Lauren Hunter

Although technology is capable of doing many wonderful things in our lives in many areas, screens do have their affect on our bodies, especially our eyes. Juggling 2+ digital screens is now the norm as we multitask to get through the work day and our down time. And digital media consumption has never been higher.

In the past several years, the church technology industry has undergone many changes that have encouraged some, while discouraging others. As technology advancements continue, new companies start up and newcomers to the church tech industry enter and acquire firms to consolidate and rebuild. More recently, private equity firms have entered the space getting involved in acquisitions and shifting resources to various technology firms in order to position for growth and financial gain. All these moves cause disruption - to tech companies as well as the churches they serve; change is never easy.

The church website is still one of the most useful ways to draw in new visitors and reach the community. While social media gets most of the press these days, it's important to revisit your church website from time to time to make sure that it's meeting your needs and matching up with your goals for both inreach (within your church) and outreach (into the community).

What's really great about working in the same industry for nearly 20 years is that every so often a company comes along that really shakes things up and redefines what can be done. One such company is Rock RMS, run by Spark Development Network, a nonprofit organization that built the powerful, open-source Rock RMS software. Rock RMS is somewhat of a newcomer in the church management software space, having gone through beta and version one release in 2014, then becoming financially independent as Spark Development Network. With more than 1,000 downloads and church plants on up through mega multisite churches hopping on board (such as Willow Creek), it's hard to not pay attention to what they're doing.

Church websites are important business. Aside from word of mouth, they are the next most popular way for people to hear about your church. If your site doesn't have current information, locations and times for services, along with mission and doctrinal statements - plus a host of other ways for people to connect - chance are you might be losing potential visitors. Below, I've rounded up 10 articles from around the web that offer fantastic advice on how to improve your church website. Your church website truly is your digital front door and can't be ignored.

We've written many times here on ChurchTechToday about cloud computing, first known as SaaS or web-based software. While many church management software systems began as desktop, or installed software, most offer some kind of hybrid options these days, or have gone even completely cloud-based to be accessible anywhere, anytime via the internet.

It's a win-win for all involved when technology can assist organizations in working well together for a common good. Such a thing has been accomplished by Simon Solutions, a software firm in Florence, Alabama. Built to reduce and eliminate duplicating resources to people and agencies in need, both by accident or fraud, the software they created called CharityTracker enables churches, nonprofits, and relief agencies to share resources and work together online.

Leadership styles can vary greatly from person to person, depending on the organization and its structure. Churches are not exempt from the leadership styles of the senior pastor and leadership team. The best organizations smoothly guide their church staff and volunteers; the worst organizations have disgruntled pastors and leaders who aren't so happy about the leadership under which they work. Here are five leadership styles along with an insightful infographic to help educate you about leadership styles that exist: