Software

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.

Sometimes I just wonder why software licensing is so complicated. There are multiple versions of the same software - professional versions, home versions, enterprise versions, versions from 2008, 2010, 2012 and on and on.
Any IT system is much much easier to maintain when all the computers and even other devices are running the same software. What is a church office manager to do?

This year, I found myself back moving back to an area of the United States where I previously had strong ties of a large, local church. One of the reasons those ties were so strong was the intentionality that ministry had on making sure that all members (and guests) could connect to the community through small groups. While small groups are not new, what I have found is that making the connection point relatable to the individual goes a long way to ensure that they develop socially, mentally, and spiritually.