Here is the best way to create trend lines of first and second time guests

Posted by Boyd Pelley on 3/4/25 2:30 PM

Almost all churches track worship attendance to give leadership an idea of the effectiveness of their large, celebration gatherings.   Generally, a single number represents the attendance each week or in some cases for each service, each week.  These are then plotted over a period of time to track engagement and see trends.  We all know this.

Sometimes individual attendance is tracked in worship in order to reach out to people who miss multiple times.  This works fine for really small churches, but larger churches empower their small groups to shoulder the burden of care.

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Tags: Reports

One natural way to bring new life to your small group family

Posted by Boyd Pelley on 2/25/25 2:30 PM

Do your small groups feel like they might be old news in your church?  Maybe people know they are expected to be a part of a small group, but they are not excited to actually participate.  It's like the life has gone out of the small groups ministry.

There are hundreds of references in the New Testament to the church being a family.  Think about all the times the authors refer to church members as brothers, sisters, mothers, sons, daughters, children, family of God, etc..  It was this way from the start of the church.

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Tags: Groups

Best practices on how to set up Camp and VBS registrations

Posted by Boyd Pelley on 2/18/25 1:30 PM

How do you register parents and kids for Camp and VBS currently?  Is it all by paper?  Do you use a third party tool or your website provider form to capture the information electronically and then have to export it to Excel or manually enter it into your database?  What about accepting and tracking payments?  

In Meet The Software every week, I talk about how we empower leaders by integrating their multiple data sources (including sticky notes and Excel) into a single database.  Instead of their information being scattered, leadership is empowered when their information lives and works together!  Join me in that Zoom webinar for additional insights into why and how technology evolved to create this frustration and how we resolve it.

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Tags: Registration

How to sign up and manage potlucks and meal trains

Posted by Boyd Pelley on 2/4/25 1:45 PM

The last few months I've been making my way through the top 12 ways churches use Registrations for events, forms, and more.  If you are a part of a church, you know well the purpose of potlucks and meal trains.

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Tags: Registration

How to find leaders and connect people to small groups

Posted by Boyd Pelley on 1/28/25 2:15 PM

As you may know Churchteams started out as a small group software.  We grew because of the innovative ways we developed to help churches connect people to groups, group leaders communicate, and staff to coach and care for groups.

In August 2022, I wrote this blog post on 10 lessons we learned that improved Groupfinder .  Every small group and connections pastor ought to be aware of the principles in that blog post.  I would even recommend that you take a minute and at least scan through the principles right now.  
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Tags: Groups, Registration

How we are preparing for the future of church management software

Posted by Boyd Pelley on 1/21/25 2:00 PM

The highlight release in 2024 was our new User Interface.  The goal was to set the stage for the future of Churchteams with that upgrade.  

We want you to know that we care about you and your church.  That means that we listen to your needs, and, because we've been there, we feel what you feel.  That's where it starts. 

We've still got a ways to go on the upgrades, but we're on our way.  And, we want to make sure you come along.  

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Tags: Church Management Software

3 solutions to getting the data leaders need when they need it

Posted by Boyd Pelley on 1/14/25 3:00 PM

What happens at your church when a pastor or other leader requests a report they need for something they are working on (like one of the ones listed in the image below)?   Does it require an admin to build and run the report; then email, or even print it? 

This takes admin time, sure.  But, the bigger issue is that the leader often wants the information on that report for something they are thinking about at that moment, and by the time the report arrives they have left that project and moved on to something else.  

Here's the point:  when it comes to reports, timing often matters.

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Tags: Best Practices

New!  5 upgrades and church websites are ready to go

Posted by Boyd Pelley on 1/7/25 2:30 PM
Welcome 2025.  Why not start a new year with a list of new upgrades we added in the last couple months of 2024?  Glance over the list and you'll see that none of these is major, but all of them are really handy when you need them. 
 
For those of you who are interested, we saw our greatest revenue growth ever in 2024.  We are grateful to the Lord and to you, our clients and friends, for enabling us to constantly move the software bar up for church management and church communication.  
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Tags: New Release, Communication

What made 2024 so incredible?  Our top 5 blog topics this year.

Posted by Boyd Pelley on 12/17/24 1:45 PM

This has been an incredible year for Churchteams.  As we bring it to a close, our team would like to say thank you for your friendship, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

What made it so incredible?  First, a living, breathing relationship with Jesus.  Second, kind, generous relationships with so many of you.  We have the best clients and friends in the world.  Third, a staff team committed to Christ, you, and each other.

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Tags: Church Management Software

Use these two outstanding resources to prepare for sending statements

Posted by Boyd Pelley on 12/10/24 1:30 PM

Most of you are in the middle of Christmas preparations, but I know there are some of you already thinking about sending contribution statements in January.  Your concern about making sure everything is lined up right is what makes you so valuable to your church's leadership environment.  

I know this because there are members of our Churchteams staff that have the same gifts and calling.  I've seen them thrive in preparing services and resources to help our churches succeed with excellence on detailed processes like managing data and sending out contribution statements.

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Tags: Giving

How to collect and track pledges and giving commitments

Posted by Boyd Pelley on 12/3/24 2:15 PM

The advent season is upon us which, for church finances, means end of year giving is here, and sending statements season is a month away.  These are important parts of a church stewardship development plan.

Asking people to make a pledge or giving commitment is another, common practice for many churches going in to a new calendar or fiscal year.  There are several benefits to this practice:

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Tags: Registration

How to collect, share, and track prayer requests

Posted by Boyd Pelley on 11/26/24 10:30 AM

From my experience, there are around 200 Bible verses worth memorizing for quick access in any situation throughout the day, every day.  One of these is a familiar verse that you likely already know - Philippians 4:6-7.  

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Jesus."

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Tags: Registration

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