I recently updated some of my old blog posts about Text-to-Church.  In them I made the case that people already text and many don't want to download or use another App. 

However, with all our work preparing for and launching our Member App, I have a different perspective.  

Using these two features together adds depth to your overall church communication strategy.  By that I mean it enables you to more effectively reach people at different places on their journey and respect their different preferences.  

Some people prefer to Text since they know it and use it so much already.  Others prefer the App so they have one place to go for church stuff.

Six weeks ago we released the Member App.  Many of our clients have jumped in with both feet using all of the features.  Some have other systems in place that are similar and are still in process of evaluating how to best use the Churchteams App.  

Still others haven't jumped in.  If that's you, come on in!  The water is great.  You'll love the functionality for staff as well as members.

As is usual in a release of this magnitude, new insights and ideas come up as people swim around in it.  We've already done several upgrades and just released four more.  The first two add to the App.  The last three are settings that hide extra parts of the app.

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.

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.  

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.

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.

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.