easily but it is their purpose of equipping leaders within leave and never be noticed. the church that they wish to emphasize. Frankly, I have always tried to project the I consult with churches all across the nation direction of technology solution’s success based and normally encourage churches that are seeking upon technology options at the time, and Church a change to re-invest some time in their current Community Builder came along and smartly took ChMS, learning if their current ChMS would better advantage of two new technology trends that had meet their needs if they would invest in some train- developed just a few years before their birth. First, ing. Recently, in talking to a church about Church the Internet was becoming a standard as people Community Builder and including Steve Caton of were becoming comfortable with websites and on- the Church Community Builder leadership team in line solutions. And, second, because of the Internet the discussion, he surprised me by suggesting that computers were no longer just a tool for the office, the church consider other ChMS solutions than but were becoming standard in America’s homes. Church Community Builder because the church Church Community Builder recognized that their was centering their ChMS desires on a database services should empower leaders. volunteers and for their staff, and not considering the leverage members, not just the church staff. As they devel- that Church Community Builder offers when used oped into a full ChMS, this foundation was key! to equip and empower the entire church. Church Their ChMS was about “building the church com- Community Builder only wants churches as cus- munity” and not just providing data reports for the tomers IF they do church in a more decentralized church staff. fashion and view a ChMS as distributive leadership Church Community Builder believes that the tool as opposed to a staff-driven database! This church should be about equipping. Of course, when isn’t because they are arrogant or exclusionary. It’s

Christian Computing® Magazine August 2014 10 because they know that it is one of the most impor- tant ingredients for long term success with technol- ogy. Church Community Builder knows the im- portance 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 soft- ware 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, con- necting 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 im- portant. 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 mes- sages 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 at- tendance in classes or events. However, to really understand how to get the most from Church Community Builder, you need Christian Computing® Magazine August 2014 11 to understand how they use what they refer to as from others in the list that are using them. I picked “Process Queues”. If you have used any database two (and obtained permission to reprint) of the best or ChMS in the past, you know that there is power emails sent to the group from Church Community in accessing the information to accomplish what- Builder customers. I thought you would like to ever purpose you are seeking to undertake. Church see them as well, since they were not solicited by Community Builder seeks to do more than just Church Community Builder or Christian Comput- provide you the results of your query. By creating ing Magazine, and should be a good representation! Process Queue’s, you not only obtain the initial purpose but they help you accomplish you task by We just started with CCB in March. Some com- involving multiple steps and even multiple people. ments: For example, let’s say you have a member who is in the hospital. A church can use Process Queues • We are transitioning from a combination to help accomplish the task of ministering to this of [two other ChMS products]. We love person by assigning an initial staff or elder to visit, the fact that CCB is truly cloud based... no and can then schedule and assign someone to send plug-ins required. Anyone can access from a get well card as well as contact that person’s anywhere. small group leader. They provide the ability to • We will be able to replace four software schedule a review of their recovery process at one apps with this one. week, or even one month, depending on the hospi- • The approach is decentralized... very new tal stay. and different for us. So, an administrator can set up a Process Queue • The power of CCB’s approach to groups and include steps which will track the progress of and processes is very significant what you are seeking to accomplish. For example, • CCB has no accounting module; we will when someone visits your church or a specific class stay with our present accounting service for or event, you can set up the follow up task and set our general ledger functions up steps to report back when a manager has com- • Disappointed that we have to change mer- pleted their task (such as calling the new guest). chant account vendor for online giving You could assign one person to make an initial wel- • Ease of use is outstanding. The algorithm come call, and then, when that is accomplished, the for managing people is very good and forms process could move to a second step, where another the basis for all else. person is assigned the responsibility of sending out • We purchased six months of coaching which a welcome card with information about the church. includes a weekly video conference call There is no limit to how a church might apply with our coach and our implementation this feature, customizing their own processes to team. Well worth it. coincide with their specific ministry goals! Lee Walker. Executive Pastor, retired I encourage you to not just check out Church Bible Center Church Community Builder, but to catch the vision of what Charleston, WV they want to do. They provide great training (I had the privilege of speaking and attending one of their And here is another! user group conferences), great counseling, and We’ve been using CCB for about 4-5 years, so have organized their users into “tribes” or commu- we’ve had plenty of time to figure out what works nities, where they can access the user base knowl- and what doesn’t. We like it very much, and we edge of other churches! don’t even use all the features. To highlight the key So, if you were thinking of giving Church Com- features: munity Builder a try, would you want to know what other church leaders who are already customers Pros are saying? I subscribe to a church administration Yahoo group and recently a church administrator • Web-based, so you don’t ever have to apply posted the question to the group. They were think- updates and you can access it from any- ing of moving their ChMS over to Church Commu- where. nity Builder and wanted some honest evaluations • Kids check-in ---- excellent! (Provided your Christian Computing® Magazine August 2014 12 Internet connection is viable). • Ownership Structure - Privately Held “S” • Event scheduling. Corporation • Forms for event registration / ticket sales, • Headquarters - Colorado Springs, CO etc. The forms are VERY versatile, so you • Churches actively served - 3,700+ can create an online connections card, etc. • # of Employees - 82 • Online giving - works very well. • Products / Services Offered • Giving/contribution tracking and statement • Three versions of Church Management production. Software (ChMS) - Essential, Standard, • Groups - would work well but most of our Deluxe folks are already connected on Facebook • Coaching - Custom Implementation, Re- and don’t really use the groups feature. Implementation, Connections, Volunteer • And more... Development • Tribes - Peer-to-Peer learning com- Cons munities focused on operational effec- Web-based, so bad Internet connections will tiveness, best practices and leveraging hamper you. (Can you tell this has happened to software successfully. us?) • Training and Support

Other observations If you are looking for a new ChMS, I encour- We use QuickBooks Online and I am not aware age you to take a long look at Church Community of CCB interfacing. All I do is batch up CCB Builder. You can call them at 866-242-1199 or visit contributions and add them manually to QBO. You their website at www.churchcommunitybuilder. can create a Chart of Accounts in CCB to match com. your QBO CoA. Entering online giving batches in QBO is a bit of a chore, but I have streamlined that process significantly.

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 Com- munity 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 August 2014 13 Special Feature

Churchteams A Closer Look By Steve Hewitt

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 I offer and thought our readers would like an update as well. Enjoy my interview with Boyd!

Why do you guys not offer an app? the database and lists potential duplicates for easy For a software provider, an app is a separate merges. Google and others do this with their contact product built specifically for Apple’s or Google’s en- databases. Just this summer, we put these pieces vironment. It links to the original software but often together. So, our event registration is as simple as looks and functions differently without all the fea- a Wufoo form, but when they submit the registra- tures. We like simple and adding another product(s) tion the software goes through a comparison process did not appeal to us at all. In 2010 the concept and to match or add people to the database and register term “Responsive Web Design” appeared. In 2012 them. If there’s a discrepancy, the registrant’s verify when researching the possibility of a mobile app we themselves based on last 4 numbers of their phone decided instead to update the entire user interface of number. If there’s a payment involved it takes them Churchteams to use responsive design such that it to the payment portal and can require payment before worked well on all devices.. We redid the front end registration. It’s way cool. 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 What does tablet-based check-in look like and any device. It is simple, powerful and mobile ready. why did you add that? How did you manage to create an event registra- Barcode scanners have been the tool of choice to tion without requiring people to login? speed up children’s check-in for years. Our system We recognized a long time ago that usernames uses them as well, but in 2012 some of our clients and passwords were major obstacles to churches began asking about using tablets for check-in to help effectively using software for group, class and event alleviate the lines. We researched third party apps registration. Many ditched their ChMS sign up and bluetooth printer options but none of these fit our tools in favor of simple forms like Wufoo or Google parameters for simple use and design. Last year in Forms. This added the complexity of creating an- dialogue with a church in Austin, we found a solu- other process or tool to input data into the database, tion we love. Just change your check-in station to a but at least it was easy for the user. In late 2013 we printing station with our software and then through released a merge report that compares records in the Internet connect 3 to 5 tablets to that one print- Christian Computing® Magazine August 2014 14 ing station. Any tablet with any browser will work. challenges including economic ones. But, as church Imagine welcoming families in the parking lot or at management systems, our calling must be less about the door, checking them in there and by the time they money and more about the Great Commission. get to the printing station, their tags are waiting for Fourth. Input. We believe that eventually soft- them. No more lines and far less expensive. ware will be responsible to capture it’s own informa- tion 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 back- what we mean. Other technologies built into today’s grounds to start Churchteams in 2000. We boot- mobile 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 man- and 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 per- report 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, assimi- reports and communication. Just show up to the of- lation, 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 advan- tages 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 web- sites. 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 15 ministry leadership

Engagement Through Building Disciples

By: Michael L. Jordan

aking connections is paramount in life. From faster, more effective communication to deeper, more engaged Mcommunity, 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 Structurally within the church, communication moving from isolation into the embrace of Chris- is about partnership, not control. However, some tian community and from the sidelines to the heart methods and tools for communication can be very of ministry activity,” according to the authors of impersonal. Even when one’s heart is in the right the ministry guide, Building Disciples Through place, ineffective communication can make people Engagement. feel as though they’re unimportant, or even worse, “We’re talking about technology being used as if they’re just a means to an end. to build relationships, equip disciples of Jesus and help them to move together in one direction, living Good Communication is Relational as the light of Christ in a darkened world.” “Outlets such as church websites or Facebook There a several key things to address when dis- pages can be great information tools for people cussing building disciples through engagement, but interested in getting to know a little about your there are a few which are essential. church prior to visiting. But, they have finite effec-

Christian Computing® Magazine August 2014 16 tiveness in connecting people into the real, dynam- 3. Invite people to interact. ic life of your community,” continued the authors. Interaction is no longer an option, it’s a “As a result, many churches are seeing the necessity. The digital tools available today give necessity of a more private, community-oriented you an amazing opportunity to invite people social network to enable truly effective, high value to join a conversation. While it might initially communication.” seem like more work, the return is far greater According to the Building Disciples Through than the investment. Your interaction and Engagement guide, this “relational communica- sincere listening will help create an engaged tion,” as it has been deemed, does four important community. You’ll probably discover gifts and things: abilities you didn’t realize people had, and you might just learn from others along the way too. • Builds real life relationships • Enables people to know and be known 4. Cultivate meaningful relationships. • Provides opportunities to take action The speed and simplicity of digital commu- • Moves people from the margins to the center nication can sometimes lead to overuse and misuse. As a leader, it’s your job to show the way Best Practices for Digital Communication and help people understand the methods being used “Good communication is good communication, to reach the destination. By asking good questions, no matter how you slice it. So, don’t be intimidated intently listening and steering conversations toward by that one little word, digital. The things that real relationships, you’ll be leading by example. make you an effective communicator elsewhere Ask other leaders to do the same. Together, you’ll are still of value. There are, however, some unique build a community of well-connected and mean- challenges and opportunities in the digital world,” ingful relationships. according to the authors of the ministry guide, Building Disciples Through Engagement. 5. Provide opportunities for meaningful action. So, follow these few best practices to help you A church social network makes it easier avoid common pitfalls and enable you to make the for you to delegate responsibility, without most of your communication efforts. sacrificing accountability. So, rather than feed the impulse of consumerism, give peo- 1. Focus on the mission. ple opportunities to get involved. It can be Don’t put the focus on methods, because as simple as sharing stories of the everyday, methods are disposable. Get to the heart of the informal ministry happening within your matter. church and inviting people to get involved Jesus has given your church an eternally in the opportunities around them. Remem- meaningful mission. Be sure to explain why ber, you’re building a culture and cultures your church needs a private social network and celebrate what they value. If you value the keep the focus on how it will help your church active engagement of your whole church in accomplish the mission. ministry work, celebrate it!

2. Never think your communication is done. One way you can do this is through ACS Tech- If you’ve been a leader for long, you proba- nologies’ service, The City. bly understand this point far too well. You can’t say something once and expect it to stick with Relational Communication in Action everyone. You’ve got to continually remind Westover Hills Assembly of God has been people of what’s important. Thankfully, digital using The City for 10 months and more than half tools make effective communication very inex- of their congregation of 4,500 people are using it. pensive and also make it easy to mobilize other However, it only took their “City” four months to people to distribute your communications for come alive. A serious car accident threatened the you. There’s no need to do all the work your- life of a young adult, and one of the pastors posted self. Usually you just need to ask people to help a need for prayers and meals. God’s people love to you accomplish the set goals. serve when given the chance. Before the staff were Christian Computing® Magazine August 2014 17 fully mobilized, the congrega- tion took action, praying for the young man and serving his fam- ily. 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 Increase communication allowed them to coordinate themselves and serve the family. The church began engagement. taking care of the older siblings and feeding the family while they were busy tending to their sick Build online community child. Westover Hills is called & communication! to share life and encourage each other in faith 24/7. The City helps Learn how some of the top leading them do that.

churches are using The City to help Let Us Help You Better Com- make disciples that last. municate 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 Download body is getting people connected your FREE and properly assimilated. When ministry you do, ultimately you’ll spread the Gospel more effectively. guide To learn more about building today! disciples through engagement and put best practices to use, includ- ing stories of how other churches have succeeded, download Build- ing Disciples Through Engage- ment today. You can also learn more by visiting http://bit.ly/1vfH5Ct.

Christian Computing® Magazine August 2014 18 protected with purpose

The #IceBucketChallenge Precaution

By: Steven Sundermeier

f you have an active Facebook, Twitter or Instagram account or have tuned in to any nightly news program lately, then Iyou 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 States and is now catching fire globally. With so Bucket Challenge has already generated over many of us enthralled by this (positive) global phe- $30 million dollars in donations for ALS, and the nomenon and anxiously anticipating the next Ice “challenge” is being accepted by high profiled Bucket Challenge video of what family member celebrities, such as Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, or celebrity will be accepting the challenge next, George W. Bush, Lebron James and many more! my online security senses just wonder how long it But it has also jumped the borders of the United will be until cybercriminals take advantage of this Christian Computing® Magazine August 2014 19 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 cy- bercriminals capitalizing on our piqued interest in the hottest trends and latest news headlines. Unfortunately, past history proves that when fol- lowing “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 sup- posed 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 down- loaded, 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 at- tachments associated with them. Here’s a quick rundown of a few sample emails we’ve inter- cepted (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 20 steal personal and sensitive infor- mation. An email claiming to have an attached Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation on the Ebola infec- tion. 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 infor- mation from and make unwanted changes to the infected computer. An email describing the ex- perimental 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 authentic- looking 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 Chal- lenge, 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 exercis- ing 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 21 church windows software CHURCH CHURCH WINDOWS SOFTWARE

Just A Snapshot? Or The Complete Picture? Fund Accounting and Reporting

By Craig Chadwell

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, Owe 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 spe- tions such as electricity and staff salaries. cific purpose, it is the fiduciary responsibility of the Though readily-available business software church to keep track of these separate proverbial packages could be configured to track the church buckets of money. Each bucket of money, or stated income and expenses, the uniqueness of restricted purpose, is known as a fund. In addition to these use and non-restricted use funds make fund ac- stated-purpose funds where money is designated counting software packages the better solution to for a singular use, the church will always have track church finances. And to convey the complete “the big bucket.” This is the general fund, operat- fiscal picture to church committees or to denomina- ing fund, or slush fund. The general fund likely tional governing bodies, there are multiple reports receives the majority of general “in the Sunday one should provide. morning plate” giving for ongoing current church The heart of fund accounting is a report which expenses. The general fund is also the fund from tracks each separate grouping or purpose of money which expenditures are made for general opera- (each fund) and paints a picture for the reporting Christian Computing® Magazine August 2014 22 period selected, often monthly. This report conveys costs and wintertime heating costs, depending on a fund’s starting balance for the period, then adds the church location of course, are likely to require a any income, subtracts expenses, and then notes higher proportion of budget. any adjustments. Through this process, a commit- While some committees may request additional tee can see (in business terms) the inflows then the reports such as a check register, transaction journal, outflows in order to then see an ending position for or cash activity report, the majority will be happy the period. with the trifecta discussed earlier: fund activity It is also appropriate to provide a statement of report, balance sheet, and income/expense/budget financial position, also known as a balance sheet. report. 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 The Church is to say, “The sum of all fund bal- ances.” Some churches do wish to track the value of fixed assets people! as part of the balance sheet. This is fine to do but, of course, there must be a liability or a fund bal- ance dollar for each asset dol- lar in order for the equation to balance. So a church that tracks fixed assets will often have a fixed asset or an equity fund You’ve been called balance. to minister to A business will also report the people of its profits and losses to its share- holders. In church terms, a state- your church. ment of income and expenses acts as its equivalent. This report Let Church Windows usually incorporates any type manage the of budgeting that the church information may do. So at a glance, commit- so you can tees can see money is coming minister in as expected. Similarly, the to your people. expense side of this report can be an indicator of expenses run- CHURCH WINDOWS DESKTOP & WEB contain integrated: ning ahead or behind pace for .FNCFSTIJQ
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1BZSPMM 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 Christian Computing® Magazine August 2014 23 Special Feature

Are You Spamming Your Congregants? An Interview with Servant Keeper: How Churches Can Communicate Effectively

By Steve Hewitt

ecently, I had an interesting conversation with Bill Newman at ServantPC (the people who bring you Servant Keeper ChMS). RI 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? their address.” Need a last minute nursery worker? To a degree, yes. Basically, if we’re commu- “Let’s send an email blast to everyone in the church nicating with someone about something that is not to let them know we need a substitute nursery very relevant to them, or that they have not specifi- worker. “ (This, by the way, doesn’t make visitors cally requested communication about, it will be feel secure in our children’s ministry.) Sometimes viewed as an annoyance. It’s okay for your mother- we spam people in the middle of the service with in-law to annoy you with email forwards because church announcements that only pertain to a small she’ll still be your mother-in-law. It’s very costly segment of people. for businesses and organizations, churches included, to annoy their customers or members. So is there ever a time to send a bulk email or For most churches, when it comes to conversa- mass message? tions about communication, the word “blast” comes There are appropriate times for mass messaging up way too much. Need to do a fundraiser? “Let’s the entire church body. The rule of thumb for all blast out a mailing to everyone who ever gave us of this is: “send a message to someone if it is rel-

Christian Computing® Magazine August 2014 24 evant to them”. For example, if we cancel services ing the church their email address. because of weather, pretty much everyone should 3. Stage three: Now they simply hit delete any know about it, and as quickly as possible. time they see an email from the church or they throw out anything that comes in the But what’s the big deal if churches just send ev- mail without opening it. Or they may end up ery communication to everyone? After all, aren’t simply “trained” to ignore those emails or they just making sure people don’t “fall through worse, they unsubscribe from your list. 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”. SOFTWARE FOR MINISTRY However marketing is simply the get your free demo activity of making people aware of something. As a church, we’re www.servantpc.com/ccmag sending a message because we 800-773-7570 want certain people to be aware of something. AreTracking you: Members/Donors? Second, we should real- ize that it is a privilege to have Manage your ministry with someone’s attention, even for a moment. When we realize it’s a Servant Keeper®! privilege, we will not take advan- Track donations, Email Statements, tage 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 Are you: often go through several stages of Caring for Children? response: Keep children safe with 1. Stage one: They feel ex- SK Check-In®! cited, special and “in the Easy check-in, secure check-out, know”. It’s nice to be get- Syncs with Servant Keeper, ting email from the church Name badges w/ allergies, notes, alerts, class info. and to know about stuff Claim tickets for parents/guardians, run background checks that is relevant to them. 2. Stage two: They feel a little irritated. They are Are you: getting all these other Leading Worship? emails from the church that Plan worship effortlessly with have nothing to do with them. They may start to Worship Keeper®! get upset every time they Keeps your song library at your fingertips, see an email from the Quickly plan and schedule services and teams church and they may have Easily track song usage and do reports serious regrets about giv- Christian Computing® Magazine August 2014 25 you’ve lost them. Now they will not get the messag- on any computer or mobile device, and I can send es that are relevant to them, even the important ones. them a text, email or voice message at any time. If I’m the nursery coordinator, this makes my life So what should churches do? How can they com- very easy, and it prevents the church from spam- municate effectively? ming the entire congregation every time we need to We simply need to make sure our messaging is let nursery workers know about something. In the targeted to the appropriate audience. same manner, the youth pastor could text the teens to For example, if we need a last minute nursery meet him/her at McDonalds for an impromptu Bible worker, we should only email, text, or call those study. The pastor could email the elders with an up- nursery workers who are willing and have the proper date about the building fund. The women’s ministry clearance to serve in that ministry. If we need to coordinator could send a voice message to all the have a special meeting after church for Sunday women about the upcoming brunch. school teachers then we should email, text, or call only the Sunday school teachers. If we need to So what you’re saying is churches need to target let parents of preschoolers know about important their communication so it’s relevant to the recipi- changes to drop-off and pick-up procedures, we ents. should only send that message to people dropping Exactly. This is how we demonstrate respect off and picking up preschoolers. while keeping people informed and retaining the It is a lot easier to effectively communicate like privilege to communicate with them. this if you have some sort of church management software that integrates with communication tools For more information about Servant Keeper for delivering email, text, and voice messages. This and all of the services provided by ServantPC, visit is one of the reasons we developed SK Notify for www.servantpc.com or contact them by phone at Servant Keeper. With this tool I can easily have an 800-773-7570 up to date group of nursery workers available to me

Christian Computing® Magazine August 2014 26 higher power with kevin

5 Tips for Better Sermon Prep Using Bible Software

Kevin A. Purcell - [email protected]

ost of our readers understand that Bible software can greatly improve our ability to effectively study and preach the Word Mof God. So, here’s a few tips for using your favorite Bible software tool to improve your preaching preparation.

Outlining a Text By organizing the text this way, we see that Prov- Part of any good expository sermon preparation erbs 3:5-6 includes three commands that have equal process will include some form of textual outlining. weight and importance in the text. The last line serves Some of the more advanced Bible software tools as a summary of what will happen when a person available include built-in outlining tools. For ex- abides by the first three items. With little other study, ample, Logos Bible Software calls this a Sentence we begin to see how our message might eventually Diagram (read about it here: https://www.logos.com/ get structured. The key idea would then come from support/logos5/sentence-diagram). Bibleworks also that last phrase and our outline might look like this. includes one called The Diagramming Module (learn more at http://www.bibleworks.com/bw9help/bwh25_ Main Idea or Big Idea: How can we ensure Diagrammer.htm). For programs that don’t include God’s blessing of “straight paths”? one, use the program’s built-in notes feature or a word processor. Copy the text into a note attached to the I. God blesses those who trust him completely. passage or a verse within the software. Rearrange the II. God blesses those who replace their under- text in the note. Here’s an example of an English sen- standing with His. tence diagram using one of my favorite verses with all III. God blesses those who submit to Him in verbs underlined and all key ideas in bold. everything. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not A good preacher will try to present it more artfully on your own understanding; in all your ways submit and in a more interesting way than this, but outlining to him, and he will make your paths straight. the text adds a lot to our preparation process. Christian Computing® Magazine August 2014 27 Of course we’ll want to do some other study, like word stud- ies, read commentaries, search for key ideas and the important words in other texts and more.

Gain Greater Insight Into Text Background Using Intro- ductions 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 con- You want the gregation with a rich spiritual mi- lieu helps us understand the texts freedom to and how it applies to our multi- … reach out cultural setting today. Use the introductions from … minister to people various electronic books, like com- mentaries, study Bibles, and also … create fellowship look up important things in a Bible … contribute to dictionary entries. For example, your community look up Corinth in the Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary or PowerChurch Plus was Harper’s Bible Dictionary. Also, created for just that! consult the introduction to your fa- vorite commentary or study Bible. Read up and learn. Now, instead of just blandly re- gurgitating the data gleaned, share Membership We provide you with the tools to it in a creative way. For example, increase administrative effi ciency write a story about a person who Accounting and streamline accounting tasks, might have lived in Corinth and freeing you up to perform the work worked at the docks of the nearby that matters. port. He worshipped in a local Contributions temple that sacrificed meat for idols and then used the meat left Install on your PC or network, or access online. Events after the sacrifice for serving local Calendar Choose which fi ts your needs. union meals often held in these temples. Tell a story about his conversion and then his struggle Check In to overcome his pagan religious background when he sees one of his house church teachers taking Completely a meal with fellow workers at the Integrated We provide software tools, freeing you up to fulfi ll your mission. local temple. Tell the story throughout the www.PowerChurch.com • 800.486.1800 sermon as a narrative and connect the ideas from a text like 1 Corin-

3&6&KXUFK([HFXWLYHB[LQGG $0 Christian Computing® Magazine August 2014 28 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 mod- ern 21st century audience.

Add Interest Using Media In- cluded in the Software Many Bible applications in- clude things like maps, images of Biblical sites, and even illustrative like people in authority will help those who images that present ideas in visual form. Most of the submit to their authority. software that includes these kinds of things and more 3. Now think of the various areas of life where (timelines, charts, graphs, infographics, etc) will al- we might see this kind of thing happen. low the user to copy and paste them into PowerPoint a. Home and family life or Keynote. If they don’t, use your computer’s screen- b. School shot feature to get at them, so long as this doesn’t vio- c. Sports late copyright. Most educational uses, which applies d. Military to church, allow for fair use of such images. Check e. Politics with the software maker to make sure. f. History g. Natural world Use the Digital Study Assistant h. Work and business Some of the programs available include a kind of 4. Write down a few ideas for each category. digital study assistant that will take a topic or passage We’ll use sports. and then go and look for all of the pertinent informa- a. Players earn playing time when they prac- tion in the user’s library of books regarding that topic tice hard like the coach asks them to. or passage. For example, Olive Tree includes some- b. Teams are more likely to win if they fol- thing called the Resource Guide (see a video here: low the direction of their coach. http://blog.olivetree.com/2013/08/05/the-resource- c. A pitcher will be more productive when guide/). he understands and follows the signs his catcher gives him. Shut Down the Bible Software 5. Pick the best idea that is something you can I’m a Bible software aficionado, but sometimes effectively share, will relate to your audience the best thing a preacher can do for effective sermon and fits the idea without mangling either the study and preparation is to shut down the program. story or the sermon idea. Open a plain text editor and think with your fingers. 6. Write it out using specific concrete ideas, in- Type out ideas. Brainstorm sermon illustrations. stead of general terms like, “Joe Johnson, the Here’s a great trick I learned from Dr. Wayne McDill, catcher for the Central State Tigers baseball my preaching professor at Southeastern Baptist Theo- team, gives signals to his pictures...” logical Seminary. He writes about it in The 12 Es- 7. Practice sharing the sermon illustration. sential Skills for Great Preaching (buy it at Amazon: http://amzn.to/1pCT21t). It works like this: We could go on with more, but these five tips will really take the average preacher to a higher level of 1. Write down the idea you want to illustrate, effectiveness in their preaching preparation. like God blesses those who submit to Him, from our example above. 2. Rewrite the idea as a non-spiritual statement, Christian Computing® Magazine August 2014 29 The Next Revolution

The Intelligence Revolution

By Russ McGuire - [email protected]

ast month I was asked to give the keynote address at the Nemertes Navigator 360 event near Tampa, Florida. The topic of my talk Lwas “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? ments in processing power density and cost reflected Arguably, the information age could be said to in Moore’s Law, computers moved from filling a date to the invention of the telephone in 1876 or room, to sitting on a desk, to being built into virtually the electric telegraph in the 1830s, or even back to everything with a power supply. However, I think Gutenberg’s press in the 1450s. All of these are the real revolution was in what those technology incredible inventions that radically transformed how advances enabled, so I refer to this first revolution we interact with the world around us (especially as the Digital Revolution. The truly world-changing information) and how businesses operate. However, transformation that began with the Digital Revo- since this is Christian Computing magazine, I will fo- lution was the digitization of the world. Prior to cus on the information age spawned by the advance- this revolution, the real world existed in physical ment of computer technology. form that we could only perceive with our senses. The first revolution is sometimes called the PC Through this revolution, the real world was captured Revolution, or more accurately the Microproces- as ones and zeros. Music, and images, and videos, sor Revolution. This focus on the computer itself is and books, and financial transactions, and weather understandable. Driven by the exponential improve- measurements, and vital signs all became data that

Christian Computing® Magazine August 2014 30 could easily be stored, copied, and manipulated.

The second revolution is known as the Internet Revolution, and this is appropriate. While the name In- ternet describes a vast collection of inter-connected computer networks, the transformational change follows directly from that inter-networking. The Internet revolution made it Is Facebook safe 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. Com- panies could pay for proprietary for your family? Electronic Data Interchange net- work 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 vir- http://cxfriends.com tually 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 Make the move… manipulated, but also transported and shared. The launch of Napster from Church Management Software… in 1999, and it’s rapid growth in to Church Ministry Software popularity, sent a wake up call to all industries that the world had Built by the Church, for the Church changed. Some people see the mobile and ▪ Open Source (the code is free) social revolutions as distinct. I see ▪ Web-based them as one integral Mobile/Social ▪ Church Sponsored “BTW, each day I am more Revolution. Neither could have had ▪ Ministry Focused thankful that we are using as significant of an impact without BVCMS. The rate you are the other. This revolution enabled adding features and improving all people, things, and content to be the database blows my mind and connected all the time and every- I really appreciate all you do.” where. Consider the impact that - Jared Coe 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. World Class Hosting and Support ▪ 220+ Churches ▪ Active Development We also share our photos different- www.bvcms.com for more information and pricing ly, no longer laboring to put them in Christian Computing® Magazine August 2014 31 Mobile/Social Revolution, iPads and Facebook have transformed how we interact with the Bible and other content, and how we in- teract with each other in Christian community. The YouVersion Bi- ble 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 church- es tend to move a little slower in a physical photo album. Finally, our friends have a adopting technology, although some churches are much better experience enjoying the photos we share always on the leading edge, but clearly each of these because they control how they view them and they revolutions has advanced our ability to know God can join in a dialog about the pictures in real time and to serve Him, wherever we go. Obviously each with far flung friends around the world. In the same of these revolutions has also brought new “dangers” way, as wireless connectivity gets integrated into vir- into the church and into our congregations. The duty tually every product with a power supply, the ways in of the church is to determine how best to capture the which we interact with those products and with each power of the technology while managing the danger other will continue to be transformed. and limiting its negative impact on the church and our people. As we consider the next revolution, I What impact have these revolutions had on the believe this will be particularly challenging. church? Each of these revolutions have significantly im- What is the next revolution? pacted the church. As the Digital Revolution rolled I refer to the next revolution as the Intelligence onto our desktops, our churches learned to become Revolution. It incorporates buzzworthy elements more efficient, digitizing the people, relationships, such as cloud computing and big data analytics to ministries, and transactions that organically defined enable organizations to better serve their constituents. each local body of believers. The entire church man- We will begin to explore this next revolution in next agement software industry was born. Bible software month’s column. started to appear, so pastors and lay people could It is my hope and prayer that these articles will more thoroughly and efficiently search the Word. encourage you in your daily walk with Christ. As 1 And of course, this publication itself was on the fore- Peter 4:10 teaches us “As each has received a gift, front preceding all of these advances. The Internet use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s Revolution brought church websites, Sermon Audio, varied grace.” and Bible Gateway, amongst other advances. In the Russ McGuire is an execu- tive 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.

Christian Computing® Magazine August 2014 32 digital evangelism

Daisy-Chain Digital Evangelism

Michael L White - [email protected]

on’t ask me where the term “daisy-chain” originated, but according to Webster’s Online Dictionary, it means either “1 : Da 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 meaning of this term is more in line with a cas- share the Good News of Jesus Christ using what- cading interconnectedness from one source to ever digital media available, I’d like to discuss another, similar to another popular event and using the “daisy-chain” method of evangelism phraseology called “the domino effect”. In fact, with social media. Perhaps the broadest use of the if I may combine these two descriptions into one, term “daisy-chain” has referred most frequently I want to apply this term “daisy-chain” now as a to linking multiple devices to one source device, cascading, interconnected, domino effect. such as a network hub or router or a network With the multitude of social media sites these server. However, my own personally intended days, it’s exceptionally hard to stay abreast of

Christian Computing® Magazine August 2014 33 them all, let alone to post regu- larly 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 com- ment on all of our social media sites, such as a spiritually inspir- ing epigram or a Scripture quote, we can actually set them up with their respective cross-posting fea- tures 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. Further- more, 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 numer- ous 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 com- ment 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 daisy- chain 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 Computing® Magazine August 2014 34 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+, FYDFMMFSBUF offer cross-posting as well. Church Software The way to implement this nifty feature is $6450.*;"#-&
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NPSF 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 CHURCH WEBSITES to forward to the site that failed to post and check FROM the permissions for that site to post to other sites EASY to make certain you gave it permission to do so. Now your church can have a beautiful and welcoming Contact the site’s help desk for assistance if you website that is simple to maintain with can’t get it to work as you desire. Easy Church Websites from American Church. That’s all there is to it! I discuss the topics of using social media, email lists, and much more XENGAGE current members in my book Digital Evangelism: You Can Do It, Too!, so I invite you to read it for even more in- XEDUCATE everyone about the faith sight. It’s available wherever books are sold. XATTRACT visitors to your church Michael L. White is the founder and Man- aging Editor of Parson Place Press, an inde- XWELCOME newcomers and returning members pendent Christian publishing house in Mobile, Alabama. His book Digital Evangelism: You Can Do It, Too! (Parson Place Press, 2011) is avail- able wherever books are sold. Visit his Website at books.parsonplace.com for a list of his other books and articles.

CALL FOR A FREE DEMO: 800-446-3035 Ext. 6880

Christian Computing® Magazine August 2014 35 ministry communication

More Than a Pretty Face 3 Essentials for an Effective Church Website

Yvon Prehn - [email protected]

uch emphasis on websites today is on how they look and while important, looks are not the most important feature of your Mchurch website. It’s similar to when we meet a person who is physically attractive and are drawn to him or her. After a few interac- tions, 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 under- neath that beautiful exterior is an empty mind or heart, we won’t con- tinue the relationship.

Following are 3 characteristics to keep your church of content. website from being a just a pretty face and being a re- The content that makes an effective church website source that can grow your churches relationships with should be driven by the overall vision and goal to fully members and seekers. . . . fulfill the Great Commission, that is to help people come Content-rich - it really doesn’t matter if people think to know Jesus as Savior and to grow to become Christ- your website looks great or not. What matters is what like disciples. To do that you need to go beyond the basic content is in it. There has been a big shift in the design brochure details needed on every church website such as: of church websites over the past few years and unfortu- Location and contact information - If you don’t nately many churches concentrate so hard on keeping up already have it on there, the footer of your website is a on design trends, they lose sight of the reality of the un- great place to include address, email and phone number. spoken expectations people have of your website. People Staff and who does what and how to reach them don’t come to your website to keep up with design trends, - the important issue here is that if you include email, they come to your website to find out content about your or social media accounts for staff, be sure they actively church and the Christian faith. answer their emails or participate in the social media. If you haven’t been involved in a website redesign, Please do not include email or social media links for staff please don’t worry about it if your website format hasn’t who don’t engage in them. It is a huge disappointment been changed from the day it was created, don’t make if you post contact information and people don’t answer redesign your priority until you have a solid foundation inquires. Christian Computing® Magazine August 2014 36 These and other expected basics such as what new- comers 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: Comprehen- sive 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 compre- hensive 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 mem- bers 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 web- sites actually tell people why they believe what they be- lieve 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 invita- tions 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 August 2014 37 and if your church has content that gives answers and that fit your church tradition and the ministries it offers to people who will answer questions and interact with seek- guide people towards a relationship with Jesus. Most im- ers via email and social media, your website can be one of portantly, again, be sure you have links to people who will your most effective outreach tools. respond if someone has questions or makes a decision. Also, be comprehensive about explaining the most Connected - though we have one purpose in all our important thing about your church, what it means to be communications—to fully fulfill the Great Commission a Christian and how to become one (quick—check yours by helping people come to know Jesus as Savior and grow out and see if you have this on your site). If you don’t to spiritual maturity in Him—we have many channels clearly share how to become a Christian, or how to ex- through which we communicate this message and you plore what it means to be a Christian, or what ways your need to have connections on your website to all of them to church welcomes seekers—talk with the staff about what appeal to the various audiences your church reaches. to put on the site explanations and invitations in ways Connected means that website updates and key con- tent 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 com- munications, go to: www.effectivechurchcom.com

Christian Computing® Magazine August 2014 38 nick at church

Smartphones iPhone vs Android

Nick Nicholaou - [email protected]

get asked for smartphone recommendations a lot. So I decided to put both platforms to the test and see which I like I best today, and why! What Did I Test? My Hardware and Software Bias For some time I have been using an Android- I’m about as neutral as a guy can get. Because based Motorola Razr Maxx, and have liked it a lot. I’m an enterprise-focused IT guy, I see hardware People would look at me somewhat askew, though, and software for what it really is. I spend time fixing because my computer is an 11” MacBook Air and I things on every hardware and software platform, so I carry an iPad Mini Retina. “So why aren’t you using don’t have a leaning towards anything as though it is an iPhone?” they ask. My response has been that in something totally awesome. my role I need to have my feet in every operating Macs need support, Dells need support, HPs need system (OS), and I accomplish that as follows: support, the Mac OSX has issues and versions we recommend never adopting, Windows has issues and • MacBook Air 11” keeps me in Mac OSX and versions we recommend never adopting, the Android in Windows (I can’t accomplish the same OS has issues, and iOS has issues. None are perfect, thing reliably on a non-Mac computer). none eliminate users needs for help, none achieve • iPad Mini Retina keeps me in iOS. some sort of Nirvana where there is no suffering. • Motorola Razr Maxx keeps me in Android. I know saying that upsets some fanboys, but it’s the truth. And the truth sets you free! Well, as my firm continues to grow, the require- ment for me to have a foot in every OS is not as Benefits of Being All-Apple strong. So I decided to test an iPhone 5s, knowing That said, there is probably no better synthesis of that the iPhone 6 is on the horizon, to see if I might benefits than that found in Apple products. Macs and want to move to the new iPhone when it hits the iOS devices can share and pass information amongst streets. each other more seamlessly and effortlessly than any

Christian Computing® Magazine August 2014 39 other platform available today. For the end user, the ben- efits include similar interfaces and apps and configuration. I know that Microsoft is work- ing 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:

You want the • The apps for mail, contacts, tasks, notes, and calendars has freedom to a much better interface with Exchange servers than does the … reach out Android. In fact, to get the kind … minister to people of Exchange interaction I wanted on the Android I had to buy a … create fellowship third-party app (Touchdown), but … contribute to it is native in iOS. • The camera is superior on the your community iPhone, as is the camera app. Slo- PowerChurch Plus was Mo and Pano are terrific features created for just that! that I will use—especially on va- cations. Earlier this summer my wife and I visited Niagara Falls for the first time. To get a good panoramic picture of the falls, Membership We provide you with the tools to I had to take multiple stills and increase administrative effi ciency stitch them together with another Accounting and streamline accounting tasks, app (Photoshop), but in iOS I freeing you up to perform the work could have taken one panoramic that matters. photo. Brilliant! Contributions • I prefer Facetime over Skype because, as an IT guy, I don’t Install on your PC or network, or access online. Events like Skype’s end user agreement Calendar Choose which fi ts your needs. that allows them to use comput- ers running it as a communica- tions node. In the malware world, Check In that’s called turning systems into zombies, but people like using Skype because they’re unaware Completely of what they’ve agreed to. Face- Integrated We provide software tools, freeing you up to fulfi ll your mission. time on iOS devices is terrific. • The thumbprint reader is pretty cool. It doesn’t necessarily www.PowerChurch.com • 800.486.1800 add to the security of the device,

3&6&KXUFK([HFXWLYHB[LQGG $0 Christian Computing® Magazine August 2014 40 but it can make unlocking the device faster a wallpaper background that moves side- and easier. to-side slightly when sliding from screen to • Having the ability to access my iTunes songs screen. I also like how the Android OS lets that are not mp3 format is good. you place shortcuts and widgets in specific locations in a grid on the screen so you can What I Lose Using an iPhone maximize the enjoyment of your wallpaper. After reading all that, you might think I love the • Widgets! There aren’t any on-screen widgets iPhone! But there things I like about my Android in iOS! smartphone over the iPhone: Where I Think I’ll End Up • The biggest issue that puts the Android Well, there you have it. So, what will I use going phone over the iPhone is battery life. With forward? the Motorola Razr Maxx, the battery life There was no risk in getting the iPhone 5s now is rated at 2880 minutes of usage, vs 600 since my wife needed a new phone and wanted the minutes on the iPhone. That’s 48 hours vs 10 iPhone. So will I buy a new Android smartphone, or hours! Where that really makes a difference get the iPhone 6 when it comes out? Because of the to me is when I’m traveling and using my synthesis across all devices, I’ll go for the iPhone. smartphone as my GPS, sometimes for more My hope is that the battery life will be better on the than an hour. iPhone 6 and that I won’t have to plug it in to rental • I like typing on the Android phone using cars when traveling, and that they include Swype as Swype! It’s so much faster and easier when an input method in iOS 8. 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 August 2014 41