No Excuses

Why don’t we have a website?

Why does our website suck?

Why aren’t we getting our content out into the world?

Why do the messages seem thrown together much of the time?

Why is the pastor constantly taking up a special offering?

Having spent the majority of my life in church, I’ve heard each of those questions asked dozens of times. Up until recently there were some good excuses (usually budget and/or time related), but no more! Over the past couple years several companies have come forward with solutions designed specifically with churches (and their budgets) in mind.

Clover
Collision Media
Updatable
It’s the 21st century – every church needs a website! Your website is your front door. No longer will potential visitors call your church for info. They want to know what they’re getting into before they visit, no strings attached. This isn’t just for newcomers to your area. Think of the unchurched people you know that are curious or seeking, but apprehensive about actually stepping foot in a church. And what about your members? As your church grows, your website (not a bulletin or announcements on IMAG screens) will serve as their information hub. And with Clover, Collision and Updatable, price and expertise are no longer issues. You can get a beautiful, functional website for under $1,000 and all three companies use browser-based editing, so if you can surf the web, you can edit your website. To be honest, the only thing worse than having no website is having an ugly website.

Podbean
Livestream
Ustream
A pastor friend of mine once said, “If your sermon is good enough to preach in church, it’s good enough to share online.” Up until a few years ago most churches were more concerned with CD’s, DVD’s or getting on TV (shudder). But now, with sites like Podbean, podcasting is easy. They offer free hosting and tiered pricing as well, if the free hosting isn’t good enough. And if you don’t like what they have to offer, just Google podcasting and you’ll get all sorts of hosts. If you aren’t already recording your services and are on a budget all you need to do is go to your local music store and but a stereo-to-USB converter (between $50 and $80), connect it to your FOH mixer and a computer and you’re set. Both Mac and Windows come with pre-loaded software for basic recording. And for those who want to stream live video, there is LiveStream and Ustream.

LifeChurch.tv Resources
Planning Center
Every pastor I’ve known has told me that at one point or another, they weren’t as prepared for a particular sermon as they wanted to be. Life happens! We want our pastors to be human, but when they are we get mad at them for not being perfect. And every pastor I know has borrowed from other pastors, so don’t start acting super-spiritual. This is why Craig Groeschel and LifeChurch.tv give EVERYTHING away. From message outlines and graphics to videos of messages and worship services – whether you need a little inspiration or an entire service, it’s all FREE! And for the music and service programming departments there’s Planning Center. Now you can plan your services online and even post videos and music so that your musicians and tech team can practice on their own time so that no time is wasted at rehearsal.

Church Metrics
Need a cost-effective way to track attendance, salvations, baptisms, giving and more? Or maybe you’re tired of having to pay expensive software fees to do all of that, just to be told that for the latest version of said software, you need to upgrade your computers? Welcome to Church Metrics, by LifeChurch.tv. It’s web-based, so as long as you have an internet connection you’re good to go and this also means it works across all platforms (Mac, Windows, Linux, etc.). Best of all, as with other LifeChurch.tv resources, it’s FREE!

The Change Group
It takes money to operate a church. Some churches can afford to have a full time business administrator on staff to keep the church accountable. But what about church plants? Or young churches? And what about the churches that just aren’t good stewards of what they have been given? That’s where The Change Group comes in. For MUCH LESS than the cost of even a part time bookkeeper they handle everything a full time business admin/bookkeeper would, plus they offer professional consultation to help you squeeze the most out of every last cent.

MailChimp
Tatango
Tired of sending monthly or quarterly newsletters through snailmail? Need a way to get announcements out to your members in case of an emergency? MailChimp and Tatango are here to help. MailChimp offers browser-based HTML email design, so you can send custom branded emails to keep people up to date with your church. Tatango is a text message service that allows you to send bulk text messages to your members. In addition, if you aren’t already using Facebook and Twitter, GET TO IT!!