ministrytech.com etember 2015 1ministrytech.com etember 2015 3 do you have curtains or blinds on...

MinistryTech.com | September 2015 1

3 Editorial Do You Have Curtains or BlinDs on Your BeDroom WinDoWs?

18 HigHEr PowEr witH KEvin 11 aWesome triCks for mastering aCCorDanCe 11

23 StartuP familYarC

26 MiniStry CoMMuniCation tHe importanCe of internal marketing in tHe CHurCH

28 niCK at CHurCH on making DiffiCult DeCisions

partner artiCles9 MiniStry lEadErSHiP

engagement anD BuilDing DisCiples

12 ProtECtEd witH PurPoSE WinDoWs 10 trY it on noW or later?

16 dEEPEr iMPaCt tHe #1 reason Your volunteers Don’t stiCk

CovEr Story

One Call Now Announces

Church Now By Steve Hewitt

4

SEPTEMBER 2015CONTENTSFounder & editor-in-ChieF

Steve Hewitt [email protected]

editor

Kevin [email protected]

Contributing editors

Yvon Prehn Nick Nicholaou Kevin A. Purcell Russ McGuire

Copy editor

Rachael Mitchell

outreaCh inC.5550 Tech Center Dr. Colorado Springs, CO 80919 Phone: (800)-991-6011

Ministry Tech® is a registered trademark of Outreach, Inc. Written materials submitted to Ministry Tech® Magazine become the property of Outreach, Inc. upon receipt and may not necessarily be returned. Ministry Tech® Magazine reserves the right to make any changes to materials submitted for publication that are deemed necessary for editorial purposes. The content of this publication may not be copied in any way, shape or form without the express permission of Outreach, Inc. Views expressed in

the articles and reviews printed within are not necessarily the views of the editor, publisher, or employees of Ministry Tech® Magazine, or Outreach, Inc.© Copyright 2015 Outreach, Inc. All Rights Reserved


do you HavE CurtainS or BlindS on your BEdrooM windowS?

Why is the title of this editorial an important technology question? Because I am assuming the answer for most would be YES! And why do we have curtains or blinds on our bedroom windows? Because we don’t exactly trust our neighbors not to peek if we give them the opportunity. The reason this is a technology question is because we have all assumed technology that affords others the opportunity to listen to every word that goes on in our house, spy on every place we visit and watch us through cameras we have allowed to be installed inside of our living rooms and bedrooms!

I have been a strong technology advocate for more than 25 years, but I find myself becoming more and more suspicious of the wonderful world of technology we have surrounded ourselves with these days. First rule of understanding today’s technology is that IF it is connected to the Internet it WILL be hacked. And I am not talking about being hacked from someone in China or Russia, these days there are programs available to anyone to easily hack into anything, if it is connected.

Last Christmas two young people hacked Sony and Microsoft, causing the new games for Xbox and Playstation to deny players access to connection through the Internet. I wonder how many people have figured out how to hack into these boxes of their friends in order to access the camera and microphone whenever they wish? We know it has been done hundreds if not thousands of times to cameras and microphones of notebook computers.

Ever loan your phone to someone for more than 15 minutes without your supervision? If so, your phone could now contain one of several apps that do not appear on your phone YET they allow others to access your camera and microphone without your knowledge. The phone will not appear to be on, and the app will never appear on your phone.

Someone took the time earlier this year to read all of that privacy information provided with their SmartTV’s EULA from Samsung, and it warns “Please be aware that if your spoken words include personal or other sensitive information, that information will be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party through your use of Voice Recognition.” Samsung has stated that other smart TV’s with voice recognition may be doing the same thing, but they felt the need to include the warning in their privacy statements.

How about Amazon’s Echo. It is ALWAYS ready (and always listening). It works like Siri on an iPhone, except Siri is activated by pressing a button. Echo is always listening for your command word which you are to say before you ask it a question or give it a command (example – dim the lights). If it is always listening and is connected to the Internet, how hard can it be for someone to hack into it and access it to listen to everything being spoken in your house?

As we continue to move into more and more of “the Internet of things” and our cars become connected (and also use voice commands), we are going to have to realize a private conversation may become very rare. We might all need to find a wheat field miles from anything electrical and connected if we really want to have a really private conversation!

Together We Serve Him,

Steve [email protected]

FROM THE EDITO

R

mailto:[email protected]

MinistryTech.com • September 20154

One Call Now Announces Church Now Upgrade and New Congregant App!

By Steve Hewitt

I am not in the habit of endorsing specific products or companies, but as many of you might remember, last year I announced that

One Call Now was my pick for the year! I love that they offer a variety of notification tools for the church that work across the network of different ChMS companies, products and services! And, of course, I love that they can offer churches the ability to send text messages to specific groups in their church. Bob Wolfe, Senior Marketing Manager at One Call Now has something new and exciting, and I knew our readers would want to know about it!

So Bob, I hear you have some-thing new and exciting to an-nounce.I do. We’re very excited about our new product for the church market, called Church Now.

One Call Now has been in the no-tification business for some time. What is Church Now?Church Now is a completely new set of communication and engage-ment services built on top of One Call Now’s leading voice, texting and email technology. The combination makes for the most comprehensive church communication solution on the market today. It consists of a sep-arate Church Now dashboard for the church messenger – often the pas-tor – and a convenient Church Now “companion app” for the congregant.

So, One Call Now is in the app business now?Well, we’ve actually been in the app business for years now, and have just released our new group leader app for all One Call Now customers. That allows leaders to access all of our traditional One Call Now services through a smartphone or tablet.

So you’ve got a group leader app for One Call Now. How is Church Now different?Right now, we’re offering Church Now as an integrated, upgraded set of services for One Call Now cus-

CovEr Story


tomers. It consists of two parts, the Church Now Admin Page and the Church Now congregant app. For the church messenger – often the pastor – there is now a separate dashboard for managing a whole host of new services: Announce-ments, Event Invitations/Calen-dar, Prayer Requests, Audio/Video Streaming, Facebook/Twitter in-tegration, Online Giving, and an About Us section for all the basic church contact, service times, and location information.

It’s almost like you’ve rolled no-tification, prayer chains, Vim-eo, and a web site into one.Yes, it’s kind of like that. We’re look-ing to give churches the ability for deeper and more consistent en-gagement with visitors and mem-bers. This means going beyond just routine and emergency messag-es to being able to communicate about all phases of church ministry and community life.

Now, you said something about a congregant app?Yes. While the Church Now Ad-min Page allows a pastor or other church leader to create and man-age content, the Church Now con-gregant app provides a 24/7 con-nection to members and visitors. This is essential for a richer, more vibrant experience of church life…and sometimes that means pro-viding access to information after hours or when people need it most. The Church Now app just brings everything together in the palm of your hand.

Need it most? Can you explain?Take the traditional prayer chain, for instance. One Call Now revolu-

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Helping You Spread the Word

Hey, it’s only a matter of time.Will you be prepared when bad weather strikes?

With weather – and communication – timing is everything. Your best-laid plans can be wrecked

by an ill-timed storm. Your important messages can be delayed by cumbersome manual phone

call trees, emails that are deleted or never read, and other difficulties.

With One Call Now, you have the power to send voice, text, email and social media notifications

quickly and efficiently. Plus, you can see real-time reports of who has received your messages

and when. It’s great for emergency and day-to-day communication. Thousands of churches,

schools, businesses and other organizations save time, money and effort using One Call Now.

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tionized the way prayer requests were managed by taking the peo-ple intensive – and sometimes, clunky, hardware-intensive – call-ing tree out of the equation. Now, we have thousands of clients who send prayer requests through reg-ular One Call Now voice, text, and email messages.

But with Church Now, a congre-gant could have an emergency or spiritual need at any time of the day or night, submit a prayer re-quest through the app, mark it for private or public consumption, and receive prayers and support from church leadership and/or the rest of the congregation. It’s much more interactive and personal.

That’s kind of like the “prayer wall” that some church web sites use.Exactly. Instead of the one-way na-ture of the original prayer chain, this provides an environment for sharing, in real time. And those requests – and the ability for oth-ers in the community to respond to them – happen right within the congregant app.

How is that different from social media…say, a church’s Facebook page?Well, firstly, Facebook can some-times have tendency to be a little

Instead of the one-way nature of the

original prayer chain, this provides an environment for

sharing, in real time.

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“too public,” and often personal in-formation can get posted and some-times misconstrued. The Prayer Request function in Church Now is a much more intimate, communi-ty-oriented environment, and those requests can be made and reviewed along with other important church announcements and activity.

You mentioned online giving. That would have to interest a lot of churches.Yes, of course, stewardship and giving are essential components of church life. But many churches recognize now that individuals and families can’t always be present every weekend in church, and that the older methods of passing the

basket and church envelopes and such can be a little cumbersome. With Church Now, a congregant can make a regular or special dona-tion – or even a tuition payment – in the palm of their hand, when it’s convenient and top-of-mind. It sim-plifies the “mechanics,” of giving, if you will. It’s another way we believe that we can enhance the lives of church members and visitors.

Beyond what you’ve shared, how do you expect Church Now to help churches and pastors?Pastors are concerned with being able to nourish their flocks. They also want to grow their church communities. Church Now does both by providing a rich environ-ment where everything is in one place – communication, engage-ment and outreach. It’s as compre-hensive a tool as there is today for interacting with the faithful.

How can a church start using Church Now?The Church Now app is included with a One Call Now subscription. The congregant companion app is free.

Where to get the app?The Church Now companion app for congregants is available in the Google Play and iTunes stores. If a congregant’s church has Church Now activated, the congregant will find that church on the app and begin deepening their relationship with his or her community.

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Engagement And Building Disciples

Churches exist to connect people with Christ. Connecting people with each other is one of the best ways to do that. Approximately 74% of the United States* spends 11 hours a day online** through

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and other social media networks connecting with each other.

Is your church doing what it needs to do to con-nect with everyone it can?

The authors of the ministry guide “Building Dis-ciples Through Engagement” provide insight on how to achieve meaningful connections and discipleship growth using online tools.

“(In this guide,) we’re talking about people mov-ing from isolation into the embrace of Christian community and from the sidelines to the heart of ministry activity,” according to the authors of the ministry guide, “Building Disciples Through Engage-ment.”

“We’re talking about technology being used to build relationships, equip disciples of Jesus and help them to move together in one direction, living as the light of Christ in a darkened world.”

There are several key things to address when dis-cussing building disciples through engagement, but there are a few which are essential.

Structurally within the church, communication is about partnership, not control. However, some methods and tools for communication can be very impersonal. Even when one’s heart is in the right place, ineffective communication can make people feel as though they’re unimportant, or even worse, as if they’re just a means to an end.

Good Communication is Relational “Outlets such as church websites or social media

platforms can be great information tools for peo-ple interested in getting to know a little about your church prior to visiting. But, they have finite effec-tiveness in connecting people into the real, dynamic life of your community,” said the authors of “Build-ing Disciples Through Engagement.”

“As a result, many churches are seeing the neces-sity of a more private, community-oriented social network to enable truly effective, high value com-

By Michael Jordan

MINISTRY LEADERSHIP

http://www.acstechnologies.com/products/acs/resources/building-disciples-through-engagement?source=3rd_party_Article%20MinistryTech_City_Building_Disciples





munication.” According to the “Building

Disciples Through Engagement” guide, this “relational commu-nication,” as it has been deemed, does four very important things:

• Builds real life relationships• Enables people to know and

be known• Provides opportunities to take

action• Moves people from the mar-

gins to the center

Best Practices for Digital Communication

“Good communication is good communication, no matter how you slice it. So, don’t be in-timidated by that one little word: digital. The things that make you an effective communicator else-where are still of value. There are, however, some unique challenges and opportunities in the digital world,” according to the authors of the ministry guide, “Building Disciples Through Engagement.”

So, follow these few best prac-tices to help you avoid common pitfalls and enable you to make the most of your communication efforts.

1. Focus on the mission. Don’t put the focus on methods, be-cause methods are disposable. Get to the heart of the matter. Jesus has given your church an eternally meaningful mission. Be sure to explain why your church needs a private social network and keep the focus on how it will help your church accomplish the mission.

2. Never think your communi-cation is done. If you’ve been a leader for long, you probably understand this point far too well. You can’t say something once and expect it to stick with everyone. You need to continually remind people of what’s important. Thankful-ly, digital tools make effective communication very inexpen-sive and also make it easy to mobilize other people to dis-tribute your communications for you. There’s no need to do all the work yourself. Usually you just need to ask people to help you accomplish the set goals.

3. Invite people to interact.Interaction is no longer an op-tion, it’s a necessity. The digi-tal tools available today give you an amazing opportunity to invite people to join a con-versation. While it might ini-tially seem like more work, the return is far greater than the investment. Your interaction and sincere listening will help create an engaged commu-nity. You’ll probably discover gifts and abilities you didn’t realize people had, and you might just learn from others along the way too.

4. Cultivate meaningful re-lationships. The speed and simplicity of digital commu-nication can sometimes lead to overuse and misuse. As a leader, it’s your job to show the way and help people un-derstand the methods being used to reach the destination. By asking good questions, in-

tently listening and steering conversations toward real re-lationships, you’ll be leading by example. Ask other lead-ers to do the same. Together, you’ll build a community of well-connected and meaning-ful relationships.

5. Provide opportunities for meaningful action. A church social network makes it easier for you to delegate re-sponsibility, without sacrific-ing accountability. So, rather than feed the impulse of con-sumerism, give people oppor-tunities to get involved. It can be as simple as sharing stories of the everyday, informal min-istry happening within your

MINISTRY LEADERSHIP

As a leader, it’s your job to show the

way and help people understand the methods being used

to reach the destination.




church and inviting people to get involved in the opportuni-ties around them. Remember, you’re building a culture and cultures celebrate what they value. If you value the active en-gagement of your whole church in ministry work, celebrate it!

One way you can do this is through ACS Technologies’ ser-vice, The City.

Let Us Help You Better Com-municate

ACS Technologies can help you engage new members while going deeper with those already in your congregation.

Whether they’ve just walked through your front door or they’ve been quietly warming a seat for years without engaging, the key to a healthier, thriving body is getting people connected and properly as-similated. When you do, ultimate-ly you’ll spread the Gospel more effectively.

To learn more about building disciples through engagement and put best practices to use, includ-ing stories of how other churches have succeeded, download Build-ing Disciples Through Engagement today.

*: Pew Research Center: www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheets/so-cial-networking-fact-sheet/**:Mashable: www.mashable.com/2014/03/05/american-digi-tal-media-hours/

MINISTRY LEADERSHIP

http://www.acstechnologies.com/

http://www.onthecity.org/

http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheets/social-networking-fact-sheet/



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Windows 10Try It On Now or Later?

By Steven Sundermeier

I have to admit that nothing seems to give my second son more pleasure than flipping through the well-timed soccer catalog that arrives in the mail. He has a passion for sports, especially soccer! Even at six years old (should I be concerned?), he has an incredible eye for spotting the newest or brightest ball or the latest player-designed shoe. Just last month, he begged us for a new Nike ball that he promised was the coolest thing around (it wasn’t even out yet and needed to be pre-purchased), and sure enough that ball turned out to be the ball displayed on next month’s soccer catalog cover featuring Team USA. My son’s anticipation each month for what’s new in the soccer (equipment) world got me thinking about the world’s anticipation for Microsoft’s new Operating System, Windows 10.

As the owner of Thirtyseven4, a leading provider

of Windows, Mac and Android security solutions, my anticipation for the scheduled release was likely different from that of the average consumer. You see, whenever Microsoft plans to release a new Operating System (OS), software companies need to immediately drop their current and future product project lists to develop, test and receive certification for the new platform, because Joe Public’s first concern is “What about existing applications/software?”.

Every new OS comes with new features and enhancements, and security products like Thirtyseven4 utilize Windows System Services, and are therefore dependent on many/most system core components; e.g. Windows Security Center, Kernel ( file system drivers, network drivers), binary signing process, etc. And the above is true with Windows 10 as well, so we

PURPOSEProtected With

Last night’s fireworks mean more than just the closing evening of our county fair. As an adult, I now realize that those sparkly firework showers signal the closing doors of another summer. Whether we are

ready or not, fall beckons, and in our house, fall brings soccer. Sport cleats and ball advertisements take center stage in the Sunday newspaper ads, and it is my first clue that our fall soccer season is right around the corner.


tested our existing builds using the provided “Windows 10 Developer Preview edition” and performed the following:

1. Applications that were not compatible under the new Windows 10 format (like OS version check, functionality, etc.), were made compatible.

2. Windows Security Center integration-related changes were performed and tested per Microsoft guidelines.

3. Other functionality-related bugs were solved (specific to the new features and additions within Windows 10).

The process takes months and sets software vendors back in reference to releasing their own product upgrades and improvements, because resources are taken away from certain projects and placed on the Windows 10 project. Of course I know better than most people that technology does not stand still, but can you tell that I don’t get super excited about new OS releases? I warned you that my anticipation for the release was not high.

As many of you know, Microsoft began rolling out Windows 10 on July 29th, 2015. And just like my son with a new soccer catalog, I was actually quite surprised by how many people immediately downloaded and installed the new OS. I was even more surprised by how many inquiries we (Thirtyseven4) received on that first day regarding Thirtyseven4’s compatibility with Windows 10.


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All the necessary preparations paid off, as we were ready and fully compatible on release day.

Should you go out and download Windows 10 right away?

I’m not convinced. My son often tells me that a particular shoe in the catalog is the best shoe he’s ever seen, and that he “loves it!” My advice to him is the same advice I am giving to friends, family and colleagues asking me similar questions regarding the new “best ever” Microsoft OS: Wait. Regarding my son’s shoe, I tell him that if it is truly the best shoe he’s ever seen and that he needs it badly, wait one season. You have a very good pair of soccer cleats now, they fit and aren’t

broken and if these shoes are truly the best shoes you’ve ever seen, next season they’ll be 50% off or more, as the new arrivals for that season show up. With the Windows 10 case, if you are still running Windows 7 or Windows 8, your computers are still in full Microsoft support. They still are receiving all their critical security updates from Microsoft, and the free upgrade to Windows 10 lasts until July 29th, 2016. I say wait and let Microsoft work out all the kinks and bugs that are sure to come with any new OS (you can read about all the already discovered flaws online). If it is not broke, why feel the need to fix it right away? Let the millions of other users “test” Windows 10 for

you for a while. Yet, I say again, I was blown away with how many of our users immediately downloaded the new OS, and dropped us an email making sure we were supporting the new OS.

One more bit of caution: be careful for phishing scams relating to downloading the new Windows 10 updates. We have seen a dozen or more variations at this point tricking users into downloading malware. The scheme used by cybercriminals is simple- create an email disguised as coming from Microsoft. The subject lines of these emails have included things like – “Get Your Windows 10 Update” or “Windows 10 Update For FREE”.


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These emails are directed towards the users who are anxiously waiting their Windows OS upgrade.

What about the security protection offered by Windows 10?

The built-in security module, known as Windows Defender, is very similar to the version of Windows Defender found in the previous Windows 8 OS. As a security solution, Windows Defender acts as a basic level protection scanner for file based malware like spywares and viruses. While of course my opinion will be biased, professionally I feel the detection is limited and weak as compared to other competitive and dedicated Anti-Virus or Endpoint Security solutions like Thirtyseven4. Apart from weak file-based malware detections, Windows Defender also doesn’t provide any protection settings against Phishing Attacks; Network based attacks, SPAM or Malicious URL links while browsing. That being said, it is worth noting that Windows 10 does also integrate Smartscreen technology embedded inside its browser, Internet Explorer, that does offer a level aid against phishing websites. However, it only works for Internet Explorer and not other browsers.

Thirtyseven4 not only protects users from the above mentioned threats but also provides additional security through features like Secure Browser, Firewall, Behavior Detection, Anti-Rootkit, Anti-Malware, etc. Lastly, Thirtyseven4 prides itself with its customer service and offers our technical support experts to our valuable customers in case of any issues at no additional charge.

So the seasons are beginning to transition. Summer to fall. Swimming pools to soccer fields. And for Windows users, the latest transition has occurred—Windows 10 has been released. Are you seduced by the allure of the latest and greatest in the Windows line? The way my son is mesmerized by skilled product placement in soccer magazines?

There’s no shame in upgrading now to Windows 10. But I also argue that there is possible gain in patience and delayed satisfaction. Such as the benefits of patches/upgrades/ and solutions that will come from the experiences of those “first-in-line” if you will. Maybe I am

jaded, but on the Windows-side of things, I recommend letting others work it out, and then we can settle in when it is tweaked and well-oiled. Just my opinion, but you are still reading, so you must trust me on some level. ;-)

The choice is really yours, and either way (Windows 10 now or later): you will be fine. But being prudent has often proved a steady course for me, and believe me, they will still have a pair of Windows, size 10 for you in a few weeks or months. But they will be broken-in and a better-fit because someone else will have gotten the blisters. See you on the field!


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Deeper ImpactBy Steve Caton

THE #1 REASON YOUR VOLUNTEERS DON’T STICK

It was one of those sleepy kinds of Sunday mornings. Maybe it was because it was the early service; maybe it was because nobody had quite adjusted to Daylight Saving Time yet. One way or another,

there wasn’t a surplus of energy in the room as the pastor gave the announcement for the third week in a row: “I ask you again to pray about where you can serve. The nursery and children’s church both need volunteers to serve in Sunday morning and Wednesday night services…”

Looking out over the congregation, the response wasn’t encouraging. About half the heads in the pews were averting their eyes, another chunk were only kind of keeping theirs open, and several smartphones were being fiddled with in laps. A few faces looked guilty. Those faces were his best bet. The owners of those faces might volunteer in the children’s ministry … before burning out and leaving three months later.

This is a scenario everyone knows they want to avoid in their churches, and yet the end result of burnout still happens so often. Too often, we ask people to volunteer based on what we need, and sometimes, someone gets guilted into contributing in a ministry they don’t really have much interest in. They don’t stay long, or if they do, the blowup is often spectacular when the pent-up frustration bursts and they do at last leave. This is because of the number one reason your volunteers don’t stick:

You’ve been trying to stick them in the wrong spot.

Four Steps to Prevent Bad Placement Burnout1. Get to know your people. The first step to making

sure your volunteers get plugged into the right serving position is obvious: getting to know your potential volunteers! Often, someone’s gifts, talents, passions, and personality will only be discovered relationally.

It’s most important to remember that you should always approach the serving conversation from the perspective of the person, not the position. You may need greeters, but Jeremy is shy and introverted — you shouldn’t ask him to join the hospitality team. He’s an audiophile, so he’d be much happier helping run the sound booth. When you know the person, you know which positions they might feel fulfilled in and which they won’t.

2. Record what you know. All the information in the world won’t do you any good if you can’t access it and cross-reference it! Maybe Jeremy isn’t a good fit for the hospitality team, but Angie is a big people person who always makes folks feel at home. If someone else — or even Angie herself — recorded this, the head of your hospitality team can find out and have a chat with her to see if she’s interested. Software can help you here, especially your church management software, if it’s designed to. You already keep contact records and so much more in your church management software. It makes sense — not to mention prevents data silos — to keep the rest of what you need to know about someone in the same place.

3. Match people and positions. Here’s where technology can really play a big part in helping you prevent bad placement burnout. If your software’s


Deeper Impactdesigned for it (and it should be!), take advantage of your tool to match people’s gifts, passions, abilities, and personalities with positions. You’ll need to spend the time thinking about what your positions are like too for this to work. What are the traits of a person who would be happy and fulfilled in this role? In Church Community Builder, you can record those in the volunteer position and then easily search and cross-reference that position with people profiles to find the people in your congregation who are the best fit — or start with the person who is interested in serving and find them a position that’s a great

fit. Let technology do the cross-referencing busywork!

4. Follow up afterwards. You can’t afford to just say ‘mission accomplished’ as soon as someone’s on the roster. Nobody volunteers just to have a second job. Jesus called His followers to serve not for the benefit of the organized church, but for their own spiritual journeys. If they’re not growing spiritually, it’s a waste of time. Keep pouring into your volunteers, keep mentoring them, keep up the relationship and let them know your door is open if they want to talk. Take them out to lunch from time to time to ask how they’re doing and if the position

is still a good fit for them. Technology can help you here too. A tool like a Process Queue could give you a process and a reminder for regular followup with volunteers, or volunteer attendance reports could give you an early warning if someone is starting to pull away and serving less often.

More than for any other reason, volunteers don’t stick because they’re stuck in the wrong spot. With a little technological help and a lot of intentionality, you can buck the trend in your church, and get your volunteers in a place where they’re healthy and thriving — and so is your church.

http://www.churchcommunitybuilder.com/


11 Awesome Tricks forMastering Accordance 11

Last month we looked at a new tool available from Accordance Bible Software, the Virtual Bible. Read about it here: www.bit.ly/1IMMBTg . This month, let’s take another

look at Accordance. I’m using the Mac version to show off these 11 awesome tricks for mastering Accordance 11, but they work in Windows the same way or similarly. Where different, I include the Windows examples as well.

Learn to Use Library Window Settings Buttons

Open Accordance and open the Library using the icon on the toolbar second from the left, if you’re using the default Accordance toolbar. It looks like three books standing up vertically, like they would in a bookshelf. This opens a window along the left edge of the screen, just like most Bible software.

At the very bottom of the Accordance Library tree window there are three tiny icons. A plus icon with an arrow next to it, a box with a down arrow inside it, and a settings gear icon with a down arrow next to it. Here’s what they do…

• Plus icon with down arrow next to it: add new module or add new workspace. Adding a new module means adding a file to the library. If you backed up your files locally and want to add them instead of downloading, then you’d use this. The add workspace adds the current workspace to the favorite workspace list at the bottom of the Library list.

• Box with down arrow inside it: shows or hides the filter menu, which helps users sort or change their library list. Click the buttons to see what they do. One shows everything

while another shows only recent texts. There’s a button to only show your Bible texts, Tools, Background (things like atlas and timeline information) and My Stuff (user created content).

• Gear icon with down arrow next to it : changes the library window in different ways as listed below.

Customize the Library TreeWhen I open the Gear pop up (the last of the

three icons listed above) it shows a menu with the following features:

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• Add folder – puts a new folder in the library list. This way you can organize books your own way inside the folder. For example, put a folder with My Favorites as the label and put your favorite books and Bibles in it at the top of the list.

• Add divider – creates a new divider in the library list. These are the horizontal lines between sections in the library window.

• Remove item – takes an item out of the library list.

• Alphabetize – orders the resources listed in a folder by alphabetical order.

• Add To User Group – select a resource and click on this to add it to a user group, which is a collection or group of resources that shows up in the My Groups section of the Library list at the bottom of the Library tree window.

• Rename Item – changes a selected item’s name. This doesn’t work on Accordance created books. Another way to do this is to slowly double click on the folder or user created resource name.

• Set Default Display – set the current library list look as the default display when opening the library.

Create groups of your favorite tools and then use the middle button at the bottom of the library list to choose only My Stuff. This makes it easy to find the most used books in your library. You can quickly get back to all your stuff by clicking the Show All button in the grid of six buttons that shows up when you use the middle icon on the bottom of the Library window. The middle button toggles this grid of six buttons on or off.

Customize the Toolbar to Put Library Categories on the Toolbar

For those with a small or low resolution screen, put buttons on the toolbar to show library content with a click. There’s a button for each kind of major types of library books. This way you will always have a drop down box for that kind of resource. The user can put one of the following types of buttons for an instant drop down box on their toolbar:

• English Tools• Greek Tools• Hebrew Tools• Reference Tools• General Tools

To add drop down boxes, right-click on the toolbar and choose Customize Toolbar from the pop up menu. Now drag and drop buttons to the toolbar or drag them off the toolbar. For example, I never use Accordance to read daily devotions, so I drag the Daily

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Reading button off the toolbar and it disappears. I dragged the tools buttons for each kind of library content to the toolbar to create the drop down button.

Set Up Workspaces for Different Kinds of Studies

People use their Bible software differently, so Accordance, and other Bible software makers, created a way to save your screen layout into workspaces or desktops, depending on the software. Accordance uses sessions and workspaces. A workspace is a collection books arranged on screen and saved using the Workspace button on the toolbar. See below for how to do it. A session is all of the open workspaces, whether that’s one or more of them. Save that using the File menu as described below.

Here’s a few purposes someone might want to create a different workspaces or sessions:

• Read daily Bible readings and devotions

• Study commentaries• Word studies• Create Bible studies• Write sermons• Teach a live class using screen

mirroring

Accordance includes some nice workspace and session features, but it’s not as intuitive as others to create a workspace. Here’s how to create a workspace. First, create a new workspace using File and New Workspace. This opens your default Bible. Now, open all of the resources you use want to use and then arrange them on the screen the way you want them

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arranged. When it looks the way you want, click on the Workspaces button on the toolbar and choose Add Workspace. (see the image below) This offers to save the workspace in the default Accordance user files folder. Give it a short describe name and click on OK.

You can create and save a new session in a similar fashion. Open all the workspaces you like and then choose File and Save Session. You might do this if you want to open one workspace called Commentary Study and another called Word Study and then save them as a Session called Sermon Prep. That way you can open just the Commentary workspace or Word Study workspace, but at some other time you could open both quickly by opening the Sermon Prep Session.

By the way, the Save or Save As items under the File menu will just save the current workspace, but won’t put it on the Workspace button on the toolbar unless it’s already there.

Set a Default WorkspaceTo set a workspace as the default workspace to

open each time you open Accordance, make sure the workspace is open and then go to Accordance and Preferences (on Mac) or Edit and Preferences (Windows).

On the General tab look for the Startup section. A drop down box shows a list of options. Click it and choose Default Session. Now Click on Set Default Session. A warning box pops up asking if you’re sure you want to save all the open windows as the default

start session. Click Save. From now on Accordance will open to that workspace.

Quickly Switch Between WorkspacesUsers can quickly switch between saved workspaces

using the Workspaces button near the right end of the toolbar (see image above) or by opening the Library tree as described above in the Library tricks.

At the bottom of the list in the Library window there’s a section called MY STUFF with My Workspaces below it. Expand it and double click on the workspaces to open them. This opens it but doesn’t close the current open session, so you may end up with many workspaces open at once. That’s fine, especially if you want to save them as a Session. You want to quickly switch between multiple open workspaces using the Window menu. If you have two monitors hooked up, put one on one monitor and the other on the second monitor.

Quickly Add a Note to a VerseEvery Bible software should make adding a note to a

verse as fast as Accordance. Select the verse or click on a verse and use the CONTROL+U or COMMAND+U keystroke.

Change Font Size QuicklySometimes we can’t read the text on our screen

or it’s too big to fit the window. Use the CONTROL++ or CONTROL+- buttons to increase or decrease the font size in Windows. Substitute CONTROL with COMMAND on a Mac.

There’s also a set of buttons on the toolbar just above the text of your open book. They look like a small A with a larger A next to it. The left smaller A decreases font size while the right side larger A increases font size.

Higher Power


Triple Click a Word to Open Strong’sThe most useful tip I ever learned attending an

Accordance Bible Software training seminar was the triple click trick. Open a Bible with Strong’s tags, like the ESV with Strong’s. When you want a word definition, click on the word three times quickly. This opens up the default Strong’s dictionary to that word’s entry.

Select the default dictionary in Preferences. Find the Amplify section and click on the drop down box next to Greek, Hebrew and Latin. Select the preferred dictionary for each language. Click OK. From this point forward the triple click trick opens the dictionary you chose for each language.

Use Reading Mode for Uncluttered Bible ReadingWhile reading a book for pleasure, devotion or

other reasons, the extra formatting and links may get in the way. Use the Reading View to display only the text without all the toolbars and extraneous stuff.

Open it using the Gear icon in a book pane. It’s the right most button on the toolbar just above the Bible or book text on a Mac. In Windows it’s the third button

from the left just above the text of the Bible or book. It has a drop down menu that opens when a user clicks on it. Select Enter Reading Mode. Use the same method to leave Reading Mode.

On a Mac use a keyboard shortcut to enter or leave Reading Mode. This only works on a Mac using CONTROL+R. That’s not a mistake. Use CONTROL+R, not COMMAND+R.

Watch Great Accordance Training VideosMost Bible software makers want their users

to learn to use the software with some expertise. Accordance does this as well as or better than most. Here are a few links to some great online training.

• Accordance Webinar Archives - www.accordancebible.com/Webinar-Archives which includes…• Preparing Topical Sermons• Sermon Preparation With Accordance• Searching In Accordance• What’s New In Accordance 11• Advanced Hebrew Part 1 and 2• Accordance 10 and IOS Videos as well

• Accordance Vimeo Channel - www.vimeo.com/accordancebible

• Accordance YouTube Channel - www.youtube.com/user/AccordanceBible/playlists

• Accordance Lighting the Lamp Podcast - www.accordancebible.com/Lighting-The-Lamp-Podcasts

• Theotek Podcast – we often talk about Accordance on the Theotek Podcast, which you can find at www.Theotek.com.

Kudos to Rick Mansfield (www.thislamp.com) of Accordance Bible Software and Wes Allen (www.painfullyhopeful.me) who both helped a lot with the tips in this article. They are my fellow Theotek Podcast hosts.

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FamilyArc

Over the past several months, we’ve discussed what it means to be a startup (in business or ministry) and defined a startup this way:

a new venture working to solve a problem where the solution is not obvious and success is not guaranteed. We’ve also discussed what it means to be an entrepreneur, and specifically a Christian entrepreneur, which we defined as: a person, driven to glorify God in all he does, and ruled by the Word of God, who starts a new venture and is willing to risk a loss in order to achieve the success of the venture.

Over the past couple of months I’ve started intro-ducing you to specific startups and Christian entre-preneurs. Some of these ventures and people may be ones that can help your church, ministry, family, or business, but my main intent is to encourage, inspire, and educate you as I hope you too will be growing as a Christian entrepreneur.

This month I’d like to introduce you to Chad Meyer and FamilyArc.

First Came Fellowship OneToday, Chad Meyer is CTO of FamilyArc, but back

in 2004, Chad was a young man who was greatly bless-ed to be one of the original developers at Fellowship Technologies. Working on the Fellowship One church management system provided Chad not only the op-portunity to grow in his skills writing software for highly scalable web-based platforms and as a manag-er, but also to be part of a Christian startup and part of a team leaning on their faith as they grew from almost nothing to a fast-growing small business and finally part of a larger company.

In 2013, as the Fellowship family was going through changes with it’s incorporation into ACTIVE network, Chad’s own family was going through changes, with the impending birth of their first child. Chad and his

wife prayerfully considered how God would use their gifts and talents. Chad felt called to start his own com-pany.

The Birth of BeFamilyWith fatherhood looming, God placed on Chad’s

heart a growing appreciation for family and stories that cross generations. About the same time, fellow Chris-tian entrepreneur, Ray Gary, shared with Chad about a road trip he took with his grandfather and how spe-cial it was to hear stories from his life, dating back to World War II and before. Gary had never heard these precious memories before, and, as delighted as he was to hear them, it saddened him to think that his chil-dren and grandchildren likely would never have the same opportunity. Hearing Gary’s experience helped crystalize for Chad an opportunity to use his technol-ogy skills to help families capture those stories.

From that seed, BeFamily sprouted - an online dig-ital media platform for preserving family memories. While still working at ACTIVE, Chad started build-ing the platform and developing the business model. Working nights and weekends, while also managing the transitions in his growing family, stretched Chad. He’s thankful to God for using these experiences to grow and shape him.

STARTUPBy Russ McGuire


From BeFamily to FamilyArcWhen I talked to Chad, it was

clear that his passion is for bring-ing families together. Most of the time, technology is anti-personal; it drives us apart. As he worked on BeFamily, his vision became more clear and he realized that

the intimacy inherent in family relationships requires a focus on privacy that is largely absent in today’s online world. It also re-quires a loving human touch that technology, by itself, cannot rep-licate. Launching BeFamily pro-vided the opportunity to see what

worked and what didn’t and to learn from people what they are really looking for when capturing family stories, images, and videos.

After 6 months of developing BeFamily, Brian Patrick Donaghy joined with Chad in this mission. As CEO Brian brought fresh per-spectives and new direction. I asked Chad if this was a “pivot,” like most startups go through and he said that it was more. It was a fresh start. Chad rebuilt the entire technology platform and Brian built a team to more ful-ly address the needs of their cli-ent families, including curators, editors, biographers, photogra-phers, videographers, and con-sultants. With this new direction, the company also took on a new name - FamilyArc. According to their website “At FamilyArc, we believe that sharing family mem-ories connects current and future generations. Our private digital archive platform allows your fam-ily’s history to be captured beau-tifully and securely for years to come.”How is Chad a Christian Entre-preneur?

When you visit FamilyArc’s web-site, you won’t see any references to God or Jesus or the Bible. There’s no explicit focus on Christian families. So, why have I included them in this article series? I do believe that Chad is operating as a Christian entrepre-neur, serving all kinds of families in a God honoring way.

The family is one of the foun-dational elements that God uses in his redemptive work. God insti-tuted the family in Genesis 1, and throughout the Bible He uses family

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relationships (e.g. God as our heav-enly Father, the church as Christ’s bride) to reflect our relationship with Him. I believe that Satan fo-cuses so heavily on destroying the strength, integrity, and even defi-nition of the family because of how powerfully God can use families. Chad said that even non-believers, as their hearts are softened through family love, get a sense of God’s love, and may become more open to spir-itual truth.

Chad and other Christian lead-ers at FamilyArc actively incorpo-rate prayer into their daily lives, and they seek how to best love God and love their neighbor when making business decisions. But to me, the most clear demonstration of how

Chad and other believers at the company are different as Christian entrepreneurs from others is in their attitude towards their decisions. They make a decision and move forward with confidence. As Chad explained, “either God will make it successful, because He’s the one in control, not us, or He won’t, but he’ll use it for our growth and His glory.”

In talking to Chad, I sensed something that you don’t expect from a technology entrepreneur - a focus on humility and love. Reflect-ing on the famous love passage in 1 Corinthians 13, I think all of us entre-preneurs could benefit from consid-ering how to apply this truth to our startup journey: “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love

does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

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By Yvon PrehnMinistry Communication

The Importance of Internal Marketing

in the Church

Most churches put the majority of their church marketing and communication efforts on getting people to the Sunday morning service. Though this is important, we shouldn’t stop there.

Remember, Jesus commanded us to make disciples, not simply worship attendees. We need to learn to use every tool of technology available to get people involved in the activities and ministries of our churches that will take them to the next step of Christian maturity. To do this we need to shift to internal marketing.Internal marketing defined

Internal marketing includes all of the communications you create for people already attending your church to get them in-volved in the activities of your church or ministry that will help them grow to maturity in their Christian life.

Far too often this aspect of marketing and communica-tions does not take place in the church and if it does it is done in an often haphazard and spotty manner. This lack of attention to this aspect of marketing is seldom intentional. It happens because the staff does not see the importance of using this kind of marketing because of the unspoken assumption that people will automatically attend small groups, training times, and oth-er activities of the church. Sadly, this doesn’t happen.

Following are suggestions on how to begin to remedy this situation:

Become convinced of the need for internal marketingOutside of the four gospels, the rest of our New Testament

was written to people who were already Christians, and it could be argued that even the gospel audience was primarily for Christians who didn’t know Jesus personally. Paul, Peter and John all realized that becoming a Christian was just the FIRST step in the Christian life. People must grow to maturity to be all the Lord wants them to be.

This growth to maturity takes place best in the context of the local church. Your church has many activities to help peo-ple grow: workshops, adult education classes, small groups, fel-lowship activities. For your people to be in them, you have to intentionally advertise them-again and again and again. If you are honestly reaching previously unchurched people, they don’t know all about Sunday School, small groups, and discipleship classes. They have no idea what you are talking about or what takes place in them. You have to educate them about the val-ue, invite them, remind them and do everything you can to get them involved.

When a person becomes a believer in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit lives within that person and he or she wants to grow. But the Holy Spirit most likely will not tell him, “Go to the small group that meets at the Johnsons at 456 Everystreet Lane, 7:30 on Thursday night and you’ll learn what it means to have a meaningful devotional life.” You’ve got to inform people of those details and help them see how important it is for them to attend.

To solve this challenge doesn’t involve complex marketing strategy-but it involves a lot of communication, explanatory brochures both in print and in digital format, notices on the Web and in the newsletter, bulletin, and follow up phone calls and emails.


When I look at the social media of various churches I know I’m

an outsider looking in, but I often wonder if a local visitor to the church or a new Christian

would feel differently.

Ministry Communication

In your social media you have to be especially in-tentional because most church social media sounds like the conversation of an insider group to anyone not

familiar with the church. To tell people that Disciple-ship Groups are about to start for Fall! And then to not have links to the background of this program, how people can participate, and why it should even matter, doesn’t do a thing to help people get connected to the church or to grow in their faith. When I look at the social media of various churches I know I’m an outsider looking in, but I often wonder if a local visitor to the church or a new Christian would feel differently. Work on explaining and linking to explanations of what is important to you, but may be unclear to others.

Make a plan for successful internal ministry mar-keting

The keys for a successful internal ministry marketing plan are: REPETITION, REPETITION, REPETITION and COMPLETE DETAILS EVERY TIME. For any event you want to be well attended you need to use every commu-nication tool you have several times. This is not overkill.

Keep in mind also that not every person will see ev-ery promotion you produce. They may not be in church each week; your mailer may be tossed out with the gro-cery advertisements; they may hate print media; they may ignore social media. Different types and challenges of communications will reach the variety of people God has given you in your church.

As you create the various communication pieces, re-member you do not need to be original or different in each one. It is far more effective to come up with one

way to advertise an event and repeat it exactly the same way through all your repetitions. Professional marketers do not change their message through an entire advertis-

ing campaign and you should also keep yours the same or you will confuse your readers.

This repetition is especially important if your church is growing. People with little or no church background have no history of loyalty to any church program. If you are successful at winning unchurched people to Jesus, they have no idea why a small group is good for them, or what studying the Bible will do for them, or even why some event your church thinks is “fun” is really enjoyable to a newly churched person. You have to win loyalty, acceptance, and excitement about your programs every time you put on or repeat an event.

Granted, this is a huge amount of work, but if our goal is as it was for Paul, “to present everyone per-fect, mature, complete, in Christ” when we stand before Him, it will be more than worth it.

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On Making Difficult Decisions

This weekend we had to euthanize our wonderful dog, Java. He was sixteen and in his last year he lost his sight, began having difficulty walking, and was in pain. What does that have to do with IT? As I’ve dealt with the results of the decision, and the finality of it, it made me think about decision making processes.

Conundrums Abound!In all of life— including

managing technology at church or for a ministry— we find ourselves having to make difficult choices. There isn’t always an obvious good option, yet we have to choose one.

Invariably there are people around us who would like the decision to go in the direction for which they’re lobbying. Sometimes those are vendors, sometimes fellow team members, sometimes employees, and sometimes family or friends. We all want to be liked, and we all want to do the right thing. Those situations are very

challenging because we really want to get them right!

And sometimes there is no turning back once the decision has been made! That makes these situations all the harder. Thus the heading: a conundrum is an intricate and difficult problem (Merriam-Webster).

Settle on a MethodologyIt is important to settle on a

methodology so that, when faced with intricate and difficult problems, you have a higher likelihood of getting it right. Some help that I’ve gotten over time includes the following:

• Get to know the scriptures— beginning to end. There is great wisdom there, and Psalm 119:24 says, “Your statutes are my delight; they are my counselors.” (NIV) A good decision will never violate what The Lord has said in his word.

• Talk with those you respect and give them an opportunity to weigh in. In Proverbs 15:22 King Solomon said, “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.” (NIV) Don’t make difficult decisions alone. Let others ask questions and help enhance the outcome.

• Speaking of talking with many counselors, it cannot be overstated that prayer is essential. God wants to help us make wise decisions! Solomon said in Proverbs 2:6, “For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.” (NIV) So talk with God about the decision! Ask him to lead and guide you in unmistakable ways! And he will do so!

• As time allows, talk about the options and the decision you’re feeling led to make with those who will be impacted to get a read on how they feel about it. Let them process through it just like you did, considering the pros and cons of the options. King Solomon also said, in Proverbs 29:1, “Whoever remains stiff-necked after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed— without remedy.” (NIV) In our context, if you find that everyone believes it is a

NICK AT CHURCH

By Nick Nicholaou

Sometimes we’re faced with having to make a difficult decision, where every option has a significant downside. How should we process

those? And how do we handle the aftermath?


NICK AT CHURCHbad decision, this will give you time to re-think your position or get better grounded in your reason for making it. It is often said that to lead effectively, you need followers; if no one is following you because they don’t like your decisions, it could destroy relationships that are important to you.

• Throughout the process, be humble and gentle. Jesus’ half-brother said in James 4:6 & 10 said, “But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: ‘God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.’… Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”

No Turning Back!Many decisions, once made,

cannot be undone. Terminating an employment relationship, for example. Buying certain hardware or software solutions.

In all these, make certain you can live with the results, even though you may not know exactly what the results will be!

In deciding to relieve our dog of his pain, I believe I made the right decision. My wife agrees, thankfully, but there is the question of timing. The longer we put it off, the more pain he suffered; and putting it off would have been for our convenience; because we didn’t want to make the decision. Once it was made, though, there was no way to undo it. And

because we loved him, it has been heartbreaking to live with. More than I could have believed.

That is the way it is with so many decisions we make though! We can’t simply unwind them, or turn back the clock. So it is important to have a solid sense that the decision is as correct as possible, and not rushed in to.

Nick Nicholaou is president of MBS, an IT consulting firm specializing in church and ministry computer networks, VoIP, and private cloud hosted services. You can reach Nick at [email protected], and may want to check out his firm’s website (www.mbsinc.com) and his blog at www.ministry-it.blogspot.com.

www.mbsinc.com

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http://www.ministry-it.blogspot.com.

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