Reviews

Every church needs a tool for tracking its finances.  There are many accounting software packages to choose from and a subset of those are specifically geared towards churches or nonprofit organizations.  This review highlights the functionality of ShelbyNext Financials, part of the Ministry Brands family of products.  Churches can leverage the integration between FellowshipOne or Elexio and ShelbyNext Financials for a complete ChMS and accounting suite.

Elexio Community Church Management Software is one branch of the Elexio suite of products. They also provide accounting software (via Shelby Systems), websites, online giving, a church app, and live streaming services.

When it comes to church management software (ChMS), church leaders have a wide variety of options available. If you're in the market for a new ChMS tool, one of the tools you've likely heard of is FellowshipOne. In this review, I'd like to provide you with a brief history of the company along with an overview of its features.

One of my earliest experiences in Bible software came from Rick Meyers e-Sword, a free option for Windows that now also offers versions you can buy from the Apple App store on iPhone and iPad. The program offers one of the best deals and easiest programs to learn for beginning or casual Bible software users. Is e-Sword sufficient for preachers and teachers of the Bible to share the message of God's word effectively and accurately? Our e-Sword review will dive into that question.

Fairly soon in the life of any congregation, it becomes obvious that spreadsheets aren’t sufficient for keeping track of who completed the new member class, whether anyone followed up with last week’s visitors, or who’s signed up to serve this week. That’s where a church management system (ChMS) comes into play. There’s a wide variety of systems to choose from; each with its own specialties and functions. In this review of Planning Center, my goal is to introduce you to it’s features and offer a few suggestions as you decide whether this could be the best ChMS fit for your church.

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.

Few quality mobile Bible study apps predate the iPhone, iPad, or any Android device. Olive Tree Bible Software successfully launched before the smartphone and, unlike most Bible apps released long ago, it’s still going strong in the modern era of smartphones, tablets, and runs on a desktop or laptop.