Software

Most of the Nothern Hemisphere is settled into the warmer weather and longer days that the summer will bring and a constant companion during these days will be one's mobile devices. From smartphones to tablets, we will find a way to be entertained, informed, and connected to what matters. This month, we take a look at a few mobile communication tools which should help you stay connected to who and what matters.

MediaShout recently released a major update to their worship presentation software giving MediaShout 6 a cleaner and more tightly integrated user-interface. They’ve streamlined the process of editing the slides users create speeding up the process of importing lyrics and working with other slide show elements like Bible passages. They also Liturgies, a new kind of Cue that creates what many churches call a responsive reading, where the leader and congregation read scripture together out loud.

Although technology is capable of doing many wonderful things in our lives in many areas, screens do have their affect on our bodies, especially our eyes. Juggling 2+ digital screens is now the norm as we multitask to get through the work day and our down time. And digital media consumption has never been higher.

When researching technology partners for your ministry there are many different variables. What I'm going to talk about today are the five most important things you should consider when evaluating potential technology partners. If the technology partner you are considering values these five things, you can rest assured that everything else will fall into place. It's also important that the design looks nice and the user experience isn’t clunky. But if these five things are executed well, you can be confident the design and user experience will be of quality too. What I want to stress is that it's more important to understand why the company does what it does and how it does it, rather than whether or not they have a nice website with good sales.

In the past several years, the church technology industry has undergone many changes that have encouraged some, while discouraging others. As technology advancements continue, new companies start up and newcomers to the church tech industry enter and acquire firms to consolidate and rebuild. More recently, private equity firms have entered the space getting involved in acquisitions and shifting resources to various technology firms in order to position for growth and financial gain. All these moves cause disruption - to tech companies as well as the churches they serve; change is never easy.

If you’ve been on the internet at all over the past few years, then you know that there are a ton of new products and services popping up to help you’re church thrive. Many of these are truly great resources that can make your days more productive and give you more time for what you truly love. However, finding the right product or service can be an overwhelming task.

We've written many times here on ChurchTechToday about cloud computing, first known as SaaS or web-based software. While many church management software systems began as desktop, or installed software, most offer some kind of hybrid options these days, or have gone even completely cloud-based to be accessible anywhere, anytime via the internet.

Many years ago, I recall when people would ask me how it was that I could easily remember specific scriptures. For many people, reading the Bible is enjoyable, but trying to get to that point where you can remember specific verses which talk about specific subjects is not something that happens quickly. Because it was a little easier for me, it took a long time before I realized that there were certain learning methods, or just ways that I was reading and studying the scripture that made it possible for me to have such an active recall. Now that we are firmly into the mobile wage, scripture recall has become another subject where people are looking for ways of improving on old methods. Here are some mobile – friendly methods for scripture memorization that I have come across.