New!  Texting, deceased actions, and registration upgrades.

Posted by Boyd Pelley on 9/26/23 2:30 PM
 
Headphones are an amazing invention.  They allow us to tune out the noise and listen to the music we want and often need to hear. 
 
We've learned that putting headphones on to really listen to our users blesses both us and them.  
 
We get to connect with fantastic people and hear how our service is serving them and their church.  We also get to understand what's really going on and discover ways we can do what we do even better. 
 
They discover a software company that really cares and then see a tool that works even better for them as the result.  All four of the changes in this new release blog post came from these kind of conversations. 
 
If you're not a client, these won't mean much to you except that Churchteams listens and adapts.  If you are a client, check them out.
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Tags: New Release

Joy and patience were the top results from last week's Growthfinder assessment

Posted by Boyd Pelley on 9/19/23 2:40 PM

In case you missed it, last week I re-introduced Growthfinder with a couple of upgrades.  So far 25 people have responded and 18 took the assessment.

Originally I hadn't planned to share the report summary.  But, when I reviewed it, I thought you might be interested in seeing it. 

It gives you an idea of the value of a discipleship assessment tool like this.

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Tags: Groups

How to measure discipleship.  Take the FREE, NEW look Growthfinder assessment.

Posted by Boyd Pelley on 9/12/23 2:30 PM
Does the vision of your church revolve around making disciples?  If so, you may have a clear definition of what one looks like; but what about a way to measure how well you are getting the job done?
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Tags: New Release, Groups

3 reasons the new, staff access upgrade to the Member App is significant

Posted by Boyd Pelley on 9/5/23 2:32 PM

Yes!  We've been on an exciting journey the last couple of weeks as we rolled out the new Member App.  Our thanks to so many of you for sharing your time in the briefings (recording), your excitement about the feature,  and your kind words.

In a previous blog I mentioned that there are always tweaks, and often new ideas that come after a release.  This one was no different.  The most significant one empowers staff in a completely new way on their mobile phones.  They can now use the full software through the Member App.  Yes!

By staff, I am referring to anyone that has been given access to the software at the coach level and higher.  These are assigned under Settings > Users.  

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Tags: New Release, Communication

Why our brains zone out and how to improve church communication

Posted by Barbara Carneiro on 8/29/23 2:30 PM
We are one of the sponsors for the Church Communicator's Conference October 2-5, 2023.  It is going to be at an Art Museum in Charlotte, NC. 
 
It's not like any conference we've sponsored before, but very much inline with the direction we are headed as a church communication platform.  
 
First, I'd like to invite you to join us at the event if you can. 
 
 
Secondly, I'd like you to hear from the brains behind the event, Barbara Carneiro.  She has become a real friend to Churchteams and we look forward to being part of what she is doing with this conference.
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Tags: Communication

3 ways to use our new Member App to improve church communication

Posted by Boyd Pelley on 8/22/23 5:00 AM
I am excited to announce that we released our Member App last night.  It has been a long journey of observation, evaluation, and development of an App that fits how churches and people are really using them.  I covered some of those big questions in last week's blog post.
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Tags: New Release, Communication

Answers to 6 important questions about our Member App coming next week

Posted by Boyd Pelley on 8/15/23 2:00 PM

We built and have promoted the use of texting in church for a very long time.  There are things we do with Text-to-Church that are amazing.

But, for many months now we've been working on a "not so" top secret project that is ready to launch next week,  our brand new - MEMBER APP.  It is designed to give your church members and regular attenders easy, contemporary access to everything they need. 

We plan to release it next Monday night, then Tuesday morning send you an email introducing the app with a list of specific features and an introductory video that will demonstrate the User Experience.  We will also release Knowledge Base articles for customizing what groups, events, and resources are included in the app.  In addition, we are going to offer a couple of  Zoom webinars with our team to overview and discuss it live.

Register for Member App Briefing (8/24 or 8/30)

In preparation for that, here are answers to 6 questions behind our vision for this latest, very exciting upgrade.

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Tags: Church Management Software, New Release

Why we chose Churchteams and how we're communicating it to staff

Posted by Boyd Pelley on 8/8/23 2:30 PM

A few weeks ago, Tracy, an 18-month-in Churchteams client, shared the illustration below with us.  It was her way to picture the consolidation process they've gone through to choose church software and to communicate their choice to their team.

Since selection and communication are both common processes for churches, I asked her if I could share the illustration in a blog post.  Then I asked her a few questions to better understand her story and the background to the illustration.  My questions are in bold below followed by her responses in italics.  See if her story sounds familiar.

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Tags: Church Management Software

How to clean up messy bookshelves, reports and email templates. (Tags)

Posted by Boyd Pelley on 8/1/23 2:30 PM

My bookshelves used to be organized by topic and alphabeticized by author.  I could find anything quickly.  Not so much anymore.  I could give excuses, but they're a mess and make it a challenge to find something when I need it.  

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Tags: New Release, Best Practices

New! This upgrade makes tuition and other recurring registration payments easy.

Posted by Boyd Pelley on 7/25/23 9:29 AM
Churches often struggle to provide ways for youth camp, preschool, mission trips, and other event participants to pay over time.  They end up using a spreadsheet or notebook to track payments.  But, the most time intensive part is having to contact people who forget to pay their balance.  
 
At first glance, it seems like there ought to be a way to use recurring donations to help with this.  But registrations require specific payment amounts, donations do not.  So, this isn't a good work around.
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Tags: Registration

Ten innovative ways to maximize the power of workflows in ministry

Posted by Boyd Pelley on 7/18/23 2:30 PM
Technology makes our lives easier.  I'm glad I don't have to use correction tape to fix typos and that I don't have to be attached to a wall to make a phone call. 
 
What word processors are to writing, and cell phones are to talking; workflows are to doing.  I've written a lot about workflows the last few years, but the last couple of weeks I've had two very sharp, pastoral staff ask me for specific examples.  Both of them are in the process of considering a change to Churchteams.
 
Workflows really are kind of a novel feature for most people when they first see them, so, see if these 10 ideas don't get the wheels rolling for your thinking about using workflows to automate tasks. The hyperlinks go to more detailed blog posts on each topic.
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Tags: Automation

How to use Text to support your Spanish Church or Ministry

Posted by Boyd Pelley on 7/11/23 3:00 PM

One of our clients asked us a few months ago if we could add spanish versions of the system keywords used in Text-to-Church.  He knew he could already use spanish keywords for any group, event, or form and just wanted to upgrade that a bit to system keywords.

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Tags: Best Practices

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