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You’d think by now, it would’ve gotten easier. I’ve been going to church for my entire life. I’ve been giving to the church for most of my adult life. For goodness sakes, I’ve been working in church generosity for three years now. And I still don’t know how to talk about money. Because, let’s face it, people get weird when it comes to their wallets. Because of this, many pastors and churches simply don’t talk about it.

It’s Valentine’s Week, and that means a couple of things. First off, it means it’s cold--at least where I am. It means your social media feeds are likely cluttered with declarations of love, and/or diatribes about how V-Day is entirely arbitrary and unnecessary. And it means every blog post or “how to” article posted this week is required (by federal law) to include motifs of “love,” “affection,” and “romance.” Furthermore, since I’m the one doing the writing, you know we’ve got to talk about giving, generosity, and stewardship as well.

One of the most frequently cited and widely used reasons for the rapid growth of digital giving over the past decade is the proportionate decline in check writing during that time. And the trend continues. In fact, according to one report, we are on pace to write our final check sometime in the year 2021--a mere six years away. Nowhere is this “check-less” trend more prevalent than with millennials, 20% of whom have never written a check in their life.

Maybe this year, you are making some resolutions and commitments that are all new—really stretching yourself and your church. Or maybe you are making the same resolutions you made last year but failed to accomplish. If you fall into the latter category, you aren’t alone.

With the release of the new Apple TV device, Apple has opened up it's app store to developers. What does this mean for churches? If means you have a new and very exciting way to reach your congregation with videos and live streaming. Past models have been used by churches as an affordable way to share videos or content inside the building. For only $149, the church could connect it to the projector and the internet and display a slideshow or a movie.

Monday morning starts, just like most mornings start. A cup of coffee, small chat with a few co-workers, and then head to your desk to get the day going. Most likely you do not even think about it. You push the power button on the desktop or tablet, wait a little bit, open a program or two and your church management software is up and running. There are profiles to update, events to create, emails to send, and a host of other responsibilities that you hope your ChMS can handle. You use this software every day, but do you really KNOW your church management software provider?

In today’s world we are inundated by sales pitches that over promise and over simplify. In response to this, we as ministry leaders, become skeptical of anything that even remotely smells of a sales pitch. Because of our skepticism, we have fallen into the temptation of making things harder than they need to be. Guest follow-up has been a casualty of this battle for far too long in churches and ministries across the country.

As we roll into the new year and close out 2015, we look ahead to make improvements and growth for the upcoming year. Because technology is constantly changing and updating, our church website may not be up to current design and functionality standards. If you are missing any of the features mentioned below, you should seriously consider upgrading to a more modern design and content management system (CMS). Here is a set of features you should include in your church website's New Year’s resolution list.