1. Netflix
2. Pulse
3. USA Today
4. gReader
5. Spotify (Here’s how I got it.)

If you’re like most pastors, choosing your next church management solution (ChMS) may not be on the top of your list. You might be inclined to let your technology guy take the reins or simply avoid the process completely. As I wrote about in Getting Disciple Making Right, too often church leaders fail to see the connection between technology and ministry. Therefore, they underestimate the role a ChMS plays in key decision making.

Part of the reason so many leaders are reluctant to begin a search for another ChMS is because they don’t have the right decision criteria or fear it will be a waste of time. Here are five things that will ensure your next search is a profitable one. If you follow these five steps, you’re much more likely to end up with a technology solution that will enhance your ministry rather than create more headaches.

1. Begin with your ministry processes. Your church operates through a series of processes and systems. Start your search by mapping out the most critical ones. If designed properly, they should be working even in the absence of technology.   Understanding how everything works within your organization will help you understand how technology can help you sustain, measure, and improve the processes in your church.
2. Complete an internal needs assessment. If you don’t know what you’re looking for, how will you know when you find it? (You won’t!) Take one hour with your key ministry leaders and, using what you learned in Step 1, outline exactly what it is you love most about your current solution and what frustrates you. Determine if the frustrations are really a training issue or a functionality concern. If it is functionality, then you’ll know what you need to evaluate carefully as you select a new ChMS.
3. Identify a “must have’s list” of features and functionality. Ask your frontline ministry staff what their “must have’s list” would be in a new technology solution. You’ll be surprised by how quickly they answer that question. Those who interact with the system the most are very acutely aware of its strengths and weaknesses. The more people involved in the decision process, the greater the adoption rate will be once a decision has been made.
4. Talk to other churches. Don’t just depend on the reference list provider by a particular company. Call the churches that you think understand how to leverage technology to enhance and improve ministry processes. Ask them which solution they are using and how they made their decision. Be sure to drill down on this last point. Many times, churches make decisions with poor criteria and end up learning a lot about what they should have done differently. Ask them to share that with you.
5. Talk to multiple ChMS companies. Choosing a new ChMS is a big decision. Don’t just pick an option because your friends chose it. Make sure you find the right fit for your church. The solution you ultimately land on will reflect your investment of time and energy. Sure, you might get lucky but do you really want to bet on that? Talking to multiple companies helps you educate yourself about what’s available.

Choosing a ChMS can be a good reason to begin a strategic planning process, too. You’re going to have to outline how your church operates and functions for the implementation process anyway. Treating this process as a casual one leaves a lot of ministry potential on the table.

How does your position on technology in ministry change when you see it as an extension of your church strategy rather than a line item in your church budget?

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This is a sponsored post from Church Community Builder, one of my ministry partners on TonyMorganLive.com.

Amazon Kindle Fire

Last week the new Kindle Fire was delivered to my doorstep. I decided to use some Amazon gift certificates to make the purchase, so I only ended up paying for the cover. It’s my first “tablet,” since I don’t own an iPad. I’ve been hesitant to purchase a tablet, because I couldn’t figure out how I would use it differently than I already use my smartphone and my laptop.

After using the Kindle Fire for a week, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s a fantastic device for consuming content, but it’s not a good solution for productivity. My phone and laptop are still better solutions for getting work done. But, frankly, I don’t think Amazon designed the Fire to be a productivity tool. Ultimately, they just want to sell more content. That’s why they’re willing to take a loss on the device.

Here’s what I love about the Kindle Fire:

• It’s a great tool for reading books and other documents I’ve uploaded (like the draft of a new book from Tim Stevens).
• The gReader app syncs with Google Reader and makes it easy to scan and read content from blogs I follow.
• The Seesmic app allows me to keep up with my Twitter lists, replies and DMs.
• I’m using the YouVersion app to use the Fire as my primary Bible.
• I love being able to plug in my headphones and stream TV shows and movies using Netflix and Hulu Plus. Though I’ve not used it yet, I also have access to a number of “free” video streams thanks to my Amazon Prime membership. (By the way, the free two-day shipping pays for the membership.)
• The price is obviously very competitive if you’re in the tablet market.

Though it will never compete with the iPad, here are a couple of tweaks I’d like to see to make the Fire a more useful device:

• In future models, having a 3G/4G option would obviously improve its use as a portable device especially for those of us who travel.
• Though the Fire operates on Android, it’s missing a number of key apps including all the Google apps (Gmail, Calendar, Voice, Docs, etc.). Just adding those apps would significantly improve its usefulness as a productivity tool rather than just a tool for consuming content.
• I’m currently using Spotify for my music, and that app isn’t available either.
• I’d prefer to remove the “carousel” from the home screen, but I don’t think that option exists in the OS to this point.

All that to say, if you’re looking for a tablet to keep up with email, your calendar and tasks, this doesn’t yet fit the bill. If, on the other hand, you’re looking for a relatively cheap tablet to read books, online content and stream videos, the Kindle Fire is a great option.

Here’s my Amazon link for the Kindle Fire if you’d like to learn more.

Once the sermon has been delivered at all of your services and all of your campuses, what happens to it? If you’re like most churches, the sermon probably spends seven days on the “last week’s sermon” box on your website, and hopefully shows up in your podcast for a few weeks. Then, it begins to die a slow death, slipping gradually into the annals of other great sermons that time forgot.

Why Sermons Get Lost and Forgotten

Here are some reasons why sermons typically carry a very short shelf life:

• Churches think of sermons as live events, rather than study and spiritual growth tools.
• Most church websites post sermons based on chronology, so the oldest ones get lost.
• Podcast feeds typically deliver only the most recent “episodes.”
• Many people only get sermons via podcast, and may never visit the website itself.
• Many churches still offer sermons only via tape or CD, which are becoming increasingly irrelevant in an MP3 world.
• Sermons are for Sunday. There is rarely a connection to any other activity or curriculum being shared in other corners of the church (children, youth, small groups, etc.).

5 Ideas to Get More Value from Your Sermon Archives

With a few tweaks to your strategy, though, sermons can become a useful resource for years to come.

1. Make sermons available on your website. If you’re not offering sermons via web delivery, do it! If you are lacking equipment or manpower, consider a pocket digital voice recorder like this.
2. Make sermons free. Give away your sermon downloads. Some churches will charge for a download of a sermon, while attending their church on Sunday is free of charge. We wrote more extensively about this on our blog.
3. Promote the popular messages. Publish a “most viewed” sermon list each month or each quarter. This implies that you have tools allowing you to measure these stats (which, by the way, are a very valuable thing to have as a feedback mechanism for your teaching team).
4. Offer tools to filter results. Allow searching/browsing by Scripture, topic, speaker or title (not just by date).
5. Extend the conversation. Develop curriculum for your small groups, to discuss the deeper points of a sermon. Consider packaging these with DVDs of your sermons so that if a group isn’t ready to tackle a series now, they can obtain it from the church later.

There are plenty more ways to add value to your sermons! We’re hosting a brand new webinar on this topic next week, and we’d love to have you join us. You can register for free.

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This is a sponsored post from SiteOrganic. They are an advertising partner on TonyMorganlive.com

Unfortunately, an obvious lack of organization made the event awkward and uncomfortable. I didn’t know where to take him in the building. It was chaotic and…I didn’t feel welcomed.

It reminded me of one statistic I had heard recently, “only 10% of first time visitors end up becoming regular attendees.”

With only 2% of Christians inviting a non-believer to church any given year, there’s a big chance that most visitors to your church aren’t going to know anyone.

Here’s the upside. The likelihood of a first time guest becoming a member increases to 50% when they are invited to a small group.

It’s been proven that almost 90% of guests will return to a church, if someone follows up with them on the same day as their visit; that percentage drops to 60% if you wait just 24 hours.

Unfortunately, many churches don’t have an effective way to manage and follow up with visitors in 24 hours, much less at all. We need to get people from Point A (inactive) to Point B (engaged). To do this, we need a process in place and to communicate it often.

Ask yourself these questions as you consider your visitor connection process:

1. A church website brings people to your church. If someone wants to find a church in your area, how are they going to find it? If your first answer is, “check the Yellow Pages” you’re wrong. Most people go straight to Google.
2. A church website connects people. Fellowship takes place even when people aren’t physically together. Church websites give members a way to interact and fellowship throughout the week. This kind of interaction helps build unity.
3. A church website organizes church events. Church websites help people stay up to date with your church’s events—from softball games to Sunday services.
4. A church website answers questions about the church. People have all kinds of questions about churches. Music? Nursery? Denomination? Bible version? How can you answer all these questions? Two words:  church website.
5. A church website is the church’s testimony. Within seconds of accessing your church website, a person forms opinions about your church—for better or worse. A good website is a great way to communicate a good testimony.
6. A church website broadcasts your message globally. Instantly—without buying a ticket, experiencing jet lag, or eating airline food, your church can reach as far as Europe, Asia, or Africa. Regardless of its size, your church can spread its message worldwide.
7. A church website saves you money on advertising. Any pastor wants the biggest bang for the buck when it comes to church marketing. Church websites are way more visible and far less expensive than any other form of church advertising.
8. A church website stores your media. A church website gives you a digital media library. Storing sermon recordings online is a great way to increase the longevity and reach of sermons.
9. A church website increases your church’s income. People pay their bills online, invest their money online, and read their bank statements online. Can they also give to their church online? With a church website, yes.
10. A church website gives your church the relevance necessary to communicate today. This generation has witnessed the launch of the digital age. Creating a church website is the primary means of jumping on the information superhighway and reaching our generation for Christ.

Sharefaith church websites are an unprecedented way for churches to get online. Sharefaith has developed the world’s easiest, quickest, cheapest, most professional, and full-featured church websites. Sharefaith believes that every church in the world deserves an awesome website. Our dream is now a reality. This reality is yours—a full-featured, professional, easy, and free website for Sharefaith members.

If there was ever a time to get a church website, now is the time.

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This is a sponsored guest post from the team at Sharefaith, one of my ministry partners on TonyMorganLive.com.

Here we are  smack-dab in the middle of 2011. It’s the age of the Millennials, an 80-million member generation that is more plugged into tech and tuned out to God than any other generation in American history. The world is online; nearly two billion people now have Internet access. A shocking five billion people in the world are cell phone users, tribespersons of Nokia, Apple, Droid, or any of the many other cellular iterations. Amidst the glow of iPads, the buzz of mobile the phones, flash of advertisements, and the ubiquity of WiFi hotspots, the church must somehow get its message across.

Part of reaching this generation is speaking their language—communicating in a way that is understandable and powerful. Churches must embrace technology, redeeming it for relevance and authenticity. In a word, churches need an affordable, professional, and accessible place for all their media needs.

Sounds like a tall order. If you could have your wildest pastoral media dream, what would it be? Blow-you-away awesome graphics for everything (ideally created by an übertalented graphic designer who loves Jesus). Video backgrounds for worship. Church welcome videos. Rocking PowerPoint sermons. Bulletins for every Sunday. Flyers galore. Newsletters. Graphics. Everything. (Dream, dream, dream.)

And if you had to put a price tag on it, what would you be willing to pay? I know, you have a small church, so you’d only be willing to pay, oh, maybe like three cents a day.

Oh, and one other thing. You need a church website. A good one. Like a megachurch website—complete with video and audio. It would have to be a website that was easy to set up, to update, and to use. And it would have to be free.

Is this kind of one-stop media solution possible (outside the realm of your wildest pastoral dreams, of course)? Yes. In a word, it’s Sharefaith—the world’s largest collection of church media. With an online library of over 38,000 designs, and a membership of tens of thousands of churches, Sharefaith is the church’s partner for reaching this generation with the truth of Jesus. We want to help you achieve excellence in your communication, to grow your church, and to reach more people. We invite you to join us.

Okay, one final thing. We’re going to drop the price. Our special promotion with Tony Morgan isn’t going to come along every day, so we want to give you an insane discount: 20% off our regular price.

Basically, your wildest pastoral media dream just came true.

Signup for for a Sharefaith Membership today.

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This is a sponsored guest post from the team at Sharefaith, one of my ministry partners on TonyMorganLive.com.

No, these Chromebooks won’t work for everyone on your team. But for those folks who primarily need email, calendars, documents, web browsing and access to a web-based church management solution, this is a perfect solution.