I am sure that most of you have seen the classic movie Napoleon Dynamite. At the end of the movie, Napoleon’s brother Kip sings an original song he wrote to his bride Lafawnduh titled, “Yes, I Love Technology.” If you haven't seen the movie, do yourself a favor and spend some time watching this movie that has a cult like following. Many of us love technology to do our jobs or make our lives earier. Technology is a tool to be used in church planting, whether it be a website, a blog or social media site that promotes what your church is about.
One word of wisdom – Don’t over do it or rely on technology to spread the word about your church, church plant, or ministry or to spread the Word.
Practical ways to use technology in a church or church plant:
[callout]Church Websites - I once heard it said that if you do not have a website, to many people you do not exist. While that is very extreme, it does carry a grain of truth. People are using the internet today for everything. My grandson who is two and half years old will probably never use a paper phone book when he gets older or even a paper calendar as it will be on his phone or tablet or whatever might come along in the next ten years. It is a matter of fact, you need a website and the sooner the better.[/callout]
For SBC church planters, you will receive a free website domain name (www.yourchurchname.com) and free hosting for one year once your church is registered with the SBC. You will find that free site builder here - http://www.churchplantingsites.net/
Cloversites.com – a turnkey website for $1,000
Churchwebworks.com – a turnkey website for approximately $30-60 per month.
Faithconnector.com – a turnkey website for approximately $ 60 per month.
WordPress – Using a website hosting site like hostmonster.com for $70 a year and one of thousands of templates you can build an effective website. See michaelhyatt.com, tonymorganlive.com, plantohio.net, uncluttered book.com or jeffcalloway.com for examples.
Social Networks
If you are not using Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+ you need to sign up for an account when you get home today. I know of one church plant in Columbus that used Facebook solely for announcing their church plant and had over 250 in attendance their first service. That is the exception, not the rule. Besides having a website presence, it is advantageous to have a social media presence as those who are associated with you and your church plant will probably interact with you more via social media than a static website that may or may not get updated daily, weekly, or monthly.
Use Facebook and Twitter to share what is happening in your church plant as well as upcoming meetings and events. The more people you have sign up to follow you the more the word will spread about your church plant. You can update your status on Facebook and Twitter on the go with your smartphone or tablet.
Facebook is basically a network hub for people you know and the people they know to connect with one another while Twitter is a micro-blogging tool.
Blogging
Blogging should be used to share what is happening in your church plant and to share you’re the needs of your plant. Don’t get too hooked on blogging. I don’t mean to deflate your ego, but there are not as many people who read your blog as what you think. Unless you are Rick Warren, Michael Hyatt, or John Piper, your blog will get minimal readers. Use your blog to communicate with prayer partners, potential team members, and those you come in contact with as you share vision.
Texting
What was once relegated to a teenage phenomenon, is now an effective communication tool that can be used by church planters. The problem is that those with fat thumbs sometimes type in the wrong word because of auto correct. Read before you send.
Accounting and Finance
You must have someone that takes care of your accounting and finances besides yourself or your wife! You must, as a non-profit to keep track of donations by donor and expenses of the organization. Do not skimp on this one, if you must pay someone to do the books then do it, bit more than likely there will be someone in your church that can handle this task. Another word of caution, if you use someone in your church, vet that person by doing a criminal background check and check references.
QuickBooks is the most widely use and known accounting software and is available in a non-profit edition.
Wave Accounting is a free online accounting system that can handle non-profits and works well with churches. Find it at www.waveaccounting.com. This is the package we use for PlantOhio.
Hardware
You will need a computer or a tablet such as an iPad and smart phone at minimum. While these may seem like luxuries to some, that are invaluable since your office will be at Panera, Starbucks, your car and anywhere else you are in a typical day. As a church planter, YOU DO NOT NEED AN ESTABLISHED OFFICE! Offices tend to capture you and if you are not careful, you will spend more time in an office than in the field. Remember, if you are planting a church, you must act like and think like a missionary because you are a missionary.
[callout]Now, back to the subject. It is not be a sin to have both a laptop and an iPad if it is affordable. If not, choose the laptop. While iPads are a neat tool to have, you will be able to do much, more with a good laptop. An iPad is a great tool when you are meeting with someone to share your vision via PowerPoint, pdf files, or videos that you can store on a portable, yet powerful device. You can also work on the iPad using apps to create, Pages(Word), Numbers(Excel), and Keynote(Powerpoint) documents.[/callout]
Invest in a good smartphone. Get a phone that will allow you to do work, not just post to Facebook and Twitter. Of course the top two contenders out there would be an Android phone or an iPhone. Both are very good and both have pros and cons and will depend upon what the user prefers. Android used to be clunky in the beginning, but with the latest version KitKat 4.4.2, Android is much better than iOS in many ways.
Software
Where do I start? Again this is a matter of preference. The basic you will need include a word processing program such as Microsoft Word or Apple’s Pages. Even better is a great free alternative Open Office, which is as good if not better that both the above and include a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation and saves in all of Microsoft’s file formats. Find it here - http://www.openoffice.org/.
If you are wanting easy to use presentation software and want to impress people and spend some bucks which is up to you, the best presentation software is ProPresenter, the same software Chris Tomlin uses for his concerts. Think that it is unaffordable – think again, $399 - http://www.renewedvision.com/propresenter.php. You can buy this app for your iPad and control the slides from your iPad and have your notes as your preach.
Here is list of other software to use for your iPad, iPhone and Android, but remember, there are over a million of these apps out there. Some good and some junk.
Evernote – can be used on your laptop, iPad, iPhone and Android device. Take notes, add pictures, syncs across all your devices.
If you are an Apple user – use iCloud. Keeps all your calendars, documents, contacts, and pretty much everything else synced up.
If you are an Android user - use Google Drive. Does the same as iCloud and integrates nicely on Android phones.
DropBox does the same as iCloud and Google Drive and works on all platforms, Windows, OSX, Android, iOS , and Chrome.
YouVersion Bible – best free Bible software for PC, Mac, iOS device and android.
Taska – a task and project management app for iOS devices and Android. Trust me, you will need this more than you think.
Tooledo – If you don’t want a project management app, but a good to do app, this is it.
Any.do Cal app for calendar is available bot on iPhone and Android. Great app along with it's companion Task app.
Expensify – You will need to keep up with your ministry expenses and mileage and it is now legal to do so electronically.
World Card Mobile for your smart phone – best business card reader there is. Scans business cards into your contacts list.
Skype, FaceTime, or Google Hangouts – it is so much better talking to people face to face, plus great to do one-on-one training. With Hangouts you can video call several people at once.
Group Email – an iPad/iPhone app that allows you to email your groups which iOS cannot do natively
Urbanspoon for your smart phone when you are hunting for a place to eat or get coffee.
The Krispy Kreme Hot Light App – points out every KK store and lets you know if the Hot light is on.
Every now and then, you just need to stop and play a game of Angry Birds to relieve the stress.
What technology do you use in your church plant or your church?
