2December 2014Christian Computing® Magazine

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Applying Tomorrow’s Technology to Today’s MinistryVolume 26 December 2014 No. 12

4 cover story

Is Your Church Running Background Checks?Make it easier with technology!

By Emily Kantner

3 editorial Don’t Forget What Christmas Is About By Steve Hewitt 7 special Feature Are You Too Busy for Discipleship? By Steve Caton10 Ministry leadership Six Tips To Help Your Church Staff Embrace Technology By Carol Brown13 protected with purpose Tis the Season for Online Shopping By Steven Sundermeier17 church windows soFtware Cash-Handling and Protective “Quick Tips” By Craig Chadwell

19 higher power with Kevin How to do Language Study in WORDsearch 10 Without Knowing Greek or Hebrew By Kevin A. Purcell21 special Feature Why I love Clickbook! By Pastor Gerald Rodgers24 digital evangelisM Telling the True Story of Christmas By Michael White27 the next revolution The Intelligence Revolution for Churches By Russ McGuire31 Ministry coMMunication Is Your Technology Destroying Your Volunteer Ministry? By Yvon Prehn34 nicK at church Protection from Ransomware By Nick Nicholaou

editorial

December 2014Christian Computing® Magazine 3

editorial

Don’t Forget What Christmas Is About

I did it. I hate to admit it, but I heard the words come out of my mouth, and in just a few seconds I was apologizing to my Lord.

I love Christmas. I love the lights, the tree, the music, and the way it brings family together, etc., etc. All of those things should help to point the way to the real reason for Christmas, the cel-ebration of the birth of our Savior.

I always get invited to join at least one radio show, where I am asked to share the latest gadget or technology item or service that would make a great Christmas gift, and of course I love all of that as well. But yesterday, I heard myself saying something that I needed to immediately repent for.

I heard the words come out of my mouth, “If ‘such and such’ can just happen, then it will be a perfect Christmas. Of course the ‘such and such’ I verbalized had to do with material things. As soon as I said it, I knew I was wrong.

Over the years I have written articles and done a lot of radio shows, suggesting great tech-nology gifts. But frankly, we must NEVER lose sight of the real reason for Christmas. Here in my house, it is going to be a bit tougher. We have a family member with stage 4 cancer that

lives with us. Things are a bit tighter, and we are all aware of the value of our health over things we can purchase and wrap up to place under the three. But even in all of that, we must never lose sight of the real reason for Christmas. I did, although it was only for a few minutes, and am glad that my heart over ruled my mind and mouth and the real reason for Christmas, Jesus, immedi-ately took the number one place.

May your Christmas be the best ever! Not because you get the gift you have always wanted, but because you have fallen deeper in love with our savior Jesus Christ. Celebrate the real reason for Christmas!

Together We Serve Him,

Steve Hewittsteve@ccmag.com

4December 2014Christian Computing® Magazine

Most churches are working hard to get every member of the church community involved with one ministry or another. Some screen every potential volunteer to ensure safety and a good fit

while others choose to save time and money by skipping this process. After all, most churches don’t have unlimited resources. But as the need for background checks increases and the number of providers grows, the cost continues to drop. Even churches with a tight budget can afford to run background checks. In fact, they can’t afford not to.

By Emily Kantner

Is Your Church Running Background Checks?Make it easier with technology!

Why you should be running background checks?

Children’s safetyMany churches see hundreds of kids come

through their doors each weekend. Although we’d like to think that our families are completely safe there, not everyone worshipping with us has a clean record. And some of those people are trying to vol-unteer within the church—including the children’s ministry.

LifeWay found that in their program, of the 142,000 background checks conducted by 7,700 churches since 2008, nearly half revealed a criminal offense, and 21% contained serious offenses includ-

ing over 9,000 felonies.God changes lives—even the lives of those who

have a criminal record. But the church needs to actively seek out this information in order to keep predators away from children and protect the church community.

Church’s reputationIf you don’t do your research before opening

up volunteer opportunities, your church and those who are serving could face unfair accusations and a damaged testimony. Conducting background checks and training everyone who serves will help to protect your ministry.

cover story

December 2014Christian Computing® Magazine 5

Parents’ peace of mindWhen parents know you’ve done

your homework to ensure that their kids are in safe hands, they’ll be able to focus on worship and want to come back. As the holiday season approaches and attendance spikes, make sure your church is an environment where visitors feel safe.

Background check best practices

FrequencyDetermine how often you’ll perform

background checks on current staff and volunteers. Many organizations choose to repeat them annually, while others wait two to five years to update records. But some insurance carriers will deny coverage unless churches repeat back-ground checks every 12 months.

You should also consider how you’ll handle any situation where someone leaves the church or takes a break from serving, then comes back. Most church-es will restart the process.

People Will you make each staff member

and volunteer go through the back-ground check process before they can serve or only those who will be working with children and financial informa-tion? Because many duties will overlap, enforcing background checks for every-one involved in ministry is the recom-mended practice.

Make sure that you’re not only run-ning background checks on people who are new to your church but also those people who have been serving for 25 years before you implemented new stan-dards. You might get some pushback, so help them understand the importance of these policies.

PrivacyCreate a process for handling re-

sults and respect the privacy of your church community. Keep hard copies in a locked file and digital records secured

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6December 2014Christian Computing® Magazine

with a password. Limit the number of people who handle this sensitive information.

ProblemsMake a plan for dealing with any unfavorable

issues that come up from background check results. You may have to ask people to volunteer with anoth-er ministry because of a checkered past. Handle these situations delicately.

ProvidersYou’ve got a lot of options when choosing where

you’ll get background checks done. Consider com-panies like SecureSearch that understand the unique needs of your church.

OptionsThe extent of background checks will probably

vary based on the person’s role, but you have a vari-ety of resources available to you. (Keep in mind that some information also varies by state.)

• County and state criminal records• National criminal and sex offender database• Motor vehicle records

• Employment and education verification• Credit history

ConsistencyDevelop a policy for background checks and stick

to it. Otherwise people may feel like they’re being singled out or you could make an exception that could be devastating to your church.

Don’t stop thereBackground checks are important, but they’re not

always enough. You can do even more to make sure you’re providing a safe environment at your church.

Use discretion when assigning volunteers. • Look for warning signs. Just because some-one doesn’t have a record, doesn’t mean they should be working with kids.Be smart. Avoid private one-on-one situations • and always keep at least two adults in a room with children.Be proactive and keep people accountable. • Enforce a policy that requires staff and volun-teers to alert the church of any arrests or legal issues. Invest in training. Help those serving in your • church know what characteristics and behav-iors to look out for and how to avoid risky circumstances.

Make it easier with technologyIntegrate background checks with your church

management software to save a few steps and run automated reports. You’ll avoid entering those details into your database, always find the results when you need them, and have a simpler way to get updated information.

Check out these other resources on background checks and making your church a safe environment:

3 Things You Need to Know About Background Checks

Volunteer Background Checks: Giving Back Without Giving up on Privacy

The Top 5 Myths About Background Checks

Republished with permission. Originally appeard on Elexio’s Blog.

December 2014Christian Computing® Magazine 7

By Steve Caton

Special Feature

Are You Too Busy for Discipleship?

This time of year, I begin to hear the noises coming from the basement. It’s those boxes that I’ve hidden away in the vain hope that I won’t have to see them again. Don’t worry! It’s no

deep, dark secret. It’s our Christmas decorations. Boxes and boxes of them. Around Thanksgiving they begin calling my name. I don’t resist their call on purpose — it’s just a very busy time of year. I have to ask the question: Do I stop watching the Georgia Bulldogs and go put up Christmas lights…? Of course not! I allow the business of the season and other things crowd out the boxes begging to be unpacked and strewn all over the house.

Too often we do the same thing with the call to disciple others. We know we’re called to disciple the people God has entrusted to us in our churches, but sometimes that calling can get lost, especially under the slew of other things we have to do to sup-port the church. Discipleship takes time and focus, and demands our attention. We know that there is more to it than preaching good sermons and start-ing small groups, but what? How do we know if our

efforts are making any difference? The complexity and time required to create a discipleship culture leads some churches to just count heads and evalu-ate themselves on the growth of attendance numbers — but attendance numbers alone do not equal dis-cipleship. Discipleship doesn’t happen on its own; it requires meaningful relationships and systems processes to support it. There no easy measurement of discipleship, and sometimes the busyness of min-

8December 2014Christian Computing® Magazine

istry crowds out of focus of making disciples. You can preach a stunning message on Sunday

morning, but that alone won’t pave the way for dis-cipleship. I’ve found the most basic, most important building block for a growing, effective discipleship ministry regardless of the busyness of ministry is simply creating a space for it. Discipleship thrives when it’s given an environment that supports and encourages it.

Three keys to creating a space for discipleship

Discipleship always takes place in the 1. context of relationship. Jesus taught the masses, but broke bread with His disciples. Creating space for discipleship means creat-ing space for community and relationships. Small groups are one of the most obvious places for this, but not all small groups are re-ally discipleship venues. Look beyond simple attendance into involvement — connecting after services, volunteering, whatever is the most important measure of involvement to your church. Encourage your small groups to grow and raise new leaders. And just because small groups are the most obvious choice, don’t limit yourself to them! Discipleship

can happen in a variety of ways, whether in a small group or a service project or a retreat or more.

The people with the most to pour out and 2. the people who need it most won’t always connect on their own. Do your small groups and other gatherings tend to segregate them-selves by age? It’s a natural inclination, but it’s not optimal. The older generations in your church have so much wisdom they can share with the younger, but these valuable disciple-ship connections often never get a chance to form, just because no one is intentional about bringing the generations together. Perhaps you can establish a mentoring program, so men and women with more life experience and wisdom can take younger men and wom-en under their wings and help disciple them. If you’re in a college town, you might create space for older couples to ‘adopt’ students, putting them all in a place to learn from and grow with each other. Or perhaps it can be as simple as encouraging people of varying ages to form a small group to pray together at the Wednesday night service and watching relationships form in the context of prayer.

Tangible metrics will help 3. you evaluate intangible life change. When you’re doing ev-erything you can to create a space for discipleship, you need to know if your efforts are bearing fruit. Discipleship may not be directly measurable, but the behaviors that are influenced by someone’s dis-cipleship journey are! Track faces, not just numbers, to get a handle on if people who’ve plugged into your small groups or service pro-grams or whatever else are com-ing more consistently or serving in more places. Generate reports on attendance for more events than just regular services; track giving patterns and volunteer progres-sion. Taking steps to get more involved with the church is a sign of discipleship. Don’t miss those signs!

December 2014Christian Computing® Magazine 9

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The needs of our ministries keep us hard at work, but it’s important that we carve out an intentional space for discipleship and the relationship that en-courages it. Ministry is busy — but never too busy for discipleship. Ah, but you probably shouldn’t expect the Christmas decorations to get put up while the Dawgs are playing.

Steve Caton is part of the Leadership Team at Church Community Builder. He leverages a unique background in technology, fundraising and church leadership to help local churches decentralize their processes and equip their people to be disciple mak-ers.

Steve is a contributing author on a number of websites, including the Vision Room, ChurchTech To-day, Innovate for Jesus and others. He also co-wrote the eBook “Getting Disciple Making Right”.

While technology is what Steve does on a daily basis, impacting and influencing the local church is what really matters to him……as well as enjoying deep Colorado powder with his wife and two sons!

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10December 2014Christian Computing® Magazine

By: Carol Brown

If you are on church staff or volunteer at a church, you probably know that change can be difficult, and changes dealing with technology can be even harder. If you’re in agreement, and we’re certain you are,

keep reading this great excerpt from our ACS Technologies blog.

Six Tips To Help Your Church Staff Embrace Technology

Scenario 1 – A committee knew their church needed some specific task software and spent considerable time and effort reviewing the church needs and available software programs. After a lot of hard work, they made their choice.

This was many years ago when there was no cloud and you had to load software from compact discs. A month passed and their software hadn’t arrived, so the pastor called the vendor, who tracked the package. The representative was able to tell the pastor that the software shipped less than a week after the order was placed and gave

the pastor the name of the person who signed for the package.

It turned out that person was the pastor’s secretary, who knew what was in the package and hid it in a closet because neither she nor several other church staff wanted to change how they did this task.

Scenario 2 – A trainer with an on-site training appointment found the staff he was to train had locked themselves in a room and refused to open the door no matter how much the pastor pleaded with them. They were happy with how they

ministry leadership

December 2014Christian Computing® Magazine 11

tracked contributions and didn’t want to learn a new way.

Both of these scenarios are true. Yes, really. While they are extreme examples of church staff refusing to embrace new technology, pushback to some degree probably happens more often than anyone would care to admit.

You may be thinking to yourself that there’s no way those scenarios would ever happen at your church, and you’re probably correct. But, think back to the last time you started using new software or technology. Was the rollout smooth? Did you get buy in from all staff and volunteers? Are people using the technology to its fullest extent?

If you said no to any of those questions, keep reading!

Let’s RewindWhile change is not always easy, leadership

can make adopting a new technology as smooth as possible. Here are some tips:

1. Make Sure You Really Need the Technology Church leadership runs the gamut from want-

ing every new piece of technology available to seeing technology as something from the devil. While it’s important to keep up with new apps, software, and gadgets, you should honestly re-view each to see if it benefits your ministry.

During the review process, keep your minis-try goals and the specific needs of your church in mind. Don’t buy technology just because it’s cool, new, or looks fun. Be intentional. Technol-ogy is NOT your ministry. It is not the gospel, but it can help you further the gospel and your ministry – your purpose – to reach the world.

Besides the technology needing to mesh with your ministry goals, you should consider other things. Price is always a factor for a church, but keep in mind the technology’s abilities and us-age. Buy based on what the technology can do for you, not the price. Think long term and decide what’s best.

Remember to consider training (depending on the difficulty of the technology), upgrade costs, and any other additional or continuing fees. Also look at the long term usage outlook. Is the tech-nology changing so fast that it will be obsolete within a couple of years? If so, is it still worth using?

Because of your specific needs and situation, you may need to ask yourself other questions before you proceed.

2. Make Sure You Have the Right Person for the Right Job

Before you bring in new technology, evaluate your staff, their skills, and best placement. You probably feel that everyone is already in the place best suited for them based on their competencies and previous work, but a second look is always good. You may have staff who excel with the technology they use or they may struggle with technology.

Make sure you have people serving in the right place (and it’s not always where they or you originally thought they should be), that work loads are distributed appropriately, and that each person has had appropriate training. You may need to have private conversations about changes before introducing new technology to the staff and possibly the church.

3. Demonstrate the NeedOnce you settle on the new technology, it’s

important to share news of the upcoming changes with your staff. If you have stats that you gath-ered during your evaluation process, share those with the group. Show them the time savings or how this technology will enhance the ministry.

4. Have a PlanShare projected time frames for roll-out,

training, and usage. Make sure the time frame is reasonable and include extra time for possible bumps along the way. Will the technology be rolled out to the congregation? If so, make sure you carefully plan how this will happen.

5. Remind People Who They ServeWhile you’re sharing the technology need

and implementation and training details, remind people why they work at the church. Yes, they are doing a job and they get paid for their work, but at the heart of it all is the recognition that every-one on staff is involved in ministry. Sometimes we need to be reminded that ministry is not about us. It is all about serving Him, furthering His kingdom and about bringing people to Him. Our discomfort with change will only be for a short time, while the new technology benefits being

12December 2014Christian Computing® Magazine

used for His Kingdom will con-tinue for much longer.

6. Train SmartWhen figuring the cost of the

technology, make sure you in-clude adequate training. Training results in a change or modifica-tion in behavior. The goal is for staff to learn the new technology and apply what they’ve learned to their work tasks.

Schedule training for optimum retention and set up mileposts for when to check in with users. Find out what is working and what isn’t. Are there any roadblocks? If there are, what can you do to help?

And don’t forget to consider others who may need training. Do you have volunteers and/or lay leaders who will use the technolo-gy? Make sure they get the appro-priate amount of training as well.

ConclusionEach church is a steward

of what God has given it. This includes people, their abilities, facilities and other resources, and money. As a good steward, it’s important to use each to the full-est extent. Do your research, plan carefully, share information, and train. Hopefully your next tech-nology rollout will go smoothly and your hard work will reap heavenly rewards.

To stay better informed about technology and ministry, you can follow ACS Technologies on Facebook, through the ACS Tech-nologies blog and by joining us in Dallas in May 2015 at our annual Ideas to Impact Conference.

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December 2014Christian Computing® Magazine 13

Tis the Season for Online Shopping

By: Steven Sundermeier

protected with purpose

With Thanksiving leftovers finally gone, we’ve officially entered into December. For many of us, December is a favorite time of year as we prepare our hearts for the

celebration of Jesus’ birth. With December comes a lot of joy but if we’re honest, it can also bring a lot of stress and one of the areas of stress can be gift giving. Again, some may have this area under control and have planned and shopped throughout the year or maybe took advantage of Black Friday or Cyber Monday deals but I would suspect that most of us still have some gift buying to do.

In fact, in speaking with my parents the other day, my dad, who is 70 years old, mentioned that (although my mom is usually the shopper), he’d like to get me a little something this year. He asked me if there was anything that I really wanted, however, much to my surprise he followed that up with, “you know I’m buying items on eBay now, so it doesn’t have to just be something from a store”. My first thought was “wow, my dad is hip!” and then my second thought was “is he aware of the dangers of online shopping?”

Because the volume of people doing online shopping is so high during the holidays and because

we have many “active” cyber-shopping days left before December 25th, the focus of our column will be tips on the ins and outs of online shopping from an internet security perspective. Due to the high volume of online transactions during this time, cyber criminals are out to capitalize. Right now Computer users are at the greatest risk of cyber crime, as attackers target online transactions during this season more than any other throughout the year.

Computer preparation: Before jumping online and shopping away, I’d

suggest the following preparations for a safe shop-

14December 2014Christian Computing® Magazine

ping experience. (1) Make sure that the computer or mobile

device (smartphone, tablet) you’re using for on-line purchases is well protected with a good and up-to-date anti-virus and/or total security solution (ie. Thirtyseven4 Antivirus). Here at Thirtyseven4 we are literally updating for tens of thousands of new malware each day. Having antivirus software installed is a start but it also needs to be up-to-date.

(2) Make sure that you have downloaded and installed all the latest system security updates (such as Operating System: ie Windows Updates, Brows-er: Internet Explorer, Chrome, third party software: Java, Adobe, etc.). As Heartbleed and other recent website hacking breaches have shown, there is no longer such a thing as a “safe” website in today’s day and age. Regular software updates are frequent-ly released for the OS and browser to patch for new exploits and vulnerabilities.

Decide your payment method beforehand: The next bit of advice I’d like to offer is to use a

credit card instead of a debit card for online pur-chases. Disputing a fraudulent credit card purchase with a major credit card company and getting that charge reversed will likely take as little as 5 days. However, you can expect the process for recover-ing lost checking account money with your bank to (usually) take 4 to 6 weeks for the entire process to complete. And this should not have to be said, but just in case … Never put cash in the mail.

Furthermore, I would recommend setting up a “dedicated” credit card to be used for your online purchases only. Have this credit card setup with a low purchasing (dollar) limit. Setting a low credit limit will minimize your exposure to financial loss in the event that you fall victim to a fraudulent scam.

One more thing, you also may want to consider setting up a Paypal account for online purchases where your purchases can be guaranteed.

Where NOT to online shop!(1) Never shop online from an unknown or

public computer (i.e. hotel business center, library terminals or from “cyber cafés”). It’s always ad-visable to use your own secure computer for such purchases. As the saying goes, “There’s no place like home.”

(2) Never finalize your online purchase transac-tions using publicly available open Internet access

December 2014Christian Computing® Magazine 15

or over an unsecured Wi-Fi. Do you know that hackers intentionally setup non-encrypted hotspots to lure users to connect with the intent to steal your login information, banking information and credit card details? I am not saying never connect to a free Wi-Fi but I am saying don’t do your online shopping over an open one. Use public Wi-Fi to ‘window shop’.

(3) When making online purchases verify that the address of the payment webpage (ie. the Check-out page) starts with https. The “s” equals ‘secure’. This ensures that the browser is encrypting your data before sending it to their processing server. This means your information remains hidden and safe. Also, FYI: https sites will have a padlock next to the browser window as well. If the “s” or padlock is missing do not proceed.

(4) When purchasing the lat-est must have item for your loved one, avoid using completely new and unknown websites. If a deal appears too good to be true, it probably is. You need to trust your instincts. However, if pur-chasing from a smaller business (we certainly support purchas-ing at small businesses), I would suggest verifying that they have a working contact number. I’d also suggest checking out their return policy.

Scams and tactics to be on the lookout for…

Watch out for phishing emails and other online scams. Use your common sense and protect yourself against phony deals. As referenced in last month’s article, the term phishing refers to the technique used by cybercriminals to acquire your personal data by masquerading as a legitimate business entity. Not every email you receive pretending to be from a big box retailer like Best Buy or Target or Home Depot, will actu-ally be from them. This brings

me to the next point… Never take advantage of the retailer’s offer by

directly clicking on a link or an embedded button received within an email. It is always recommended to visit the website by manually typing in the web-site into the browser. The deal within the email, if legitimate, will most likely be seen from their home page as well. The same logic goes for banking emails. Many of these phishing emails claim your account has been compromised, etc.

Be careful what you ‘Like’ or click on Face-book. Many so-called amazing fraudulent offers are

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being posted on Facebook. These offers direct users to bogus websites or trick users into Liking their “must read” posts so that their scams can spread. This is a technique called Likejacking.

Tips when at the online checkout.When creating an online account through a re-

tailer, take the extra time to create a Strong password. Strength of a password is measured by a combination of its length and complexity (mixing in numbers, letters, capitals, symbols, etc.). And believe it or not, length plays a bigger role in password strength than complexity. Passwords should be at least 8 char-acters in length but 12 characters or more should be the norm. Avoid creating common passwords (ie. 123456, password, etc.), personal passwords that can be easily guessed or using the same password on multiple sites.

If available through your antivirus vendor pro-vider, it is always a good idea to use a safe banking or similar feature that runs your browser in a sandbox while completing the checkout. Such a feature pre-vent keyloggers from stealing your credit card details and password. For example, Thirtyseven4 offers a Sandbox Browser module.

Next, limit the information you supply in check-out forms to the required fields. Many times the information supplied in the optional fields are shared or sold to third parties according to their privacy policies. Be careful for ‘Form Grabbers’, malware created to steal and retrieve form information before it is submitted online.

From a mobile device side of things.If purchasing apps on your smartphone, always

make such purchases using the official app stores (Android Market through Google Play, Apple Store, Amazon App Store, etc.).

If making purchases using your Smartphone, it’s highly recommended to use store spe-cific and genuine app on your smart phone for online shopping. Most of the e-stores like Amazon, Best Buy have their own apps for Smartphone purchases.

Post online purchase advice.Whether you’re making your

purchases now or made them last week or earlier in the year, re-

member to regularly and carefully check your credit card and bank statements for any fraudulent activity. Secondly, print and save records of your online trans-actions. It is important to create and have a paper trial in case any transactions may have to get disputed in the future. Additionally, keep track of your online receipts and email exchanges with retailers.

Lastly, be careful of Voice Phishing using the telephone, a term called Vishing. These fraudulent calls many times trick a user into entering in their credit card number in response to a fake online transaction or because the person or automated voice disguised themselves as calling from a fraud depart-ment of a credit card company, or they may report that you have a malware problem due to a holiday purchase and remote connection is necessary. We received a message on our home phone just tonight that was a perfect example of Vishing. The message sounded urgent and she referred to an outstanding fee for our trash disposal. It said we owed money and wanted credit card information to pay it, unless we had paid it already within the last 48 hours. Don’t be fooled by messages/people like this. It’s a shame that they are making their living in dishonest ways, but our best defense is awareness and education. Don’t fall for it!

In closing, do not be discouraged from shopping online this Christmas season. Many of the deals are too good to pass up! Simply be smart in your trans-actions, and be informed about the pitfalls and the safest ways to handle online shopping. Simple steps can keep your network, and your personal informa-tion/financials safe. And remember ultimately it is not the gifts or the glitter; Christmas is the birth of Jesus Christ, the Greatest Gift. Merry Christmas!

December 2014Christian Computing® Magazine 17

Cash-Handling and Protective “Quick Tips”

It’s never a fun subject, we don’t like to think about it, and we certainly don’t want to think about it happening at “our church”, but the importance of proper cash-handling procedures and appropri-ate checks and balances cannot be understated. So here are our quick-read receipts, disbursements, and general pointers.

Cash ReceiptsDivision of Duties – In the handling of cash, 1. no individual or couple is to have complete control in the handling of cash. Specifically, there is to be a separation of duties in the actual handling of money, recording the trans-actions, and reconciling the bank accounts. Employees or volunteers handling cash are to be assigned duties that are complementary to or checked by another employee or volunteer.Incoming cash is to be made a matter of re-2. cord as soon as possible.

Mail is to be opened by two persons. Remit-3. tances by mail are to be listed in duplicate at the time the mail is opened – the listing to be made by someone other than the one opening the mail.Amounts of currency contained in each item 4. are to be verified and stamped with the date.A secure area for the processing and safe-5. guarding of cash received is to be provided with restricted access.Cash is to be protected by the use of registers, 6. safes, or locks and kept in areas of limited access. The cash receiving function is to be central-7. ized to the extent possible.A balance and summary of all receipts is to 8. be prepared, any shortages or overages to be carefully investigated and corrected.Receipts are to be deposited daily or as soon 9.

church windows software

CHU

RCH W

IND

OW

S

It’s a crazy time of the year in the church office (and all around the church) getting ready for the year-end and new year festivities, preparations, reports, decorations, and events. So instead of some

long-winded paragraphs that require focus, we’ve decided to compile a list of not-exactly “our favorite things” but of some useful pointers for protecting the church’s money.

By Craig Chadwell

18December 2014Christian Computing® Magazine

as feasible.A person other than the cashier or receivable 10. bookkeeper is to make the bank deposit.Cash receipts retained on the premises over-11. night are to be minimized and locked up in a secure place, such as a safe.Cashiers are prohibited from cashing personal 12. checks from proceeds.Written procedures are to be maintained.13.

DisbursementsThe disbursement responsibility is to be 1. clearly documented.Disbursements are to be handled 2. to ensure that the correct funds are charged.Controls are to be established to 3. assure that all payments are made on a timely basis.Original invoices are to be at-4. tached to each voucher before payment.The person disbursing the money 5. should not be the same person who handles incoming monies.Each disbursement is to be ap-6. proved by the proper authority.Counter signatures on checks are 7. to be considered.Blank checks are to be stored in a 8. secure location.W-2s are to be distributed by per-9. sonnel other than the employees connected with the preparation of payroll. Detailed records of hours worked 10. are to be maintained and ap-proved.Payroll charges including fringe 11. benefits should be recorded and distributed accurately and promptly.Written procedures should be 12. established regarding sick leave, vacations, holidays, overtime, compensatory time, and stand-by time.

GeneralAccounting records are to be neat 1. and in proper order.

Accounting records are to be kept current.2. Employees are to take periodic vacations and 3. their work is then to be performed by another employee.Internal audits are to be performed regularly.4.

It is truly our hope that consideration of the tips above can help prevent the unthinkable for your church.

On a much happier note, your friends at Church Windows Software wish your congregation and your family the merriest of Christmases. We’ll talk with you in 2015!

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December 2014Christian Computing® Magazine 19

Kevin A. Purcell - kevin@kevinpurcell.org

How to do Language Study in WORDsearch 10 Without Knowing Greek or Hebrew

higher power with kevin

When I study a passage to preach or teach one step always involves language study. This should always follow two of the first steps in inductive Bible study. Go over the passage

in a few different ways including …

Read the text in context• of the whole book of the Bible if possible or in a section like the passage’s chapter and chapters before or after it.Compare various translations• using a tool like the Parallel Bible tool in WORDsearch, accessible from the toolbar button.Write down • observations of what you already know about the passage. Then ask the investigative questions which begin with “who, what, where, when, why, and how”. Record these in textual notes or even better a WORDsearch word processor document (open with CTRL+N or use FILE and NEW from the menu).

Now we’re ready for our word studies. To do this, I open the ESV, NASB, NKJV or KJV. Also open an Interlinear, like the HCSB Reverse Interlinear, which displays the text of the HCSB above Greek or Hebrew grammar information. Here’s the list of the

information included:

Word Order – the small superscript number • shows what word order that word is in in the original textEnglish Transliteration – spells out the Greek • word using corresponding English lettersParsing Codes – letters that represent • grammatical information like N for Noun or D for Dative with links to open a window that explains the meaning of the parts of speech when the user clicks the links in the resulting windowStrong’s Number – clickable link that opens • Strong’s dictionaryPronunciation Button – plays an audio file • with the pronunciation of the word

Here’s how to use this information. Click on the parsing codes to open a window with a list of the word’s parsing codes defined. Right-click each part

20December 2014Christian Computing® Magazine

of speech and click on the “define” item in the right-click menu. This opens a window explaining the part of speech and what it means for interpretation. Over time, you will begin to learn the meanings of the cases, tenses and moods in Greek and won’t need to look them up.

To get back to the text of the HCSB Reverse Interlinear, double click on the second to last toolbar button in that window.

Using the Strong’s numbers we can get access to advanced language study information without knowing Greek or Hebrew. Once the Strong’s number opens to that entry in the default Strong’s dictionary, open some original language dictionaries or lexicons. For example, I open Brown Driver and Briggs Greek-English dictionary, when I doing New

Testament study. I also open The Complete Word Study Dictionary. By default, when these dictionaries are open alongside Strong’s, they will sync to one another. Clicking the Strong’s number in the HCSB Reverse Interlinear opens Strong’s to that word and it moves the other two dictionaries to the word entry as well. Now I can read the Strong’s and get a little information about our word from above, Sophia. I can also see what BDAT and CWS tells us. They offer more complete information.

I’d also recommend doing a Strong’s search to find the word in other passages to see how that word gets used elsewhere. This helps in understanding the complex meaning of Greek and Hebrew words. Be careful, however, to not make a word mean something it doesn’t mean.

There’s a lot more to comprehensive original language study, but for a quick-hit study, these steps help in a pinch. People not familiar with Greek or Hebrew grammar can get a surface understanding of the original text behind our English translations, which will help them better understand God’s word.

December 2014Christian Computing® Magazine 21

By Pastor Gerald Rodgers

Special Feature

Why I love Clickbook!

My relationship with this computer program goes away back to my early days in the Baptist ministry here in Northern Ireland in 1973. At that time I had been given a loose-leaf

Bible that I inserted my handwritten sermon notes into. Unfortunately my handwriting deteriorated to such an extent that I had to purchase a portable typewriter so that I could read my notes in the pulpit! Shortly afterwards I bought my first computer!

One day I was looking through a computer magazine when my attention was drawn to a small paragraph commenting on the benefits of a new program created by a company called Bookmaker which they named Clickbook. I read the précis with interest but set it to the one side because I thought it was much too expensive. In the end I managed to get a free copy as a result of purchasing some special paper for my church. From the time I first used it until today it has gone through several versions and over those years it has improved beyond recognition so that I have been able to use it for several different jobs with tremendous effect.

So what is Clickbook?Clickbook is a powerful printing utility that lets

you print from any application and turn the printed results into booklets, day planner pages, greeting cards, tri-folds, wallet books, bookmarks, CD jewel case books, doll books, posters, banners and more. The newest version will also create PDF books, posters and banners. Clickbook is extremely easy to use. From any application just choose File-Print…..and then choose “Clickbook Printer”. From there you can choose how you want your document formatted and then print it.

How then does this program work?

Clickbook works by intercepting print jobs that would normally go to your printer. Clickbook will collect the print jobs into a list. Then based on what

22December 2014Christian Computing® Magazine

options you select, Clickbook will scale and rotate the pages to create a booklet (or other layout) and then send the pages to the printer.

You can then re-arrange the order of the print jobs in Clickbook by dragging and dropping them above or below other print jobs. You can also uncheck print jobs that you don’t want printed in your booklet. If you choose Pages, then you will see an entire list of pages and you can choose just the pages you want and re-order them.

Clickbook formats your document in some or all of the following ways, depending on the printer layout you select and any modifications you may make to it:

Shrinking to fit several pages on one sheet of • paper.Expanding it to “poster” sized and printing it • on multiple pages.Arranging the mini pages so they come out in • numerical order after cutting and assembling.Printing double sided.• Adding Clickbook margins.• Adding extra space for binding.• Adding headers, footers and watermarks.•

Clickbook needs to know how to print pages on both sides of the paper so that you can create booklets, tri-folds and much more. Since each printer is different and may have a different paper path, it is important that a Clickbook printer is set up before you use the program.

How do I setup Clickbook?Like other computer programs one has to initially

run the setup program to install Clickbook on your hard disk.

Once you install the program Clickbook will prompt you to set up your printer/s. If you have more than one printer you may want to set them all up at once.

Hit File- “Printer Setup”, and Clickbook will look for new printers to configure. It will use a database of printers from BlueSquirrel, the owners of Clickbook, to setup your printer. If it doesn’t get it exactly right you can run the Custom Printer Setup by choosing your printer and hitting the setup button.

The Custom Printer Setup will walk you through a series of steps and print pages on your printer. It will ask you to pick your pages up (don’t separate them) and put them back into your printer. Then it will ask

you a series of questions about what was printed. From this information, Clickbook creates a custom printer path for your printer. You should only have to set up a printer once.

Clickbook’s Main Screen.From this screen you can do all that requires to

be done with Clickbook. It contains a Menu Bar, Toolbar, Print Jobs, Status bar and Print preview allowing you to make modification to layouts and a lot more besides.

What are some of the benefits of Clickbook?Here are five but I’m sure there are many more:

Paper Saving - When you print booklets with Clickbook you will be printing more than one page on a piece of paper. This of course will result in a saving of lots of paper.

Portability - A document that has been printed through Clickbook is much more portable. One common use is to print a document as a booklet which is a convenient size for carrying or storing in a day planner.

Turns an ordinary printer into a duplexing printer - Using Clickbook you can use both sides of every sheet of paper. If you have a duplex attachment on your printer then duplexing can be used automatically.

Convenience - It is much easier to read and store documents that have been printed with Clickbook. They are smaller and can be put on a bookshelf or fitted into a laptop bag, backpack, purse or wallet.

Money Savings - If you were to have a professional printer create items you can print with Clickbook such as business cards, tri-folds etc. you could spend hundreds of dollars. However with

December 2014Christian Computing® Magazine 23

Clickbook you could print all these things and many more for pennies.

Why I love Clickbook.The one big reason is because of its many uses.

This program contains more than 170 various layouts that can accomplish any conceivable job.

Home1. - Home uses might include e-books, greeting cards, door hangers, CD Jewel cases, happy birthday banners/posters.Education2. - Hand-outs, personal publishing, children’s books, bookmarks, certificates, posters.Business3. - Meeting notes, presentation hand-outs, reference material, web pages, calendars, advertising bannersKitchen4. - Canning labels, recipes, name cards.Church5.

From the perspective of those of us involved in church work the uses to which Clickbook can be put are endless. Here are some of them:

Sermon Notes - From experience A5 has been my preferred size for the notes I bring into the pulpit.

When you print your sermon through Clickbook an A4 sheet becomes four A5 sheets and when folded in two it gives the preacher a nicely sized and handy document. The four sides are sufficient for a full sermon and after use the sermon can be easily stored away for future use.

Sermon Hand-outs - Print fill-in-the-blank sermon hand-outs to allow attendees follow along during the sermon.

Church Bulletin - You can print the Sunday schedule into a booklet with only one click.

Memory Verse Cards - You can use the Business Card layout to give children a memory verse each week.

Church Member Directory - Details of each other like names, phone numbers, email addresses and their home addresses.

Why I love Clickbook: It is one fantastically useful program. I can even print Christian Computing Magazine each month and keep a library of copies on my bookshelf for future reference! Get a free trial and prove it for yourself. http://www.bluesquirrel.com/products/clickbook/.

24December 2014Christian Computing® Magazine

Just as knowing the true story behind the annual observance of Thanksgiving is important, so also is it important to know the true story of Christmas, and just as we need to share the truth about

Thanksgiving Day, we also need to share the truth about Christmas Day. That’s what I want to discuss in this month’s digital evangelism article.

Michael L White - mlwhite@parsonplace.com

Telling the True Story of Christmas

digital evangelism

Perhaps only committed Christians even realize that there are two narratives being promulgated for the story of Christmas. One is the biblical narrative while the other is the legendary narrative of Santa Claus, which is based very loosely on a little-known bishop canonized as St. Nicholas. However, it is based mostly upon a poem entitled “’Twas the Night Before Christmas” (of disputed authorship) first published on December 23, 1823, in the Troy Sentinel. While practically everyone knows the story of Santa Claus, far fewer – even in Christian

churches at times – know the biblical story of Jesus Christ’s birth. That’s where we must fill in the gaps of ignorance with the true story of Jesus’ birth, life, sacrifice, and kingship as taught to us in the Bible.

There’s no better place to start than in the church. I am disturbed that too many professing Christian parents teach their children to believe in Santa Claus without giving them any option while simultaneously neglecting to teach them to believe in Jesus because they want their children to “make up their own minds” about whether to believe in

December 2014Christian Computing® Magazine 25

Jesus or not. When these children grow up and discover that Santa Claus is a false narrative, it’s no wonder they will suspect that the biblical story of Christ is a false narrative, too. After all, the same parents who taught them to believe the lie of Santa Claus also said that Jesus is the Son of God born into the world as a tiny baby in order to grow up and die for our sins. Amazingly, much more is made of the story of Santa Claus at Christmas – even in supposed Christian households – than is made of Jesus’ birth. So, what can we do about this enormous gap in the knowledge of the truth about Christmas? I’m glad you asked!

For starters, we can ensure that our children and grandchildren hear the true story of Christmas from our own mouths. While my Christian parents taught me to believe in Santa Claus, I chose not to teach my own children to believe this, but – to my chagrin – some of my kinfolk did take them to have photos taken while sitting on Santa’s lap. Nevertheless, I took great pains to emphasize the biblical story of Christ’s birth and life to them as they grew up. I’m convinced that they are committed Christians today partly because of that emphasis.

26December 2014Christian Computing® Magazine

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statements of your own to post on Twitter and Facebook. Ask the Lord to inspire you, and I am sure that He will.

As we celebrate this holy season, let’s stay focused on the true meaning of Christmas – the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for the expressed purpose of dying for our sins. However, we aren’t looking for a Babe in a manger any longer. Now, we are looking for a glorious King to appear in the clouds at His appointed time. As the Apostle John wrote at the end of the Book of Revelation: “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming quickly.’ Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20 NKJV). Merry Christmas!

Michael L. White is the founder and Managing Editor of Parson Place Press, an independent Christian publishing house in Mobile, Alabama. His book Digital Evangelism: You Can Do It, Too! is available wherever books are sold. For a list of his other books and articles, visit his Website at http://books.parsonplace.com.

Next, we can urge our church’s Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders to emphasize this instruction in our Christian education classes at every age level. I’ve been completely stunned over my lifetime as a pastor at the biblical illiteracy among both children and adults, and although I’ve done all I could to ensure this ignorance was addressed in the churches I pastored, I still feel I hardly made a dent. Even now while composing this article, I feel like a lone voice crying against worldly influences that have either compromised Christian doctrine or have completely replaced it with false doctrine.

Finally, we can extend our evangelistic efforts to share this true story of Christmas beyond our homes and local church walls to include the entire world as we post on our social media sites and write for our blogs and web sites. While there’s nothing wrong with posting the same seemingly trite statements of “Jesus is the Reason for the Season” and “Wise men still seek Him”, let’s get more confrontational and challenge both professing Christians and non-Christians alike with statements like, “Is Jesus your Savior and King?” or “Who do you say that Jesus is?” I’m certain you can think up some challenging

December 2014Christian Computing® Magazine 27

Over the past few months I’ve introduced the Intelligence Revolution and put it in the context of the broader Information Age. Three months ago I provided this working definition: The

Intelligence Revolution will help us better understand the world around us; will improve our decision making to enhance our health, safety, and peace of mind; and will enable companies to better serve us based on the correlation and analysis of data from the interrelation of people, things, and content. Over the past two months I’ve identified the “power” and the “danger” of the Intelligence Revolution. This month’s article will address the question that you’ve probably been pondering over the past several months - what will the Intelligence Revolution mean for my church?

The Intelligence Revolution for Churches

By Russ McGuire - russ.mcguire@gmail.com

Different Kinds of Churches To be honest, I doubt that the Intelligence Revo-

lution will ever significantly impact how many (most?) churches go about serving the Lord. Accord-ing to the 2010 Religious Congregations and Mem-bership Survey, there are nearly 333 thousand Chris-tian congregations serving over 144 million adherents (adherents is the broadest measure of people associ-

ated with a congregation - this represents nearly half of the U.S. population). The simple math tells us that there’s an average of 432 adherents per congregation. In reality, most churches are much smaller than that. According to the 2012 National Congregations Study, the median number of people associated in any way with a congregation is 135 and the median number of attendees at the main worship service is 60. The In-

The Next Revolution

28December 2014Christian Computing® Magazine

telligence Revolution derives value from “big data” analysis, and with groups of people this small, there simply won’t be data that is big in volume, velocity, or variety. At churches this size, there also tends not to be the resources to do fancy analysis of whatever data might be available.

Bottom line, these churches will keep doing what they’ve always done, serving the Lord and serv-ing their communities in Christ. I attend a small church. We don’t need fancy data analysis tools to understand the people we serve, because we have deep personal relationships within the body. We know each other’s needs, gifts, and lives. We adapt as new needs arise (as new families arrive or changes happen within families), as new gifts and talents emerge, and as we grow closer to each other in grow-ing closer to the Lord. Just as PCs, the Internet, the smartphone, and social media have provided tools that enhance what we do and make it easier to do it, I expect that the Intelligence Revolution will provide some tools that will make it easier to see the geographic distribution of our families, the concentra-tions of ages that we serve, and the participation we have in different ministries, but that is simply putting a precise point on the facts that we already inherently know because we know our own small population.

Can Big Churches Benefit From Big Data?

Michael D. Gutzler wrote an eye opening article for the Spring 2014 issue of Dialog: A Journal of Theology. In the article, titled “Big Data and the 21st Century Church,” the Lutheran pastor made the claim that “data collection and analysis could be the key to providing a deeper faith life to the people of our

December 2014Christian Computing® Magazine 29

congregational communities.” While we’ve talked about the dangers of collecting personal information in previous articles, Pastor Gutzler says “I would suggest for those working in the life of the church there is a higher calling to data analysis: to help the participants in a community of faith come to a greater understanding of God’s forgiveness, grace and love.”

As his starting framework, Pastor Gutzler rests upon the Circles of Commitment model promoted by Saddleback Church and documented in Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Church. The goal for church leaders, in Pastor Gutzler’s model, is to move adherents from being in the unchurched community to the crowd of regular attenders to the congregation of members to the committed maturing members and finally into the core of lay ministers. To accomplish this goal, church leadership analyzes data about each family and family member in the congregation, cor-relating that data with participation in specific events and activities, examining historical trends, and from that, making wise decisions.

For example, does participation in a given event or activity correlate with increased commitment to the church, no change, or actually a moving away from the core? Do the answers differ based on the current circle of commitment of dif-ferent families participating? Should we do more events/activities like this or scrap them altogether? Should we target them towards specific families rather than broadly offering them to the entire congregation?

Pastor Gutzler even argues for targeting the sermon message differ-ently for each circle of commitment. He uses the example of a sermon on stewardship: “A better way to ap-proach the subject would be to give one general message about what stewardship is, but have illustrations that speak to each circle. Then, to emphasize the message, a follow-up communication should be sent to each group that falls into each of the demographics to further emphasize the message’s point.”

Pastor Gutzler identifies five classes of data that most churches are already collecting as being enough to get started in implement-

ing this segmentation, targeting, and analysis-driven decision making:

Attendance:• at worship, but also at all other church-related eventsCommunity Life:• tracking the amount of time congregants invest in different church activitiesPersonal Information:• Pastor Gutzler makes the point that, with tools like Zillow and sal-ary.com, even simple information like ad-dress and occupation can provide significant insights that can be correlated with other sources to indicate the family’s financial com-mitment to the ministry of the church.Personal Giving:• Not just tithes and offer-ings, but also donations of food, clothing, and responses to other special appeals.Personal Development:• Time committed to opportunities to develop and deepen their faith life.

While I respect Pastor Gutzler’s passion for us-ing every tool available to achieve the mission of his church, I fear that he is demonstrating the “grey

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30December 2014Christian Computing® Magazine

areas” that I warned about in my last article. Our actions will be scrutinized by the watching world and by our own church members. We are to honor and glorify God, reflecting His attributes in loving and serving those around us. We are not to trust in a mechanical, scientific exercise in data analysis, but we are to trust in the living God who works in mysterious ways, drawing people to Himself.

All that being said, I believe that, especially large churches do and will have “big data” at their fingertips. Pastor Gutzler’s article may go to an extreme, but by do-ing so, I think it hints at ways that churches will be able to honor-ably improve how they serve their congregants while respecting their privacy. I urge you to rely heavily on prayer and the Word of God as you move your churches forward in this coming revolution.

It is my hope and prayer that these articles will encourage you in your daily walk with Christ. As 1 Peter 4:10 teaches us “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.”

Russ McGuire is a trusted advi-sor with proven strategic insights. He has been blessed to serve as an executive in Fortune 500 com-panies, found technology startups, be awarded technology patents, author a book and contribute to others, write dozens of articles for various publications, and speak at many conferences. More impor-tantly, he’s a husband and father who cares about people, and he’s a committed Christian who operates with integrity and believes in doing what is right. Learn more at http://sdgstrategy.com

December 2014Christian Computing® Magazine 31

Is Your Technology Destroying Your Volunteer Ministry?

Yvon Prehn - yvon@effectivechurchcom.com

It always seems like a great idea when someone discovers a software system that will replace having interact with people, for example, one that will allow volunteers to sign up online for tasks that need to be

done at the church or an event that needs lots of volunteers. But you need to be very careful that the technology that you get to help the church doesn’t actually discourage involvement with it. Let me explain . . .

Nothing is totally good or bad, but how it’s usedI’m not saying that all software volunteer manage-

ment programs are bad—there are lots of them available and many of them are loved by the groups that use them. However as with any technology, we have to be careful that our love of technology or the seeming benefits that it has for the church staff doesn’t blind our eyes to some of the problems that technology can cause for volunteers. Before I go into specifics dos and don’ts, here is a brief review of why we have volunteer ministries and what they can accomplish.

The reasons for volunteer ministryIn addition to the reality that leaders cannot handle

all the demands of ministry by themselves, a healthy volunteer ministry is the Biblical model for how we to do

ministry. Jesus was not a lone preacher and if anyone could

have handled a ministry all by himself, the sinless Son of God would qualify, but he didn’t go at it alone. He chose 12 disciples and others traveled with him. After Jesus returned to his Father he put us in a body, his church. He left us his Spirit who gives gifts to the members of his body for the benefit of the entire church body (“Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good” 1 Cor.12:7). The early church may have had problems in how they worked out working together (1 Corinthians is a case study of this situation), but Paul’s advice to them was always founded on ways for them to work together in the local church body with mutual care and peace.

In addition to this overall theological basis for volun-

ministry communication

32December 2014Christian Computing® Magazine

teer ministry and that you need warm bodies to get things done, two other practical advantages are worth noting:

One, volunteering is a great way for new members to become permanently connected to the church. If someone starts volunteering in the chil-dren’s ministry or prayer team or greeting or making coffee, that person will get to know other members of the church and feel they are a part of it. In addition, by trying out different jobs there is a greater chance they will interact with others, learn more, discover their spiritual gifts and overall mature in their faith far more than if they sit in a pew Sunday after Sunday.

Two, another often ignored benefit of active volunteer ministries is that they are great ways for people outside the church to become involved in the church. An unchurched person may have no interest in coming to a church service but he or she might be very interested in a day of service to the homeless, giving out gifts to kids whose families can’t afford them, a fundraiser for clean water, or to end human trafficking. It’s also easier for your mem-bers to invite their friends to participate in activities like this.

With all these great benefits of volunteering how do we get people involved?

This is where reality hits idealism. Getting people to volunteer is VERY hard and getting them to follow through on what they promised to do is even harder. A computer program to do the work for you is very appealing. A computer program can be PART of the solution, but here are some cautions in using one.

How to make sure your technology doesn’t destroy your volunteer program

Realize that your technology system won’t work for everyone. We must never forget that we live in a transitional time when some people in your church are very tech savvy and some people still do not have computers. In the same way that many churches have both an online newsletter and a print newsletter and realize that they will need to continue both channels of communications for some time, so also you can have a computer sign up program for volunteers, but you must have ways for people to be involved who for some reason can’t or won’t use the computer to sign up. If you don’t, you are effectively shutting out a large pool of volunteers. Not only is that not a wise use of people resources, but it is unkind.

Be realistic about how “easy” your program is for people to use. It might seem easy to you because you got training in how to use it and you were moti-vated by the dream of how easy this would make your life, but I’ve yet to see a volunteer program from the user side that was even remotely easy or intuitive to use. To see how it works for your people, ask several members of your congregation, who are different age groups to come in to the church office and without any coaching from you, ask them to sign-up and navigate through your volunteer sign up system. Take notes and then...

Create training on how to use the system and how it can benefit your church.

This won’t be easy to do, and you still won’t get everyone involved, but it will help. If at all possible, if you have a program like Camtasia where you can demonstrate the program in your voice with your system and your volunteer jobs and you can create training videos for your church—this is a very helpful solution. You could also train team leaders and have them train their teams. Adequate, upbeat training can turn a disliked program into a tool people can’t imag-ine doing without.

December 2014Christian Computing® Magazine 33

Listen to feedback, record it and consider your response.

If many people don’t like the system and com-plain about it, ask them for more detailed reasons: what was confusing, what didn’t work, what didn’t they like about it? Record their answers and in a calm time, pray about how to respond. If people aren’t using the program and really dislike it, it can be dif-ficult, but we always must remember we are servants and our technology should also serve our people, not intimidate or frustrate them.

In addition to your technology, try this simple method for volun-teer sign-ups

One of the best ways to get people to volunteer for various ministries is to have a form people can fill out, check a box on and sign up that’s in the church bul-letin. When the announcement is made about a volunteer need, if all they have to do is take out a form, fill it out and put it into the offer-ing plate, you’ll get many more sign-ups. Some churches rotate volunteer position requests on their connection card. Something like this isn’t a duplicate of your technology tools or a replacement, you still want to use that because the many in your church will love it—this paper option is part of, to paraphrase a verse, “being all things to all people that we might get some to volunteer.”

For additional information, advice, a training video and ebooks on successful volunteer ministries in the church, check out these links on the Effective Church Communi-cations website:

Why and how to revitalize your volunteers before seasonal or special event outreach

http://www.effec-tivechurchcom.com/2011/09/how-to-revitalize-your-volun-teers-before-seasonal-or-special-event-outreach/

Why the 80/20 situation isn’t true for the recruit-ment and retention of church volunteers

http://www.effectivechurchcom.com/2013/10/why-the-8020-situation-isnt-true-for-the-recruitment-and-retention-of-church-volunteers/

Effective Volunteer Recruitment Communications Samples: advice and PDF examples

http://www.effectivechurchcom.com/2009/09/effective-volunteer-recruitment-communications/

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34December 2014Christian Computing® Magazine

Malware has taken a new direction recently that, if you’re not protected, could cost you all of your data and a bit of money. And it doesn’t matter if you’re on a Windows or Mac

computer. How can you protect your and your organization’s data?

Nick Nicholaou - nick@mbsinc.com

Protection from Ransomware

nick at church

RansomwareThe new category of malware is called ransom-

ware because it holds your files for ransom. Some ransomware encrypts files, and some only locks files. In either case, you can’t get to your data un-less you pay a fee, which may or may not work. Protecting from such malware and having a plan in case an infection gets through to your data is essential.

ProtectionWe recommend a multilayered protection plan

that runs on your email system, at your firewall, on your servers, and on your computers. Specifically:

Protection for Your Email.• Most malware is distributed via email. Believe it or not, about 85% of all email is SPAM, and a lot of SPAM has a goal of infecting your com-

December 2014Christian Computing® Magazine 35

puter. A lot of SPAM also tries to phish for information to steal your identity… serious stuff! This is worth paying attention to!

Most consumer-oriented email services (like Gmail) filter out a lot of the SPAM that comes into their system. But corpora-tions that have their own email servers (like Exchange) need to have a good SPAM filtering solution in place to protect their system’s users. There are many solutions available, but in my firm’s research we con-cluded that Barracuda offers the best SPAM filtering solution. We strongly recommend that you check to be certain your email is being filtered to remove obvious SPAM.Protection at Your Firewall• . The second most popular malware distribution method is via infected websites. If a webhost hasn’t done their due diligence to protect those visiting the websites it hosts, then malware can be injected into otherwise legitimate websites and infect those visiting them!

It is important, then, to have a firewall that monitors all incoming web traffic to stop malware from infected websites, in ad-dition to stopping other threats like hackers

and bots, etc. Once again, there are many solutions available to help in this area. For churches and ministries, the best balance of features and price are found in Dell Son-icWALL firewalls. You can certainly spend more, but the additional features in more expensive solutions are rarely, if ever, used by churches and ministries.

One of the features we really like in SonicWALL firewalls, by the way, is easy-to-configure web content filtering to keep inappropriate websites from being accessed through your Internet connections.Protection for Your Computers• . All desk-top and notebook computers are at risk if something gets through those first two lines of defense. Notebooks are especially vulnerable because of their mobile nature, since they connect to the Internet when off-site and not under the protection of your firewall. Tablets are also more vulnerable if they have data storage ability (probably not iOS devices since their filing system is inaccessible).

The solution we recommend for desk-top and notebook computers is Sophos; it

36December 2014Christian Computing® Magazine

is capable and does not slow your comput-ers down with burdensome routines. We recommend installing it on every Windows and Mac computer.

Protection for Your Servers• . If something gets through your SPAM filter or firewall, your servers need to be protected. Every file that gets written to their hard drives should be scanned to ensure malware pro-tection at that level. The solution we like most in that role is also Sophos.

Really? Macs too?Yes! We see Sophos catch a number of malware

on Macs every year! It is true that most malware is not able to exploit Macs (some can, but they’re a small percentage), but the Macs can become ‘carri-ers’ which can pass issues on to servers, etc.

Don’t Forget Backups!One of the most important functions in IT is

the protection of data and systems. If there’s a problem, there needs to be a way to get completely back up and running as quickly as possible. Back-ups are an essential piece of disaster recovery and business continuity strategies.

A client recently asked why we spec the back-up solutions we do. It was a great question! Here’s my response, which you may find helpful:

First, let me say that anytime you get ten network engineers in a room and ask for the best way to do something, you’ll likely get at least ten different answers. That doesn’t mean they’re all wrong, just that based on each one’s experience a particular strategy has become their preference.

MBS’ Recommended Backup StrategiesWe did some fairly heavy research not too long

ago on the subject of backup systems. There are lots of possibilities, but we found that tape was still preferred by most of corporate America that had small-to-medium sized networks— and even some very large systems like digital media ar-chives. Here’s what we learned:

Large networks rely on SAN devices (Stor-•age Area Networks) in larger onsite and offsite datacenters, and their replication capabilities make backups unnecessary. Those devices typically cost a minimum of $25-$30 thousand each, and larger units

cost six figures. (Some people try to ac-complish SANs on the cheap using Drobo and Buffalo drives, but they’re unreliable; in our opinion they’re not enterprise grade.) For our largest clients we recommend using SAN devices.Online backup is good for restoring single •files or folders, but is inadequate for restor-ing entire servers in a disaster. And disaster recovery is something that must be planned for. This is the strategy we only recommend for our friends’ home computers.External hard drives seem like a good •idea except that they have many moving parts that, when transported offsite (which should happen often as part of the disaster recovery plan), can— and often do— fail. The manufacturers will replace them under warranty, but without any data on them; not good if that happens during a disaster recovery scenario. We never recommend this strategy.Tape technology continues to move forward •in development. Our clients typically only need LTO5 or LTO6 (Linear Tape-Open) specs (1.5tb and 2.5tb native capacities), but LTO7 - LTO10 are slated for release. I’ll be surprised if they ever are, however, because an organization with that much data will usually be at the size where they’re investing in SANs.

MBS’ Datacenter In our datacenter we use SANs that send their

backups to another enterprise-grade device called a NAS (for Network Attached Storage) that has large capacity. We use that strategy in the datacenter because we’re not there to change tapes on a daily basis.

I hope you found this helpful and— best of all— that you’re in a safe place! If you have more vulnerability than you’d like, though, the fixes are reasonable in cost and fairly quick to implement.