Software

Whether you're a parent or you work in youth ministry, keeping kids safe while they use technology has become an increasingly large task to accomplish. From Xbox Live, to iPhones, to Animal Jam, to Facebook and Snapchat--the possibilities for a child under 18 to get themselves in trouble is relatively easy. That's why when I hear of software to help us parents and youth workers keep kids safe, I listen. KidGuard reached out to me to share their software options for monitoring kids on their devices and beyond. They also have a grant available for qualifying nonprofits through the end of 2016.

It's that time of year again where many of us will not only be giving gifts, but unwrapping a few of our own. And as with many of the last few years, some of these gifts will be of the connected variety. Connectivity is an amazing gift to give and receive during the holiday, however it's not one which comes without a few hiccups along the way.

Backing up your personal as well as church office computers is something you don't want to sideline. While your church may utilize cloud-based, also known as web-based, church management software, you're sure to have lots of other files and valuable church information that resides on your church computer hard drive.

We are less than five years from the next decade and everything that could be posed for technology's influence on the 2020s is fair game to be pitched. From driver-less automobiles, to Artificial Intelligence (AI) as school teachers, we tend to dream a lot bigger than what actually happens - while also underestimating what impacts smaller ripples might incur (this is similar to a Bill Gates quote).

Church leaders have the weighty responsibility of managing funds on behalf of the congregation. Whether church finances are handled by a board of directors, a staff accountant or a volunteer, the expense management process can be complicated and time-consuming.

Churches and church tech companies alike have been surprised by the fast-paced change and consolidation of church technology industry over the past three years. In 2012, private equity-backed Ministry Brands came on the scene with easyTithe, SimpleGive and SiteOrganic and quietly began acquiring additional church technology firms.

Many charities start up on a shoestring, get the most computer-savvy person in the office to do all the computer stuff, and pretty quickly outgrow that accidental techie model. What's the next step? It's called managed IT services.

As a mom of four school-aged kids between the ages of seven and thirteen, navigating and regulating screen time consumption at four different levels requires NASA-grade determination and persistence to say the least. Between the oldest who'd like to play 24 hours a day of XBox Live, to the youngest who'd like to watch SpongeBob from the moment she gets home from school until I pull the remote from her death grip, let's just say screen time is not my favorite thing to police. I know I'm not alone.