Resources

With the emergence of smart speakers like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant, how can these AI platforms assist pastors and church tech staff with productivity? Smart assistants, devices, and speakers do have features that could help with church administrative planning and personal organization tasks like calendaring, as well as providing conferencing features for small meetings.

Have you ever collected vacation Bible school signups on paper and then tried to decipher the handwriting? Would you like to survey volunteers but need a quick and easy way to facilitate that process? Do you find yourself taking that same information and entering it into your church management system? If so, it’s time to check out online form builder tools. There are a handful of helpful form builders available (some for free) that can take the hassle out of gathering registrations, signups, and other information.

If your church isn’t yet using church software to check in children at church, this type of software can be a wonderful option to put in place to ensure the safety of children—both to protect them and to protect your church. Nearly all of the church management software systems offer check-in, and there are many options to consider. As you move through the process of deciding on a system, you’ll want to consider the speed of check-in, self-check-in vs. volunteer manned check-in. Cost is also a factor.

Every weekend is someone's first time in church. Churches like yours realize the ministry opportunity in first impressions even before your first-time guests hear God’s word. First impressions give people a feel for how genuine your church is. An off-putting experience with your ushers, guest services, or parking lot welcome team can leave a bad taste and most likely cause guests not to return.

One of the most common live-streaming questions people have when they're first getting started is "what do I need?" Often the chorus of "just use your phone" drowns out the advice from people who know the limitations of that advice. In most circumstances, a single phone in the back of the sanctuary isn't going to do as good a job as a camcorder connected to an encoder. Normally, the steps from a single phone to a multi-camera live-stream, with graphics, are like a maze. You can go a long way down a single path only to find that you've hit a dead-end and have to turn around and start over again. Not so with the SlingStudio Multi-Camera Live Streaming Platform from the folks at Dish Network. Its major strength is that it eliminates the dead ends.

Accordance Mobile, the iOS and Android version of the great Accordance Bible Software brings Bible study to the iPhone, iPad and Android phone, tablet, or Chromebook using Accordance books. The mobile version of Accordance lands firmly in our list of top mobile apps for advanced Bible study while mobile. Let's look at why.

Making sure your church management software provider or church app developer has good customer service is important. Unfortunately, sometimes you can't tell whether it will be adequate until you're fully committed, and in too deep to get out. Checking with current users and reviewing software sites such as Capterra can be very helpful to weed out companies with less than adequate support. Here is a helpful infographic to help decipher support jargon--it's the least we can do to help. 

A successful Sunday school is more than a good curriculum, it’s a bridge that connects classrooms with family rooms in the home. Alongside a pastoral vision for ministry, children's ministry leaders can partner with parents to help them "train up a child in the way he should go" (Proverbs 22:6). Sunday school curriculum combined with online family devotions can help.