Founder & Editor-in-Chief - Christian Computing Magazine

Founder & Editor-in-Chief 

Steve Hewitt - steve@ccmag.com 

VP of Operations 

Michael Hewitt - mike@ccmag.com 

Applying Tomorrow’s Technology to Today’s Ministry 

Volume 20 August 2008 No. 8 

8 c o v e r s t o ry 

OutTouch The Digital Outreach 

Connection 

By Steve Hewitt 

15 special f e at u r e 

Mobile Computing Breakthroughs: Good News or Raised 

Concerns? 


21 special f e at u r e 

Why We Switched... 


3 e d i t o r i a l 

Mobile Computing? We’re looking for writers! 

4 c c m a g n e w s b r i e f 

11 n i c k at c h u r c h 

Reasonable Network Security 

18 t e c h ta l k 

Firefox Tips 

24 ACS i d e a s to i m pa ct 

Special Events, Part 2 

26 h i g h e r p o w e r w i t h k e v i n 

Using Tablets and Faith 


Nick Nicholaou - nick@mbsinc.com 

Dr. J.D. (Doc) Watson - docwatson3228@qwest.net 

from ACS Technologies 

Kevin A. Purcell - kevin@kevinpurcell.org 

31 c o o l t o o l s 

Beyond Google: Alternative Search Engines 

C. Brian Smith - chbsmith@comcast.net 

34 ministry c o m m u n i c at i o n 

Are your church communications accomplishing what you want them to? 

Yvon Prehn - yvonprehn@aol.com 

Contributing Editors 

Dr. J.D. “Doc” Watson 

Terry Wilhite 

Yvon Prehn 

Nick Nicholaou 

Jim Vanduzer 

Kevin A. Purcell 

Ross Gile 

Donald Stratton 

Ben Woelk 

C. Brian Smith 

Copy Editor 

Gina Hewitt 

Corporate Home Office 

Mailing address: PO Box 319 

Belton MO 64012 

Delivery address: 311 Manor Dr. 

Belton, MO 64012 

Phone: (816) 331-8142 FAX: 800-456-1868 

© Copyright 2008 by Christian Computing®, Inc. 

All Rights Reserved 

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trademark of Christian Computing, 

Inc. Written materials submitted to 

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Inc. upon receipt and may 

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Computing® Magazine reserves the 

right to make any changes to materials 

submitted for publication that are 

deemed necessary for editorial purposes. 

The content of this publication 

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 

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.ccmag2.com/2007_03/2007_03editorial.pdf 

Christian Computing® Magazine 

August 2008 

2

editorial 

Mobile Computing? 

We’re looking for writers! 


Over the years I have watched many changes in 

the way we “compute”. While I don’t think I am 

over the hill yet, CCMag is in its 20th year of 

publishing, and I was using computers before I started the 

magazine. I have seen the introduction of the hard drive, 

the CD-Rom, and I remember when IBM compatible users 

balked at the introduction of a mouse. Of course Windows 

changed the way we did our computing, and the Internet changed the reason 

ing for us without monetary reward. 

why many people computed. I believe we are on the verge of some- 

However, I believe that God answers 

thing that will have as big of an impact on computing as many of the our prayers and blesses them for their 

devices and services I have mentioned so far. True mobile computing! ministry through CCMag. So, if you 

Check out the special feature in this month’s issue on Mobile Computing 

are a mobile computing fan and would 

Breakthroughs. I now believe that we will have a couple of like to write about it to others through 

different systems on the market allowing for third party applications to CCMag, drop me an email 

be used, we are seeing a new door being opened. Are you a fan of mobile 

(steve@ccmag.com) and I would like 

computing? Do you love your Smartphone? Have you seen the new to discuss it with you! 

Polaroid pocket Bluetooth inkless printer for your mobile phone? Do you 

find yourself constantly showing your friends the latest application you Together We Serve Him 

downloaded for your iPhone? Do you think the BlackBerry rules? Then 

we are looking for you! 

I want to enlist the help of new writers that wish to share their expertise 

with others in the area of mobile computing. How do you text? Why 

do you text? Do you Twitter? Should you Twitter? What about security 

and mobile computing? Should you be open to joining up with any public 

WiFi? 

The bad news is that Christian Computing Magazine doesn’t pay Steve Hewitt 

their writers. So far, God has continued to lead men and women to contribute 

their time and expertise to helping our 50,000+ readers by writ- 

Christian Computing® Magazine August 2008 3

Bio-Metric Security Goes Vascular 

We have all probably heard or even seen examples of bio-metric security systems that read our fingerprints. However, a new development 

in bio-metrics is becoming popular around the world, vascular scanners. Have you ever held a flashlight up to your hand at night and seen 

the light go through your fingers and skin? Vascular readers are able to use light and read the veins within our hand when it is pressed down on 

a scanner. There are ways to get past bio-metric security systems that use fingerprint scanning, but vascular scans are much more secure. It appears 

that in the case of identical twins, their finger prints can be close, but vein patterns are drastically unique for each of us. Presently Canada 

is using it for port security, and over 3,000 banks are using hand vascular scanners for their customers when they seek to use the ATM. For 

more information, visit 

http://www.secureidnews.com/2007/08/22/canadian-port-strengthens-access-security-with-vascular-biometrics-from-identica-unisys/ 

Polaroid Launches New ZINK Digital Camera Printer 

Polaroid was severely hurt when digital cameras entered the market. In the days of “film” they held the ability to see what you were taking 

photos off, within seconds. However, digital cameras did the same thing, without wasting film. However, if you can’t beat them, join them, 

and that is what Polaroid has done. They have released a small hand-held printer that uses Bluetooth wireless to connect to cell phones that take 

pictures. Now people can shoot digital pictures until they get the one they really want, and if they want to hold it in hand as a picture, they can 

easily pull out their Polaroid ZINK (stands for zero ink printing) and load it with special paper, sync the phone to the printer, and print out a 

borderless full color high definition picture. This printer does NOT use ink, but rather special paper (from Polaroid) that has materials embedded 

in the paper that reacts to the printer to create the photo. The printer is just as portable as your phone, around the size of a deck of playing 

cards. For more information, visit 

http://www.pocket-lint.co.uk/news/news.phtml/12241/13265/polaroid-digital-instant-mobile-printer.phtml 

Before The Actual War in Georgia, CyberAttacks Prevailed 

How can you know if your nation is about to go to war? It may be because all of your government’s websites are inaccessible. Before 

the war between Russia and Georgia broke out, CyberAttacks hit Georgia’s internet servicers and Denial -of-Service, attacks made all of their 

government’s sites inoperable. This made it impossible for citizens to check for updated information and instructions via the Internet, and it 

stopped Georgia from getting their message out to the world. For more information, visit 

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/13/technology/13cyber.html?_r=2&ref=technology&oref=slogin&oref=slogin 

IPhone Problems with MobileMe 

Steve Jobs has admitted that they should not have released MobileMe yet, because it is not ready. In addition to problems with the new 

service, it was down for eight hours earlier this week, a great frustration for Apple users that were depending on it. I gave it a try, and found 

what I believed to be a major flaw in the system. If I would not have completed a backup before my test, I would have lost VITAL information, 

including all of my business contacts, from my desktop computer. Apple has now sold 3 million of the new iPhone 3G, and I love mine, 

but give MobileMe a pass for now. For more information, visit 

http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/08/12/Apples_MobileMe_mail_Googles_Gmail_go_dark_1.html 

New Wireless HD Standard in the Works 

And you thought the remote control changed the way we used our TVs? Plans are in the works to create a new wireless standard so that 

devices will connect to our TVs without that tangle of cords. But wait, there’s more! Imagine being able to watch a movie in the bedroom, even 

though it is playing on the digital recorder in the family room, or play games on a Playstation in one room even though the game box is in another? 

All of this is in the works and some if it is actually developed. Sony, Samsung, Sharp, Motorola and a list of other electronics companies 

have united to create a standard by which devices can be made by any one company and work with each other and a host of HD TVs. These 

companies are working with Amimon Ltd. of Israel called WHDI, for Wireless Home Digital Interface. WHDI is one solution and Sony and 

Samsung have invested in other solutions that they feel will be coming down the road in a few years. They see WHDI as a stopgap until better 

technology can take the lead. The plan is for WHDI devices to be on the market next year. They will add about $100 to the cost of a device if 

built into a TV, DVD player, etc., and devices should be on the market that will simply handle the wireless part, allowing you to plug your present 

TV and DVD players in to a kit to accomplish room-to-room transmissions. So, will your neighbors be able to watch your movies? Or will 

we have to learn how to set up security for these devices like we do for WiFi? For more information, 

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i_OO1ipcyihHecxh_kLW6uRUOrMAD923HEMG0 


August 2008 

4

Please Update Your Computer! 

After making the announcement about the 

DNS security problem that was fixed recently, I 

stated that it is important to update your computer. 

Several listeners have contacted me asking 

specific questions about how, why, etc. Just know 

you consistently need to update your computer. 

With Microsoft or Leopard, you can set updates to 

happen automatically whenever they are needed. 

Concerning this last update for the DNS errors, it 

was hoped that after the announcement that a major 

flaw was discovered, the specifics of that flaw 

would remain from public view for a few months. 

However, the details on the flaw have leaked 

out, which means corrupt people will be taking 

advantage of it, seeking to get new Trojan horse 

programs and malware in circulation. If you do 

not have the new updates and if you get infected, 

when you type in the address to the website you 

want to go, you may be taken to a fake site, which 

could spell disaster if you are trying to do online 

banking. For more information, 

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/ 

news/2008/07/22/dns-security-exposure-details 

Intel Slashes Chip Prices Up To 31% 

Intel has announced that it is slashing the 

price on 7 different chips, three members of the 

Core 2 Duo family. This will translate to cheaper 

computers for consumers down the road! For 

more information 

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do? 

command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9110403 

&intsrc=hm_list 

T-Mobile to Offer First Phone with Google 

Android Software 

T-Mobile will be the first wireless carrier to 

offer a phone running Google’s Android software. 

Android will offer many features similar to what 

the iPhone offers, such as a touch screen and web 

access. Most importantly, it will be the second 

wireless phone to offer their users the ability to 

download applications that have been provided by 

third-party vendors. Android will offer many of the 

same Google Internet applications, as well as use 

Android to launch new services. Google mobile is 

a fantastic utility for the iPhone 3G because of its 

ability to know your location and provide search 

results that are local. Google is a leader in computer 

applications such as Google Doc’s and now hopes 

to become dominant in wireless applications. For 


http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/15/ 

technology/15google.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref= 


slogin&ref=technology&adxnnlx=1219205490- 

XMLd0D+Y5zB1Ql2FJiTK+w 

Yahoo Launches Fire Eagle, a Location 

Service for Users 

Why would you want to share your 

location with others, or with applications? 

It might seem that letting an Internet service 

know where you are might lead to a privacy 

issue. However, Google Mobile App on iPhone 

makes you realize just how important sharing 

your location can be. For example, recently 

when I couldn’t find a book at the bookstore, I 

opened Google Mobile. The first thing you are 

asked each time you open Google Mobile is 

if it can use your present location. Saying yes, 

and doing a search for libraries, will give you 

libraries that are closest to you, including a map 

with directions, phone numbers and more. Yahoo’s 

new Fire Eagle will allow users to decide 

if they wish to share their locations on the web, 

or on smart phones that might user their service 

in the future. Why would you wish to share 

your location with others on the web? A blogger 

may wish to blog about local subjects and 

users searching for local news would quickly 

find their blog at the top of their search list. For 


http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jRr-xoufrxvBbc0uGt7xsLgTS9jAD92HKED01 

iPhone Receives Complaints About 3G Connections 

Users across the nation and around the world are complaining about the iPhone’s 3G Internet connection. Many have complained that 

they lose connection, yet AT&T has claimed that the problem was not in their network but in a software glitch within the iPhone. Apple 

released an update yesterday, so if you haven’t already, when you sync your iPhone, be prepared for a 15 minute wait while the new update 

downloads and installs. Personally in our area we have not noticed any problems with the 3G, and in a few cases where WiFi was available 

we found it slower than the 3G speed when watching a video on iTunes (for example). Some are skeptical that the recent upgrade will fix the 

problem, and some have suggested the iPhone 3G’s may be recalled if the problem cannot be resolved. For more information, visit 

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080819/D92LLK1G0.html 

New Trojan-Horse Malware Attachment to Flight Ticket Email 

There is a new scam hitting email boxes which could set up a malware program in your computer designed to steal your persona ID 

information and send it to criminals in Russia. The email claims to be a confirmation from Delta (or other airlines) and provide a user name, 

password, and informs you that you have been charged for the ticket. The email also states they have attached a zip file which contains your invoice. 

Of course, if you didn’t purchase a ticket and don’t want your card charged, you will feel compelled to open the zip file to check if they 

really charged one of your accounts. However, if you do, you will have unleashed a malware program that is designed to steal your information. 

For more information, visit 

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9110883&intsrc=hm_list 

Should Your Cell Phone Company Be Able to Charge You a Termination Fee? 

According to one state judge in California, if a cell phone company charges you a fee for terminating your contract, this 

practice violates state law. In this recent ruling, Sprint has been ordered to refund $18.3 million to customers they had charged, 

and to credit $54 million to other customers who had not paid the fee awaiting this ruling. Verizon had recently agreed to pay 

customers $21 million just before they were to go to trial in a similar incident. One solution may be to have a declining fee the 

longer the contract is carried. A lot of lobbying is going on with the FCC to seek federal rulings to protect termination fees by 


August 2008 

6

cell phone companies, so this and other such rulings on a state-by-state basis might be coming in the near future. For more information, 

visit 

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hFmVAv-IB4T3cDSapIMM3NMf-lWAD927N0S80 

DNS Flaw Brings Us Our First DNS Hacks, and Apple Finally Has Patched 

For almost a month it has been reported that the way the internet directs us to websites, DNS, had a flaw. Most have updated their 

computers, yet the first reports of hackers taking advantage of this flaw have started to come in. In Texas, some hackers have been found to 

infect computers taking advantage of the DNS flaw in computers that have not updated. In this case, when you sought to go to an AT&T site, 

you were sent to a fake site instead. Once you were at the fake site, the programming on the site would cause your computer to click on the 

web banners, which would filter back to ad revenue for the hackers. Many more dangerous phishing attacks are feared to be taking place, and 

until everyone updates their computer with the fix, this will only get worse. Important to note, Apple just announced they had fixed the DNS 

flaw for their software last Friday (Aug 1, 2008). Their fix came late, but hopefully Mac users will do an update to fix the flaw soon. For more 

information, visit http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26043932/ 

Google Offers New Service, “Alerts” 

Google Alerts is a cool utility that will keep you informed whenever anything is posted anywhere on the Internet about a subject you are 

interested in! For example, we set up one to alert us whenever Christian Computing was used and it has been interesting to see posts about our 

articles and such. You can set up an alert about yourself (Steve Hewitt doesn’t work so well since there 4 or 5 other Steve’s that keep making 

the news) or any person or thing. Google will search websites, blogs, etc., and send you an email with a short sentence that shows what was 

said, and a link. So, if you want to track whenever anyone on the web says anything about you or your church, use Google Alerts and watch 

what happens! 

Technical Prestige? 

With the new iPhone, there are many new exciting applications to download from their new AP Store. Many are free, while most others 

that have an associated cost run between 99 cents and $10. However, I found one that charged $999.99! The application? It is called “I Am 

Rich” and basically adds a red icon which you would proudly display on the first menu of your iPhone so that others might see it and know 

what a success you are (grin). The only thing the icon does when pressed is show “a secret mantra” that “may help you to stay rich, healthy, 

and successful.” If I paid $999.99 for a red dot icon to display on my iPhone, I would have to wear it around my neck to be sure everyone saw 

it. I don’t know if anyone has purchased this “application” yet, but I don’t think I would be impressed if I saw it on someone’s iPhone! 


cover story 

OutTouch 

The Digital Outreach Connection 


When new visitors come to your church they might not feel comfortable 

asking questions, but more than likely their visit will leave them with 

many “who, what, where, how, when” questions. In fact, many times 

members who have been attending for months and even years, sometimes feel out 

of touch because they don’t know their way around the building, or understand all 

of the ministries and events available to them. Recently while attending the National 

Association of Church Business Administrators (NACBA), my eyes were 

immediately drawn to a professionally looking tool that should be included in the 

lobby (narthex, reception area, information booth) of any growing church! 

OutTouch, (from Velogin) is a cool touch screen device 

that provides two-way communication with your members and 

visitors. Mount the screen where people can access it when 

they enter your church, and visitors and members alike will 

be presented with messages, graphics and videos from your 

church and have the ability for visitors or new members to 

explore (using the touch screen abilities) a map of the church 

facilities. For example, where IS the nursery for 4-year-olds 

located? Most of your members do not even know where 

every class, small group, or event is being held, which might 

actually inhibit some from stepping up to help visitors who 

have that lost look on their faces. However, with OutTouch, 

any member becomes an expert and can have the confidence 

to help others find whatever it is they are looking for by stepping 

over to the OutTouch screen. Drop down menus help you 

narrow your search, and with just a few taps on the screen, 

you will be presented with a floor plan of your facilities with 

directions clearly marked (using what they call a vapor trail) 


on how to get from the OutTouch screen to 

the room you desire. 

In addition to providing facility directions, 

OutTouch does much more. It is a 

multimedia bulletin and newsletter, with 

the ability to display attractive graphics and 

banners promoting your upcoming events 

or ministries. In addition, part of the screen 

can be reserved to run videos. These could 

include a welcome from your pastor, an 

announcement video you might be using in 

your services that week, or a video showing 

a recent event. Use your imagination, 

the possibilities for promotion and real time 

information are endless. 

OutTouch can even be used to provide 

a list of FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) 

so visitors can select the information 

August 2008 

8

they desire by simply touching the 

screen. Imagine being able to provide 

interested visitors a brief history 

of the church, your statement of 

faith, or information on how to join! 

How Does Your Information Get 

Into OutTouch? 

If something looks cool and 

seems like it is the tool of the year, 

but is complicated to use, I know 

from experience it will fail. The 

makers of OutTouch know this as 

well. So, the way OutTouch works 

is through a web interface. Changing 

the screen, setting up announcements, 

swapping videos, etc., is as 

simple as using one of those template 

website services. You can even 

set up announcements to stop rotating 

into the display when the date 

of the event has passed. This means 

that an event for Saturday night 

will not be displayed or promoted 

on Sunday morning. No late nights 

making changes to OutTouch! 

Before you think you can’t afford 

a cool touch screen service like OutTouch, be creative. Several churches using the service make a portion 

of the screen available for rotating ads from local companies that have members attending their church. 

Those companies pay a fee for that advertisement space, which can offset the cost of using OutTouch! It’s 

just possible that those who understanding the importance of marketing to your members will help you provide 

this valuable service for free! 

What Do Others Using OutTouch Have to Say? 

Bobby Hancock, President/CEO Shared Church Services Ministries – “Several years ago, I met 

Richard Halstead, who was then President of a local Telecommunications Company. Shared Church Services 

worked with Richard to develop a “partnership for success” relationship. The quality of that relationship 

developed a lasting, personal friendship. When Richard approached SCS to discuss his new company – Velogin 

– I knew immediately that SCS wanted to be a “partner”. The primary reason was a trust in Richard’s 

talents and ability and knowing that the Velogin Mission would be similar to the SCS Mission and Ministry 

– providing churches and Christian organizations access to product quality, service and group pricing – savings! 

After several months of working together, the friendship has been renewed and the partnership has 

already proven to be mutually beneficial. The Velogin technology, and Richard’s commitment to excellence, 

is already serving SCS member’s, who now have access to a state of the art program at national group pricing.” 

Jim Boyea, Church Administrator, Dunwoody United Methodist Church – “We initially installed 

our system with the idea that it would primarily be used on Sunday mornings to direct visitors. We started 

out putting our emphasis on getting our meetings scheduled in the system. The web interface and the ability 

to input information far in advance has provided a real time savings for us. Soon after installation we began 

to look at our statistics and learned that the monitors are being used far more than we expected and the reaction 

from our congregation has been overwhelmingly positive. 


The system has been up 

and running and has performed 

flawlessly since the day it was 

installed. By installing our Out- 

Touch we have also been able to 

eliminate the need for T-stand 

signs and reduced the amount of 

‘informational brochures’. 

We now use our system to give 

directions, display and direct people 

to meetings/functions, showcase 

special groups/functions and 

are starting a project to more fully 

utilize the video features. It was 

the right product at the right time 

for Dunwoody United Methodist 

Church and I would recommend it 

to any church looking to improve 

their communications.” 

Mark M. Sandifer, Mission 

Pastor, Morrison Heights Baptist 

Church, Clinton, Mississippi - 

“For over a year our ministry has 

been seeking an avenue to promote 

our events. We consulted several 

vendors and finally agreed that Velogin 

would be our provider. 

We are designing a program to 

promote mission ministry within 

our church. We have created a 

web based program that will run a 

40” touch screen television. The 

screen will be placed in a prominent 

area of our church and when 

completed will accomplish all the 

tasks we hoped for. 

We have had a good experience 

with Velogin as they have worked 

closely with our church in the design 

and implementation phase of 

this project. 

It has been a joy to work with Richard Halstead and the employees of Velogin and if you are looking for 

a means to promote your ministry, church or facility, I would highly recommend the Velogin group.” 

Conclusion 

For me, OutTouch is a hit. It was an obvious draw at the NACBA conference, and I know that if you had 

it installed at your church, it would speak volumes to visitors who walk through your doors. And, its ability 

to promote important information to your members, as well as allowing them to help others find their way 

around your church, is priceless. For more information about OutTouch from Velogin, give them a call at 

888-380-0799 and tell them you heard about their services through CCMag. 


August 2008 10

nick at church 

Reasonable Network Security 

Church and ministry networks have unique security 

needs. Many mistakenly approach network security 

in our niche like they would a club or hobby, 

and thus don’t go far enough to protect our data and our 

team. Others mistakenly go so far they impede the team and 

increase their support call volume unnecessarily. We have 

worked or consulted on hundreds of networks in churches and ministries, and 

we have developed an approach that protects and empowers while minimizing 

support needs. I’ll share it with you so you can enjoy the same results. 

We Are Vulnerable! 

There are those who want to hurt us! Whether 

they’re hackers, disgruntled former employees, or 

internet programs (bots and other malware), our 

systems are vulnerable. Our systems have fulltime 

internet connections that offer an opportunity 

to those on the outside to cause damage. 

We also have system users who accidently 

delete files, introduce malware, or lower our security 

protection by sharing their passwords. Some 

question why we need to be so protective. 

The first step in reasonable network security is 

the regular reminder to staff that we have sensitive 

data on our systems— contributions information, 

payroll information, social security numbers of 

staff, counseling notes, and more— that we are required 

to protect on behalf of those who could get 

hurt if that information were made public. System 

users need to keep their passwords confidential, 

not sharing them with anyone on the team other 

than the network administrator. 

Nick Nicholaou - nick@mbsinc.com 

Biometrics Anyone? 

Many are beginning to use fingerprint readers 

instead of passwords to improve network security. 

The cost is minimal; in fact, Dell is now shipping 

systems with these devices at no extra cost when 

asked to! The benefits include no one being able 

to use another’s network username, including 

team members’ kids! 

Off-Site Access 

Most churches and ministries have staff that 

needs to access the network from off-site. There 

are a number of ways to accomplish this; the best 

is via Microsoft’s Terminal Services. Any network 

running Windows Server 2000 ornewer has 

this feature available. It allows approved users to 

access the network from off-site as though they 

were sitting at a desk on the campus and connected 

to the network. 

Christian Computing® Magazine August 200811


August 2008 12

The benefits are: 

• It’s very fast! The only data 

that gets transmitted is monitor 

images, keystrokes, and mouse 

movement. 

• It’s very secure! All the data 

stays on your network servers! 

Security can even be improved 

more by adding a security certificate, 

which we strongly recommend. 

• It’s very inexpensive! You 

already own the technology, all 

you have to do is configure it and 

show your team how to use it. 

And since it’s all server-based, 

there’s no need to keep workstations 

running and using electricity 

like some other solutions. 

Firewalls 

A firewall on a network is 

a protective barrier that blocksharmful 

things. We recommend 

threesolutions that address different 

needs: 

• SPAM Firewall. If your 

system is in any way typical, 

more than ninety percent of the 

email that hits your email server 

is SPAM. It is essential that 

network users be protected from 

SPAM because a lot of it contains 

malware and other schemes 

intended to harm them and/or 

you. Our favorite SPAM firewall 

is from Barracuda Networks 

(www.barracudanetworks.com). 

Their devices are very capable 

and reasonable in price. 

• Access Firewall. Who— or perhaps better stated— what should have access to your system? In 

addition to controlling which team members can access your system from off-site, it is necessary to 

protect your system frominternet programs (referred to as ‘bots’) that are constantly looking for server 

and system vulnerabilities. Our preferred access firewalls are from SonicWALL (www.sonicwall. 

com). They have the ability to completely secure your system from intruders, and are well worth the 

expense. 

• Internet Accountability. For most, internet filtering is not necessary. But for all, internet accountability 

is! The difference is helping those on our team to want to avoid any inappropriate internet 

content even when no one is watching. The best solution we’ve found to accomplish this is from 

Covenant Eyes (www.covenanteyes.com). Their software does not filter content (though they also 

offer that option). Instead, it sends easy-to-read accountability reports to those holding system users 

accountable (we recommend at least two: their supervisor and their spouse or parent, etc) with scores 

that highlight inappropriate sites. They have special pricing for church and ministry teams so that it’s 


very affordable, and we consider it essential on all ministry-owned systems. 

• Internet Content Filtering. For those with schools or who offer public internet access through 

wireless cafes, etc, internet content filtering is a must. Again, we recommend SonicWALL’s solution 

for this. The good news is that it’s all done through the same device as access filtering! 

Local Workstation Rights 

An area where many go beyond what’s necessary is local workstation security. We have found that 

an easy way to empower users is to give each user local administrative authority. This does not mean 

they have administrative authority on the network; only on their local computer. This eliminates a 

large percentage of support calls and keeps users from feeling like they’re fenced in. 

The potential dangers are that users might install something they shouldn’t or that they would do 

something that requires rebuilding their system. Training can help the first (though that risk never 

completely goes away), and using a strategy employing software such as Symantec’s Ghost (www. 

ghost.com) to build local workstations reduces the cost of the second threat. 

Backup, Backup, Backup! 

Enough can never be said for the responsibility to ensure the most critical data is backed up daily 

and a copy stored off-site at least weekly. This may be the network administrator’s most important 

responsibility because it ensures the ministry’s data will not be lost in a catastrophe. 

That’s our strategy! And anyone can do it! I hope it helps you and your team to do more for less, 

and to do it more reliably and without distraction. 

Nick Nicholaou is president of MBS, a consulting firm specializing in ministry computer networks, operational policies, and CPA services. 

You can reach Nick via email (nick@mbsinc.com) and may want to check out his firm’s website (www.mbsinc.com) and his unofficial blog 

at http://ministry-it.blogspot.com. 


August 2008 14

special feature 

Mobile Computing Breakthroughs: 

Good News or Raised Concerns? 


Much is happening in the area of mobile computing. In just a few short 

weeks, Apple has sold over 3 million iPhone 3G units. This week T- 

Mobile has announced that they will be the first wireless provider to 

market a phone with Google’s Android. What do these two phones have in common? 

First, they have Google Mobile with the “My Location” feature. Having the 

ability to search the Internet via your smart phone is nice, but adding the ability 

for the search engine to know WHERE you are, opens many doors, some of them 

fantastic, some of them a bit scary. What is important to note is that Yahoo has 

realized the value of what Google pioneered, and has just announced they are adding 

“Fire Eagle” as one of their latest features. Fire Eagle gives users of Yahoo the 

ability to report their location. Why would a user of Yahoo want to opt to report 

their location? First let’s go back and look at what Google Mobile with “My Location” 

is presently doing on smart phones. 

I just purchased an iPhone 3G for my wife and myself, 

knew where I was located at that moment, and where 

and have been enjoying many of the applications the library was located, I could touch a link to have a 

that I can download (more on this in a bit). Recently I map display showing me driving directions from where 

needed access to a book and drove approximately 20 I was at that moment, to the library. It also listed the 

miles to my local Borders. However, I learned that the phone number, which I could simply touch, and my 

book I needed was not for sale at that location. It occurred 

iPhone placed the call. Very cool…unless… 

to me that the book I needed has been published It should be obvious that privacy experts will be 

for a while and it might be available at a library. I didn’t concerned with the ability for anyone to know your 

need to keep the book, but wanted to check a reference. location. Of course, since I am a law abiding citizen, I 

Grabbing my iPhone, I touched the Google Mobile icon really don’t expect law enforcement to get a subpoena 

to do a search. However, the first thing that happened from a judge to force AT&T, Apple or Google to reveal 

was a pop-up that asked me if I was willing to share my my location. But what if a hacker figures out how to 

location with Google. I didn’t have any reason to hide infect my iPhone with a Trojan horse program that activates 

where I was, so I pushed the “yes” button. When I typed 

the “my location” feature and sends the informa- 

in “library” to do a search, something cool happened. tion about my present location to someone that might 

Google search results immediately listed libraries that not have my best interest at heart. For example, maybe 

were closest to my location. Even better, the results someone would like to know that I am traveling and not 

had two features that were very handy. Because Google at home. Of course, I am a firm believer that you should 


do whatever you can to be keep yourself 

safe, but I don’t let security concerns, 

especially when they are just 

potential and not a reality, concern me 

much. 

So, why is Yahoo releasing their 

new Fire Eagle feature? It should 

be obvious that searches used either 

on the web sitting at our desk, or on 

mobile devices, can be a great asset. 

For example, if bloggers are ranting 

about a local election in their town 

and a user was seeking local news 

about the same upcoming election, it 

would be faster and easier to let your 

search engine know where you are at 

the time you are doing a search for 

political news. 

Applications for Mobile Devices 

One of the reasons Apple has 

struck gold with the iPhone is because 

they have opened the door for anyone 

to create applications for iPhone users 

to download. Third party programmers 

are starting up left and right, 

offering first version applications 

for free, or for a low cost, for users 

to download and use on the iPhone. 

Honestly it is like the first days when 

the PC was released and those of us 

who were around in the 80’s (man do 

I feel old right now) can remember 

new companies popping up with neat 

new applications to run on our first 

computers. 

One of the reasons that Google’s 

Android is going to give the iPhone a 

run for its money is because they also 

are opening the door for third party 

programmers to create applications 

for users to download. It is going to 

be interesting to see two companies, 

Apple and Google, that a year ago 

were trying to muscle their way into 

the wireless industry, and now both 

seem to be at the beginning stages of 

moving us from “smart phones” to a 

new era of computing. When the iPhone 

first came on the market, I stated 

that I believed the biggest mistake 

Apple made was calling it a phone, 

since it is the beginning of mobile 


August 2008 16

computing, and the phone feature is by far the least important thing it does. 

The Down Side of Apps and iPhones 

Yes, it is true that the iPhone is my first Apple product. I expected to be shown the secret handshake when I 

purchased my iPhones, but was told that is reserved for those that actually purchased an Apple computer. However, 

I was impressed walking into the Apple store. 

So far, my experience has been good and bad. As I mentioned earlier, I purchased two iPhones, one for me, 

and one for my wife. We immediately went to the online App store icon and started to download applications. 

On our second day after I downloaded another 3 or 4 new applications, I discovered that they wouldn’t run. They 

would start, hang for about 5 seconds, and then I would find myself looking at my home page. So, back to the 

Apple store I went, to talk to an Apple Genius. They informed me that since I was downloading apps through the 

phone instead of over the web, one of the applications might have lost connection on download and that caused 

those that followed to also have a problem. Their simple solution was to go back to my house and hit the “restore” 

button to clear everything and start over. This wasn’t too painful since iTunes handled my backup and made it 

easy to restore my apps and settings. And, good news, the problem was fixed. The next day, downloading apps 

through iTunes and my computer, instead of directly from my iPhone, I encountered the same problem. I had my 

wife download these same apps, and they worked fine on her iPhone. Back to the Apple Genius. It seemed clear 

that there was something different about my iPhone than my wife’s since we both downloaded the same apps 

the same way and they worked on her iPhone but would not on mine. The Apple Genius’ response? They are not 

responsible for third party apps and were not willing to admit that my iPhone might be having some problems. So 

far, I have restored my iPhone 3 times and have held up on downloading apps until I can get a genius to agree that 

maybe I need a new iPhone. 

So, kudos to Apple for the iPhone I purchased for my wife. And, I LOVE mine as well, except for the frustration 

of having to do restore’s and dealing with Apple geniuses. 

Conclusion 

I think personal mobile computing devices (PMcDs as my wife refers to them) will prove to be an important 

part of all computer applications and implementations. We know that the sales of smart phones are rising at a dramatic 

rate, even in a time when there are great economic concerns. And, since there are many wireless providers, 

and even more that produce wireless devices, it is going to be hard to establish standards. When cell phones were 

first released and features were initially added, one could only send a text message or photo to someone that was 

either on the same wireless service, or in some cases, the same phone. Many of those barriers have been removed. 

Hopefully, as this area of technology continues to grow, so will the ability to share applications. 


tech talk 

Firefox Tips 

Dr. J.D. (Doc) Watson - docwatson3228@qwest.net 

This month we’ll take one more look at Firefox (FF) by 

adding a few tips that I guarantee will make for easier 

and more efficient use, including: specifying multiple 

homepages, reopening closed tabs, really fast search tips, and 

all the keyboard shortcuts you’ll ever need to know (and then 

some). 

Specifying Multiple Homepages 

If you want more than one homepage (is that 

an oxymoron?), go to “Tools > Options > Main,” 

and then just type however many pages you want 

to open when FF starts separated by the vertical 

bar ( | ), which is located above the backslash. 

On startup, each will be on its own tab. 

Adding Address Prefix and Suffix Automatically 

In case you haven’t run across this timesaving 

(and finger-saving) tip, you can drastically 

cut down typing with these shortcuts that 

will forever deliver you from having to type 

http, www, .com, and all that other stuff on the 

address line. For example, type ccmag on the address 

line, and then press Ctrl+Enter; this will 

automatically display http://www.ccmag.com/ 

on the address line and take you there. Pressing 

Shft+Enter does the same for a net address, and 

Ctrl+ Shft+Enter does it for an org. 

Reopening Closed Tabs 

Man, I sure like this one. Have you ever 

closed a browser tab and then wanted it back? 

There are three ways to do it. 1) Right-click on 


any tab that is still open and select “Undo Close Tab” 

from the context menu. 2) Press Ctrl+Shift+T (think of 

it as the opposite of Ctrl+T, which opens a new tab). 3) 

Click the “History” item on the main menu, point at “Recently 

Closed Tabs,” and then click one of the last ten tabs 

previously opened. Who knew!!! 

Searching a Site Before You Even Go There 

Normally, you have to go to a sight, click in the 

Search box, type a search string, yada, yada, yada. Try this 

instead. First, go to any site you use often (e.g., Wikipedia), 

right-click the “Search” field and select “Add a 

Keyword for This Search” from the context menu. This 

opens the “Add Bookmark” dialog box. Second, pick 

any short word or acronym and type it in the “Keyword” 

field (e.g. wiki), and then type an appropriate name in 

the “Name” box (e.g., Wikipedia Search). Third, click 

the list arrow at the far right and select a folder in which 

you want the bookmark stored (FF comes with a “Quick 

Searches” folder so you might want to use that), and then 

click “OK.” From now on, no matter where you are, you 

can just type your acronym in the “Address Bar” (BTW, 

press Ctrl+L to go to the Address Bar”) followed by your 

search string (e.g.: wiki Charles Spurgeon), and press 

Enter. 

August 2008 18


Using Quick Search 

Speaking of quick searching 

– highlight any text on a page, 

right-click on it, and click the 

“Search” option on the context 

menu. This launches the search 

in your default engine. (Select 

your default engine in the box in 

the upper right corner of FF.) 

Using Mouse Shortcuts 

Here’s a few ways to use 

your rodent more efficiently. 1) 

Click the scroll wheel on any 

web link to open that link in a 

new tab without making that 

Tab active. 2) Click the scroll 

wheel on a tab to close it. 3) 

Pressing Shift and then scrolling 

the wheel backward is like 

clicking the “Back” button 

and scrolling it forward (you 

guessed it). 4) Pressing Ctrl and 

scrolling zooms text in and out. 

Using Keyboard Shortcuts 

As I told my students for 

years, nothing makes a PC user 

more efficient than using keyboard 

shortcuts. Here’s your 

official guide to FF’s shortcuts. 

Firefox Keyboard Shortcuts 

PRESS 

Ctrl+hyphen 

Ctrl+Plus 

Ctrl+0 (Zero) 

Ctrl+Down Arrow 

Ctrl+F 

Ctrl+G (or F3 or Alt+N) 

Ctrl+D 

Ctrl+J (Ctrl+Y on Linux) 

Ctrl+K 

Ctrl+L 

Ctrl+n (where n is a number) 

Ctrl+S 

Ctrl+T 

Ctrl+W 

Ctrl+Tab or Ctrl+Page Down 

Ctrl+Shift+Tab or Ctrl+Page Up 

Alt+Enter 

F5 

F6 

F7 

Shift+F3 

Alt-Home 

Spacebar 

Shift-Spacebar 

TO 

Decrease text size 

Increase text size 

Restore text to normal size 

Select next search engine in location 

bar 

Find content by search string 

Repeat last Find operation forward 

Bookmark current page 

Open download manager window 

Go to Search box 

Go to the address bar 

Go to the nth tab 

Save current page as file 

Open new tab 

Close current tab 

Move to the next tab 

Move to the previous tab 

Open URL in a new tab 

Reload (refresh) current page 

Move to next frame 

Toggle caret browsing 

Repeat last Find operation backward 

Go to home page 

Page down 

Page up 

“Windows Hot Tips 3” and More 

Windows Hot Tips 3 covers all the tips 

and other stuff presented in my column from 

January 2004 to January 2007 (including 

graphics). Order yours today (it will be greatly 

appreciated). Like its predecessors, it makes a 

great quick reference because it’s divided into 

sections, each of which contains related tips. 

There are two other booklets in this Hot 

Tips series, Windows Hot Tips 1 and 2. A 

single copy of each is $6.50 (sorry for the rise 

in price, but printing costs demanded it). Bulk 

prices are: $6.00 for 2-9 copies of the same title 

and $5.50 for 10 or more copies. If you’d like 

to help with costs (not required), add 50 cents 

for any number of booklets you order. 

Doc’s Giant Utility Collection on CD is 

still postage paid at $14 (2-5 copies $13 each, 

and 6 or more copies $12 each). Send orders 

to: MicroManuals; PO Box 235; Meeker, CO; 

81641. Thanks again for your faithful support. 

God bless. 


August 2008 20

special feature 

Why We Switched… 

As we start this new column in CCMag, I am excited to see where it will 

lead. Each month we will interview a church and ask them to tell us 

why they switched from one Church Management Software (CMS) to 

another. Why did they switch? How did they make the decision? What were the 

benefits? To make things fair we will try to ask the same questions each month 

even though we might be interviewing a small church or a mega-church. In addition, 

while we will tell you what product the church switched too, we are going to 

keep the product they switched from anonymous. Every product, if it is still on the 

market, has a value and customers that love them. However, there is no one product 

that is right for everyone. Hopefully through this series, we will discover how 

a church comes to recognize the need for a change, and how they accomplish the 

switch. 

This month we interview Doug Gouley, Administrator 

of the Offering Computer at Bayfair Baptist 

Church in Pickering Ontario. 


We have one Chaplain and two Donarius Administrators. 

Our office staff includes one Church Administrator 

and one Office Administrator. Our church 

also administers the Bayfair Baptist Daycare with 

approximately 120 children daily. 

1. Tell us a bit about your church. (Average attendance, 

ministries, how many people are 

involved in administration) 

2. Indicate some of the reasons you were looking 

Bayfair Baptist Church is a member of the Fellowship 

of Evangelical Baptist Churches. We have NOT identify the CMS they switched FROM, 

for new church management software. (We will 

two services on Sunday, one morning and one evening. 

Our children’s’ programs take place Sundays We were running an old Windows 95 PC with 

but will refer to it as “Product X”) 

and Summer Daily Bible School which lasts for one “Product X” as the offering/donations program. 

week. Our adult ministry includes Sunday morning Product X was difficult to learn and to operate and 

classes and Discipleship classes before services. We very hard to make corrections or fix errors. We found 

have a Wednesday evening Bible study and prayer that it was not “forgiving”. It was also a DOS based 

meeting. In addition we have weekly men’s and application. We had to pay for support, found reports 

lady’s Bible study groups, a monthly hot meal for were difficult to create, and income tax receipts were 

single parents and children, missionaries in the field, difficult to create and print. It was also difficult to 

Christianity Explored classes, a street ministry, Junior maintain name and addresses changes. And, since it 

and Senior High youth groups and a Serenity Group. was time to retire our old computer, we decided to 


look for a new offering program at 

the same time. 

3. Please describe how you decided 

to purchase your new 

CMS. 

Starting at $64.97 

The answer should include for the base version with 

these items: 

25% off for small churches 

a) How many companies/products 

did you investigate? 

www.donarius.com 

1-888-479-4636 

We investigated five different 

Nuverb Systems Inc. 

programs. I sent screen dumps and 

features of each of the candidates to 

our church Tellers for evaluation before selecting one as a finalist. 

b) What other people were involved in the decision? 

We had several involved in the decision making process. I was the researcher who chose Donarius and 

demonstrated and recommended Donarius to five people and to the Chief Teller who would be using it to 

enter donations. Upon their approval and acceptance it went to our Board of Deacons (twelve) who approved 

the change and the purchase 

c) What was the determining factor? 

There were several things that helped us make the decision. Our tellers could not relate envelope numbers 

to donor names in our previous program. For privacy reasons, we do not want our Tellers to be able to relate 

envelope numbers to names and, depending on the password used, Donarius will not allow that. We found 

the ease of use by our tellers and the fact that Donarius was easy to administer were two of the determining 

factors. In addition we were impressed by Donarius’ ability to create quick and easy reports (both in text and 

CSV formats). And, finally we appreciated Donarius’ easy setup and ability to change General Ledger items. 

And, Donarius is Canadian; it “knows” Canadian taxes. 

d) How long did it take? 

It took about four or five months for us to make the decision to change from what we had, and to purchase 

Donarius. I chose to run 2 months “in parallel” to prove that everything worked as planned. 

4. How has using the new CMS impacted your ministry or your administration? 

Besides the features we have already mentioned, we found Donarius saved time. Since the program is 

much easier to use than “product X” it has not only saved us time, but frustration. And we have found Nuverb 

to be very responsive to our requests and they have implemented changes based upon our recommendations. 

5. Compare your previous and current software, in terms of: 

a) What things you can or cannot do: 

We can now easily create reports and income tax receipts. Also, setup and reporting on General Ledger 

items and balances are quicker and easier. Also, before we couldn’t re-assign and issue envelope numbers and 

still be able to issue income taxes to the old envelope numbers. Renumbering envelope numbers is quite easy 

as is reassigning unused envelope numbers 

b) How much time it takes: 

Donarius saves us a lot of time compared to “product X”. It is very easy and therefore fast for us to train 

data entry tellers. Entering donations is quick and easy. We can quickly print bank deposits and audit reports 

of daily offerings. And, whenever updates to the program are sent from Nuverb, we find installing them easy. 

d) What problems you do or do you not encounter: 

Whenever we have had a problem or have not figured out how to do something (such as adding page 


“Save time and get more done, 

with fewer headaches” 

Donarius Church Management Software 

Used by over 1000 churches and 

ministries in Canada and the USA 

Easily keep track of members, contributions, 

pledges and more... Print tax receipts that 

comply with the new IRS guidelines. Send 

personlized letters and emails. Re-assign 

envelope numbers automatically. 

August 2008 22

numbers to reports) Nuverb was 

able to quickly fix our problem. 

6. What is the difference 

between the service you have 

now and before? 

Especially: 

a) How were problems handled 

and how long does it take 

to get an answer when you 

call or email the company: 

Whenever we have had a 

problem or question in using 

Donarius, they are handled by 

Nuverb almost immediately. My 

emails are answered the next day 

and fixes come quickly. I have 

asked for quite a few changes to 

Donarius and they have come 

quickly. One change, for example, 

needed quite a bit of programming 

(we did not want our 

tellers to be able to associate an 

envelope number with a donor’s 

name) yet Nuverb handled our 

request quickly and without a 

charge. Whenever I have called 

with a problem, which has only 

been a few times, the problems 

have been addressed quickly. 

7. Did you purchase new hardware when you switched to your 

new CMS? If so, what did you use before, and what did you upgrade 

too? 

Yes, we purchased a new PC because our old computer was really 

old (running Windows 95 and needed to be replaced. We purchased a 

new Dell desktop that would run Windows XP Home and upgraded to 

Donarius at that time. 

Conclusion 

Time has proven that we made the correct choice.; the program is 

doing what we need. Nuverb support has continued at a high level. 

For more information about Donarius from Nuverb, contact; 

Nuverb Systems Inc. 

27 Lawnview Dr. 

Toronto, ON M2N 5J9 

Canada 

1 (888) 479-INFO or 1 (866) NUVERBS 

http://www.donarius.com 

http://www.nuverb.com 

question@nuverb.com 


ACS 

ACS ideas to impact 

Special Events, Part 2 

Execute Your Event & Follow Up With Guests 

from ACS Technologies 

The previous ACS Technologies article on special events discussed strategic 

planning prior to holding your event. This article, excerpted from the ACS 

ministry guide Events From Start to Finish, will cover the execution of 

special events, including how to: 

• gather necessary resources 

• raise awareness of your events 

• make a great first impression 

• track attendance 

• follow up with guests 

Gather Necessary Resources 

Now that you’ve planned your event, it’s time to pull 

together the resources needed to properly execute your event: 

facilities, materials, equipment, and volunteers. 

Make a task list for each team member and create deadlines 

for each task’s completion. Post your team’s lists on your Web 

site and have them modify their lists as they accomplish tasks. 

Many of the materials and equipment you need are available 

through the church, so remember to reserve them early to ensure 

availability. Facility scheduling software that allows you to keep 

track of reserved resources can help eliminate double-booking. 

Another key element of successful events is volunteer 

involvement. When recruiting volunteers, find people with skills 

relevant to your event. Many churches use volunteer management 

software to organize their volunteers, post opportunities 

online, and allow volunteers to sign up in real time. 

Raise Awareness of Your Event 

If you want to attract people to your event, publicize it in 

a way that is honest and appealing to help the community see 


who you are as a church. Everything you say and do, even the 

location of your services and events, communicates who your 

church is to the community. 

There are numerous tools available to help you raise 

awareness of your event. For instance, by using an online data 

management system, your leaders can access the database from 

anywhere to retrieve phone numbers or e-mail addresses. They 

can then easily contact small group and Sunday school class 

members, new members and visitors. 

Make a Great First Impression 

Once your preparations are complete and people begin to 

arrive for the event, do everything you can to make each attendee’s 

initial experience at your church a positive one. 

Friendly hosts can provide the relational connection that 

attendees want as they enter your event. In addition to having 

hosts, set up an information table with volunteers who can answer 

questions, give directions, and hand out resource materials 

such as brochures about your church. 

Track Attendance 

Another important aspect of successful events is being 

able to track who attends, which will help you better measure 

and analyze the results of your event. This, in turn, allows you 

to make more effective decisions regarding future events. 

August 2008 24

Try to gather the contact information 

of every event attendee. If the event 

does not require pre-registration, think of 

creative ways to get people to leave their 

contact information, such as holding raffles. 

You can then record this information and 

follow up with the individuals later. With 

an online data management system that interfaces 

with your church management system, 

you can maintain attendance records 

by individual or event, and even view/print 

attendance summaries of all your events. 

Follow Up With Guests & Volunteers 

After your event, bring your team together 

to evaluate and share their thoughts 

on the entire process. This is important for 

the growth and commitment of the individuals 

and for the success of your future 

events. Remember to show your appreciation 

of the team’s efforts, perhaps through a 

party or small gift. Volunteers that feel appreciated 

are much more likely to volunteer 

again. 

Guest follow-up is crucial to increasing 

the chances that attendees will return to 

your church. Personally thank your attendees 

for coming and invite them to another 

function, either through a phone call, email, 

or visit. 

Final Step to Success 

Proper execution of your event is 

necessary for success. When you gather 

your resources, and raise awareness of your 

events, you can make a great first impression 

on your guests, track and analyze 

attendance, and follow up with guests to 

invite them to return. Proper execution 

combined with cohesive planning will 

strengthen your special events ministry and 

help grow your church. 

By implementing these ideas and tools, 

you can take your event ministry to the next 

level and grow your church. To get more 

information about how ACS Technologies 

can help you more effectively execute your 

events, download the ACS ministry guide 

Events From Start to Finish, visit www. 

acstechnologies.com, or call 800-736-7425. 


higher power with kevin 

Using Tablets and Faith 

Kevin A. Purcell - kevin@kevinpurcell.org 

The TabletPC and the PDA have changed the way 

that many people use computers and technology 

to get their work done, whether that work is as a 

doctor, a pastor, a teacher or a student. Along with some 

unique resources like OneNote or Evernote, writing on a 

computer or PDA is not only possible but enjoyable and 

functional. 

One person who is a leader in informing and educating 

people in the use of mobile devices is Rob Bushway of GottaBeMobile.com 

(http://www.gottabemobile.com) and Zoe 


Technologies (http://www.zoeinc.com). If you are looking for 

news and information about the TabletPC, Ultra Mobile PC, 

or PDAs, then GottaBeMobile.com might be the best place 

to start. The site is dedicated to informing 

readers, via more than a half a dozen articles 

per day, all about mobile computing. They 

also produce a number of video reviews and 

podcasts on subjects ranging from how to use 

software for mobile devices to the functionality 

of new computers from the leading vendors. 

I recently interviewed Rob regarding GottaBeMobile 

and his company Zoe Technologies. 

The reason I thought he would be of 

interest to our readers is that besides being a 

leader in the mobile tech arena, Rob is also a 

believer, living out his faith in the public tech 

square. 

Rob Bushway started out working in the 

computer field as a programmer when he was 

eighteen years old. In 2001 he started Zoe 

Technologies, which caters to companies needing 

custom, database-driven, web sites. Sites 

he has worked on include Focus on the Family 

August 2008 26

Family’s site http://www.WhitsEnd.org, 

which centered around their Adventures In 

Odyssey franchise as well as FOF’s Radio 

Theater site http://www.radiotheatre.org. Other 

examples of sites produced by Zoe Technologies 

are the home page for Village Seven 

Presbyterian Church (http://wwwv.7pc.org) 

and for the National Junior College Atheltic 

Association (http://www.njcaa.org). If you 

visit these sites you will see that Bushway’s 

work is feature rich and attractive. 

Rob moved into the mobile computing 

platform when a friend, fellow GottaBeMobile 

founder Dennis Rice, told him about 

a new platform that would “totally change 

how everyone used computers.” It was 

the Tablet PC. He said he was at first quite 

skeptical but as he looked into it further his 

curiosity was piqued and he ordered an HP 

TC1000 Tablet PC. His arrived before his 

friend’s and together they were hooked. 

“The ability to write on the screen and have 

those handwritten notes searchable and 

always available was quite attractive,” he 

said. 

In 2006 just five years later Rob Bushway 

and Dennis Rice started GottaBeMobile.com. 

They saw a “huge void in news 

and community forums covering tablet PCs, mobile PCs, and ultra-mobiles.” Since its beginning Bushway has become the sole 

owner and the Editor-in-Chief. Along with seven others, the site produces quite a lot of content related to the mobile platforms. 

Added to their blog, video podcasts, and reviews, they have an active forum for discussion. That is how I got involved with 

Bushway. He is very active in the forums answering questions, criticisms and asking questions. One of the things you will 

see as you read his posts is that 

no matter how people might treat 

him he is always kind, considerate 

and patient. The forums at GottaBeMobile 

have a wonderfully 

congenial atmosphere, especially 

when you consider that people 

seem to become brazenly critical 

and sometimes mean when they 

interact on the Internet. He told 

me that the forums are “remarkably 

polite.” When I asked him 

how he handles people who 

misbehave he said it happens very 

little, but when he does he confronts 

them as if they were face to 

face. Sounds to me very much like 

the command of Christ in Matthew 

18 which requires that we confront 

those who have a problem with us 

before going on. We can all learn 


a lesson from this passage and the application 

of it by the GottaBeMobile team. 

At this point Tablet PCs are not in the 

mainstream. But they could be of great 

help to users. Many believers find themselves 

involved in meetings, classes and 

lectures, or on the go. For ministers they 

can be of help whether their area of focus 

is music, preaching, counseling, teaching 

or just administration. I asked Rob how 

he saw them as a benefit in the Christian 

computing arena. 

“Tablets have tremendous potential 

in the church. Just last year, I helped 

our music minister choose his Tablet 

PC, which he wanted to use to mark 

up music, as well as take notes while 

in staff meetings or in counseling sessions. 

The right mobile computer, coupled 

with the right software, can really 

free up a pastor to do what God called 

him to do: minister to those who are 

hurting and in need. Good technology 

gets out of the way, and that is 

what Tablet PC technology thrives at. 

In addition, tablets in particular can 

bring another dimension to presenting 

Sunday school lessons – writing on the screen to make a point, drawing out diagrams, etc. The key to successful use of 

a tablet is good software. Fortunately, we have a good choice of software available to us, but it can certainly improve.” 

There are many good examples of Tablet friendly software. If you are a musician, you can print to PDF and then use PDF Annotator 

(available at http://www.ograhl.com/en/pdfannotator) or Bluebeam’s PDF Revu (available at http://www.bluebeam.com). 

PDF Annotator or PDF Revu let you ink on top of PDF files. You could use them for anything that you can make into a PDF 

file. Musicians can use it to write music on PDF Music paper (you can find some at http://preview.tinyurl.com/yry2qj). Or you 

could use any eBooks you have in PDF format. 

Bushway also suggested that if you use Bible Study software you could simply use the Print to PDF feature and use your 

resources in those programs allowing you to write in the margins again, just like you can with regular books and a pen, pencil 

and/or highlighter. 

One new genre of software that is available is note taking software like Microsoft OneNote, EverNote, and GoBinder (see 

my article from the May issue http://www.ccmag2.com/2008_05/ccmag2008_05higherpower.pdf). These are all designed to 

help people take notes and collect information. Using OneNote or GoBinder as a platform, Bushway created what he calls the 

TabletBible (http://www.tabletbible.com). This is a free downloadable Bible that can be used inside OneNote or GoBinder. The 

Tablet Bible consists of bibles that can be used inside note taking applications. They have very wide margins and are double 

spaced to make it easy to ink notes on the screen of a Tablet or Ultra-Mobile PC. They are free to download and use. 

I asked Bushway why he created TabletBible and he said he grew weary of waiting for other Bible software companies to 

make their products ink friendly. At this point there is not a Bible study program that is able to accept on screen ink as a form of 

input natively. You can use the Vista or XP Tablet Input Panel, but I think it would be great to have a program designed for use 

on a computer with inking capabilities. You could highlight text, write notes in the margins, or create links between works just 

by drawing a line from one spot in one book to another spot in another book. Instead of waiting for the popular companies to 

include some of this functionality, he created Tablet Bible. 

Currently the New King James Version is available in OneNote and GoBinder formats. The ESV is available for OneNote 

only. The King James Version and Young’s Literal Translation are both available only for GoBinder. He also has some other resources 

available like dictionaries, confessions or catechisms, and a long list of books from authors like E.M. Bounds, John Cal- 


August 2008 28

vin, Charles Dickens and Mark Twain, 

to name just a few. There is also a Word 

Macro code available to let you create 

your own books for OneNote or GoBinder. 

I have used the ESV in OneNote and 

love it for just reading and personal note 

taking. If I had a smaller tablet I might 

use it even in preaching and teaching situations. 

Bushway does not have immediate 

plans to release others. But if the Bible 

study publishers are reading this, maybe 

they’d like to contribute to the effort. The 

real difficulty is time and copyright issues. 

So you are not likely to see an NIV 

or NASB version any time soon. But you 

might be able to create them for yourself. 

Just as you can Print to PDF from 

your Bible software, if you have Microsoft 

OneNote, you can also Print to 

OneNote and mark up your books using 

ink there as well. This may seem like a 

lot of work just to make notations on a 

book. But I find that reading in OneNote 

is much easier than in the Bible programs. 

And since no Bible study programs 

offer inking features, this lets you 

not only ink but search your notes just as 

you could in Bible study programs. The 

difference is that your notes will be in 

your handwriting instead of having to use 

the Tablet PC Input Panel, which works 

great (Vista is a big improvement in this 

area over XP) but is not as quick as direct 

inking in OneNote or other note taking 

software. I’ve been doing my personal 

Bibly study in the ESV TabletBible for 

a little while and I enjoy it. I’ve also 

exported a book I am reading that I have in Logos but not physical form. I’ve enjoyed reading in this way. I will export many 

others and read them in OneNote. 

If you want to create a OneNote Notebook from a public domain work, a work you own the copyright rights to because you 

wrote it or are a publisher, or if you have permission from the publisher, then Bushway would be happy to host the files on his 

TabletBible site. As mentioned he has a macro available the helps to automate the process. But if you like to do things the hard 

way he explained that you create OneNote notebooks as follows: 

1. Set the OneNote 2007 printer as the default printer by going into the control panel and clicking on printers. Right click the 

OneNote 2007 printer and choose “set as default”. Repeat these steps when you are done to set your old printer back to the 

default. 

2. Go into OneNote 2007 and create a new notebook. Each chapter of the book will be a page in OneNote with a tab along 

the right side. For Bible books he recommends creating a section tab for each book of the bible (at the top of OneNote) and 

then each chapter of the book will be a page (along the right). 

3. Now setup Word by creating a new document with very wide margins, like 1.75 inches on the right and left and 1 inch on 

the top and 3 inches on the bottom. This allows for plenty of room for inking in OneNote. Set line spacing to 2 lines. 

4. Select the source text and paste it into Word. You may want to do a Paste Special and select unformatted text. Now format 


it as you wish including fonts, spacing, 

page breaks, etc. 

5. Print and it will go to an empty page in 

OneNote. 

6. Create a new page and repeat steps 4 

and 5 for each chapter of the book. 

If you would like to have the book 

posted on the www.TabletBible.com page, 

send an email to Rob Bushway at 

rob@zoeinc.com. 

Bushway does not use his computer in 

church that much. He prefers the old fashioned 

method of reading a paper bible as he 

listens to his pastor preach. I can understand 

that. However, he does use his iPhone and 

Tablet in other settings to do Bible Study. 

He also uses OneNote for taking notes. 

And of course, in doing his job with Zoe 

Technologies and GottaBeMobile, he uses 

his computer all the time. 

I asked Rob about his Christian walk in 

the world of technology. He said, “I try to 

live my life as transparently as possible.” I 

have seen that in his activities online. From 

the way he responds to people in his forums 

to the picture he uses to identify himself 

there with a huge smile, he tries to live his Christian life. He also uses his personal web site to help show how God is working in 

his life. He said: 

I love to write about what God has been showing me about people, my own sin, struggles and trials He is bringing 

our family through, and more. I really enjoy observing people and imagining their stories, then writing about what God 

has shown me. I find that by writing transparently and sharing that via my personal blog, I’ve been able to point many 

people to God’s goodness in ways that would be much more difficult. 

If you visit his personal site (http://www.robbushway.com) you will also learn of the struggles his family has had as their 

daughter Maggie faces health problems. She is a cancer survivor, but because her cancer was in the brain, it has caused some difficult 

consequences with seizures and cognitive learning problems. While many people are private about such issues Rob says that writing 

about them publicly on his web site is not only personally therapeutic, but it is also a way to minister to others who might have to face 

similar struggles. In his own words: 

Living on this side of Heaven is very difficult. There is so much pain and hurt in everyone’s life - it just shows itself differently. 

For some, it is health related. For others, it is disappointment with a spouse. Out of that pain and hurt, there are real 

conversations taking place between the person and God. I write in a very open manner because to do otherwise would falsely 

set a bar for what it means to walk with Christ. I want people to know that the conversations they have with God, whether 

praising Him for how He has provided or lashing out in anger for losing their little girl, is true prayer. God wants us to pour 

our hearts out to Him, and often times, that doesn’t look pretty. A walk with God doesn’t look pretty. We shouldn’t try to 

pretty it up for the public’s sake. 

We can all learn a lesson from Rob Bushway’s struggles and his transparency as he tries to help support others in God’s kingdom 

struggling with life on this side of heaven and inside the technology community. 

If you know of people doing unique things in the tech community while they live out their Christian faith, I’d love to know about 

it and maybe share it with readers. Send me an email at kevin@keivnpurcell.org or visit my site at www.kevinpurcell.org. 


August 2008 30

cool tools 

Beyond Google: 

Alternative Search Engines 

C. Brian Smith - chbsmith@comcast.net 

Many Web searchers never stray beyond the 

Big Three: Google (http://www.google.com), 

Yahoo! (http://www.yahoo.com), and Live 

Search (http://www.live.com). Several companies track 

search engine usage patterns, including Nielsen Net Ratings 

(http://www.nielsen-netratings.com) and Hitwise 

(http://www.hitwise.com). Hitwise actually reported that 

- - as of June 2008 - - Google has amassed 70% of the search market pie. Yahoo! 

follows with 20%. Then LiveSearch weighs in with six percent, and Ask.com 

(http://www.ask.com) captures four percent. 

Google is the definite behemoth that is synonymous mately 1,000 search engines. Alternative Search Engines 

with search. Google is now a part of our vernacular 

offers tabs for a plethora of categories: e.g., news, 

and collective consciousness (or, as Swiss psychiatrist reviews, global, debate, etc. Most important, Alternative 

Carl Jung would say, our collective unconscious). “Just 

Search Engines features a “Top 100” list available 

Google it” or “I Googled it” are common phrases heard in PDF as well as Excel. 

in everyday, information-related discussion. Not only Profiled here are a few gems culled from the likes 

is Google a noun, but also it’s a verb . . . a verb that has of Alternative Search Engines and other recommendations 

been incorporated it into dictionaries such as Merriam- 

such as the Lifehacker productivity blog 

Webster. 

(http://wwwlifehacker.com). Some are general, all 

Yet myriad other search tools exist, and they are purpose ones. Consider them to be Swiss Army Knife 

worth knowing about and exploring. One of the most tools. Others are specialized, niche resources. 

helpful resources for tracking niche, vertical, and upand-coming 

First is Exalead (http://www.exalead.com). Found- 

search technology is Alternative Search ed in 2000 in Paris, France, this European search tool 

Engines (http://www.altsearchengines.com). This indexes approximately eight billion web pages and 

resource is a member of the ReadWriteWeb 

offers a lot of cool features. For instance, it features 

(http://www.readwriteweb.com) blog network, one several databases, including Web, Images, Wikipedia, 

of the most popular destinations in the blogosphere, Video, and MyPC. Users can add “shortcuts” to the 

according to Technorati (http://www.technorati.com). main Exalead search page. Default shortcuts include 

Charles Knight of Charlottesville, Virginia edits the Weather.com (http://www.weather.com), BBC 

content on this website, which claims to track approxi- 

(http://www.bbc.co.uk), Yellow Pages 


(http://www.yellowpages.com), 

Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia. 

org), and others. Power searchers 

will want to exploit Exalead’s 

advanced search features; these 

include phonetic searching, 

approximate spelling, and date 

limiters. When users execute a 

search, they’ll see thumbnail image 

results (i.e., previews) along 

with a plethora of options to refine 

their search by site type (e.g., 

blog, forum), media (e.g., audio, 

video), and other possibilities. To 

take full advantage of Exalead’s 

features, customizations, and 

personalizations, users may want 

to consider a free registration. 

Registered users can participate 

in Exalead’s feedback forums. 

Exalead also provides a desktop 

search client (http://www.exalead. 

com/download/exaleadDesktop) 

that combs emails and hard drive 

files. What’s more, Exalead has 

developed a toolbar for Microsoft 

Internet Explorer (http:// 

www.exalead.com/download/ 

internetExplorerToolbar). Users 

and fans can stay informed about 

Exalead by reading the official 

Exalead blog (http://blog.exalead. 

com/). 

Next is a specialized, vertical 

tool: ZabaSearch (http://www. 

zabasearch.com); it has dominated 

people search since 2005. Specifically, 

this site indexes United 

States residents and includes their 

first and last names, birthdates . . 

. as well as current and previous 

addresses. Users can search by 

telephone number (i.e., perform 

a reverse directory search) in addition to Social Security Number. Individuals can sign up to receive alerts when 

their own name is searched by others on ZabaSearch. Those concerned about their personal privacy can opt out, 

too. Unfortunately, this service costs $20. No doubt ZabaSearch quickly has become the darling of public records 

researchers, class reunion organizers, and, unfortunately, stalkers. (This writer was able to find himself in ZabaSearch 

at an address that he resided in another state more than a decade ago.) ZabaSearch even includes a list of the 

top 25 names searched (http://www.zabasearch.com/topsearches/), which includes celebrities such as Brad Pitt and 

Paris Hilton - - not to mention Average Joes and Plain Janes. 

Moving along . . .. Since 2002, Gigablast (http://www.gigablast.com) has provided a clean, simple interface 

and the following databases: Web, Images, Video, and Directory. The Directory, by the way, is none other than the 

venerable Open Directory Project (http://www.dmoz.org). The Advanced search allows for enabling and disabling 


August 2008 32

a filter; turning on and off the 

clustering feature; and adjusting 

the number of summary excerpts. 

Also, Gigablast’s “freshness 

dating” claims to offer 

users the ability to find new web 

pages. Users can choose to find 

new material from the last day, 

week, month, and year. 

Another unique resource is 

Factbites (http://www.factbites. 

com). This Australian company 

claims to be a hybrid of a search 

engine and an encyclopedia. 

Its approach to information 

retrieval is to render results 

useful by providing meaningful 

content in the actual results. 

It actually generates results in 

sentences (as opposed to merely 

matching keywords). Execute a 

search on “extended metaphor,” 

for example, and discover the 

definition of this literary phrase 

in the results. To date, Factbites 

indexes some 800,000 topics. 

Last, Clusty (http://www. 

clusty.com) is a metasearcher 

that - - as its name suggests 

- - uses clustering technology 

to organize results into topical 

categories. Run a search on 

rock band U2, and results are 

organized in clusters such as 

pictures, lyrics, tickets, reviews, 

and more. This tool crawls the 

likes of The Open Directory 

Project, Gigablast, and Ask. A 

subsidiary of Vivisimo (http:// 

www.vivisimo.com), Clusty 

includes several default databases such as web, news, images, Wikipedia, blogs, jobs, shopping, and more. Users 

can limit searches to find results in a certain file format, including Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and PDF. 

To keep pace with search engine developments and resources, Web wayfarers may want to monitor sites such 

as Pandia (http://www.pandia.com) and Search Engine Watch (http://www.searchenginewatch.com), which offers 

an email newsletter called Search Day. These resources are available in RSS format, and, therefore, they easily 

can be added to a feedreader such as Google Reader (http://www.google.com/reader) or Bloglines (http://www. 

bloglines.com). Think outside of the Google box when it comes to search; experiment with a new tool each week. 

This writer has even come across a blogger who advocates for “No Google Fridays”. Forcing one’s self to use 

other search tools is the best way to learn and become familiar with tools beyond Google. Be forewarned that the 

Google addiction is a hard habit to break. A support and accountability group may be necessary! 

C. Brian Smith, freelance writer, resides in Illinois. 

Read CCMag’s Review of our LogosGiving Service!Visit 

www.ccmag2.com/logos/0205coverstory.pdf 


ministry communication 

Are your church communications 

accomplishing what you want them to? 

http://effectivechurchcom.wordpress.com 

Yvon Prehn - yvonprehn@aol.com 

We have extraordinary tools available to create 

church communications and to wow people with 

our multi-media technology creations. Churches 

of every size can create and challenge members with video, 

media-rich websites and colorful print graphics. Dedicated 

church communication teams work hard to turn church leadership 

vision into reality. So what happens when we create 

these great communication pieces, but few people show up 

or volunteer for our ministry event? Read on for analysis and 

solutions: 

Two sad, but true stories: 


Story One –Communications to get volunteers to sign up to 

help at Vacation Bible School 

The Communications Team created an upbeat, colorful 

video about the upcoming VBS program. It took lots of time to 

shoot, edit, and produce. Included in the video were humorous 

yet, impassioned pleas to sign up and help with the program. 

To do that people were directed to a VBS table in the lobby to 

sign up after the church service. When presented to the church it 

received a rousing round of applause. 

On the Sunday the video was shown, there was no VBS 

sign-up table in the lobby for volunteers. The bulletin listed the 

participants in the video, but no details were given about the 

VBS program itself or who to contact. The church website had 

the dates and location of the program and a rather long, sign up 

form to print off and fill out for children wanting to attend. Nowhere 

on the website was a name or contact information if you 

wanted to volunteer to help. There was no description of jobs, 

responsibilities or training for volunteers. 

Results: 

The church had very few people helping with the program. 

So few in fact, that the pastor was recruited to be one of the 

teachers. He wondered, after the amount of time and money 

spent on the video and people’s obviously positive response to 

it, why it didn’t result in more volunteers. 

Not only did they not get the needed volunteers, but one 

potential volunteer was so frustrated in trying to find out how 

to sign up to help after not finding anyone at the promised table 

and no written information in the bulletin or on the website that 

she ending up leaving an angry message on the church answering 

machine and vowed never to try to help again. 

Story two: Communication to increase participation in the 

small group ministry of the church 

The Communications Team, following the request of the 

August 2008 34

pastor to create communications that would 

get people into small groups, created banners 

that were put all over the church to remind 

people of the importance of small groups. A 

Small Group section with colorful graphics of 

upbeat people was added to the website. The 

pastor frequently mentioned small groups in 

his sermons and encouraged people to join. 

The bulletin proclaimed: “Small groups 

are very important at our church!” It also said 

there were a variety of groups available, but 

didn’t tell you what they were, when they 

met, or any contact information about the 

leaders. None of this information was on the 

website either, but it did have a lengthy form 

to fill in, and email to the church if you were 

interested in joining a small group. 

Results: 

The pastor’s message was persuasive. 

A previously uninvolved church member 

became convicted of the need to be part of a 

small group. After his conviction, he didn’t 

know what to do next. There was no list or 

contact information specifically about small groups in the bulletin, at the Welcome Center or on the website. He filled out the email 

form on the website and sent it in. He also sent a personal email to the church asking for information on the men’s small groups. He 

never received a response. He never joined a group and his church attendance has become sporadic at best. 

What is going on? 

Obviously in both situations, what the pastor thought was being communicated did not accomplish the primary task of church 

communications which is to enable people to take action that will either help them come to know Jesus as Savior or grow in Christian 

maturity. 

Sadly, I have many, many more stories similar to the two included that illustrate similar situations. To prevent the disappointment 

of not having people respond to what you thought you communicated, let’s break down the process into detailed steps and then see 

what could have changed. 

1. The pastor or other church leadership decides a ministry needs to be communicated or marketed more effectively to get more 

people involved. 

2. That desire is passed on to either a communications team or a person whose job is to create the communications and marketing 

to get people involved. 

3. The church communicators create the communications and marketing pieces using the latest and greatest tools they have and 

the newest, most exciting ideas. The emphasis is on something that will “get people’s attention,” something eye-catching and 

appealing to today’s visually-oriented audience. The communication piece is launched with great excitement. 

4. People don’t sign up or show up at the event or get involved in the ministry. 

5. In frustration the communications team concludes if they just spent more money, had a more flashy website or video announcements 

or maybe created their bulletin using InDesign instead of MS Publisher, or many other technological or artistic 

options, they would get a better turnout. 

As frustrating as this situation can be to a communication team and church leadership, they are looking in the wrong place for 

an answer to their dilemma. 

What could have made all the difference? 

For a church message to be successful and for it to result in a completed action, you need to approach it from a different direction 

than one or two attention-getting communication pieces and working primarily on them. Instead try these suggestions: 

1. Decide upfront what you want the communication to accomplish. This needs to be a measureable action you want people to 

take. Put a clear goal and number to it, e.g. “We want to have 20 people sign up as helpers in VBS.” “We want to get 50% of 


our church involved in small groups.” 

2. Next comes the most important thing: You need to look at 

the final ACTION (note it is ACTION) that people need to 

take for you to accomplish your communication goal. For 

example: “The volunteer would have to fill out a sign-up 

sheet and talk to Miss Amy.” “The person has to show up to 

a small group and get involved consistently with it.” 

3. Now work backwards from that final action and determine 

what the church needs to have available in terms of people 

and places for the person to complete this action. If you are 

going to advertise a sign-up table for VBS after the church 

service, be sure the communication team talks to the person 

who will do it and double checks before the video is shown 

that the table is set up and ready to welcome volunteers. 

4. Next, what are the concrete communications that need to be in 

place for people to take the required action? This is the part 

that is almost always ignored because many of the communication 

pieces that need to be created seem really boring to put 

together. This step includes providing complete information 

about the ministry communicated in print, on the web, in a 

brochure, or in the bulletin. This includes things such as the 

listing of job descriptions, who to contact, responsibilities 

and training in the case of the VBS volunteers and lists of 

small groups, study topics, leaders, contact information and 

if there is a cost involved for small groups. This is the really 

hard part because these pieces are often boring to create, but 

they are the ones that actually connect people to the church 

ministry. 

5. After all the nuts and bolts and support pieces are in place, then 

and only then should the flashy, overall PR to advertise the 

ministry or to get attention be created. 

Follow through to make certain that your communications 

result in action 

A word to church leaders—please be sure that when you want 

communications and marketing to take place to grow your people 

and your church: 

You follow through to make certain that all of the communication 

steps take place that assure people not only know about the 

ministry, but that they are enabled to take the concrete actions that 

will enable them to connect to the ministry. 

Also, be sure you give your communications team the time 

and resources to create not only the flashy, fun communications creations, 

but also the sometimes detail-oriented, difficult-to- produce 

and a- challenge-to-keep-updated communication pieces that are 

essential that enable people to link with a ministry and by so doing 

grow in their faith. 

It’s much more work to make sure all of the pieces are created 

to make a church communications about a ministry successful, but 

though demanding when it is all over, you will have the satisfaction 

of successful ministry growth instead of communication frustration. 

For many more ideas on how to create effective church communications; 

please go to my website 

www.effectivechurchcom.com. 


August 2008 36

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