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Applying Tomorrow’s Technology to Today’s Ministry
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2April 2012Christian Computing® Magazine
Founder & Editor-in-ChiefSteve Hewitt - [email protected]
Online Community ManagerKevin Cross - [email protected]
Contributing EditorsLauren HunterYvon Prehn Nick Nicholaou Kevin A. Purcell Russ McGuireBradley MillerMichael L White
Copy EditorGina Hewitt
Corporate Home OfficeMailing address: PO Box 319 Belton MO 64012Delivery address: 306 Eagle Glen Ct Raymore MO 64083Phone: (816) 331-5252 FAX: 800-456-1868
© Copyright 2012 by Christian Computing®, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Christian Computing® is a registered trademark of Christian Computing, Inc. Written materials submitted to Christian Computing® Magazine become the property of Christian Computing®, Inc. upon receipt and may not necessarily be re-turned. Christian Computing® Magazine reserves the right to make any changes to materials sub-mitted for publication that are deemed necessary for editorial purposes. The content of this publi-cation may not be copied in any way, shape or form without the express permission of Christian Computing®, Inc. Views expressed in the articles and reviews printed within are not necessarily the views of the editor, publisher, or employees of Christian Computing® Magazine, or Christian Computing, Inc.
Articles that are highlighed are provided by our partners
www.ccmag.com/2007_03/2007_03editorial.pdf
Applying Tomorrow’s Technology to Today’s MinistryVolume 24 April 2012 No. 4
4 cover story
One Call Nowleading the way in ministry communications!
By Steve Hewitt
3 editorial Friendly vs Connected Steve Hewitt – [email protected]
7 Minstry leadership Workplace Flexibility: How to Create Happier, More Productive Staff from ACS Technologies
10 logos cMs Why Those Closest to You at Your Church Need Your Help
from LOGOS Management Software
13 higher power with Kevin Using the New Apple iPad for Bible Study
Kevin A. Purcell – [email protected]
16 digital evangelisM He’s Alive!
Michael L White - [email protected]
19 the power and the danger 4G LTE
By Russ McGuire - [email protected]
23 nicK at church Three Things… Nick Nicholaou - [email protected]
25 Ministry coMMunication The Sunday after Easter – 5 questions to ask if your church didn’t get the return numbers you wanted
Yvon Prehn - [email protected]
28 press releases
April 2012Christian Computing® Magazine 3
Steve Hewitt - [email protected]
Friendly vs Connected
Many people think that if their church is “friendly” they will make an impression on visi-tors. We have someone assigned to greet people at our door as well, and, during the service, we have a time when people can greet those around them. But I know from experience that this isn’t enough. People have to obtain the feeling that they are con-nected to the church. If you are waiting for them to join your church before they are connected, you have waited too long.
At our church, we have a meeting about every six weeks (or whenever we need it) where we have a lunch for those interested in membership and I explain what our church believes. At that time I also explain how one becomes a Christian, and explain that that is requirement to be a member of our church. Last month, when we had our mem-bership meeting and I led the group in a prayer of salvation, one of those that accepted Christ for the very first time and joined our church was a man that was 75 years old. He had just walked into our church one Sunday about three months prior to his decision to become a Christian and join our church. He filled out one of our visitor cards and we gave him the information to sign up on our website to get connected. He also supplied his cell phone number per our visitor’s card so he could receive texts from us announcing church events. He immediately began to receive emails and texts from us just like any of our other members. He felt connected.
This man, 75 years old, told me a fantastic story. He had been a smoker, and the doctors dis-covered a spot on his lung. This put him on a seri-
ous quest to find God. Before he walked into our church, he had visited churches all over the Kansas City area for TWO years, but never felt connected. He would attend several weeks, and then if no one had really connected with him, he simply moved to another church. It was only when he walked into our little church that he found connection because we were using text, email and phones. Sure many of those other churches greeted him at the door with a warm handshake, but he needed to feel con-nection. We began to pray for his health, and he was thrilled to report last a few weeks ago that the spot is not cancer. He is a regular and active mem-ber of our church.
Do NOT think that texting and technology is for young people. Do NOT think that being friend-ly is enough. The reason texting, social media and such are so popular is because it provides a connection. When you receive a text, phone call, email, and are invited past the “door” of many membership websites, you establish a connection, and the opportunity to bond with an individual. Give it a try!
Together We Serve Him,
Steve HewittFollow me on Twitter @stevehewittemail - [email protected]
editorial
4April 2012Christian Computing® Magazine
I have been a fan, a beta tester and a customer of One Call Now many times over the years as I have served as Editor-in-Chief of Christian Computing Magazine. They are innovators in allowing their customers access to the latest technology
communication tools at affordable pricing. In fact, during difficult economic times, One Call Now makes even more sense because it can save your staff valuable time and resources in connecting to your congregation. I thought our readership needed a refresher course on what One Call Now has to offer, so I interviewed Phil Elmore, Sales Manager with One Call Now. But we are not just limiting this to one inter-view. One Call Now will be opening a community in our online community, and will be starting a column next month here in CCMag, sharing how they work with churches and ministries to help meet their communication and administration needs.
One Call Nowleading the way in ministry communications!
What is a automated message notification ser-vice?
Automated message services are designed to get your information to your members in mass. One Call Now is the industry leader in mass mes-sage notification: sending over 65 million messages in 2011. Churches and religious organizations trust One Call Now to deliver important time sensitive messages such as; weather related cancellations, prayer requests, and last minute schedule changes. Additionally churches use One Call Now to send
daily and weekly reminders for events, sermon series announcements, meeting reminders, etc. The OCN system is a web-based system, meaning there is no hardware to install, no phone lines are needed. To send a voice message, simple call into a 800# record your message and send it, it’s that’s easy.
How can a message notification help my church?
A message notification system can help your
By Steve Hewitt
cover story
April 2012Christian Computing® Magazine 5
church on multiple levels.
1. It can improve attendance at worship ser-vices as well as special events, functions and meetings.2. It can improve the overall morale of a church body, when people get the feeling they part of the body by being informed of events and happenings.
3. Keeps your members safe, in the event of a bad weather cancellation; you can get a mes-sage to you members in minutes, not hours, thus allowing them to stay home and safe.
4. Save staff time, simply record one message, and let the system call and deliver that message, no need to spend hours trying to call everyone, one at a time.
5. Remove confusion, everyone of your mem-bers get the exact same message, no confusion over starting times, location, deadlines, etc.
6. Saves money, sending a call, text or email is simply much more affordable than printing postcards, flyers, etc, and much cheaper than sending info through the mail. A phone call or text is much more effective than printed mate-rial that may end up setting on a coffee table or in the trash.
How expensive is the service?The One Call Now system is easy on the
church budget. The current economic conditions have left the church in a difficult situation. To the point that office staff or office hours have had to be reduced or cut out completely. This magnifies the need for a cost effective method to keep mem-bers informed. Church leaders are discovering the OCN is very affordable, and allow you can do more, with less. Typical plans are based upon how many contacts you have and are billed monthly or annually.
How difficult is the service to use?The One Call Now system is one of the easi-
est systems to use. Given the multiple markets we serve, the system has been designed with the end user in mind. We understand not everyone will have the same set of computer skills; the system has been designed to be very user friendly, for the
church secretary, soc-cer mom, or IT profes-sional.Why should I have a service like this?
The One Call Now service has proven to be a necessary tool for all churches. In today’s world of instant information and instant commu-nication, the church cannot afford to leave their members guess-ing as to schedules, important events, ser-vices and last minute schedule changes. We live in an instant world, and the people attending your church want, desire and need instant information. The OC N system pushes information to your members, your members are not required to log onto your website, sign-up for facebook or twitter, if they have a phone they can receive your message either as a voice message, email or text message.
Phil Elmore serves as Lead Pastor of Fields of Grace Worship Center as well as One Call Now’s Communica-tions Evangelist. http://www.onecallnow.com/religious
Seeds
with One Call Now!
Plant the
877.698.3262
Refer a church before June 1 and you’ll both receive a FREE copy of
“Growing Your Church, God’s Way”
onecallnow.com
6April 2012Christian Computing® Magazine
Why is OCN different from other providers?In addition to churches and Para church organi-
zations, One Call Now provides services to Public & Private Schools, Non-Profit Organizations, Busi-ness and the Government agencies (local, state & federal) Making OCN the largest message provider in the country, 1 in 5 households or approximately 20% of the nation’s population receives messages from One Call Now customers. This diversity in our customer base allows OCN to fully understand the communication needs of all groups and al-lows OCN to be on the cutting edge of technology. Many of the features that OCN offers to churches were originally developed for our business or school customers. OC N offers multiple methods of getting your message to your people, from a simple phone call, to text messages, and emails. OCN has made the commitment to be the best message notification company in America. Our commitment to the highest quality telephony standards, as well as U.S. based technical support which sets us apart from other competitors.
How long has OCN been in business and serving churches?
One Call Now has been serv-ing the religious and church mar-ket since 2004. Currently 12,000 churches use One Call Now to keep their members informed, engaged, and connected to the local church.What types of messaging can you do?One Call Now gives you the option of sending voice messages, email messages and text messages. Ad-ditionally we offer text to speech option which allows you to type a message, select one of 19 lan-guages, and send the message as a phone call. This option is particu-larly appealing to Mega Churches where there is a diversity of ethnic groups attending the church.
Is the OCN system compatible with our church management system?
The One Call Now system is compatible with most all church management software. Typically church management systems, will
allow the end user to export their member data into an excel spreadsheet, csv file, etc. the file then can be imported into your One Call Now account in a matter of a few minutes. Additionally we offer a “SYNC” feature which will scan your data file, and automatically update any changes, saving office staff valuable time, while also reducing the risk of error associated with manually updating files.
How does a notification service fit into our social media strategy?
A message notification is the perfect comple-ment to your social media strategy. If you are using Facebook, Twitter or have a church website, One Call Now gives you the tools to link those impor-tant messages, as well as general reminder mes-sages to your facebook and twitter accounts. Ad-ditionally we offer widgets you can place on your church website, which will allow your members to go to your website and hear the last message you posted. Also families can go to your website and update their phone numbers, emails address, etc. The OCN service strengthens and enhances the power of social media.
April 2012Christian Computing® Magazine 7
from ACS Technologies
The work done in a church differs in a fundamental way from the work done in any other business. But that doesn’t change the fact that the church is a place of work. And churches have much to learn from studies
of workplaces – and fortunately, much of what can be learned can help churches have more satisfied, productive staff, lower turnover, more engaged and helpful volunteers.
Workplace Flexibility: How to Create Happier,
“Studies have shown, workplace flexibility—that is, creating a way for employees and volun-teers to get their work done easier, without being tied to the workplace, and with the right tools – does more than create more satisfied employees. It also creates more productive staff,” write the authors of Workplace Flexibility for In-Demand Ministries.
An easy way to raise job satisfaction and lower turnover The Journal of Psychology study “Flexible work arrangements, job satisfaction and turnover intentions: The mediating role of work-to-family enrichment” outlines how workplace flexibility, including allowing employees to work from home, reduces employee turnover, helps employees man-
age work and family demands, and increases job satisfaction for employees. Many ministries are finding the benefit of al-lowing staff to work from home, just like in busi-ness settings. “Those that are doing ministry need to be able to access our systems if they are out of town, at the hospital, or somewhere else,” said Wil-ford Bentley, business manager at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, which has a typical weekly attendance of 5,000. “The ministers need to be able to get to the information to be able to make decisions,” Wilford said. Flexible work arrangements are much more than just a perk for church staff. Workplace flex-ibility helps reduce turnover – and turnover can be incredibly expensive. The Society for Human Re-
More Productive Staff
Ministry Leadership
8April 2012Christian Computing® Magazine
source Management estimated that direct replacement costs can reach 50-60% of an employee’s annual salaries, with total costs as high as 90-200% of the annual salary.
Getting the most out of volun-teers For many people, volunteering with the church can be the most satisfying thing they do with their week. One way to make it even more satisfying for those volun-teers is to make their volunteer jobs easier for them, that is, more flexible. Cass McCollum, CFO of Covenant Church of Pittsburgh, gives her trusted volunteers flex-ibility. “People are usually very happy to serve in some way,” she said, but they often have day jobs. “If you’re working with a single mother who may be a great data entry person, but she says, ‘I’ve got my kids home at night, I can’t leave,’ you need to have another option for her.” Cass said she real-ized the importance of meeting volunteers halfway. A few keys to keeping the volunteers you have and attracting more volunteers:1. Work with your volunteers’ schedules. 2. Give them jobs that fit their personalities and skills.3. Whenever you can, let them do the work where and how they want to do the work.4. Meet them halfway – after all, they’re not getting paid. Remember: Happy volunteers volunteer more and invite their friends to volunteer with them.
Technology flexibility for every-one “Your operation needs to be flexible, including when it comes to technology needs and your IT
April 2012Christian Computing® Magazine 9
department,” write the authors of Workplace Flex-ibility for In-Demand Ministries. “Multi-platform software that Mac and PC users can both utilize will help your ministry meet the demands it faces day to day.” The ministry guide gives the example of several different churches that chosen platform flexibility to satisfy staff who prefer Macs and staff who use PCs. “Technology solutions for your ministry should be adaptable so they can grow and change with your ministry. Don’t assume that because some-thing has worked in the past, it will work in the future,” concludes Workplace Flexibility for In-Demand Ministries.
How to capture the many benefits of flexibility To learn more about how to create ways for employees and volunteers to get work done with the right tools and without being tied to one work-place, download the free ministry guide Workplace Flexibility for In-Demand Ministries. The guide explores how workplace flexibility lowers turn-over, improves volunteer productivity, how tech-nology flexibility can benefit your ministry, and much more.
10April 2012Christian Computing® Magazine
from Logos Management Software
Why Those Closest
Fortunately, most safety issues when it comes to churches are not nearly this disastrous. Let’s say you’ve already taken proactive measures, like hav-ing a system in place for background checks, fully auditable fund accounting for your books, and your technology supported by additional accountability measures, like having cash counted in the presence of two or more and having checks signed by someone other than the person preparing them. What if the same technology could do more than protect? What if
to You at Your Church Need Your Help
Did you read the article about the church whose bookkeeper had been quietly embezzling thousands of dollars from the church funds? Or the employee who was writing checks to herself and bilked the religious
organization out of $30,000? When technology articles about safety are written in the church, it’s generally written about the worst of the worst. These pieces are important because they teach us how to be proactive, how to protect the members in our congregations and the dreadful possibilities when we don’t. These sorts of things can’t be ignored. The good news is many churches have awareness and are moving toward proactivity to this end. A recent study done by the Barna group, shows that “focusing on safety and security” is a top priority for 25% of pastors in 2012.LO
GOS
LOGOS CMS
that technology could also be harnessed for additional purposes in ministry? The same technology used to protect can be used to minister. Danielle, Executive Assistant and HR Coordina-tor for her church, shared an experience with me that opened my eyes to the ways technology can not only protect us, but become a ministry tool. After hiring a woman for their operations team,
April 2012Christian Computing® Magazine 11
additional information came to light through the background check. (They use software that allows for storage of all HR information related to an employee and works on an alert system when certifications are due, etc.) This was a low-level red flag, but the ensuing conversation brought to light some personal issues the employee was struggling to resolve. What began as a concern for the character of the church’s employees became an opportunity to minister to a person in real need. The individual ended up leaving the organization, as it was determined on both sides that she was not a good fit. But she didn’t leave with her spirit crushed nor with any resentment. She was handled with mercy and grace and left her position still connected and serving the church on a volunteer basis. It was a positive, growth experi-ence for all involved.
Eliminate the “Shock-and-Awe” Sometimes when things come to light as our technol-ogy alerts us to possible issues, it is tempting to go straight to shock and awe. Shock and awe is the, “You did what?!” face. But when we do that, we miss the opportunity to minister grace and may present an unsafe front to the person being ministered to. When Danielle discovered a “red alert” in the process of us-ing her software to do her usual checks for new staff and volun-teers, the information and the person involved were handled with genuine care, aiding in the creation of an atmosphere of grace where real conversation could happen. Ensure even lesser offenses are kept confidential One critical feature of most employee tracking technology solutions is the option for confi-dentiality. Many of the concerns that arise about people should not be available for all to see. Yes, confidentiality is the law,
but for churches confidentiality is about far more than legal compliance. It is about people with problems. People who struggle. The very people that Jesus came to touch and heal. In Danielle’s case, the software she uses for her HR has a “clergy box” that can be checked that tells the system the information is sensitive. At this point, even administrators who have access cannot see the subject matter. Only the person(s) with Super Admin access would be able to see that information. And using their discernment, they may decide who else, if any, needs to know. I came across a confidentiality policy that may prove helpful. It is a few years old but the content is still relevant.
12April 2012Christian Computing® Magazine
Employee tracking software should offer: o Web-based application avail able anytime, anywhere o A centralized location for managing and tracking back ground screenings and vari ous other employer require ments o Automated notification system when there are alerts o Varying security levels giving the right access to the right people o Ability to upload and attach documents to individual profiles o Customizable for your organi- zation
Let’s face it, no one wants to dis-cover and deal with the unsavory per-sonal history that a background check can reveal. Especially when a back-ground check is generally performed after it has been decided that this person would be a great addition to the church staff or office team. The ensuing conversation can be awk-ward at best. Still, it is clearly far better to have that conversation up front than it is after years of personal issues spilling over into the life and operation of the church. But, in the spirit of ministry, we must remember that such checks not only protect the church organization and congregational members, they can also benefit a person applying for a position or ministry who needs real help. Such situations are opportuni-ties to extend God’s grace humbly and to help lead them to live more fully as children of light. For more information on getting started with an employee tracking software, checkout PeopleFlow, cre-ated by LOGOS: http://logoscms.com/peopleflow.
“This solution helped us meet our employee eligibility tracking and compliance initiative, with a one-year return on investment. I highly recommend it!”
Joe Braddock CFO - Diocese of Jefferson City, MO
WHEN MANAGING YOUR
April 2012Christian Computing® Magazine 13
Using the New Apple
Kevin A. Purcell - [email protected]
As an avid iPad user I awaited the release of the latest iteration of Apple’s awesome tablet with a lot of excitement. After a few weeks of use I can say that the tablet doesn’t disappoint.
iPad for Bible Study
higher power with kevin
I use my iPad for a lot of things including the following:• Reading books and magazines• Checking email• Following friends on Facebook and Twitter• Surfing the Internet while I’m away from my laptop• Watching TV shows or movies• Playing games – be sure to check out Draw Something (http://bit.ly/HhEu1n)• Taking notes in meetings• Scanning documents with the camera• Writing news stories for the many web sites I write• Tracking appointments, contacts and To-Do lists• Singing hymns – the Baptist Hymnal is on the iPad (http://bit.ly/HhEOgt)• Storing and remembering passwords – see LastPass (http://bit.ly/HhEX3s)
• Making presentations in Bible Studies and classes using Keynote• Checking the Weather• Tracking the stars using Star Walk (http://bit.ly/HhF7bf)• Following my favorite sports and teams• Shopping• Driving Directions• Editing video and pictures• Getting movie times• Finding the name of an actor in a TV show and settling arguments about whether the actor was in another movie using the IMDB app
That’s quite a list. I left off a few things because I wanted to write more about them because I also use my iPad in ministry a lot!
The New iPad as Bible Study Tool I’ve written a lot about Bible apps on the iPad so
14April 2012Christian Computing® Magazine
I won’t rehash them here. The new iPad’s single greatest upgrade came in the form of a super high-resolution display. It’s still 9.7 inches from one corner to the opposite corner (most round up calling it a 10-inch display). Now, instead of 1,024x768 resolution, you get 2,048x1536. That’s four times as many dots per inch. Apple calls this a “retina display” meaning your eyeball cannot distinguish the individual dots used to make up the images. (see Wikipedia’s explanation of the retina display http://bit.ly/HhJZNk ) Compared to the first two versions of the iPad, the new iPad’s display looks amazing. You really notice this improvement the most in the quality of the text. All of my Bible study apps popped off the screen without even receiving updates. Many of the iPad’s programs or apps required an update to take advan-tage of the higher resolution. Suddenly their images looked kind of blurry on the new display. A flurry of app updates followed the release of the new iPad. Text-based apps really didn’t need a new ver-sion to take advantage of the new display because they just used the operating system’s text rendering engine, which already displayed text in the higher resolution. In other words, Apple made the text on my Bible apps look crisper and easier to read without even receiving an up-date from the developer. Some apps were updated so that the graphical interfaces of the program now looked just as good as the text. Others have not. Yet none of them look bad. The text in all of the apps I use regularly look astonishingly crisp and beautiful. The new iPad makes the perfect Bible study tool. I was so excited I wrote the following (excerpts from a blog post at my personal website – www.kevinpurcell.org (kp.ly works also). If you use your iPad for reading the Bible or Bible study resources, the new retinal display will help you see the text cleanly. It looks almost like you’re looking at paper. The other benefits of the iPad for Bible study include long battery life, something it always had, and if you get one with 4G you can download content quicker. I don’t live near 4G,
but if you do, this will make Bible apps that need an Internet connection much more useful. … If you already have an iPad and you’re pleased, don’t waste the money to upgrade. If you don’t have one, this one is worth the cost and then some. If you’re using another tablet, the iPad will be a big improvement. I don’t care which other tablet you’re using. None of them are as good as the iPad.
The New iPad for Preaching I also use my iPad to preach. Each week I write my sermon and generate notes two or three pages long in a large font. I transfer files from my hard drive to the iPad using an Internet service called DropBox (http://www.dropbox.com), which stores your files on the Internet. It automatically copies new files or updated files from my computer to a special folder only I can see. Using the DropBox app I open my sermon notes. It has the ability to trans-fer them to another app called Pages, which I use to display my notes as I preach. Thanks to the new iPad’s high-resolution display, I get crisp text and it makes viewing my sermon notes easier. In addition to using Pages to read my sermon notes, I use a program called Keynote, also made
April 2012Christian Computing® Magazine 15
by Apple. If you’re not familiar with it, Keynote mimics the functions of PowerPoint but in a more attractive interface. I use this in my small group classes taught on Wednesday night at my church and the preaching class I’m teaching on Tuesday nights. I create my presentation on my computer and using DropBox I open the Keynote file on my iPad. You can hook up an iPad to a TV or Projector. If you do this you will need one of two things. You can con-nect physically using a $29 adapter from Apple and a normal VGA or HDMI cable, depending on whichev-er cable your projector or TV uses. A more expensive but also more con-venient method involves something called the Apple TV. Apple TV connects to your pro-jector or TV using an HDMI cable. You can stream video but for ministry it lets you wirelessly display your iPad on a TV or projector, something very useful for ministry. You have to connect both the Apple TV and the iPad to the same network. Once you do, you can dis-play the contents of your iPad screen on the projector through the Apple TV using something called AirPlay mirroring. I won’t describe how to do this, but you can learn the process from Apple (http://bit.ly/HhLcEl). It’s easy to do. Once you have the system set up the process of connecting your iPad to your projector through the Apple TV is as simple as tapping a few but-tons. You’re iPad display will show up on the TV or Projector though the Apple TV. Fire up Keynote and you can make a presentation with the TV or projector showing only the slide while you get to see the slide, a group of thumbnails for all the slides in your presentation and your speaker notes on the iPad screen.
16April 2012Christian Computing® Magazine
It’s time for the annual celebration of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ once again, though we should certainly celebrate this magnificent event all throughout the year. This is my favorite of all holy days and celebrations!
Even though Easter Sunday will have already passed by the time you read this article, we will still be in the Season of Eastertide for another seven weeks follow-ing Easter Sunday, at which time we will then begin the Season of Pentecost.
Michael L White - [email protected]
He’s Alive!
digital evangelism
One of my favorite contemporary Christian songs that is especially poignant during this holy season has been around for a while. It’s entitled “He’s Alive!” by Don Francisco. You can watch a short interview with Don and his wife, Wendy, where he relates how the song came into being, which also includes a powerful performance of the song with full orchestral accom-paniment on YouTube.com (www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=HIndrry40Ks&NR=1 ), in case you’re interested. A fairly recent rendition by David Phelps and the Gaither Vocal Band on tour is also quite moving (www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYoZY9AEras&feature=endscreen&NR=1). To check out Don Francisco’s official Web site, go to www.don-francisco.com. Every time I hear someone perform this song, it sends chills up and down my spine and moves me to
tears. The lyrics are so touching and the music so stir-ring that by the climactic end of the song when those words are shouted, “He’s Alive!” I’m ready to stand up and cheer louder and stronger than I’ve ever done for a football player’s exciting race toward the goal line! In fact, those words “He’s alive!” are what come to my mind every time I think of this holy season of the year. It is those very words which we as evangelists, both digital and otherwise, are called to spread ev-erywhere we can find a willing audience. One quick and easy way to be a digital evangelist of this power-ful resurrection message is by sending out the link to one or more of those videos by email and/or posting them in forums, blogs, Web sites, and chat rooms wherever large numbers of unconverted people visit. Be careful not to violate clearly stated rules against
April 2012Christian Computing® Magazine 17
posting content unrelated to a forum’s subject matter, as this will not win you many converts, but it may still be possible to slip in a polite mention of this world-wide observed holy day if you do so with kind and considerate wording, rather than loud and judg-mental condemnation. For those who take issue and seek a confrontation, you can simply speak kindly in your response and offer the love of Jesus to them. Remember the wise words of Solomon: “A soft answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger” (Proverbs 15:1 NKJV). The resurrection of the Lord Jesus is not only a heartwarming story for us Christians to retell as the true alter-native to the fake story of the Easter Bunny, but its reality (and our belief and acceptance of it as truth once we become aware of it) is actually a requirement for the salvation of one’s soul. Did you know that? Where’s that in the Bible? I’m glad you asked. It’s found in the words of the Apostle Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians 15:17, “And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!” (NKJV). Compare this with Paul’s letter to the Romans 10:6-10, especially verse 9. Therefore, we evangelists must emphasize faith in Jesus’ resurrec-tion just as much as we emphasize faith in His atoning blood shed at His crucifixion. For those who ask for proof of Jesus’ resurrection, you might direct them to read the entire chapter of 1 Corinthians 15. At the time the Apostle Paul wrote that letter, many of the eye witnesses to Jesus’ resur-rection were still alive, and he was indirectly chal-lenging the Corinthians to go interview them if they needed any confirmation. See 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, especially verse 6. Why would he mention all those reported eye witnesses if he hoped no one ever found out the truth that the whole thing was a hoax? Why were so many disciples of Jesus, including Paul, will-ing to die for a lie, if they knew He had not actually resurrected from the dead? For a more contemporary treatment of this subject, get Lee Strobel’s little book The Case for Christ, where he goes into significant detail of how the mountain of evidence of Jesus’ resurrection far exceeds the scant evidence on which some of our courts have handed
down death sentences. Though I haven’t viewed his accompanying video by the same title, I can vouch for the convincing case he lays out in his book. Visit his Web site at www.leestrobel.com for some more com-pelling articles and videos under the “Video Chan-nels” menu on his site. If we truly believe what we say about Jesus’ resur-rection and the everlasting life He has made available for and to us through His crucifixion and resurrection, why aren’t we more intentional and diligent about being evangelists of this great story? I’m scolding myself as much as anyone here, because I, too, have been quite lax in sharing this Good News Story with others around me. It’s so easy to get caught up in our daily routine and lose focus of how important it is to keep sharing this joyous hope with those who need to hear it, especially since we none know how much longer we have left in this world. Any one of us could die within seconds from a sudden illness or an acci-dent. Furthermore, our family, friends, acquaintances, and neighbors (FRANs) could die just as suddenly. Perhaps your soul is already safe in the arms of Jesus, but what about your FRANs? We could be the last one standing between them and eternal damnation. Since I became a Christian some 39 years ago, I shudder to
18April 2012Christian Computing® Magazine
think how many opportunities I have missed to share the Hope of Christ because I was either timid or self-absorbed. During this holy season, let’s recommit and rededicate ourselves to being more intentional and diligent evangelists. Let’s shout with Don Francisco, “He’s Alive!” to whoever will listen, and maybe even a few who don’t want to listen. Happy East-ertide!
Michael L. White is founding pastor of the soon-to-be established Well-spring Ministries in Mobile, Ala-bama, as well as an author and part-time independent Christian publisher. His books, including Digital Evan-gelism: You Can Do It, Too! (Parson Place Press, April 2011), may be viewed at his Web site books.parson-place.com and purchased wherever books are sold.
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April 2012Christian Computing® Magazine 19
Let’s be honest here. The telecom industry isn’t exactly the best at market-ing. While software companies have product names like Windows and Android, and phone companies have product names like iPhone, Droid,
and Galaxy, the telecom carriers come up with cool names like ADSL and 4G LTE. Undoubtedly, carriers stick with those names because they are acronyms for really helpful descriptions of the services – right? Okay, maybe not. ADSL stands for Asynchronous Digital Subscriber Line and 4G LTE stands for Fourth Generation Long Term Evolution.
4G LTE
By Russ McGuire - [email protected]
the power and the danger
For an industry that has provided the es-sential component for the last two technology revolutions that have totally redefined how we interact with our world and how businesses and ministries operate, these guys sure don’t do much to inspire their customers or to get due credit for their role in rocking our worlds for the better. (Disclaimer: I should know; I’ve worked in the telecom industry for over 25 years.) Of course, even though many of us still use it as our primary connection, ADSL is “so
1990s” (I believe the first ADSL standards were defined in 1998). All the cool kids have moved on to mobile broadband, and in this de-cade, you aren’t really cool unless you have 4G mobile broadband. Sprint was the first nation-wide carrier to offer 4G services in 2008 us-ing a technology called WiMax, of which I’ve written in the past. (WiMax is a pretty effec-tive name. Unfortunately, Sprint marketed their WiMax service as Sprint 4G.) These days, all the carriers (including Sprint) are moving to a more recent technology standard called LTE.
20April 2012Christian Computing® Magazine
What is 4G LTE?LTE – long term evolution – is a wireless communications standard defined by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project). It is considered a fourth generation wireless technology. First generation wireless services were analog (with data speeds similar to a 9600 baud modem). Second generation wireless moved to digital (with data speeds simi-lar to a 56k modem). Third generation networks used spread spectrum broadband technologies (with speeds similar to early DSL services – up to 1Mbps). Fourth genera-tion networks are architected with IP end-to-end to reduce latency and deliver much higher speeds (currently simi-lar to high end cable modem services, with multi-Mbps downlinks). As technology agents in ministry, we have plenty to be excited about when it comes to 4G LTE. As carriers broad-en their coverage footprints, we can expect to have a full broadband experience wher-ever we go, supporting video streaming (up and down), rich applications, and speedy Inter-net access – from our smart-phones, tablets, and laptops. Since LTE is being universally adopted as a global standard, it won’t face the same battles between CDMA (Sprint, Ve-rizon, and much of Asia) and GSM (AT&T, T-Mobile, and all of Europe) as we experi-enced through the 2G and 3G eras. That means chipmakers and device manufacturers can quickly get to scale econom-ics driving the benefits of Moore’s Law into our mo-
April 2012Christian Computing® Magazine 21
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bile lives (rapidly increasing capabilities with steady or falling prices). 4G networks also cost about one fourth to one fifth as much to operate as 3G networks on a per gigabit basis.
So, what’s not to like about 4G LTE? Many Christians have an automatic negative reaction to the word “Evolution” – but that’s no reason to dismiss the technology. Even if you think the idea of a “long term evo-lution” fails to inspire your mobility enthusiasm, you’ve got to admit multi-megabit, low-latency, multi-media friendly connectivity wherever you want to go is a pretty cool thing. The real concern, for now anyway, with 4G LTE is with the structure of pricing plans. As I write this article, Verizon and AT&T both offer 4G LTE services. Neither one of them offer an unlimited price plan. Their plans are capped and when you hit the cap, you start getting charged overage fees and your speed may be throt-tled to a pretty pitiful experi-ence. Verizon charges $30 per month for 2GB of data, $50 for 5GB, and $80 for 10GB. If you go over your allotment, you pay $10 per GB. AT&T gives you 3GB for $30 or 5GB for $50. AT&T also charges $10 for each GB over your cap. MetroPCS also has a 4G LTE network and they have plans starting at $40 per month with unlimited web browsing (but caps on multi-media). However, MetroPCS only offers 4G LTE for smart-
22April 2012Christian Computing® Magazine
phones, not for tablets or laptops. Sprint has announced that their 4G LTE service will be available starting in the first half of this year, but hasn’t yet announced pricing. So, how quickly can you burn through a few GB of data? When the new iPad launched in March, the Wall Street Journal reported that one Verizon customer burned through his 2GB by watching two hours of college basketball. That’s pretty quick. So even though 4G costs less to operate per GB than 3G, the faster speeds mean you burn through those GBytes much faster.
So, what can we do? At least until pricing plans change, moderation will be nec-essary. Use WiFi whenever it is available. When you are con-nected via 4G LTE, be aware of the applications you are us-ing – even banner ads in games can use up surprising amounts of bandwidth. Conserve your band-width for when you really need it. Watch the non-HD versions of videos if they are available. Shop for the plans that provide the most bandwidth for the least money with good coverage where you’re likely to need it. Bottom line – exercise wisdom and discretion. “Be not among drunkards or among gluttonous eaters of meat, for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and slum-ber will clothe them with rags.” (Proverbs 23:20-21 ESV) It is my hope and prayer that these articles on the power and danger of technology will encour-age you in your daily walk with Christ. Whether it is the printing press, personal computers, the Internet, mobility, Wi-Fi, social networks, or 4G LTE, new tech-nologies continue to advance our ability to know God and to serve Him, wherever we go.
Russ McGuire is an executive for a Fortune 100 company and the founder/co-founder of three technology start-ups. His latest entrepre-neurial venture is Hschooler.net (http://hschool-er.net), a social network for Christian families (especially homeschoolers) which is being built and run by six homeschooled students under Russ’ direction.
April 2012Christian Computing® Magazine 23
Our team does a lot of network engineering, and we run into some com-mon issues in Christian churches and ministries. We find ourselves say-ing, “Now that needs to be an article!” The problem is, they’re usually
topics that won’t make a full article by themselves, so they never make it as an article idea. In this article I’m going to address three of those issues: Macs in Ac-tive Directory, Who Owns Your Domain?, and How’s Your Cable?
Nick Nicholaou - [email protected]
Three Things…
nick at church
Macs in Active Directory The use of Macs in churches and ministries is on the rise: team members are asking for Macs for a variety of reasons, and they are getting the okay to buy them. Network administrators are trying to find good ways to manage them using the network tools they have used for Windows workstations, and one of those management tools is Active Directory. Active Directory (often referred to as AD) is the database used by Microsoft Windows networks to manage the network. It’s where security policies are defined, users’ login IDs are established, and computers are registered, among other things. When managing a Windows workstation (desktop or notebook), they “join it to the domain” which then makes it possible to control the workstation’s security, etc from the network. Many network administrators believe they should join Mac workstations on the network to the AD domain just like
they would a Windows workstation. The problem is that doing so adds complexity to the network, is a lot of work, and accomplishes very little. There are a number of complex strategies available to join a Mac to an AD domain, like Magic Triangle. Network administrators who employ these strategies often complain about how poorly they work and about how much time they take to establish and support. I recently asked a number of church IT folks what benefits they got from joining their organization’s Macs to the AD domain. I was surprised to learn that about the only benefit they saw was the control of passwords from the network. I don’t think that benefit is worth the effort and complexity. Our firm does not join Macs to the AD domain; it’s just not worth doing.
Who Owns Your Domain?When engineering a network for a new client we usually
24April 2012Christian Computing® Magazine
need to make some changes to their public DNS record. Those records are where computers on the Internet learn how to connect to a website, where to send email, and more. The DNS record (DNS is short for Domain Name System) resides on a server somewhere and is accessible only by authorized individuals. The question we often must ask is, “Do you know who we need to contact to make a change to your DNS record?” The answers are often not very good:• We don’t know.• It was set up by a former team member or by a vol unteer who no longer goes to this church.• Our webhost manages it, but we’re thinking of changing webhosts and don’t know what to do.
How would you answer that question? If your answer is anything other than that you can login and change it, you may need to make a change. If you have the ability to manage it then you can grant access to it by a trusted vendor or team member, but if it is out of your control your options are very limited. We strongly recommend taking control and owner-ship of your DNS record. We recommend moving it to dnsmadeeasy.com so your options are controlled by you and not by someone outside your control. Having access to your DNS record gives you the
freedom to change webhosts and email hosts when you think it would be best for your organization.
How’s Your Cable?Another issue we run into a lot is network cable that is substandard and causes network errors. We think it’s great when our clients can save money by pulling their own cable, but we always recommend they get the cable certified afterwards. Certification is not free, and it’s more than doing a “tone” test. Testing for tone, what is usually all that’s been done, tests to make sure there isn’t a complete break in the cable. Certification tests a number of engineering pa-rameters to make sure the cable is capable and ready for gigabit data transmission, and it requires a fairly signifi-cant testing device. Is WiFi an acceptable alternative to good network cable? Our answer is probably not. WiFi connections are not as predictable as good cabled connections, so we recommend not basing a data network on WiFi. I hope those are helpful as you look to the health and reliability of your network. Paying attention to these three things can improve your team’s efficiency and productivity.
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April 2012Christian Computing® Magazine 25
5 questions to ask if your
Yvon Prehn - [email protected]
For almost two months prior to Easter, the primary focus of most churches is on how to get the most people possible to the Easter service. With a tremendous amount of work and effort, for most churches, Easter is a fan-
tastic success in terms of numbers of people attending. Also, however, for most churches, the following Sunday is often a big disappointment, with few of the new people at Easter coming back the following week. Following are 5 questions that will help you evaluate why that happened and how to plan for next year.
church didn’t get the return
Question #1: Did you use a connection card at the Easter service?If you didn’t use a connection card, where visitors were asked to give you their name and contact infor-mation, you don’t have any way to follow up with them. Tangible follow-up is extremely important, because few visitors will come back without it. Our services are rarely as inspiring to completely un-churched visitors as they are to us and our people are often too excited greeting each other to be as friendly as we wish they would be to visitors. We need to reach out to visitors after the service to let them know we care that they spent time with us. We can’t
do that if we don’t know they were there. You must have a tangible way to get that informa-tion and a connection card is the best way to do it. A connection card for a special event Sunday can be very simple. Only ask for name and contact information: email and address, perhaps not even a phone number. In addition, you must clearly and specifically ask that people fill it out during the service. One way upbeat, positive way to do this, is for you to say something like, “We are delighted you are with us today and we’d consider it an honor to pray for you. Please Iet us know how we can pray for you on your connection card.”
numbers you wanted
The Sunday after Easter –
ministry communication
26April 2012Christian Computing® Magazine
On the card itself, have a line that says: “How can we pray for you?” By adding the offer to pray (and sincerely follow-ing up and doing that) you are offering a gift to the guest beyond simply asking for information.
Question #2: Did you tell people what you regularly do? Most churches don’t do the same things on a regular basis that they do for Easter and while on one level guests know that, many churches forget to share basic information such as the time the church regularly meets. If you assume “everybody knows” when the church regularly meets, a visitor may come back next week at 9 am to an empty church because the church regularly has services at 10:30 only, but didn’t men-tion the time difference at the 9 am Easter service. Forgetting to tell people what you do can have even bigger consequences, as the following true story illustrates. After a huge amount of pre-Easter market-ing and PR a small church plant that was meeting in a local grade school managed to get over 1500 people to the Easter service at the local high school gym they rented for Easter. They felt the service was a huge
success and that people responded positively. The following week they were back at their regular loca-tion, several miles away and set up lots of extra chairs for the expected influx of new people. No new people came. It wasn’t until then they realized that in all the work and focus leading up to Easter, they hadn’t given people anything at the Easter service itself that told them where they met regularly. Recounting it, the church leader told me, “I imagine if we’d driven over the to high school gym that Sunday there were prob-ably dozens of folks milling around, wondering what happened to the church.” Because they also didn’t think they had the time to create connection cards they didn’t have a way to reach the people who visited.
Question #3: Did you tell them what your church can do for them? Of course visitors realize you don’t have a petting zoo and Easter Egg Hunt every week for their chil-dren, but did you tell them in your bulletin, on your website, or with an additional, upbeat publication, what you have for their children every week? Far too
April 2012Christian Computing® Magazine 27
many churches assume that if children had a fun time at the Easter Egg Hunt, they will automatically get their parents up early the following Sunday and come back to Sunday School classes at 9 am. In reality, most un-churched parents don’t even know Sunday School classes exist, and even less why they should get up early to bring their children to them. For them to respond you must tell them in an upbeat, clear bulletin insert what you have for kids, or use a QR code and take them to a site that shows vid-eos of your Sunday morning programs, or of parents sharing how the church helped them raise their chil-dren. Other specialized ministries in your church, for ex-ample, ones to Single Adults, teens, Seniors, Women, Mothers of Preschoolers, 12-Step Programs, Divorce Recovery, whatever else you might have, needs to be mentioned in the communications you give out during the Easter service. Even one sheet, titled “What We’ve Got for You” with ministries listed, URLs or QR codes, Twitter or other social media links, and a con-tact name and info is information that is often saved after the service. When a need arises , if the visitor had a positive experience at your church, they may return for help in a specific area.
Question #4: Did you follow up immediately? There are many ways to follow up today: email, phone calls, postcards, plus every form of social me-dia. Whatever your church is comfortable using and is used by your visitors—use it to follow up. Use several methods, repeat and use again. The more personal you can make your follow up, the better. This is where a prayer request on a connec-tion card works well because it gives you a specific, personal message to share with a visitor. Consider recruiting a prayer team ahead of time to pray and to do the follow-up work. Nothing is worse than an ig-nored prayer request and few things more positive than a genuine response that showed a real person saw the request and honestly prayed. A follow-up email, postcard, or social media con-nection within the week after Easter makes a power-ful connection. Don’t even think about sending out a generic “we prayed for you” card without a personal note attached. Question #5: Did you invite visitors to interact out-side church? It may be some time before a person who came to church only to please a parent or significant other
returns to your Sunday church service, but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t welcome an opportunity to inter-act with someone who is willing to answer questions, perhaps away from the church proper. One of my favorite suggestions for this came from a church that hosted, “latte with the Pastor” times at a local coffee shop. They would send visitors (not just for the holidays, but through the year) a follow up with two free coupons for lattes along with a note that said they could be used at any time, but at the same time invited people to join the Pastor at the local coffee shop any Thursday from 3-5 and invited them to come and ask “any question they wanted to about the Chris-tian faith.” The response was tremendous. A follow-up like this, again through any me-dia your church uses, with or without the free latte coupon, tells a visitor you care about their spiritual welcome more than simply wanting bodies in the next church service. Next year will come quickly These questions weren’t designed to make you feel bad or guilty, but to help you plan ahead for an even more effective Easter in the coming year. Take some time now to answer the questions and check out the links below for specific how-to’s, publications, tem-plates and communication pieces that you can down-load and save in a file for Easter. That way, next year, you’ll be ready not only for a fantastic Easter Sunday, but for the follow up that is needed to make it a time of continuing growth for your church. CLICK HERE Link to go to an overview with links to templates, resources; communications that will help you create the practical communication pieces mentioned above. Below is the URL if the link doesn’t work. http://www.effectivechurchcom.com/2012/04/after-the-sunday-after-easter-5-ques-tions-to-ask/ For more ideas, advice and inspiration on how to connect with visitors and grow your church for other holidays and all year, go to: http://www.effec-tivechurchcom.com Yvon Prehn is the founder and director of Effec-tive Church Communications, http://www.effec-tivechurchcom.com, a website that provides training, encouragement and resources in church communica-tions for both print and online.
28April 2012Christian Computing® Magazine
Shelby Systems Unveils Church Man-agement Software in the CLOUDAn Innovative and Accessible Way to Manage Church Data
By utilizing your web browser and any internet connection, you can now access Shelby Systems’ Arena Select church management software in the “cloud” from virtually anywhere. The word “cloud” is a simple way to describe computing services that are available over the Internet and that allow end users instant access to applications and data in real time. Shelby Systems has partnered with Reviora, who offers Software as a Service (SaaS), to bring a model of applications delivered over the Internet through a web browser with centrally hosted data. This part-nership now provides Shelby customers immediate access to their church, membership and contribu-tions data. Hosted software means that the software is host-ed on servers off site from your church. We take care of installing and maintaining the program that you can access through a web browser from anywhere with an internet connection. You can now have Shelby’s church management software without the cost of hardware and normal application maintenance, such as upgrades and back-ups. Shelby’s new web based product is called Arena Select Hosted, and at this time, it is only available with our Arena Select software. More hosted solu-tions with additional functionality and feature sets are scheduled to be released later this year. Some of the features included in Shelby’s Arena Select software are: Membership, Health Meter, Groups, Volunteer Tracking, Communications, Check In, and much more. With the private cloud from Reviora, your data will be protected physically by enterprise class data centers which provide state of the art security sys-tems, including security guards, biometric access, and video cameras. Your data will be protected by powerful firewalls, intrusion detection, physical se-curity devices, virtual software, and the highest level of locked down access available.
Press Releases For more information on Shelby’s Arena Select product in the cloud, visit shelbysystems.com/host-ed. Shelby Systems, www.shelbysystems.com , lo-cated in Cordova, Tennessee, provides management software designed for faith based organizations such as churches, denominational headquarters, and other non profit groups. An innovator in the field of church management software since the 1970s, the company currently services over 8,500 customers in more than 40 countries.
Active Network, Faith Launches Dy-namic Church Conference (DC12) in Plano, TX this May Active Network, Faith—comprised of Fel-lowship Technologies, ServiceU and Connection Power—has announced their 2012 Dynamic Church Conference (DC12) this May 1st-3rd. The 6th an-nual, three-day user conference will bring the new-est and best church management solutions together under one roof at the Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, TX. DC12 offers church leaders and staff the op-portunity to be educated, encouraged and energized through Active Network technology. Attendees will have the chance to hear a line-up of industry thought leaders including key-note speaker, Joe Champion, Founding Senior Pastor of Celebration Church, in addition to Active Network’s Jeff Hook, Tim White-horn and Allen Ratta. In addition, DC12 attendees can network with church leaders from across the country and attend educational sessions on how Active Network tech-nology helps churches manage ministry, events, giv-ing, and best practices for maintaining essential data. To learn more, please visit: http://bit.ly/HxfjKG or to register, visit: http://bit.ly/HI3b3a. Let me know if you want to schedule a 1:1 with Jeff Hook, general manager of Active Network, Faith to discuss the user conference in further detail. Hope to see you there!
