May 17, 2012 in
ChMS, generosity, leadership, ministry, technology with

This is installment number 3 of my continuing series of posts about online giving. Once you decide that this strategy is something you want to invest in, what do you do next?
The first step is to figure out which giving options you want to offer to people who want to donate online. By providing as many options as possible, it ensures that your church does not miss any opportunity for giving simply because your preference doesn’t match the preference of the giver. Continue Reading…
May 15, 2012 in
ChMS, communications, generosity, leadership, metrics, ministry with

As a church leader, you have a lot of things on your plate. Hopefully, most of it is good stuff. However, I realize many church leaders have some less than encouraging issues to work through as well.
- Donations down?
- Congregation shrinking?
- Staff morale down?
- Property values dropping?
Although these are real challenges in today’s economic environment, they are merely the symptoms of deeper issues related to the health of your ministry. Many leaders don’t know where to begin. Continue Reading…
May 10, 2012 in
ChMS, community, leadership, ministry, technology with

See if this feels familiar; A small group of people (or maybe just one person) just decided to purchase new technology they believe your church needs. Now, you are being asked to help implement the technology and make it successful. I know this sounds crazy but it happens more often than you think.
If technology buying decisions are made poorly, it can lead to all sorts of dysfunction. This is why churches often get disillusioned by church software companies. Sometimes it is the fault of the provider but more often, the dysfunction is the result of a bad process and wrong assumptions.
The first assumption is cheaper is better. Continue Reading…
May 8, 2012 in
ChMS, communications, community, generosity, leadership, metrics, ministry, social media, technology, volunteers with

If you follow my blog, I think it’s safe to say you get that technology has a place in the church. Technology distributes and accelerates our efforts to build community and foster deeper ministry engagement. I love it when I see churches using Church Community Builder to move members through processes which lead to greater connection, commitment and sense of belonging. It’s funny to me how those same churches don’t act concerned about money but I covered that topic already.
When churches take the time to understand the systems and processes that define how they do church, the church is empowered to use technology to maintain, manage, improve, and measure the effectiveness in core areas of ministry. Below are three examples of some of the core processes which can be improved with the right technology: Continue Reading…
May 1, 2012 in
ChMS, generosity, leadership, ministry, technology with

Last month I started a thread on online giving for churches. There’s so much more to this topic than just talking about whether or not a church should do it. At least for the churches I interact with, it’s not a decision of “should” but “how.”
I want to give you a tip that will dramatically change the value of online giving to your church. It may seem basic, but it’s very effective and relatively easy to implement. It’s so simple you’ll probably underestimate its potential to increase online giving in your church.
Are you ready for it? Here it is: Continue Reading…
April 26, 2012 in
ChMS, communications, community, leadership, ministry, mobile, social media, spiritual formation, technology with

Ed Stetzer is a guy I pay attention to. His leadership and insight has brought a lot of value to both paid and unpaid church leaders. He recently posted about the positive connection between technology and faith. Of course, I had to check that one out!
Ed listed twelve but three really stood out to me: Continue Reading…