Thanksgiving is a great time to reflect on the things that we have to be thankful for. Here is a short list:

• God, who makes all things possible
• Resurrection, which empowers everything that we do as Christians
• Advent – a time to begin anew in search of the Babe in the manger
• Christ – who is our Lord
• Evangelists – who spread the word around the globe

What are you most thankful for? And how do you maintain your gratitude towards God?

Everyone wants WiFi these days. And they are easy to setup. But you have to ensure that you establish best practices for utilization of the WiFi network spectrum. Some of these might include:

• Times when the WiFi network is available to everyone
• Location of the Wireless Access Points – the higher the better
• Expose the SSID so that members can find it – i.e. hiding it really doesn’t secure it

It can be exciting to open up a WiFi Hotspot and involve the congregation in the network. But you should always have a distinct purpose in doing so. How can it enhance the worship experience? What limitations do you need to impose on where people can surf? What Church servers will be accessible over the WiFi on Sunday mornings? Thinking through these questions will go a long way towards making WiFi successful.

Virtual Local Area Networks (VLAN) allow you to partition a physical network so that you have multiple networks defined. This might be useful in creating a Church network on multiple campuses. The VLAN would span multiple physical networks, but act like one big network with large capacity.

A VLAN has to be set up by a network engineer using software for definition and management. The software can automatically assign nodes to the VLAN as needed to support attaching and detaching computer systems.

Most users presume that they can send an attachment to an email of any size. Storage is cheap these days, so it makes sense. However, the technology has limits. Specifically, there is a limit to the amount of space the individual servers will allows. Email messages travel in a chain from one email transport to another – ultimately arriving at their destination. If the size of the message exceeds the size allowed by one of those machines, then it probably won’t make it to its destination. This is a technical limitation that prevents overloading that server with too much email.

If your Church has it’s own eMail server, then you’ll want to set clear policies on the size of an attachment. You want to be reasonable with your staff’s needs. If they really want to send video clips around, then you should probably up the limit to match what YouTube allows – i.e. 15 minutes. But if they just want to exchange MS Office documents, the limit could be around 16 MB. Check to see how people want to use eMail.

If you use an outside service for eMail messaging, then you have to follow their policies. This can vary all over the map, but you want to educate your staff and members about this limitation. Otherwise, you’ll get a lot of support calls about eMail messages that for some reason didn’t go through. And we’re not just talking about SPAM filters here.

Having files attached to eMail messages is a useful service. It can make communication more effective by keeping a working set of files together. However, if you’re going to edit the files heavily, then you may want to consider setting up a virtual space for collaboration. For example, you can make a drop box for sharing and editing photos.

Any computer system these days is vulnerable to online hacking. The only way to keep that from happening is to never connect to the Internet. But the Internet is such a wonderful source of information, it just can’t be done. However, there are some things that you can do to keep the Church computers secure:

o Use Antivirus software (and keep it up to date)
o Turn off systems when they are not in use
o Avoid downloading anything you have suspicions about

Physical security is probably the best. If the computer is off, then no one can hack into it. However, there is also room for shrewdness (Matthew 10:16). So be on your guard at all times.

Sometimes we want to rush out of the sanctuary right after the service. We are busy people, and the Church has a special place in our lives; but we also need to spend time with family on Sundays. Yet sometimes there is a special occasion for those we serve. What if a family has a baptism? Or better yet, someone experiences salvation. They may want to mark the occasion by taking pictures and/or video. Perhaps we should check to see if people are still in the sanctuary after we’ve completed our post production activity. If they are, then perhaps we should keep the lights on so they can get great shots.

How can a Church make use of a Content Management System? The Church has the best content in the universe – i.e. the Bible. But how can the Church manage this? Open source Content Management Systems are readily available. They are designed to enable authors to write in an easy and naturally flowing manner. The Content Management System software allows you to organize the content in an orderly fashion.

All Churches add and/or replace staff members. Would it not make sense to have a standard staff workstation configuration? You could simply make this a disk image, and install it on new or resurrected hardware. It would then boot up and run a standard set of applications, such as:

Office Productivity
Various Browsers
Church Accounting (if appropriate)
Membership Records
Worship Planning
Spiritual Music

The technology exists to make this an easy and straightforward process. And it makes providing IT Support much easier, since everyone has a known starting configuration. The only drawback is the matter of licensing. Most Churches don’t have volume licensing agreements, so they have to add and track individual licenses to software applications. Is there a way to do this effectively in a small Church office environment? And of course, staff tend to have varied interest and favorite applications they want to install and run. How do you get everyone on the same page? Or maybe a better question is, should you? What do you think?

Streaming the video of a worship service has always fascinated me. My background in TV Ministry combined with Web Technology makes me aware that the technology is there. The trouble is in the end points. How can we ensure that people have the bandwidth to receive a streaming video webcast of the service? Do you set minimum standards for their hardware? Or do you come up with complicated methods for downgrading the video quality until something works? What has been your experience in this area?

These days, everyone seems to have a cell phone. Most Churches have their own telephone systems, typically land lines through ma bell. But would it make sense to switch the Church over to a VoIP system instead? Or maybe just give every staff member a cell phone (i.e. if they don’t already have one?) Would the cost savings make this worthwhile? What has been your Church’s experience?

VoIP is a telephone system that uses the Internet to carry the communication traffic. It requires that you have an Internet connection and a phone with a network jack. However, the handset looks and operates like a regular telephone. So it is at once familiar – i.e. you just pick up the phone and dial the party you want to talk to – and easy to use. However, sometimes network congestion comes into play, so the quality of the call is not as high as a true dedicated line. But the expense is negligible, since you more than likely already have the Internet connection available. This just adds a little bit more traffic, optimizing the service.

Churches have a lot of information about religion available. But how much technical knowledge do they have? Those with Technical Ministry departments depend upon IT professionals to manage things, but what happens when they move on? Churches need a knowledge base from which they can draw when they have technical issues to solve. This could be a section on their website, or it could be a data warehouse on their Intranet.

The idea would be to capture the knowledge of all of those volunteers and staff who work with the technology every week. This could record tips and know-how about the equipment, which could then be shared with those who follow. Otherwise, new volunteers have to relearn the same things as they deal with issues. For example, where do you have a complete wiring diagram of the A/V room? Suppose one of the scan converters starts displaying an error message. How would you diagnose it? With a knowledge base, you could simply look it up. Chances are that it has happened before, and someone figured it out.

Capturing knowledge is a community effort. Everyone should contribute, so that everyone benefits. It will then go a long way towards ensuring that the technology continues to serve the Church, rather than becoming a stumbling block.

For the staff of the Church, what are the Digital Rights that are needed for them to be effective. A lot of Churches don’t have formal IT departments. Maybe they have a part time IT staff person, or maybe they have a 3rd party that provides IT services. That 3rd party is often connected via a member of the Church, so it is a discounted service provided. Thus, it may not always be possible to get a change in Administrative rights for a particular machine accomplished immediately. Should staff members then have Administrator rights over their machines? Some would say “Of course” and others would say “Never.” Where does your Church fall in that spectrum?

How do you measure a congregation? Some would say that you don’t need statistics, just the Word. But any large organization needs to measure itself, to determine what progress it is making in reaching its goals. Whether it be in terms of attendance, or giving, or even parking lot performance, the measurements depend upon data and metrics. And you need to utilize communication channels to keep the entire congregation aware of what information you are gaining by the measurements. Is it time for that new sanctuary because attendance has exploded over the last year? Do we need to reroute traffic to avoid a traffic jam in between services? These are the kinds of information that you need to plan for the future needs of the congregation.

Just as we have One Word – i.e. the Bible as our spiritual source, so the technical ministry needs one source for technology. What makes the most sense to me is a web site that all of the Tech Team can share. Perhaps a blog, or a facebook&tm; page, or an extension to the Church’s existing web site. Either way, it should have the following features:

o Calendar, showing who is working when
o Resources – i.e. technical manuals on equipment used
o Discussions about technical issues – i.e. and how they are resolved

Rather than having one person responsible for the content of this site, let everyone on the Tech Team contribute. Give them all editorial rights to write articles and post them. If someone gets out of line, then step in as administrator and revoke their rights. But be dynamic, and let the website manage itself. Your Tech Team has many creative people on it, and they have great ideas. Let them express those ideas and the whole Church will benefit.

How accurate is the video projected image in your sanctuary? When setting up a projector, there are a number of factors that affect the accuracy. Focal length of the lens; size of the screen; distance to the screen; video resolution of the system feeding the projector. All are important, and have an effect on the resulting image quality. If the image looks like a trapezoid, then you can adjust the “keystoning” to compensate. But be sure your projector remembers this setting – i.e. even when the power is off. Otherwise, you’ll have to do it every week for worship.

What’s the difference between a CMS and a ChMS? A CMS is a Content Management System. A ChMS is a Church Management System. Most Content Management Systems are designed with the following features:

• Make it easy to manage the content of the web site
• Allow multiple people to contribute to the site without being developers
• Improve overall communication with the community
• Enable specific roles for various types of contributors
• Generate reports on content and how it is being used

In contrast, a ChMS or Church Management System needs to do more than simply manage the content of the web site. That is not to say that it could not also include CMS software, just that it is also designed to provide management. I would suggest that a Church Management System needs the following features:

• Membership Management
• Financial Accounting
• Worship Planning
• Calendar Tracking
• Newsletter Support
• Web site Content Management
• Sermon Repository
• Bible Study Resources
• Small Group Support

What does your Church need? Are you still using multiple software packages for multiple tasks – sometimes with little coordination between them? If so, feel free to comment on your wish list for a Church Management System below.

How about adding a web page where volunteers could sign up for the specific service that they would like to give. It would list the current needs, and be filterable by area – e.g. children’s ministry. It would show each task and give some details about what is involved – e.g. VBS volunteer for 5 days meeting 8:00 AM to 12:00 noon each day, working with 8 year old kids. It would then allow people to signup – e.g. commit to being a VBS volunteer this year. They would give their contact information so the Church could followup – i.e. an email address for planning and announcements about VBS. This would help get everyone signed up and build the emailing list all in one step. Does your Church use your web page for this purpose? If so, then how is it working?

How can we use the internet for evangelism? Putting up a Church website is certainly a start, but how do you make the web site an effective witness? You can and should add social networking, where people can both witness and minister to others. Sharing a witness in a very public arena like the internet can be a little daunting. You will want to make sure that you do the following:

• Focus on Jesus Christ, not personal glory
• Limit personally identifiable information, such as addresses and phone numbers
• Identify scripture passages used and which translation – e.g. NIV

By bearing witness to the saving grace of Jesus Christ, you extend the power of evangelism to the web. That doesn’t mean we have to pursue God.tv, but it does mean we use the communication channels available to spread the Gospel.

How does your Church process contributions? A bunch of men may do it in a back room. Or a staff person may be charged with the task on Monday morning. Either way, the process needs to be accurate and financially accountable. But how efficient is it?

One approach would be to automate the processing cycle. Checks could be entered into a system that knows your congregation, recognizing the frequent givers. Records could then be automatically posted to their accounts. Thank yous would be generated for new givers. And the deposit slip would be printed up, ready to take to the bank. This can be done, and it is more efficient. But you always need checks and balances when it comes to handling money. Good stewardship needs to be recognized and supported with financial integrity and certainty. If someone adds a memo line to a check for the youth summer event, then that money needs to go to the youth department for supporting that event. There is always a chance of making mistakes, but you need to find ways to catch those mistakes before the processing is done. What is your experience?

With personal cell phones so ubiquitous, you might think the land lines at the Church are on their way out. However, you still need telephone numbers to the Church office, family life center, and youth programs. What are some options to consider that will enhance features, provide flexible service, and save money?

VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) is a popular option, given the advertising of Vantage, Skype, etc. But can you run a PBX over the Internet? Turns out that you can, with products such as Trixbox. You add a computer to your internal network, program it as a PBX (Private Branch eXchange), and replace all of your phones with VoIP models that connect to the network. Overall, your costs go down, and you can add new features like voicemail to eMail that help your staff manage communications better.

Traditional PBX systems are still around, and many Churches have long term contracts. But eventually these contracts come up for renewal, and consideration can then be given to other telephone service options. Have you made the switch to VoIP? Share your experience with others in a comment.

How do you keep track of equipment that has been loaned out? It can be a challenge to remember who has what and for how long. Technical Ministry requires lots of Audio, Video, and Computer equipment. And various groups in the Church will from time to time need to borrow that equipment. Ideally, it all finds its way back home. But sometimes a piece of equipment gets misplaced before it gets back to the storage area. That can be a problem when some event comes up that requires that piece of equipment. How many times have you heard, “I know it’s here somewhere?”

Informal arrangements can be effective, as long as everyone follows the rules. There are also Asset Management Systems that can be applied. The idea is that a particular piece of equipment would be checked out to the person that has a need. When they are done, the equipment is checked back in. If something gets misplaced, or a critical need comes up, then the Asset Management System identifies where the equipment is and who has it. Instead of frantically searching everywhere, you go straight to the person that has it.

To make these systems work, you will need to conduct an inventory. Every item has to be counted and labeled. A bar code should be assigned that is unique and fully identifies who the equipment belongs to. That way, if it is lost, then it can be found and returned. A bar code reader is required at the check out station to enable the process. Yes, it takes time to check out and in, but a lot less time is spent searching everywhere for something that has gotten misplaced. What kind of Asset Management System does your Church use? Is it formal or informal? And is it effective? Your comments are welcome.

How do you measure attendance? Can you do it automatically? Some Churches have a check in/out procedure for the children’s ministry. It works great for getting the kids in and out, with automated kiosks to streamline the process. A by product is that the children’s attendance is automatically recorded. Computer databases are great at keeping track of such details. From the data recorded, reports can easily be generated.

Adult and Youth worship are a different matter. Traditional Churches used “pew attendance pads” to record attendance. This generates a stack of paperwork for the attendance secretary. But the data can be entered into the database and reports generated. (The forms were also designed to spot visitors so that their information can be passed on to other staff for followup.) All of this is voluntary, but most folks do fill them out.

What if we gave everyone in the Church a witness card? This card would have an RFID chip embedded which would register their attendance when they walked in any door of the sanctuary. All they would have to do is wave the card at a recording station. Would this go over? It would certainly provide automatic attendance recordkeeping – with the computers doing all of the work. However, people might resent the cards. And the youth might lose them frequently.

What do you think would work?

Many Churches use a Wireless LAN for their staff. This allows the staff to roam with their laptops. If the physical plant is large, then this may require multiple transmitters and/or repeaters. The staff sign in via their laptop and have full access to the Internet, Network Printers, online files, etc. In many ways, this is a typical arrangement for IT installations.

What about Sunday mornings? Should the WiFi be enabled at all? There is at least one Church who is inviting their worshipers to use WiFi networking during the service. They provide worship enhancements that people can access on their laptops and/or cell phones. The idea is to add to the worship experience, not take away from it. What do you think?

Most Churches have policies and procedures written down so everyone can read them. They may be published in a book that is distributed to all, or they may even be documented online. Everyone has access, so they become the standard operating guide for how to run the Church. However, there are also disadvantages to this exacting practice:

1. Organization of the Book, and that Book is not the Bible.
After a while, the policies and procedures manual begins to look like a legal document. It no longer gets used just as a guide, but rather becomes a stick to hit people over the head with to make them comply. Remember that the policies were put in place to facilitate our common service, not to be a source of harassment.

2. Rigid Policies Generate Conflict
When policies are carried out unequally, people resent it. This becomes a source of conflict within the congregation. Yes, exceptions do occur, but they should be few and far between, not the norm for one particular individual. There should be documentation that supports making the exception which any reasonable person would conclude warrants it. Otherwise, the policies are seen as ineffective and capricious.

3. Legal Situations Do Arise
Churches, like all organizations, can be sued in civil court. Written policy and procedure statements then become legal documents. Under the eyes of the law, these manuals become legal contracts between the Church and its employees. The Church can find itself having to defend a particular policy in legal action using legal terms. It might not be a bad idea to have the Church’s lawyer review the policies and procedures manual from time to time. Just don’t let them rewrite it in legalese that no one else really understands. Although it may then stand up better in court, it will also cease to be useful to the average person.

4. Out of date policies contribute to Inefficiency.
If you expect the policies to be set in stone, then they will eventually get out of date. Others will then perceive them as unnecessary, since you’ll be constantly making exceptions. At this point, the procedures no longer apply, so why keep trying?

The best practice is to never let the policies be set in stone. Keep them supple and flexible. Review them every year, and ask yourself these questions:

• Does the situation that demanded this policy still confront us?
• If not, then what has changed?
• How should we change this policy to be more efficient?
• Is it too rigid for the average person to apply?
• Is the policy well stated, or confusing and ambiguous?

Part of the reason why you write down policies and procedures is to capture Institutional Memory about how things work best. Keep modifying those documents to ensure that they still work the best way possible. Look for ways to improve them. And in so doing, you’ll make the best use of the resources that the Church has been blessed with – both people and technology.

Did you hear about the Leaning Tower of Pisa finally falling down? Or how about the Space Shuttle landing in San Diego? Or how about the Cell Phone ban in New Zealand? All of these were hoaxes played on April Fools day; and they attracted a lot of attention. Perhaps you’ve got a staff member who likes to play pranks and sends out eMails like those to everyone on the staff. It can be good for a staff to find time to laugh a little, but it is also easy to go overboard. Anyone can send an eMail to everyone on the staff with just a few clicks. Maybe that isn’t such a good thing.

The trouble is volume. As your staff grows, so does the natural volume of eMail. At some point, the time spent reading all of the internally generated eMails becomes a concern. How much time should your staff really spend reading eMail, Twits, and/or Facebook walls? Who should really be able to send out a message to everyone? Here are some ideas to consider:

• The Senior Pastor – High Priority issue comes up
• Human Resource person – Something affecting everyone’s paycheck
• Security Personnel – Emergency situations that affect everyone’s safety
• Operations Personnel – Alerts about a System Malfunction

Obviously, the importance of the message needs to be a part of the criteria to consider. Ask yourself the question, “Does this really need to be sent to everyone?” Or should it be more focused on the few who are directly affected? This is a judgment call, and your staff are expected to use good judgment. In a small organization, where everyone knows everyone, this should not be a problem.

We have Geoffrey Chaucer to thank for April Fools day – i.e. from his reference to the 32nd of March (April 1st). Perhaps appropriately, this is mentioned in the story about the fox and the rooster in the Nun’s Priest’s Tale. So let’s all find time to laugh today; just don’t overdo it.