Archive for 'Fresh Ideas'
Innovative use of technology for a conference
Posted on31. Aug, 2010 by Kenny.
As I posted earlier today, we held an annual Church Leadership Weekend at our church. For the last several years, we simply gather 400-500 of our leadership core in the auditorium for vision, worship and prayer. However, someone had the brilliant idea to try something really creative.
Rather than assemble the masses at the church on Friday evening for dinner and opening sessions, we decided to distribute the meetings around the city. Close to 30 leaders opened up their homes to host the opening session in their houses. People came to houses where they had relationship already or some people came to specific houses because the house was close to where they lived. Most of the houses were pot luck dinners, so the food and fellowship was amazing. Every house connected a laptop or computer to a large screen TV or projector and connected to our church’s live stream. During dinner, music was playing and occasionally our internet campus pastor would come online and give updates on when programing would start.
To connect everyone together with what was going on in the larger context of the city-wide gatherings, people were submitting photos of the groups at their houses as well as funny pictures of celebrity look-alikes. At a specific time, the live feed came online and our internet campus pastor and co-host welcomed everyone with funny dialogue and color commentary of the pictures submitted of home gatherings as well as celebrity look-alikes. It was a lot of fun.
Following this stuff, one of our teaching pastors kicked off the first session with a 15-20 minute message about what the weekend was to be about, where we are as a church and hints of where we are headed. I was absolutely amazed by how powerful it was. Around the crowded living room, 32 people were engaged in what was being said on the TV, being delivered live through the internet feed. Amazing to think that 400-500 others were engaged in the same experience all over Austin. I know my wife, who was home sick was also watching, so no telling how many people who couldn’t be at a house were still connected as well.
After the session, we had some live worship followed by a guided prayer time that my team and I led for our house gathering. For those that didn’t have live worship, one of our worship teams led worship through the live feed. We turned our TV off due to us having live worship, but I’m pretty sure the web version was just as powerful.
We all know that conferences and such are moving more and more to the online world, but I don’t think many people would think to host a local church leadership weekend (at least part of it) online where participants could gather in homes to experience the kickoff in the warm and inviting environment of someone’s home. It was very powerful and a total success. I know we have some similar things up our sleeve, I’m just looking forward to them right now.
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Creative way to get touch screens without buying touch screens
Posted on31. Aug, 2010 by Kenny.
So I’m excited about this little piece of technology. We currently use Fellowship One for check-in, but we’re only using it as assisted check-in. I want to move toward self check-in stations, but I only have one touch screen. I know that you don’t have to use touch screens, but let’s face it, it’s a better experience. I know that there may be others in a similar situation. You have a lot of monitors already, but you want to move to touch screens. Touch screens cost $500 each (let me know if you know of a better deal) and that’s cost prohibitive for most ministry budgets.
Then I came across Magic Touch, a little device that turns any monitor into a touch screen. It plugs into USB and then calibrates with your screen. I haven’t tested this yet, but I’ve got one on order. In a few weeks I’ll post a review and let you know how it works.
You can get more information on this device here. I actually bought it from here. Check out the video below for and idea of what it looks like. However… although this piece of equipment is pretty innovative and new… the video looks like it was made in the 80’s.
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Your Sunday morning playlist: Welcome Music
Posted on31. Aug, 2010 by Kenny.
Music is a powerful tool. It has a powerful affect on environment. I remember walking through UpStreet Kids at North Point Church for the first time a few years ago on a Sunday morning and they had High School Musical booming loud through the hallways. Upstreet had a great decor, but the music literally put a little extra bounce in my step. Amazing how it affected me.
So, what music are you playing in your environments as the kids are coming in? Do you play music in your lobbies or hallways? If so, what is on your playlist?
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Leadership Weekend Review
Posted on31. Aug, 2010 by Kenny.
This weekend was Gateway’s annual Leadership Weekend. Every year it’s a Friday night and most of the day Saturday event where the core of the church comes to worship together, pray, be challenged and hear the vision for the upcoming year and engage in how God is leading us. This was my third such event at Gateway, and it was absolutely phenomenal. This year we laid out some pretty major challenges for the leaders of Gateway. The staff has been in an organizational restructuring for the last 6 months and the full plan of why we restructured and what the new structure is setting us up to do was revealed. It was met with excitement and zeal. The energy surrounding this weekend was absolutely contagious.
What’s really exciting is to see all the progress. I remember sitting in an off site meeting with our directional team a little over a year ago as we got stuck while talking through some issues. It was during this frustrating meeting where some ideas were brought up for the first time that led to where we’re headed right now. I also remember sitting in another overnight off site last Fall when early ideas were presented to the group, ideas that might address problems we were facing as an organization. Many people have prayed, fasted, discussed and strategized for thousands of hours to come up with what was presented this weekend. I’m totally excited about where we are heading as a body and it was thrilling to see the buy in.
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The social church database: what to watch out for
Posted on25. Aug, 2010 by Kenny.
If you’re reading this, you’re probably a Kids Pastor or somehow involved in the world of kidmin (although I know there are others as well… including my mom and other extended family). So, I need to throw you a serious line of caution. Don’t miss this… seriously.
When it comes to your role and what you’re responsible for, these social church database tools are the icing on the cake. I do believe that both tools (and those yet to come out) will enhance our ministry to our volunteers and better equip them to do their jobs. However, the people who are really going to get excited about these tools is everyone in your staff outside of the children’s ministry. Actually, they’re all going to go nuts, especially your pastor, small group pastors and the like. They’re going to be ready to make the switch yesterday. My word of caution for you is to hold the line.
We’ve actually been on the search for something like this for a few years now. Over two years ago we flirted with a company that allowed us to have a facebook-like experience that wasn’t very expensive, so we moved on it to check it out. They had plans to integrate (share the API) with a church database system so that all of it would fluidly talk together. The software turned out to be kind of crappy (totally not user friendly) and the church database system they were integrating with had some major deficiencies in areas that were essential to us as a church. So for them, it was a no-go. I wonder though, if this software we were looking at was as good (or better) than a facebook-like experience, would we have given in to the not-so-great church software and compromised? That’s where you might have to hold the line.
When looking at the new social church database tools on the market now, you need to evaluate what it offers as well as what it doesn’t. They may do some incredible things that you’ve not been able to do up until now, but what price are you willing to pay for this new found functionality? Here’s the scenario that is likely to play out. The new tools may be the answer to everything your small groups pastor needs, but making the switch will be a major sacrifice to the finance team as the financial tools are not as good as what they were previously using. Or in our case, the tool is a big win for small group connectivity, but is a step backward when it comes to check-in or something that affects the Children’s Ministry.
Does that make sense? Moving to new tools like this will affect the whole team. Make sure you know what the implications are with the tool you’re looking at. If it negatively affects kids, then know what it is and SPEAK UP! If it doesn’t, then all is good!
In the end, it’s an exciting time for our churches. I love the tools that are developing and it’s going to be cool to see what develops next!
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The social church database: who is doing it?
Posted on24. Aug, 2010 by Kenny.
Yesterday I started a new series about the social church database. If you’re like me, you got excited about the possibilities. So, who is already doing this? How do I get more information?
I’m by no means an expert in this stuff, but I try to keep up-to-date with what’s out there. So here’s what I’ve learned these last few months.
The first instance I’ve seen of the social church database is The City. It’s gotten a lot of buzz the last few months, a connectivity tool developed at Mars Hill Church in Seattle. Several big churches have moved to it and more are looking at it. I totally understand why… it’s beautiful. I’ve spent many hours on The City and it is what’s been missing. It’s a powerful tool to connect people to each other and to communicate information to the entire body in clear and concise ways. It’s a tool you don’t have to “lure” your people to use, but something they’ll want to use on a regular (if not daily basis). Seriously, The City is a bold step forward for connecting with the people who attend your church.
The second instance I’ve seen of the social church database is Fellowship One’s Table Project. I actually watched a demo last week and I’m equally excited about Fellowship Technologies solution to the social media problem. Where The City is an approach to a new database for your church, the Table Project is a tool that connects to your already existing Fellowship One database (assuming you already use Fellowship One… or plan to move to F1). The Table Project is an outside tool that has partnered with Fellowship One and seems to offer most of what the City does, just in different ways. I’m a big fan of Fellowship One and seeing this demo last week was very encouraging, something I’m really excited about.
Here’s the bottom line. I’ve gotten really excited about both of these projects. Why? Because they’re addressing a huge need that you might not have even known you had. People are slipping out the back door of your church and these tools WILL help people get connected at your church as well as stay better connected. Honestly, I love that there are two solutions out there right now. This kind of competition breeds innovation and that means a better product for you and me. Bottom line, I just want a tool that makes my job easier and to a degree (in certain ways) these tools will.
Tomorrow I’m going to conclude this series of the social database with a very important warning. Contain your excitement for one more day!
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Using the iPad for check-in
Posted on23. Aug, 2010 by Kenny.
I’ll be the first to admit. Using the iPad for check-in was beyond cool. It’s funny how many of you commented and messaged me for more information about using the iPad for check in. A few weeks ago when I first wrote about the idea of using the iPad for check-in, that post got more hits than anything I’ve written in a long time. I think I know what it is. You really want and iPad, don’t you?
Ha! Well, here is what I posted a few weeks ago along with links and video. This is where it all started. 
I wasn’t overly creative. I simply copied what they did. I downloaded WinAdmin on my iPad. From there, I ran into problems. When it comes to tech, gadgets and applications, I’m pretty knowledgeable. However, when it comes to networking and connectivity, I’m not your man. I was having network issues, so I had our IT guy get me hooked up. Because our wireless in our Kids lobby is a different network than the actual check-in machines, he had to set up the iPad for VPN. It gave him some trouble at first, but within a few minutes, that was working. He put all the server information in WinAdmin and within minutes, it was working perfectly. I really like the VPN feature which gives me a lot more options.
So this Sunday, we were looking for new 1st graders. We were doing something special for their promotion, so I was checking in families that had a first grader. We had a huge crowd on Sunday and having me on the iPad seemed to help with flow (even though one machine was down becasue that’s the computer I was logged into with the iPad). I was pretty busy, but it was fun and personal. I felt like I had a better connection with both the kids and the parents… I totally liked it. Initially I couldn’t tell overall if it was helpful or not, but the volunteers at check-in said that it helped them tremendously. Big win!
So, my thoughts…
This isn’t an iPad app. It’s more of a hack. You’re using an app to remote desktop into a windows machine and essentially using that machine to check-in kids. As soon as they check-in, the parents can pick up their tags from a volunteer standing by that printer. The downsides are that you have to have a computer that you’re essentially taking control of for check-in. Also, it’s slightly sluggish. Not enough for me to not use it, but not as fast if I was standing at that computer. You see, we’re still using assisted check-in with Fellowship One. Because of our set-up, this was a really nice touch. If we were fully integrated with self check-in, I’m not sure we’d need or want to do the iPad check in. However, it’s certainly worth playing with. I highly recommend you get your hands on an iPad and experiment. Then you’ll know if it’s worth getting one for your ministry.
Although we used this for F1, I don’t see why you can’t use it for other systems as well. Remember, the iPad doesn’t really print, so you’ll essentially have to use a remote desktop app like WinAdmin to take over a computer with a printer. Definitely worth checking out though.
What I’m hoping for? That someone would develop and iPad app that integrates with F1 check-in where this is a feature and not a hack… but for now, this will work.
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The social church database: a new concept
Posted on23. Aug, 2010 by Kenny.
In case you haven’t noticed, we use a social and interactive web. Unless you’re one of those uber conservative (are we still using the word uber?) “I don’t put myself out there on the web” type people, we’re totally intertwined with the web. Between Facebook, Twitter, blogs, RSS feeds, forums and everything else, we’re constantly interacting with both people we know and people who bring value to our work and lives. Just recently, we’ve seen this same move with church database software (kinda).
Think about it, you’re Church database holds the records of hundreds, thousands of tens of thousands of people who have attended your church. More than likely, most of that data is wrong or outdated. Typically, the only way to get more accurate data is to get church attendees to fill out a new card and then manually update the data which is often can be confusing. The ideal solution is to have the average church attendee fix their own data. I know, there have been solutions for many years for people to log into specific pages where they could see all their stuff and update it, but rarely was there a strong/compelling reason for people to take the steps to get online just so they could keep their info up-to-date. The truth is, there hasn’t really been a compelling reason for people to do this except to occasionally sign-in to check giving records or sign-up for an event. However, in these cases I’ve seen people not really change incorrect data when in there and this is such a small penetration of the church who is doing this.
However, we’re on the verge of something totally new. It’s the social/interactive arm of your church’s database.
MOST people are searching for community. Not online community, but real community. Some of those already in community are looking for ways to enhance it. That’s where the social CMS is changing. They’re creating a space online where attendees can interact online with each other and the church in easy/non-threatening ways. There is space for actual small groups to continue discussions, pray for each other during the week and plan upcoming serving projects or socials. There are tools for serving teams (such as your 9:30 toddler room volunteers) to discuss how the weekend went, discuss policies and adjust their serving schedule without having to use email lists. The best part is how easy these systems let visitors explore and interact with your church before taking that risky step of setting foot in a small group. Again, this isn’t a “virtual” community, but a reflection of community that already exists. When attendees have this kind of interaction and value from a tool like this, they’ll keep their data up-to-date. From the church point of view, not only will you have up-to-date information, but you’ll see their involvement, how they’re connected and if you think there is some data that’s not correct, you can simply message them through the community software and have them update it.
Sounds great, doesn’t it? We’ll explore more tomorrow.
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Immediate and constant evaluation
Posted on04. Aug, 2010 by Kenny.
My boss just came back from eight weeks of sabbatical. Something I get to look forward to in a little less than 5 more years. Sigh…
So, he’s been visiting other churches in Austin during these eight weeks. On one of these visits, he got an email just a few days after the visit thanking him for coming and asking him to fill out the following survey.
This is a simple google docs form. All the responses fill a spreadsheet with timestamps so you are likely to know what weekend a person is referring to in their review.
I honestly believe that most of us spend more time assuming how people feel about our ministry and more time moving on what we think is really going on. Honest and accurate evaluation is a lost art and a much-needed habit. We’re planning to implement a very similar evaluation in a few weeks or so.
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Secrets for successful check-in
Posted on03. Aug, 2010 by Kenny.
Two weeks ago, Fellowship Technologies held a webinar about check-in. It was for any church using any check-in system; however, it was very heavy on the Fellowship One. If you’re curious about Fellowship One and think your church might look into it as a check-in solution, you need to watch this video. However, there were several nuggets that I took away that had nothing to do with F1 specifically. So, even if you don’t use Fellowship One, it might be worth your time to watch this webinar.
It is an hour in length and I don’t expect everyone to watch it, so in the next day or so, I’ll also post some of the things I really got out of it. I’m really excited about some of the things I learned.
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