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CTT’s Top 10 Helpful Church Technology Articles of 2011

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Table of Contents

#1 - Is Google+ the Next Best Thing for Church Communication? page 3

#2 - 9 Areas Every Church Should Measure page 6

#3 - HTML5 Improves Church Technology page 8

#4 - 6 Great Church Tech Christmas Resources page 11

#5 - 3 Ways to Maintain Your Church Production Gear page 13

#6 - Choosing the Right Worship Software page 16

#7 - 3 Reasons Why Visitor Follow-up is Critical page 18

#8 - Does Your Church Have a Social Media Policy? page 22

#9 - 4 Ways to Extend the Sermon Past Sunday Morning page 24

#10 - Tablet Computing and Church Software page 26

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#1 - Is Google+ the Next Best Thing for Church Communication?

Written by

Rachel Motte

Everyone is asking: will Google+ become the next best social media destination, or merely another noisemaker in the virtual cacophony of tweets and status updates? No one knows yet, but here are a few Google+ pros and cons to think about:

PROS:

1. The most unique aspect of Google+ is the ability to arrange your contacts into “Circles.” Circles help you classify people according to real-life relationships. For example, not all your online connections are actually your friends. Some are acquaintances, some are business contacts, and others may be people you’ve never met but would like to follow. Google+ lets you put people in the most accurate Circles, and gives you complete control over which of these circles sees your status updates. This is perfect for those who want to, say, share family pictures with close friends but not with business associates.

2. Google+ tries to combine the best features of Facebook and Twitter in a clean, easy-to-use interface. So far, it seems to have succeeded. Most of us already use other Google applications like Gmail and Google Reader, and their integration

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into the site makes it easy to switch back and forth between applications.

3. Some have complained that the new site doesn’t play well with others (you can’t automatically update Facebook or Twitter from Google+, or vice versa; it’s a self-contained system), but this may turn out to be a feature. It’s supposed to be a social network, after all. If too much content is driven by automatic updates, you’ll have a lot of (noisy!) content and not very many actual people.

4. Google+ looks set to become a viable alternative to Facebook. That’s good news for those whose concerns about Facebook’s confusing privacy controls. It’s also good news given that Facebook’s marketing director has said that internet anonymity “has to go away.”

CONS:

• Google comes with its own set of privacy concerns. App integration is convenient, but is it prudent to give one company access to so much information? That’s certainly something to consider.

• Don’t take down your Facebook page yet, because churches can’t join Google+ just yet; only individuals can participate. If your church wants to interact with people on Google+, it’ll have to do so through individuals, and not all church staffers will feel comfortable devoting their personal accounts to ministry work.

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• Google+ is still brand new, and there are still some bugs to be worked out. It is in Beta testing, after all, and since membership is by invitation only, your audience is limited. If you do decide to move your online ministry into Google+, here are a few features you may find helpful (from Google): “Why is the Circles feature so important to you as a church leader? Because it streamlines who you communicate with and the way you do it. Instead of choosing between an e-mail, a blog post, or a tweet, you now have one place to communicate and an easy way to get the word out. The following has been observed:

• If you address something to a single person, it’s like you’ve written an e-mail or note;

• If you address something to a Circle, such as church members, it’s like you’ve written an open letter or newsletter;

• If you address something to a group of selected Circles, it’s like you’ve tweeted;

• If you address something to Public, it’s like a blog post everyone can enjoy.”

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#2 - 9 Areas Every Church Should Measure

Written by Steve Caton Church leaders have a level of uncertainty about whether they are measuring the right things. Often, just pinpointing the right areas to measure, then isolating the method to measure them by is the hardest task. If I were leading a church, there are nine areas I would want to measure consistently:

1. Attendance. I know this seems like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how many churches no longer track this. I’m not just talking about Worship service attendance either. Tracking small group and event attendance is equally important and I would be sure we were tracking the faces who show up, not just the numbers. 2. Missional participation. Who is getting involved and who isn’t? Who has expressed a desire in missions but hasn’t participated? 3. Volunteering. I’m always interested in connecting volunteering to other factors like attendance, giving, serving, leading etc. I think you’ll find that those who volunteer tend to be more engaged on many fronts.

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4. Online activity. Where are people spending their time on your church’s Web site, and how are they using your site? This is vital to your overall Web strategy. 5. Giving. Watch for dramatic variances in giving over time. It is a sign of spiritual activity…or inactivity. 6. Event outcomes. It is necessary to connect each and every event to life change. What happened as a result of your investment of time, energy, and resources into an event? 7. Assimilation. We typically push people through our one-hour new members’ class and then tell them to call us if they need us. How can we be sure no one falls through the cracks? How do our members behave differently than our attenders? 8. Growth. Where is growth taking place? What age groups? What ministries? Why? This is important for future resource investment planning. 9. Attrition. Why are people leaving your church? Speculation isn’t a good idea. We need to be asking and recording what we learn. While this might uncover painful experiences, it can lead to some very critical changes that we might not have ever considered before?

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#3 - HTML5 Improves Church Technology

Written by Lauren Hunter Just when you thought the web couldn’t get any better, it has. With the advent of mobile browsing (surfing the internet on your phone, tablet, or other device), the format for displaying graphics and video has undergone a radical update, which has the possibility of improving church software to boot. HTML5 developed by Opera, has become to defacto standard for all devices, and so, it quite frankly, makes the web even better, not to mention church technology. Last month, Adobe, maker of Flash, announced that it is putting all its eggs in the HTML5 basket, which initially frightened many website designers and software developers who perhaps, didn’t see this coming. But for all the other software developers (like our site’s awesome sponsors) out there who have been following mobile development and are on top of this change, you’re in for a real treat. HTML5 and Church Websites One of ChurchTechToday’s newest sponsors, Clover Sites, makes some of the finest church websites out there and has extremely simple and intuitive editing software called The Greenhouse. They too have prepared adequately for the shift by putting a plan in place to migrate Clover over to HTML5.

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A few of the benefits of using website creation software that is built in HTML5 are:

• A church’s full website (not just a mobile version of the site) will be available on an iPhone, iPad, or any other mobile device.

• Faster loading times, better accessibility for visually-impaired visitors, and new options to embed code into a website are also great features. HTML5 Rocks the Church E-Newsletter For video email marketing software maker, BombBomb, HTML5 has been the plan all along due to their mission to make email marketing more personal through video. BombBomb’s software is designed to allow email recipients to play video right inside the inbox with HTML5 technology. “Where HTML5 isn’t present or supported, a Flash fallback lets the people who get your emails watch your video on a dynamically-generated, mirrored landing page (it looks and functions exactly like your email). This is in contrast to most others offering video email, who play your video outside the context of your actual email,” comments Connor McCluskey, co-founder and CEO of BombBomb. The bottom line is, when you’re looking at purchasing new church technology, it pays to ask the “HTML5 million dollar question.” If a firm’s software isn’t already planning a move over to this platform,

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keep searching until you find software to accomplish your goals that will include this integral mobile platform now and into the future.

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#4 - 6 Great Church Tech Christmas Resources

Written by Lauren Hunter There are many great free and low-cost resources out there for churches who want to succeed at reaching out to people during the holidays. Below are six great resources:

1) Christmas Communications ebook by Yvon Prehn.

For your inspiration and communication production convenience during the Christmas season this 80-page book downloadable ebook has how-to articles to make you more effective in your church communications for Christmas, plus ready-to-print PDFs that range from very simple one, clip art designs to ones using full-color illustrations. Cost: $6.50 (http://effectivechurchcom.com)

2) Year-End Giving Free ebook:

If your church is looking to maximize the year-end giving habits of the people in your pews, I would highly recommend you download this ebook immediately. It’s completely free. (http://www.serviceu.com/year-end-giving)

3) LeadNet Community Groups: Leadership Network launched three new Leadership Community topics during 2011: Next Chapter Pastors, University Ministry, and Multiethnic Churches, and four new InnovationLab topics: Internet Campuses, Dream Centers, Campus Pastors, and Externally Focused Small Groups. Great communities to help expand and grow your church.

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4) Evernote for Pastors ebook: Ron Edmondson and Ben Stroup have recently released a great new ebook to help pastors become more organized and productive through the use of technology. Through January 31, 2012, Ron’s new ebook, “Evernote for Pastors,” is on sale for just $1.99 per copy. For less than a cup of joe at Starbucks, you can have access to a great pastor resource, written by a pastor who understands the challenges you face. (http://evernoteforpastors.com) 5) BombBomb Email Marketing Free Template Offer:

BombBomb is one of the top video email marketing solutions on the market for churches (and well, anyone). Currently they are still offering new customers two free templates so that your email newsletters and digital communication can match your church website or business. This is a great offer – don’t miss out on getting your church set up to become a better communicator in 2012! (http://bombbomb.com)

6) ROAR and LifeWay Partner to Give 1,000 Churches Free Mobile Apps: LifeWay Christian Resources and ROAR, a mobile app development group, are giving mobile church apps to 1,000 churches throughout the month of December. ROAR, LifeWay’s recommended church app development partner, will customize mobile apps on the platform of the church’s choice. Church leaders can choose either iPhone/iPad, Android, or both. Offer is only good through Dec. 31, 2011, so act now. (http://roar.pro/digitalchurch)

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#5 - 3 Ways to Maintain Your Church Production Gear

Written by Bryan Brooks Maintaining your church’s production gear is an absolute must. Like any other kind of technology, it requires our care to continue working properly. I hate to be gloomy, but things like unreliable performance, intermittent glitches and a slough of technical problems will constantly plague your church productions on a regular basis if you don’t maintain your equipment properly. If you don’t have a regular maintenance program in place for your church production gear you should seriously consider establishing one. Whether you have a small church with just a few pieces of gear or a large one with a ton of gear, maintaining it properly will get you into the land of technical peace.

If you already have a maintenance program in place at your church, that is fantastic! But for those that don’t yet or are in the process of establishing one, here is a list of 3 basic items every maintenance program should include:

1. A complete inventory of all of your gear.

This includes things like the manufacturer, model, location, serial #, P/N#’s. You need to know what you have and the basic details about it. Take it a step further and create an Excel spreadsheet with all this critical info, and make it available to the administrative pastor at your church.

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2. Maintenance procedures for your gear.

There are a couple of options for procedures: Some people choose to extract the important maintenance items from the manufacturers manual and develop their own simple one or two page procedures. Taking the technical jargon and turning it into an easy to read document that can be understood by a church volunteer. Or another option would be to just use the procedures listed out in the manufacturer manuals, which is typically found in the back of it. Once you create these procedures, make sure it’s posted in a communal location so that others can fill in if need be.

3. Maintenance schedule master worksheet

o

that lists out each piece of gear, the maintenance item that needs to be completed and the recommended maintenance schedule. For example:

Projectors

o

Eiki Projector LC-XT4/ Clean Filter / Quarterly Computer systems

o

Mac Pro Tower system / Blow dust out of hardware components / monthly Lighting Fixtures

Once you have these basic items in place, then its time to start performing the maintenance. You yourself can do it if you have the experience, you can train up church volunteers to do it or even hire an AVL consulting company.

Mac550 Mover / Remove dust from the head fans and air vents / Monthly

Think of maintaining your church production gear like maintaining your car. You know that your car needs maintenance to run

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efficiently. With proactive regular maintenance on your car, you feel safer when you drive it and you save money with things like better gas mileage and longer engine life. But, when its not properly maintained it doesn’t function effectively and sooner-or-later it will break down and won’t run at all. That’s called “Reactive Maintenance” — Let’s wait until it breaks, and then fix it. I don’t recommend that approach. That approach not only will cost you more, but in some cases, it takes a lot more time to get things repaired and back to normal operation.

I am a huge advocate and play an active role in ensuring that maintenance on the gear at our church The Father’s House gets done, seeing the results of increased reliability and performance in our gear is well worth the effort and time investment. Of course we are not exempt just like you from gear glitches every now and again, but it sure does give the tech people and the pastors a peace of mind to know that they can just serve God with their gifts and talents without the technology creating a major distraction to the spiritual climate of the production. The bottom line is this, whether you’re a tech person or a pastor, maintaining the church production gear we rely on week in and week out is necessary. We need to be good a steward of the technology God has blessed us with, which means taking care of it regularly. By implementing a basic maintenance program, you will see the fruit of a church production system that every time it’s turned on will produce the level of excellence, reliability and performance you expect from it.

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#6 - Choosing the Right Worship Software

Written by Jeffrey Miranda You might be ready to start using a worship software package that will allow you a greater deal of flexibility over PowerPoint. There are a variety of software packages available, but the important question is how do you decide which one will best fit your church’s needs? Easy Worship

is one of the most commonly used software packages. It provides both the King James and American Standard version. This will allow you to chose scripture on the fly. It features an easy to use interface, supports dual video outputs, and has a whole host of transitions to chose from. It also allows for use of live video.

Another common software package used is Song Show Plus. It has an even more extended feature-set. This software also allows for dual monitors, video, and had a database of over 6,000 songs. While simple, it offers more video control over Easy Worship. Both packages allow you to overlay text over graphics and video. This is an especially cool feature if you are looking to put either the words of a sermon or the words of a song over a special background, photos, or a video. I have seen special videos used under lyrics during Easter and Christmas celebrations, and they can certainly enhance the service. A third commonly used package is Presentation Manager. While I

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have heard of this software being used less than the first two, this particular package is especially well-suited to smaller churches. If you are a church on a tight budget, simply looking for a PowerPoint replacement, without many of the bells and whistles, this could be a good choice. It provides a flexible format, with an easy-to-use interface. Many of these church presentation software packages are available to try on a free trial basis. I would suggest trying several of them before purchasing, just to make sure it is exactly what you are looking for. Media Shout is also a great option and used by many churches. I also found a fairly comprehensive list of worship software companies listed here. Additionally, ProPresenter by Renewed Vision is also a popular choice, with ProPresenter 5 due out in 2012. Proclaim Online and Easy Slides are also viable options.

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#7 - 3 Reasons Why Visitor Follow-up is Critical

Written by Lauren Hunter My family recently visited a nearby mega church because a family friend was speaking during a part of the church service. We have friends that attend this church, we know people in leadership there, and the church has a thriving Christian school where many youth in our area attend. That said, the way in which they followed up with us – because we registered our kids for their classes – was very nice. It caused me to ponder on visitor follow up, and why this is critical for churches: 1) Reason One: Visitors need you to start the conversation. Visitor follow up is critical because if the church is going todraw people in to meet their needs and show them who Jesus is, you have to first get the conversation started. Now I’ll admit, sometimes people visit your church, are greeted well, sit by very friendly people who immediately invite the new couple out to lunch, and the rest is history. But we all know that isn’t really what happens most of the time. Getting the conversation started usually means that the church has to have some kind of follow up procedure in place to begin the conversation in the first place.

o What does your first time visitor follow up procedure look like?

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2) Reason Two: Visitors are your opportunity to grow your church. Perhaps you aren’t driven by numbers, that’s okay. There’s a natural ebb and flow of church membership; some folks join, some folks leave. Unfortunately, this is often referred to as “the revolving door” of church attendance. Without a follow-up procedure, the cycle continues and church leadership aren’t quite sure why people come and go without really knowing what’s going on. By reaching out to visitors and current attenders, you have a huge opportunity to pull people in, let them know you care, cast a vision of where the church is going, and encourage spiritual growth.

o How will you aim to stop the “revolving door” of church attendance and

3) Reason Three: People expect you (the church) to care about them. This might sound silly – of course you care about them! But imagine for a moment that you visit a new church, you even go out on a limb to fill out a visitor card or bulletin tear off to let the church know you’re new, then you receive no communication in return. In my book, that’s called rejection. If you want to show visitors that you care about their spiritual journey, then you have to set up practices that ensure they are communicated with within a week or so of their first visit.

o How quickly do you communicate with visitors and how do you reach out? (phone, email, mail, etc.)

Technology can play a huge role in alleviating the burden of follow-up. Most church management systems have follow-up protocols

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built in or have customizable ways to assign follow-ups with specific pastors via your communication method of choice. Here are some of the top church software companies out there that can get you started with figuring out a method to your church’s follow-up madness:

• Church Community Builder – Here’s a great success story on growth via first-time visitors.

• Fellowship One – Recently acquired Connection Power and ServiceU.

• Bellevue Church Management System – Church plant shares success.

• IconCMO – Just launched the first iPad Web App for churches. Additionally, companies like ServiceU that offer online event registration, online giving, and other events management solutions offer the ability to capture first timer data – whether from events or donations – so that church staff can follow up with them in the future.

Lastly, BombBomb is a great company that offers church-focused video email marketing and integrates with man of the church software companies above to make reaching out via email more streamlined and less of a hassle. Below is a bulleted list of methods to use for communication:

• Personal Email • Email newsletters • Video email newsletters or individual communication with video

email

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• Phone calls • Direct mail • Personal letters or cards • Personal invitations • Visitation

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#8 - Does Your Church Have a Social Media Policy?

Written by Lauren Hunter It’s undeniable these days that churches should have a written social media policy (or collection of policies for each social media outlet). It’s like the old proverb, “Those who fail to plan, plan to fail.” With pretty much everyone on one social media site or another, chances are you as a church need to have a plan in place to help guide conduct no matter what site. There are many resources online available if you Google, “Social Media Policy.” Great differences lie between secular for-profit companies and the Church, but businesses can help lead the way for how to create a social media policy.

My goal is not to spell out exactly how to put together a policy, but to get you thinking about it.

Here are a few resources I came across:

• Social Media Policy from Mashable • Writing a Social Media Policy from Inc. Magazine Online • Online Social Media Policy Toolmaker • Real-Life Church Social Media Policy Example

The obvious differences between a secular policy and a policy for church use would be including prayer as a part of your planning

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and strategy. The social media landscape is still somewhat of a wild west, but through prayer and planning, churches can begin to tame it.

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#9 - 4 Ways to Extend the Sermon Past Sunday Morning

Written by Lauren Hunter Most churches encourage people to be thinking, pondering, and praying about the message delivered during the sermon on Sunday morning. Technology can offer many valuable ways to help extend the sermon past Sunday morning. Here are four ways to think about: 1) Blog about

2) After the sermon, blog about some of the applicational messages that apply to everyone. Offer a few additional scripture verses to use as application during the week.

sermon preparations prior to delivering the sermon. Be open and honest about how God is working in you as you pull together the message to share with your congregation.

3) If you use a bulletin insert and provide questions for additional study or sermon notes, use these questions to prompt discussion on your church’s Facebook page 4) Use text from your blog post about sermon application as an article to run in the weekly

and Twitter account.

church e-newsletter to help continue discussion of the sermon. Link to your church’s web-based church management system that offers groups for private discussion about theological issues that relate to the sermon.

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These are just a few ways that can assist your church in extending the message and helping people develop a deeper relationship with God.

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#10 - Tablet Computing and Church Software

Written by Steve Hewitt Just as when church software companies feared the move from DOS to Windows, the time is upon us now when another new phenomenon is clamoring for attention: Tablet computing. With Christian Computing Magazine’s church software (often referred to as church management software or systems ChMS) issue due out in October, it’s important to recognize that more and more people are adopting tablets into their arsenal of technology tools—both personally and professionally.

Nearly all of the church software providers out there are offering a cloud (web-based) version these days. The next step beyond cloud computing is mobile computing. There is an obvious shift in the technology industry from desktop and laptop computers to tablets, whether they run Apple or Android operating systems.

Tablet computing offers its own advantages and perks to mobile computing and it HAS already become the direction we are going when we “compute.”

As I travel across the nation speaking with churches, their message to me is they WANT their ChMS to work specifically on tablets.

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I am not going to write a book here about the advantages of tablet computing, or why church software companies need to move to specific apps or cloud ChMS that work for those accessing via tablets, but if you read CCMag, you will be noticing more and more articles that will be pointing all of us in that direction. Notice Amazon.com

just did a major redesign of their website so that it works better for those accessing via tablets.

Walk into a BestBuy and notice the space in their computer departments now given over to a host of new tablets. The iPad of course, but here in Kansas City, (where technology is behind the rest of the country) they are all promoting at least six unique Android tablets. Think tablet computing is mobile and cool but not a serious data entry machine? Desktop computer sales continue to drop and a substantial percent of mobile computer users state (according to Pew Research) that their mobile device has become their primary Internet connection! Have you seen the new Toshiba Thrive? It has a full-sized USB and HDMI ports and a mini-USB socket as well as the ability to add SD cards, making it easy to transfer extra files as well as add storage. This tablet is a true tablet, with the ability to download thousands of practical apps that connect computing with accurate user location, touch screen, etc. that you expect with tablet computing. BUT, drop it into its docking station, connect a full keyboard and mouse (via USB) and a large monitor (via HDMI) and there is little difference between this tablet and your main computing EXCEPT it

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runs aps (which is what people want) and not programs (which are dying). I can provide several studies that say tablets will be bought five times more this year than last, and I can provide several studies that show tablets being bought and used more than notebooks in three years. However, all of those studies are short sighted because they didn’t take into account the large number of very cool tablets that have hit the market in just the last six months. And, now that major retailers have picked them up, marketing, sales and distribution will increase dramatically. One final note. The iPad is cool, no doubt. They have the best marketing. But just like the Mac vs Windows contest of the last two decades, I think it is obvious that the Android tablets will rule the market. Recently we asked CCMag readers which tablet they would like. The results were 3-1 in favor of an Android tablet over an iPad. I believe this is due to the abilities of tablets like the Thrive AND the fact that you cannot access FLASH on an iPad. Just try to visit SermonSpice or WorshipHouseMedia

So to wrap it up, tablet computing is going to become the norm, not the exception. Many church software companies out there offer usability via tablets already, and others have developed specialized apps for both iPhone and Android tablet use. If your ministry is already using tablets, I’d love to hear about what you are doing and how your church software is serving you in your ministry through tablet usage.

and check out Christian videos for your next service on an iPad. It can’t be done without using special programs to get around the FLASH issue.