Lauren Hunter

Chances are if you are a pastor or if you work with one, the following question has come up, "when are you (or when is your pastor) planning to publish a book?" It's fairly common for a pastor to want to write a book, especially after the number of years they spend in study. After writing dissertations and papers galore, along with years of writing sermons, pulling together a book shouldn't seem too daunting. Yet, it still is.

Affordability is one of the first criteria churches use when considering investing in a church management software solution (ChMS). Like any major purchase, pastors and church leaders will likely do a cost-benefit analysis before choosing a solution for their church. Knowing what features are available at certain price points and what features your church actually needs is essential to making a wise decision.

Disciple Labs is a new cloud-based software tool to help pastors and church leaders measure, track, and influence the spiritual health of their ministries. The core of Disciple Labs is its proprietary spiritual health survey that is designed to help pastors and church leaders evaluate all areas of healthy discipleship in their church that go beyond attendance, baptisms, and giving.

Church planting is an intentional process of establishing a new center for worship where a congregation can grow and thrive. Though this work is inspired and filled with hope and lots of energy, it is also an extremely challenging process. Because of this, church planting networks become an increasingly important source of support and resources for aspiring church planters.

With Easter just around the corner, graphics, media, and marketing intel just might come in handy as you finish up your church's Easter service planning. Here are three valuable resources that might help:

For a holiday that is known for leprechauns, wearing green, and drinking to excess, I like to take time out to pause and celebrate this patron saint of Ireland, who has an incredible testimony, and whose Breastplate moves me deeply. St. Patrick overcame huge obstacles and trauma in his life to listen to God's call and act--bringing the Christian faith to a whole nation and building a heritage that long outlasted his personal efforts.

Video conferencing is a great, mostly free tool that is available to church leaders to help make ministry meetings convenient and productive. Virtual meetings provide a great service to teams working at a distance or those who would like to avoid commuting and take advantage of being able to meet from any location with ease.

Effective and user-friendly church presentation software is a necessity for pastors and church communicators committed to creating stellar church presentations. Since last January's 2.0 version release, Faithlife’s Proclaim 2.0 Church Presentation Software has made a number of notable updates as of January 2018. While this is not a full version software release, just a key update to Proclaim 2.0, now technically known as Proclaim 2.6, there is plenty to pay attention to.