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1. serv lets were born Server based Java is most often used to deliver up dynamic web pages in a way similar to PHP or ASP NET Java provides a robust high performance programming environment for developers to create powerful web services Applets run on the client side running in the Java Virtual Machine within the end user s browser Servlets run on the server side running in the Java Virtual Machine on the server With servlets the end user doesn t need to have Java on their comput er and doesn t have any idea that Java 1s involved Does What is dangerous about Java If you re like me you mostly notice Java when a notice pops up telling me I need to upgrade the Java Virtual Machine For years Java has just been a nuisance to me But the latest security flaw has made me more aware of the real dangers with Java Apparently Java security problems are not un Christian Computing Magazine lyourzel a network a Go to Hschooler net churches to connect your church community EA nei common Because Java is enabled by default in most browsers criminals often target security holes in Java to accomplish their malicious goals When the browser loads a web page with Java code it runs the code on the Java Virtual Machine with the browser Since Java is a powerful language clever hackers find ways to overcome the intended security protections within Java Oracle responds to new threats when th2. s name on it but that is written by a Christian Computing amp Magazine nameless faithful but misguided church communica tor 1s a lie to create and an insult to the people reading it If the pastor doesn t have time understand or want to tweet that is perfectly OK Seth Godin marketing guru prolific author and business productivity inspirational blogger doesn t tweet He also doesn t allow comments on his blog He focuses on what he does well and sticks to it You don t have to jump into every new communication channel if it doesn t suit you On the other hand there may be a person in your church you LOVES Twitter and would gladly be the voice of your church in that medium Whatever you do whatever channels you use be honest and clear about who is creating them Set goals and guidelines that will honor the church and at the same time allow creative freedom Trust but verify that they are met Encourage praise and pray for the person ministering in the digital mission field just as you would any other missionary Facebook can be handled in the same way There are few things more irritating than a church that advertizes a Facebook page but when a visitor goes to it to find out more about the church it is empty or only filled with pictures and no explanation of what the event 1s about or how the random photos tie into anything about Jesus Final communication application The article ends with a challenge quoted foll
3. An interview with St Clement Church in Chicago IL By Steve Hewitt hurch communities can often struggle with engaging and connecting mem bers with one another after they leave their pews on Sunday Since eight out of ten Americans are Internet users it makes perfect sense to help members communicate with each other online when they aren t physically at the church Liturgical Publications Inc offers churches a free private social com munication tool that helps churches communicate with their members using their Internet browser e mail or mobile phone WeGather s biggest benefit is that it s an all in one communication site it s like they took the best of email Evite Dropbox Flickr and more and created one system designed specifically for churches and school volunteers WeGather covers all kinds of church commu insight on how online communities engage and nications such as event planning directory lists connect their members to one another I con file sharing online giving and volunteer coor tacted Liturgical Publications Inc and found that dination Church leaders and members can cus st Clement Church in Chicago Illinois has an tomize their system to cater to individual church extremely active WeGather community I spoke needs all within a secure online community ac with Joan Jablonski a volunteer and one of their cessible only by those who are invited members WeGather Administrators and Father M
4. desk top publishing were first invented it was not uncommon and some of you remember this well for a church secretary to come to church one morning find her typewriter gone and be informed that she now had this new computer and software to create the bulletin with by this coming Sunday and with no training in how to do it Many tears prayers and extra hours somehow got it done My ministry was launched to help Today I see the same situa tion with websites A church decides they need a Website or an updated one and the church communicator is told to do it Again often no February 2013 3 0 training is provided on how to do it Though there are numerous things on this site and my YouTube channel on creating websites in the near future I plan to do more to help churches create websites that are more than expanded Yellow Page ads and the graphics have little to do with it A second big question might be how much latitude to give to the more than 220 000 parishes McDonald s has a basic menu that is consistent around the globe but it gives local franchises license to adapt to local preferences wine with your Big Mac in France vegetarian dishes in India You will find Catholic parishes in cities like New York and San Francisco where gay couples are warmly welcomed women participate in the liturgy and the sermons and music are joyously unconventional You will find oth ers that favor the Latin mass incense and ever
5. good as any note book computer I ve worked with Something worth mentioning is how nice it is to have access to the filing system via Windows Explorer I would LOVE to be able to do something similar on the 1Pad Then I decided to take the final plunge and add it to n E e v L pF r F r 1 nh i j pin he TX i az ii J ia I A F J a JF j i S gt al a rts um Ta Why put your servers in our private cloud our Active Directory domain making it a full network citizen Again 1t worked flawlessly as well as any notebook computer I ve used Running Microsoft Office and other apps is like doing the same on any other notebook computer with the added flexibility of having the tablet touchscreen functionality Awesome Mouse I should mention that I also bought an accessory while at the Microsoft Store the Wedge Touch Mouse It is ter rific Almost as nice as Apple s Magic Mouse Conclusions The Microsoft Surface Pro is a solid tablet that also performs well as a notebook For someone who wants a small form factor for travel and prefers Windows it is a solid contender And at a price that is significantly less than most notebooks with similar specs and quality it seems to be a clear winner Nick Nicholaou is president of MBS a consulting firm specializing in church and ministry computer networks operational policies and CPA services You can reach Nick via email nick
6. in an expensive hotel and eat at high dollar restaurants we can all watch together at someone s house This alone will pay for the service 1f the church staff or leadership at tends one less conference in a year s time Small er churches that can t afford to send their leaders to such conferences now can afford it Cost and Value Here s where the service doesn t resemble Netflix The Netflix streaming service offers thousands of old TV shows and movies at 8 month RightNow Media charges based on church attendance A small church with less than 100 attending weekend services will pay 50 month for the streaming videos This doesn t include the Customizable Training Library or the Leadership Events Library The price jumps for churches of 100 or more with other levels above that Big churches pay much more than small churches because big churches will theoretically stream more video and offer more training To add the Interactive training feature and the leadership training seminar videos the prices jumps to 80 month for the under 100 church Larger churches pay more So RightNow costs more when we look at it February 2013 19 as one subscription compared to the other It feels expensive since they had me thinking in the Netf lix 8 month range But Netflix won t let me give out my user name and password to 100 people for that 8 So at 80 month if ten people use it regularly in my church then it costs the same as Netf
7. mbsinc com and may want to check out his firm website www mbsinc com and his blog at http ministry it blogspot com With Cloud technology your servers can be located off site MBS has extensive church and ministry IT expertise let us host your servers in our datacenter e Eliminate the distraction amp hassle of hosting your own servers e Reduce IT staff costs e Gain 10076 up time e We re in the most advanced datacenter on the planet located in the USA e Low monthly fees based on charity licensing e Excellent domestic support Christian Computing Magazine Bx Y We can save you money because we only host Christian churches amp ministries s YE Serving you and your team would be an bonor Call or email us today to learn more 714 840 5900 P cloud mbsinc com side VicnNolaou President i MINISTRY BUSINESS SERVICES Inc EW LOSS dp ntis TOUS LS RTL PHONES JE 340 5900 gt WwwwWiinosineconm gt NO Omesine conn February 2013 33
8. pre are 1 access security 2 password strength and sentation of the Gospel of Salvation It s kind of security and 3 protection from malware hard to engage lost souls via the Internet if your First and foremost is the issue of access secu computer is offline or if you re preoccupied with rity By access security I mean maintaining a recovering from the consequences of personal strict control over who has access to your com Christian Computing Magazine February 2013 2 1 puter system both virtually and physically The most effective means of controlling virtual access to your computer is by installing both a hardware firewall such as a network router and a soft ware firewall such as Norton Internet Security or Zone Alarm Internet Security A network router is relatively inexpensive these days depending on the number of ports it contains and whether it has wireless capability If you have only one personal computer in your home or church office a four port router which seems to be the standard To what degree do you know l your people Contact us today for a free demo 1 800 325 2399 www Church360 org ic Christian Computing Magazine From the people who brought you Shepherd s Staff trusted software since 1994 CHURCH360 size will be more than sufficient for you If you choose a wireless router without any wired ports make sure your computer also has a wireless card instal
9. the views of the editor publisher or employees of Christian Computing Magazine or Christian Computing Inc Articles that are highlighed are provided by our partners www ccmag com 2007 03 2007 O03editorial pdf February 2013 2 editorial My Favorite Apps Penultimate The original and probably the most popular handwriting app for the iPad and for Android First my thanks to those that logged into our online community www ccmag com and shared their favorite apps I would like to encourage more to do so as we can all benefit from the informa tion I thought I would continue with the subjects of favorite apps by sharing another one of mine Penultimate Why would a handwriting app be one of my favorites Because it is a fantastic tool not only for one on one meetings when you re trying to sketch out a diagram but because it is also a fan tastic tool for groups With the aid of AppleTV you can easily turn your 1Pad or even your 1P hone into a multimedia presentation tool If you don t understand or have never seen AppleTV let me explain AppleTV is not a TV but rather a small black box that can hook up to any TV that allows for HDMI input For that matter it will hook up to any video projector that has a HDMI input So at our church we simply connected one to our video projection unit and because the room has WiFi we can send anything that appears on my iPad directly to the big scree
10. would save your staff pro cessing time and provide your members with better reports and a better way to give 1if only they would catch on In 2012 the number of non profits fundraising online increased by more than 20 percent according to a study reported in the Chronicle of Philanthropy and the number of online donors is also on the rise While most studies reporting on charities and non profits don t include churches in their data there s no reason why churches cannot also reap the benefits of setting up an online giving system In fact many have already done SO But even though people have become more com fortable with online transactions and setting up elec tronic payments in order to have a successful online giving program you ll need a plan to encourage mem bers to use the new system Chances are just announc ing online giving as an option during service and men tioning it in your church newsletter won t do the trick Whether you re just thinking about introducing an online giving program at your church have recently in vested in the software or have been using an electronic offertory method for a while but wish you had better church wide participation finding the right ways to en courage online giving is crucial One trend we ve seen among churches that have implemented the LOGOS Christian Computing amp Magazine Online Giving program is those who follow a market ing plan and actively encourage their me
11. APPLYING TOMORROW S TECHNOLOGY TO TODAY S MINISTRY ONLINE GIVING SAFE amp SECURE L EVENT R eje cus EGI COMMUNICATION TOOL DISCUSSION FORUM STRATION FILE SHARING EASY TO USE f hi 1 if i I i i i i E I i F 1 i i i a LT i i i amp i i l i F La a F m i l i r s ar E Your Church s m9 Unline Social A Communication Y Too SPECIAL FEATURE Interviewing Elexio The Place of Social Media in Today s Ministry WWW CCITI C COITI MAGAZINE Applying Tomorrow s Technology to Todays Ministry Volume 25 February 2013 No 2 4 COVER STORY ot rig WeGather Your Church s Online oe Social Communication Tool Ec s Bv Joe LUEDTKE C ww SPECIAL FEATURE i 7 SPECIAL FEATURE interviewing Lene oan Interviewing Elexio The Place of Social Media in Today s Ministry By JOHN CONNELL WITH KEN STEWART 3 EDITORIAL My Favorite Apps Penultimate Steve Hewitt steve ccmag com 11 Locos CMS 5 Tips to Encourage Online Giving Putting Your Best Foot Forward With Your Online Giving Plan from LOGOS Management Software 14 CuunRcH Winpows SOFTWARE Suggested Internal Audit or Financial Review Procedures from Church Windows Software 17 HicugR Power With Kevin RightNow Media Train Church in Netflix like Streaming Service Kevin A Purcell kevin kevinpurcell org 2 DictraL EVANGELISM Safe and Secure Michael White mlwhite parsonplac
12. LIVE FREE TRIAL gt E STREAMINGCHURCH TV Is the church in America in decline Can we fix the problems of the church If soy HOW can we turn things around ge deer The American Church Magazine is dedicated To provide information and instruction to renew dying churches and encourage the birth of new multiplying churches in America Published monthly by Steve Hewitt distributed in digital format direct to your email And subscriptions are FREE Click here to sign up Emery www theamericanchurchmag com February 2013 1 6 Christian Computing Magazine higher power with kevin RightNow Media Train Church in Nettlix like Streaming Service Kevin A Purcell kevin kevinpurcell org ightNow Media a product from BlueFish tv wants to train church leaders and members with their ample library of vid eos They advertise it as a Netflix for the church which fits in most ways except one More on that in a bit Streaming Video Library children s videos Small groups can view a video First RightNow http CX htnow or based curriculum together Leaders can get their resembles Netflix because it offers a service that iron sharpened with high quality video training streams video with a library of thousands of qual resources There s so much that it s hard to de ity videos that focus on training and discipleship scribe it all Search for a video to view online by keyword like par
13. Some one has said that the best way to keep a secret 1s to keep it to oneself This 1s particularly February 2013 2 2 true with regard to password security A complex password will contain at least two uppercase characters at least two lowercase characters at least two nonconsecutive numbers and at least two special characters such as or or l providing the password input system will accept special characters since some do not Furthermore the longer the password the stron ger the password is in most cases Although you can embed easy to remember words and numbers between special charac ters such as the following BilL2971 for a guy named Bill with a birthdate of February 9 1971 the strongest passwords use truly random characters that make no intelligible sense such as the following gZ3n7P Don t try to be too clever with such passwords as P wOrD d E since this one in particular along with its several varia tions has been used extensively already and was likely incorpo rated into hackers password cracking software long ago Of course it s very difficult to remember complex pass words and if creating complex passwords is a major chal lenge for you there are some software packages that will do both of these tasks for you such as RoboForm http www roboform com affid mlw70 a highly effective form filling password remembering software utility I have use
14. a course offers a user s book they link to the publisher s site or Amazon so we can buy them for our people I find that I can often use these resources without the user guides I can either write one just as good or the guides aren t very good even if the videos are great TOTAL SOLUTION CDMt www cdmplus com 877 891 4236 Christian Computing Magazine February 2013 2 0 digital evangelism Safe and Secure Michael L White mlwhite parsonplace com n this article I want to discuss the necessity of maintaining a safe and secure online presence which may translate into a safe and secure offline presence as well With so many reports of hackers breaking through the defenses of credit card companies and military databases in recent years this 1s no insignificant topic You may be wondering what this has to do identity theft with digital evangelism but let me hasten to In the limited space I have available here explain that online security is essential to any I want to address what I consider to be the top endeavor on the Web including digital evange three security issues facing computer users today lism because if your computer is breached by If you will implement these three recommenda some nefarious method and either taken out of tions as a minimum you will potentially spare commission or plundered by data thieves how yourself a lot of heartache and headache They will you continue your digital outreach and
15. ana your SOCA Christian Computing Magazine Starting at 63 97 for the base version with 25 off for small churches www donarius com 1 888 479 4636 uverh Svstems Inc Software tailored for you Michael L White is the founder and Manag ing Editor of Parson Place Press an independent Christian publishing house in Mobile Alabama His book Digital Evangelism You Can Do It Too Parson Place Press April 2011 is available wherever books are sold For a list of his other books and articles visit his Web site at books parsonplace com The easy way to track it all Donarius Church Management Software Over 1 500 churches and charities have discovered the easy way to track their members contributions pledges and more Save time and eliminate headaches Donarius will also Help people feel connected to vour church with personalized emails and text messages Show the giving pattern of your members Print your church directories February 2013 25 the power and the danger Java By Russ McGuire russ mcguire gmail com his past month Java was 1n the news for a major security vulner ability causing even mainstream news media to recommend that everyone disable Java on their computers So what is Java what s it good for and should we really be concerned What is Java Java is a programming language specifically designed to be independent of the underlying plat for
16. anuel I thought it would be interesting to interview Dorantes their Associate Pastor and am pleased a church actively using WeGather to gather more to share the following interview Christian Computing Magazine February 2013 Za Tell me about your community and how We Gather helps your parish members communi cate with one another Are there a lot of minis tries and groups using the system St Clement is a vibrant community with a complex ministry and committee structure as well as a parish school This results in thousands of volunteer slots to fill every year We have over nine hundred parishioners in twenty seven vari ous groups and ministries using the WeGather Web portal One of the most active groups is the Community Outreach Committee They use the system to coordinate volunteer sign ups for their extensive community involvement that ranges from anti violence rallies to assisting soup kitch ens The group s members also chime in on the discussion board when they become aware of a need within the community where St Clement can be of help The Clement Moms group 1s also very engaged These are moms of children under the age of five who have a robust calendar of play dates speaker series and service oppor tunities where young children are welcome There is no cost to use WeGath er but there are additional add ons for a monthly fee Are you using any of these add ons and what benefits do they bring Yes The On
17. apter twelve If you haven t gotten your copy of my book yet I urge you to get it now It is available wherever books are sold If you don t have a network router with a strong password set up on both your router and your personal computer as a minimum I strongly recommend you take these steps immediately While it doesn t guarantee against an intrusion as I can personally attest it certainly reduces the threat sig nificantly as I can also person ally attest Believe it or not my aforementioned run in with a computer virus in 2012 was only the second time I ve ever had to deal with such a disaster since I bought my first comput er in 1989 My first experience with a computer virus hap pened back in 1999 Although it wasn t nearly as problematic that time it prompted me to install both a firewall and an anti virus software package shortly thereafter I haven t used an unprotected computer since There s so much more I could say about the subject of computer security but this will have to do for now If nothing else I hope I ve instilled a bit of healthy fear into your mind and motivated you to take these precautions to protect both your computer and your self while you conduct your digital evangelism for our Lord The threat 1s so much greater now than it was even five years ago As Ben Frank lin 1s attributed with saying An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure How true that is i 75
18. com mental problems are not in the catalog He goes on to lay the cause for the problems with the management which I would define as the leader ship team at every church pastors teachers commu nicators board members and business managers The important challenge here 1s for those of us responsible for communicating the eternal message of the gospel to realize that we are responsible for communicating the eternal message of the gospel in all its complete ness of fully fulfilling the Great Commission in our churches If the message is not getting across to your audience if new people aren t coming to know Jesus as Savior and growing to mature disciples if they are not sharing the good news with their friends practic ing their spiritual gifts and being salt and light in their world the problem is not with the culture or media or lack of time and the crippling demands of the mod ern world the problem is with us We have to take responsibility before we can make necessary changes Ted Stenger a corporate turnaround expert at the consulting firm AlixPartners and a devoted Catholic pointed out that most big companies assemble their executives every few years for an intensive strategic review The last time the church took stock was the Christian Computing amp Magazine Second Vatican Council half a century ago The mission of the church is not going to change Stenger said But how you set objectives and tact
19. d for several years Although I prefer creating my own passwords their pass word generating feature is useful and effective nonetheless As one of their satisfied customers and affiliates I highly recom mend them You can download their software and check out other great downloads from my personal Web site at either http shop parsonplace com or http software parsonplace com Christian Computing Magazine ICON systems to D e Furthermore besides setting up a strong pass word on your personal computer insure that you set a strong password for your wireless network router as well This will prevent other comput ers with wireless capability in your neighborhood from connecting to your network and leaching off of your Internet service without your permission The third most important computer security issue is protecting your computer from malware The term malware was coined by blending the words malevolent software and it refers to any www iconcmo com 800 596 4266 Church Software Anytime Anywhere z _ SS _ og ail 7 m CU A ast th on ON J youl minister eople i 7 February 2013 23 type of software which seeks to infiltrate your computer and either cause damage to its operating system OS or steal sensitive information from it or both If you purchase one of the highly rated firewall security suites I mentioned in the first point above you wi
20. d to the proper parties Re ports General Ledger and Balance Sheet in Accounting Randomly select 10 15 names of members who donate to the church Send each person or family a donation statement for the prior year that prints amounts given to ALL ac February 2013 1 Za counts In the accompanying letter to them ask them to verify that what they gave in the prior year as shown on the CW statement matches their personal information If this includes accounts not printed typically on a statement such as non deductible amounts explain those accounts You may have al ready sent them a donation statement but it is advised that you send this one as well Bank Reconciliation Ensure that bank reconciliations are being completed within the Bank Reconciliation area of Accounting The finalized bank rec onciliation with a 0 difference to recon cile should be filed with the bank statement for that month Report Bank Reconciliation in Accounting Review the bank reconciliation for each month and compare to the bank statement paying particular attention to debit memos and other charges from the bank You are trying to verify each transaction as to pur pose and amount Reports Summary of Cash Activity General Ledger and Bank Reconciliation in Account ing Make sure that all check numbers are accounted for in the Check Register Report Check Register in Accounting e If there are any checks on the check register mad
21. e out to cash or to the check signer verify the legitima cy of the transaction Look at the supporting docu mentation for the payment Report Check Register in Accounting and Transac tion Journal freeware LI Budget vs Actual Expenditures Ifthe church has a budget for expenses compare actual amounts spent to the budget amounts and inves tigate all differences over a certain dollar amount as determined by the Audit Christian Computing Magazine NS Church Windows Des Membership Committee Report Treasurer s Report including Budget comparison in Account ing e Select a small sample of checks that have cleared the bank and go back to the sup porting documentation 1 e paid invoices expense reimbursement etc to make sure that the charge was approved that the church received the item service and that it was charged to the proper account Also ensure that the check signer is authorized Report Transaction Journal and the Ac counts Payable Journal in Accounting Payroll Compare the payroll amounts to the salary wage authorized or budgeted Make sure that the related payroll reports 941 W 2 etc and tax deposits were filed and remitted to the proper tax ing authorities on a timely basis The bank state ment will show the withdrawals that should match the payments made out of Church Windows It is recommended that a printed copy of each 941 be signed dated as to date it was f
22. e Download our FREE ministry guide as technology develops The for information advice and Church cannot stay behind the l implementation tips times I would highly encourage p p other churches to take advantage of this wonderful tool FIVE SUNDayc Interviewed were Joan Th The P p owe DAYS Jablonski WeGather Admin ay ed of Oni ine ER istrator for St Clement and m nday ot ng re haringa iking al Father Manuel Dorantes Asso ciate Pastor at St Clement Visit their website at www clement org For more information on WeGather and to signup for your free WeGather site go to http www 4lpi com wegather Christian Computing Magazine February 2013 6 Special Feature The Place of Social Media in Today s Ministry By John Connell with Ken Stewart oday we re interviewing Elexio one of the most influential providers in the church management software industry We re discussing the uses of social media as well as its potential pitfalls and we re highlighting specific social media platforms that a ministry could use today Tell us why social media is such an essential part of ministry today Well ministry is all about relationships And the purpose of social media is to help people connect with one another So ministry and social media are natural partners But churches have gotten along fine without social media forever What makes it so impor tant now In the early church the a
23. e been asking for but have had to do without It has a microSD XC card slot that can accommodate a 64gb card a mini display port and a USB port Specs The Surface Pro has an Intel 15 processor with Agb RAM the RT version has a NVIDIA T30 processor with 2gb RAM The Surface Pro comes preloaded with Windows 8 Pro giving you the full strength of that OS I ve said that February 2013 3 2 Windows 8 Pro is as solid as Windows 7 Pro but that I didn t like not having the Start Button I ve also said that not having the Start Button may make sense on a tablet but not on a desktop or notebook computer Windows 8 Pro on a tablet 1s a nice experience The Pro version has an HD display with 1920x1080 resolution and two front and rear facing 720p HD cam eras Microsoft did something else nice to pull notebook users towards the Surface they integrated a QWERTY keyboard into the inside cover Typing on it feels good and normal It also has an integrated touchpad with two buttons Experience I began my testing of the Surface Pro cautiously wondering where I would find roadblocks in its capabili ties Initially I tried using it as I do the iPad and found no problems there Then I decided to begin using it more like I would a notebook computer I began doing all of the engineering steps we do to a notebook when setting it up for a client That included installing full apps like Microsoft Office 2013 Everything worked well as
24. elow reference Church Windows Software specific report names other software options may have a similar report Here is a compilation of practices passed on to us by our customers This list is for informational purposes only Computer Helper Publishing is not responsible for the conduct of church audits nor does it provide legal or financial advice to congre gations through this resource However if you are looking for assistance with an audit we are pleased to refer you to Steeple Accounting Services owner Mary Lou Turnbull Mary Lou was a Church Win dows trainer for over ten years and is a Certified Fraud Examiner The web address for the company 1S www steepleaccounting com Donations vs Accounting Compare a sampling of donation dates to the deposits on the bank statement for the given week and to the deposits in the Ac counting module Reports Batch Report or Log Report in Donations Transaction Christian Computing Magazine Journal in Accounting Bank Statement Compare hand written source documents 1 e teller sheets money counter deposit records or randomly selected dates of giv ing envelopes with the summary from the Donation module for a given week s Reports Batch Report as printed on date of donation entry Log Report in Donations Summary of Cash Activity and Transaction Journal in Accounting If the church utilizes pass through liability accounts check to ensure that the amounts were forwarde
25. enting or finances Browse the videos by channels like Adult Small Groups or Books of the Bible RightNow also sorts their videos by those recently added the most popular or they let users add videos to a Queue just like they would in Netflix The services offers something for almost any one Adults wanting to study the Bible can view videos that teach Kids can enjoy educational Christian Computing Magazine ACTIVE neCwork Volunteer Mi Fai Our Church Management software is changing _ the way churches connect and grow f En Find out more at fellowshipone com amp serviceu col RightNow lets a church buy a subscription and then invite people in the church to view the videos at home or with some friends in a small group The church can also share them as part of a curriculum for Sunday school classes or at other discipleship times Customizable Training Library In addition to the plentiful library of videos they offer a means to train users in an inter active way A pastor can set up a course with videos from the streaming library Using the Customizable Training Library tool the pas tor can turn the video into an interactive course using the website s simple editing feature that adds questions and discus sion The editing feature lets users create a kind of blog post around the videos The course creator can invite people to join the course For example let s say we put together a cour
26. epress com 26 Tue Power AND THE DANGER Java By Russ McGuire russ mcguire gmail com 29 Ministry COMMUNICATION Challenges to All Church Communicators From Catholicism Inc Yvon Prehn yvon effectivechurchcom com 32 Nick at CHURCH MicROSOFT SURFACE Pro MORE THAN A TABLET Nick Nicholaou nick mbsinc com Christian Computing Magazine Founder amp Editor in Chief Steve Hewitt steve ccmag com Managing Editor Kevin Cross kevin ccmag com Contributing Editors Yvon Prehn Nick Nicholaou Kevin A Purcell Russ McGuire Michael L White Copy Editors Gina Hewitt Magen Cross Corporate Home Office Mailing address PO Box 319 Belton MO 64012 Delivery address 306 Eagle Glen Ct Raymore MO 64083 Phone 816 331 5252 FAX 800 456 1868 Copyright 2013 by Christian Computing Inc All Rights Reserved Christian Computing is a registered trademark of Christian Computing Inc Written materials submitted to Christian Computing Magazine become the property of Christian Computing Inc upon receipt and may not necessarily be re turned Christian Computing Magazine reserves the right to make any changes to materials sub mitted for publication that are deemed necessary for editorial purposes The content of this publi cation may not be copied in any way shape or form without the express permission of Christian Computing Inc Views expressed in the articles and reviews printed within are not necessarily
27. es tight control over products and is intensely focused on maximizing profits Obviously those values are inconsistent with the open source ethos By the way Java has almost nothing to do with JavaScript JavaScript borrowed the Java name be cause Java was such a hot concept at the time that the ECMA script standards were being defined February 2013 2 6 What s so great about Java Java was designed to be very similar to C and C to make it easy for programmers to learn However Java was also designed to be simple specifically more simple than C Java only has 50 commands Java is inherently object oriented Java is compiled but runs on the Java Virtual Machine JVM As a compiled language Java is high performance The JVM has been ported to many platforms so Java applications are Write Once Run Anywhere When originally developed the revolutionary concept that Java introduced was truly interac tive and dynamic content within a web page Sun introduced the concept of an applet a program that could be run within the web browser That applet could in teract with the user enabling games multimedia players and other creative concepts Today we are used to this functionality thanks to the success of Adobe Flash originally Macromedia Flash But prior to Java the web was a much less interactive place With the introduction of the Enterprise Edition of Java applets moved onto the server and
28. ey hap pen but doesn t seem too concerned with making Java more secure Perhaps Oracle isn t motivated to make open source tools overly appealing Oracle has acquired a number of open source tools over the past few years some of which e g MySQL pro vide a free alternative that threatens Oracle s core revenue streams What can you do about it Given the frequent security threats make sure you have the latest version of the Java Virtual Ma chine You can get the latest version at http www java com en download index jsp But unless you use websites that depend on Java applets there s really no reason to keep Java enabled on your computer These days Java applets are fairly rare Flash February 2013 27 JavaScript and HTMLS have all surpassed Java applets in popularity for developing and delivering inter active web content The latest versions of Java in clude a Control Panel which make it easy to disable Java in your brows ers In Windows XP Vista and 7 Java will appear as one of the op tions under Start Control Panel In Windows 8 search for Java Control Panel by pressing the Windows Logo Key W Once you open the Java Con trol Panel select the Security tab Uncheck the Enable Java content in the browser checkbox Click the Ok button You re done Note that Java servlets do not represent the same threat and don t require Java enabled in your browser Also note that Java s vulnerabi
29. giving use on your church website All 5 tips work together and cultivate healthy giving 3 Announce your online giving site Having a simple URL the intuitive Online Giv Be loud and proud from your pulpit in your bul ing button and the Quick Give option make it easy to letin and on your social media sites And tell people talk about your online giving service with confidence exactly where they need to go to give online e g When your online giving is easy to find and use you ll Visit newgrace com giving where you can makea be better equipped to encourage members to set aside gift to the church securely from your computer tablet their old envelopes and use an easier method for faith or smartphone ful giving 4 Remind everyone how to make a final gift before the end of the tax year During the Christmas and Advent seasons you ll find people with hearts full of generosity Why not take a lesson from the leaders in charitable fundraising Send an email to all your donors and let them know they still have XX number of days to make a final tax deductible gift to the church for the current year say thank you and include a link that takes them directly to your online giving site You can put the online Giving but ton right in your email LOGOS has become a part of our Story 5 Feature online giving in your end of year statements The printed contribution state ments and thank you notes that you send to do
30. ics to deliver on the mission may in fact change Communication application Once we take responsibility what can we do It s clear to most churches that communication channels have changed drastically in recent years the web be ing the most obvious Sadly many churches when they do realize a need for new channels or new methods respond to the surface changes but not the core prob lems Here are some examples of persistent communi cation problems in churches and some of the present responses I see Churches don t use their bulletin to ex plain what is going on As many articles on the Effective Church Communication website http www effectivechurchcom com de tail the church bulletin 1s an incredibly impor tant piece of information about the church and the Christian faith It may be the first piece of Christian literature an unchurched person ever sees I recommend counter to the advice of many that in this time there being less under standing about the church in the culture outside the church than ever before that church bulle tins need to contain more not less information Instead what I often see are bulletins that are upbeat contemporary with slick printing and great graphics but almost no content that tells a person who wanders into the church what the Christian faith 1s all about e Churches don t train their staff in new technology but expect them to be proficient in it anyway When the computer and
31. iled and then stored with payroll information Reports Pay Period Reporting Email Book Electronic 941 Filing gsm d un W3 W4 1096 1093 LU import Electronic Giving BRING IT ALL TOGETHER with Church Windows Te f Donations amp Kt oo Zl When it comes to reliability and efficiency Church Windows software streamlines your tasks while protecting your church finances with an ironclad audit trail ktop Church Windows Web Scheduler s Donations Accounting Payroll February 2013 1 D Deductions W 2 Forms and Quarterly 941 Form in Payroll General Ledger and Treasurer s Report in Accounting Accounts Payable Scan the list of accounts payable vendors for any new or unknown vendors Review supporting documentation for any payments to unknown ven dors Reports Accounts Payable List and Accounts Payable Journal in Accounting General Ledger and Other Items Review a transaction journal for items such as Journal entries and transfers to make sure they were handled correctly Is there a suf ficient explanation in the comments area on journal entries Report General Ledger or Transaction Journal in Accounting e Ifthe church has designated or restricted funds other than the General Operating fund are expenditures from the fund in compliance with the purpose of the fund Reports Fund Activity Report and General Ledger in Accounting 7 30 DAY FREE TRIAL BROADCAST YOUR SERVICES
32. led in it or else the wireless capability will be useless to you The physical security of your computer is just as important as the virtual security since you will need to protect your data from unauthorized ac cess in both cases This 1s critical even if you live alone in your home in case thieves should ever break in and steal your computer I m not talking about keeping your computer in a locked room or office though that may be a good idea too but I mean requiring a pass word to log in to your system each time you restart it or wake it from sleep or hibernation Or a screen saver application Therefore you should imple ment the password log in op tion as soon as you set up your new computer You can set this up in Windows Control Panel via the Windows Start Button Unfortunately since I don t own or use any non PC prod ucts non PC users will have to figure out this process on your own You should do this with both your home and your church office computers so that even if thieves manage to steal your hardware they won t suc ceed in stealing your data While we re on the subject of password access the second most important security fea ture for your computer is your password s strength and secu rity By strength and security I mean that you create a strong 1 e a complex password and keep it well protected from un authorized parties That means don t share it with anyone who doesn t need to know
33. like Could it compete with the iPad Unpacking the device was a lot like unpacking an Apple MacBook notebook computer It seemed clear that Microsoft was competing with the Apple user experience not Dell or HP Even the Microsoft Store experience was very similar to the Apple Store experience albeit with a smaller crowd inside The cost for the consumer version Surface RT was less than an Apple iPad e 64gbiPad 699 e 64gb Surface RT 599 The cost for the Pro version was a little more than an iPad but you can do much more with the Pro version e 128gb iPad 799 e 128gb Surface Pro 999 The Surface Pro 1s more like a notebook computer than a tablet though it also has tablet features like the touchscreen and smaller form factor Christian Computing Magazine Form Factor The Surface Pro 1s between the size of an 1Pad and MacBook Air 11 and weighs about the same as the Mac Book Air 11 It s screen is about an inch larger than the iPad and an inch smaller than the MacBook Air 11 The touchscreen is nice and as responsive as the iPad but it also comes with a digital pen for use in writing drawing acting as a mouse like device etc Nice The Surface both versions comes with a kick stand built into the back of the case that is nice This gives it much better stability than the iPad when touching the screen for typing launching apps etc The Surface has ports That s something iPad users hav
34. line Giving add on gives us the ability to collect media tool rather than a public one such as Facebook We tried using Facebook but not everyone at our church 1s on Facebook and many have resolved not to sign up due to its confusing and often changing privacy policies The structure of Facebook changes constantly so there is no con sistency in being able to hand over the reins of a committee from year to year On WeGather we are very comfortable with the fact that they use the strictest privacy controls and all info within the site is not searchable on the Web The group structure is also designed so that it s very easy for a new committee chair to take over adminis trative tasks when turnover happens No need for each new volunteer to reinvent the wheel when the event notes attendance record and all the discussion board messages live right there on the site A new member or chairperson simply has to log in and click around a bit to take advantage of all the work done by previous volunteers What would you say is the one thing about WeGather that your parishioners like most Online Church Donations Made Easy with LPI S WeShare online donations and payments within the system where our members are already logged in It also makes it easy to register as a volunteer for a fundraiser and at the same time purchase event tickets The Service Opportuni ties add on has also proven very helpful The added volunteer functi
35. lities have nothing to do with JavaScript I would not recom mend disabling JavaScript in your browser It is my hope and prayer that these articles on the power and danger of technology will encourage you in your daily walk with Christ Whether it is Java the printing press radio television personal computers the internet the cloud mobility or Wi Fi new technolo gies continue to advance our abil ity to know God and to serve Him wherever we go Russ McGuire is an executive for a Fortune 100 company and the founder co founder of three tech nology start ups His latest entre preneurial venture is Hschooler net http hschooler net a social network for Christian families especially homeschoolers which is being built and run by seven young men under Russ direction Christian Computing Magazine Church Software I use Shelby to assign e manage workflows to different church staff members Scan or dick to see our Webinar Schedule shelbysystems 800 877 0222 February 2013 2 8 ministry communication Challenges to all church communicators from Catholicism Inc Yvon Prehn yvon effectivechurchcom com n op ed article in The New York Times Catholicism Inc by Bill Keller not only challenges the Catholic Church with some suggestions for change during this time of transition between popes but provides some challenges to all churches More specifically wha
36. lix 80 divided by ten people equals eight bucks each If more than ten use the service then it s actually cheaper than Netflix How else is RightNow different than Netf lix It consists of kingdom building content and only kingdom building content Netflix has some Christian videos but not many And we re not supposed to show the movies at church RightNow isn t a replacement for Netflix People who want entertainment should stay with Netflix Churches that want to grow their people and build the kingdom should get RightNow and invite their people to use it If interested in the service contact RightNow Media and ask for a free demonstration They will show you the service via screen sharing technology over the Internet Then they will set you up with a couple of weeks for free just to try it out After that they agree to the price for a year You can cancel any time but even 1f your church grows over one of the attendance based price jumps they won t start charging more till the year 1s up I signed my church up for the full package and will pay for it out of my own pastor s ex pense account because they offer some incred ible content that I want to use to help build my church Before jumping realize that the user will need a broadband Internet connection wherever they plan to watch the videos They don t let users download the videos Also the video training course user manual books or discussion guides will cost extra If
37. ll be ahead of the game in fighting off this threat Nevertheless as I learned the hard way last year finding a combination of firewall and malware protection that is truly ef fective 1s indeed challenging While I believe Zone Alarm is the best soft ware firewall hands down I discovered that their anti virus protection left some thing to be desired Soon after the New Year in 2012 I trust ingly downloaded a PDF from a reputable Web site which appar ently was infected with a virus and it stealthily fouled up my computer over a period of about three or four months Although I became suspicious early on Zone Alarm s anti virus scans kept assuring me there was no virus That was a problem At any rate as careful as I try to be with trolling the Web and filtering my email the chink in my armor was the ineffec tive anti virus software I was using I eventually had to re install my entire OS and that was after spending days back ing up my user created files and personally downloaded software Pd accumulated over the years It was definitely no fun There fore I can no longer recommend Zone Alarm Extreme Security as the most effective security suite While I still believe Zone Alarm provides the best software fire wall I recommend using either Norton or McAfee for anti virus protection Unfortunately most security suites don t play nice together either meaning you can t install multiple security suites o
38. m so you can write an application once with confidence it will run on many different platforms This 1s accomplished by implementing a Java Virtu al Machine on different target platforms The Java app runs on the Virtual Machine Java is reportedly one of the most popular programming languages in the world with many businesses deploying enter prise applications to streamline support for users across different runtime environments In 1995 two friends and I launched an Internet start up We developed and hosted websites for a variety of businesses and ministries We ran Sun servers for our development and production en vironments In our first year Sun Microsystems introduced Java to the world and we immediately jumped on it as a way to differentiate our clients sites with interactive applets that ran within the Christian Computing Magazine browser At the time websites were static presenta tions of information Flash wouldn t be introduced until 1997 Our early adoption of the language gained us some local media attention and the undy ing support of our Sun account team The language continued to mature In 1998 Java 2 was released in three versions J2EE for enterprise class applications J2ME for mobile phones and J2SE the standard version for most web applications In 2006 Sun released Java to the open source community with GNU GPL licensing In 2009 Sun was acquired by Oracle a company that highly valu
39. mbers to use the new system are the churches that see the greatest SUCCESS So put your best foot forward and start with a plan We ve got five fresh ideas for encouraging your mem bers to give Whether you re using LOGOS Online Giving program or another system for receiving elec tronic gifts these ideas can boost participation among your members Usethe Quick Give feature If your online giving service has a Quick Give op tion turn it on It lets people make a donation really fast without having to set up an account or commit to a recurring gift Visitors like Quick Give because it s con venient and secure It also gives your members a way to test the system If they like it chances are they ll return when they re ready to set up regular tithing 2 Go simple with your URL Nobody will ever remember a mile long URL ad dress buried deep in the file structure of your church website Long URLs are hard to communicate both February 2013 1 1 verbally and in print Instead put an online giving but ing lets them get their own contribution statements any ton right on your home page or set up a dedicated short time they like Those who expect a refund or are eager URL e g newgrace com givingstpaul com give to do their tax returns early in the new year will appre If you use LOGOS Online Giving download our ciate being able to get a self serve report of their church online Giving button here the png files are ready to
40. n via the AppleTV and our video projector The cost for AppleTV is only 100 So for just 100 you can have a live electronic whiteboard allow ing you to stand before any crowd and draw and sketch live and have it appear on your projection screen With Penultimate you can select the width of your pen as well as the color It 1s easy to import Christian Computing Magazine Steve Hewitt steve ccmag com pictures or other graphics and you can simply swipe along the bottom to change to a new slide If you prepare your slides in advance you will have a fantastic presentation program Reading the reviews it seems that people ei ther love Penultimate or they hate it The app had a very good rating until recently when its latest update added synchronization with Evernote I am not an Evernote user so the new option doesn t get in my way I believe I have seen Penultimate for free in the app store before but it normally goes for 99 cents Hope you will share with me and others which apps you like and benefit from the most Together We Serve Him President Christian Digital Publishers Inc steve ccmag com Follow me on Twitter stevehewitt February 2013 3 cover story WeGather amp Your Church s Online Social Communication Tool SPECIAL FEATURE Interviewing Elexio The Place of Social Media in Today 5 Ministry vean LU Prol coer WeGather Your Church s Online Social Communication Tool
41. n the same computer I know because Membership Accounting Contributions Events Calendar Check In Completely Integrated Christian Computing Magazine www PowerChurch com I tried it Therefore you have to be very careful in integrating a firewall with an anti virus de fender to prevent these sorts of conflicts I think avoiding the all in one security suites is likely the best way to prevent this unpleasantness I m presently using McAfee s Total Protection suite but I think a piecemeal approach of using Zone Alarm s firewall with either Norton or McAfee s anti virus is probably a better way to go In addition to these top three most important computer security issues I cover a number of other security issues in chapter thirteen of my You want the freedom to reach out minister to people create fellowship contribute to your community PowerChurch Plus was created for just that We provide you with the tools to increase administrative efficiency and streamline accounting tasks freeing you up to perform the work that matters CAMPBELL AWARD User Satisfaction POWERCAORCA _ Jat l 800 486 1800 February 2013 24 book Digital Evangelism You Can Do It Too plus a variety of other significant topics such as creating a Website in chapter one using audio and video on your Website in chapter nine and us ing social media in ch
42. ng different social platforms Facebook Facebook is still the best for collaborative information shar ing It s part church lobby part kitchen table those places where Christians gather to share 2 information and viewpoints Webs Ite It s the best platform to use to reach out to an entire church or organization or small group ministry ja va Database Mobile Use it to e Post a question Che ck in e Share an album of photos from a church event e Posta link to a video or ar ticle and ask for comments Share a quote from a recent or upcoming sermon and Designed for growing churches who like Become simplicity Style and Innovation Initiate a campaign capi Pa hese Ss calor A or cout one database one login one team church to help you succeed Twitter d Twitter is great for brief updates Mone y Back Guarantee to your followers Twitter s i receive your tweets Use it to e Share a brief quote e Remind your followers of See a FREE Demo now event details WWw elexio com demo e Ask for prayer be discreet about sharing details on aS social media C CXI Q com Recommend a timely re IRLS source article video etc Christian Computing Magazine February 2013 8 LinkedIn It can be difficult for pastors to find the time to interact with other pastors LinkedIn is a network for professionals So it can help pas tors connect with one another Use it to Post que
43. nors are a great opportunity to promote online giv ing Try a message like this Serving churches for over 30 Years e Church Database and Contributions Management It s easy to set up your online e Fully auditable Fund Accounting giving and it helps our church Packages for the Small Church so much Simply go to www MAR MAM newgrace com eiving and click on Scalable Enterprise Solutions the online Giving button God Bless Pastor Mike Leon Managemen Softaate 1i Tuck a separate promotional piece in with the statement and be sure to mention that online Giv EOgeecmg cem Life with LOGOS Simply better Christian Computing Magazine February 2013 1 2 Who would have thought that a few extra minutes on a laptop or smartphone could be a better avenue to practice good stewardship Chances are your members EASY won t think so unless you can show them the ease of online giving Thirty percent of the time your regu C H U R C H WE BS IT ES lars are not present to drop an envelope or cash dona tion into the basket But with an online giving system FROM L Church that s readily accessible and easy to use members can Now your church can have a beautiful and welcoming commit to give even on Sundays when they re sick or website that is simple to maintain with our Websites out of town for Ministry We hope that with these tips and other ideas you implement you ll attract more members to your is church s
44. onality allows users to quickly scan their personalized WeGather calendar and see where volunteers are needed so they can sign up WeGather is a secure invite only church communication system Why did your church decide to use a private social Christian Computing Magazine WeShare is easy secure online A One sign up for your members simplifies recurring donations event ticket sales and any special fund contributions v Stewardship options online where your members already are X The highest level of security with PCI level one compliance All from a company with 40 years of experience helping churches like yours connect with their community Learn more and sign up for a one hour webinar at www 4LPi com WeShare Liturgical Publications Inc February 2013 D The WeGather Web portal makes it so easy for our mem bers to sign up for service proj D i a ects participate in online dis lt E stil cussions and register for events from home or their mobile phone By making these tasks easier we have increased in volvement for a wider audience who now feel connected to our church via two way communica tion Would you recommend this tool to other parishes looking to create an engaged parish We would absolutely recom mend it Father Manuel any final thoughts about WeGather or using social media within the Church A social media tool like LI WeGather will be indispensabl
45. online giving program As we ve seen with gt Educate our customers online giving can be incredibly reward gt Attract ing for your church but the success of the program Welcome depends just as much on how it is implemented and supported by staff members as on the benefits of the actual software So put your best foot forward Try our five tips and let us know what works We would love to share your story with other churches considering online giving IStudy by Charles Zech director of the Center for the Study of Church Management at the University of Villanova 7 Subscribe to Christian Computing Siz Magazine eee Right Now for kasall Now Ministry com hication We have been helping churches use technology to enhance their ministry for over 23 years Find out why CCMag has beena trusted source for so long Click the link to take a look at our online community and to get your FREE subscription CLICK HERE Christian Computing Magazine i February 2013 1 3 church windows Software Suggested Internal Audit or Financial Review Procedures he purpose of an audit is to determine if the organization is in compliance with generally accepted accounting prin ciples GAAP and whether the financial statements are comparable to previous year s financial statements If your church does not have the budget for a full fledged audit there are still some things you can do While some of the steps b
46. ow ing that reminds us that in all our times of change and transition to make change meaningful we must rely on our Lord He is the one who sees the beginning and the end he knows the hearts of your people and those you are attempting to reach and he can guide you to be faithful to his Word and purposes I realize that many devout Catholics recoil from suggestions of change especially if the suggestions come from deserters like me But troubled enterprises often benefit from a little outside counsel And in the unlikely event that a new pope wants to bring the church closer to the 21st century he will need all the help he can get This is a far tougher turnaround than the ones I have led said an executive who has helped save more than one foundering Fortune 500 company You might need to tap the guy that turned water into wine For more how tos for church communicators go to http www effectivechurchcom com Fi February 2013 3 1 nick at church Microsoft Surface Pro More than a Tablet Nick Nicholaou nick mbsinc com icrosoft started shipping their much awaited Surface Pro this week It is a touchscreen tablet that many think 1s tar geted against Apple s iPad I ve been working on the Pro version of the Surface and it is more than a tablet it s as powerful and capable as a notebook computer First Impressions As an iPad and MacBook Air user I was curious to see what the Surface was
47. postles went to where the people were gathered in order to find an audience for their message Today vast num bers of people believers and nonbelievers alike are gathering daily on various social media and the numbers keep growing A ministry can only influence the conversation today if it maintains a consistent presence in social media And what s great 1s that a church doesn t Christian Computing Magazine need a huge budget in order to have a presence on the web The Internet is a great leveler Both the small rural church and the urban mega church can access the same tools to help them reach beyond their walls What platforms or applications should minis tries consider using Each platform has its own strength that makes it a useful ministry tool For example Twitter 1s great for sending out a quick update YouTube and Vimeo would be best for longer messages with more visual or emotionally stir ring content So a church should think about what it wants to accomplish in its use of social media But it s important to remember what all the social media have in common they re built for engagement and conversation They can be used February 2013 to simply share information but their real power lies in their ability to draw people into conversation Finally Integration Can you give some examples of h ial medi b di ministry ean eve BERCE e Church Software Suite Here are a few suggestions for usi
48. se for new members The leader would email the new mem bers the link and they could go through the videos at their leisure Then after watching the videos the leader can put questions for the new mem ber to answer The leader will see their answers and it can help the leader see if the new member understands the content I can see using this to teach my congrega tion about a subject like service I could create a post using a video with an introductory story from our church s background then ask then to watch the video Then maybe I ask the viewers a question ask them to read some scripture and share how that verse applies to their life Then I might ask if they can offer ideas on how our church can implement the ideas learned in this course as we serve one another and our com munity They suggest ways and maybe we as a church can begin a new ministry or learn bet ter ways to minister to people Now RightNow transforms from a streaming service with one sided message dump from me to them to a two way interaction where I learn from the learner too Christian Computing amp Magazine Leadership Events Library The last section of the service offers a library of videos from training events This is like go ing to a great conference in another state but I don t even have to change out of my jammies Or we could gather all of our church leadership together Instead of paying for one person to fly to another state stay
49. stions public or private to so licit insight from your peers Connect with other leaders Form denomination or association groups for specific purposes For example to ini tiate moderate administrative task forces e Post staff or lay positions within your church Instagram Instagram allows users to quickly share photographs on their other social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook Easy to use filters can customize the look of your photos Use it to e Share candid photos of church events such as banquets mission trips and youth events Create images that can add visual interest to your other media channels Pinterest Pinterest is a visual medium It lets you group image collections usually high quality images in Pin boards Since a Pin always links back to its original source on the web it s great for driving traffic to a website For that reason you ll want to make sure your ministry website 1s worth visiting Use it to post images of e Women s craft nights e Men s woodworking nights e Youth service projects in a local commu nity Children s ministry projects or thematic presentations Google One of the fastest growing media channels this platform offers a variety of helpful tools Those that stand out for their value to minis try leaders are the Google Hangouts on Christian Computing Magazine line video conferencing and the Huddle Use it to e Initia
50. t follows are some quotes from the article and I highly recommend you read the whole thing and then some comments on communication applications He begins with some statistics and an overall description Catholicism is mostly a service industry Canyon Ranch for the spirit if you will and its deliverables have stood the test of millenniums instruction in how to live a good life sacraments to consecrate major milestones comfort in times of distress the cleansing therapy of confession penance and absolution a sense of place in the universal order and the promise of a celestial payoff There is still a robust market for the faith The problem evident in the waning confidence Christian Computing Magazine of the customers as well as the rising market share of evangelical start ups and none of the above is with the management Communication application Though we might use different terms to describe the benefits of our individual churches a common denominator is that our gracious Creator has meet every need of the human soul now and for eternity in the freely offered salvation provided by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ or as he says The funda February 2013 29 Print amp Kindle Books from Yvon Prehn Yeon Prehn ina world of websites tweets and facebook pages Are printed bulletins Church 5 Business amp Inviotion Sm Ier in church Yvon Prehn www amazon
51. te Hangouts video conferencing with your staff small groups ministry lay leadership etc e Huddle up Google provides a shared instant messaging IM service for all of those in your Google Circles Blog While a blog may lack the immediacy of other social media it can be a meaningful part of your ministry s media strategy A blog provides a platform for ministry workers not just the lead pastor to communicate thoughts with the church community and to invite comment Use it to e Provide a platform for gifted writers within your ministry Share leaders thoughts outside of formal teaching preaching settings YouTube and Vimeo Both of these channels allow you to share your video content You can create your own channel where people can find your videos Use it to Promote an event or new ministry Post portions of services Record and tell someone s story It s great that we ve got these tools at our dis posal Are there hazards associated with using these platforms One danger of using a lot of social media 1s that people might substitute virtual interaction for in person face to face connection Social media should enhance and deepen relationships not replace them Another common pitfall is simply spend ing more time than necessary on media With the possible exception of YouTube and Vimeo where your video messages could take some time to produce these platforms are quick and easy
52. the most intuitive and appealing solutions for church websites and church management software across the world With an integrated set of products that focus on the local church s web presence complete mem bership management contributions check in and much more insight into your congregation and community are no longer a mystery To learn more please visit www elexio com or call toll free 888 997 9947 Christian Computing Magazine How will you reach them after the service SPREAD THE WORD with One Call Now Voice Text and Email messaging for churches Visit us online at onecallnow com or call 877 698 3262 to learn more 201208LS259 onecallnow com One Call Now Ministry space scheduling should be easy as schedule save click schedule save ministrEspace is the low cost web based software solution for your ministry space scheduling needs Learn more at ministrEspace com February 2013 1 0 logos cms 9 Tips to Encourage Online Giving Putting Your Best Foot Forward with Your Online Giving Plan from Logos Management Software ou never imagined you d be thinking this but honestly you wish that people at your church would start recycling their offertory envelopes Of course you don t actually want them to stop tithing but you do wish they would take advantage of your church s new online giving system and start using their laptops and Smartphones as stewardship tools It
53. to use It shouldn t take a lot of time to post on most of them And while it s not exactly a danger choos February 2013 9 ing the wrong platform wastes your time Come to think of it wasting time is a bad thing espe cially since with a little research ministries can become effective in choosing the right platform for each kind of connection they want to make Keep safety and privacy concerns in mind before you post Social media lends itself to spreading someone s image and thoughts farther than they might wish What would be your top pieces of advice for churches looking to begin using social media Make sure you know why you want to use social media That includes knowing why you would choose this media channel rather than that one e Establish guidelines for how your min istry s social media will be used and by whom e Post regularly When you do that you give people a reason to keep coming back Better to consistently post to one or two media channels than to scatter your posts randomly among lots of platforms Your presence disappears very quickly from people s screens and their minds if you post sporadically Most important remember that social me dia 1s just a tool Tools don t exist for their own sake Their purpose is to build something When ministry leaders use social media wisely it becomes an indispensable tool for building their faith community About Elexio Elexio continues to provide
54. ything by the book Rome could encourage the parishes to be laboratories of worship Useem notes that in business and in the military by the way giving field officers freedom to execute the mission produces creative solu tions and it s also just a tremendous energizer Communication application Not only within denominations but within the ministries of a church top down control of every communication piece created by every department or expecting all needed communications to come from the church office simply will not work today if you want your church to grow and prosper If the vision is biblical and shared consistently freedom in application will help your church to thrive As you might expect of an institution that mea sures time in centuries the church has been slow to join the digital world Pope Benedict tweeting as Pontifex has 1 5 million followers which is pretty good but he has tweeted exactly 35 times and the messages read like boilerplate composed by a dutiful intern Bill Derrough a specialist in corporate restruc turing and a fund raiser for Catholic charities said that if parishes simply got the names of their members into the computer they could organize meet ups share best practices spread news Communication application Once again don t just adapt the channel but keep the same old core practices in place and think that makes your church contemporary A Twitter account with the pastor
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