Discover how to leverage technology in your church

The Instagram app (sometimes fondly known as Insta) was originally designed with simple editing features. You selected a photo, applied one of a few nonadjustable filters, and posted. Done!

The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein. Psalm 24:1

The concept of stewardship is that everything we have is God's, temporarily given to us to take care of and use in order to further God's Kingdom. I first encountered it in seventh grade confirmation class. This life-changing idea awakened my spirit of gratitude as I became aware of God’s gifts. It inspired my creativity as I brainstormed how to use these gifts. It infused my life with meaning as I saw my source of meaning (my relationship with God) interacting with everything I did. It motivated me, enabling me to thrive.

Okay, I’ll be honest. Taking high-quality photos for a church directory is not as easy as pie. Nevertheless, it is possible, even for a nonprofessional. It just takes a little extra patience, planning, and know-how.

Smartphones are, arguably, the single most formative technology in the past decade. With the invention of these devices, anyone can have music, books, and unlimited knowledge (the Internet) at their fingertips everywhere they go. Teenagers, especially, have been exposed to these devices for a large portion of their lives.

I like Twitter for many, many reasons. I follow some really famous people on it because, well, that is the point of social media – to connect us together. But, one of the people I follow is probably one of the most famous if not the most famous single man on the planet: The Pope.

While you could spend thousands of dollars on custom web design, Google Fonts offers a great alternative. With Google Fonts, you can feature stellar font choices on your church website and blog for free! Their library with 650 fonts lets web designers take designs to the next level without even dipping into the budget.

As we find ourselves in the middle of an election season, you don’t have to go very far to find people expressing their opinions on a variety of topics.  This has always been true, of course, but in the last several decades a new forum has arisen, allowing people to have unprecedented reach as they express themselves about things they’re passionate about, and they don’t always agree.

Does this ever happen to you?

You walk into your office and the first thing someone asks is “What’s on your schedule for today?”. Or, as you drive into work, you’re wondering what is waiting for you to do.

As communicators, we have certain “to-do’s” every day/week/month. And what about the youth director who finds himself in need of communicating a bible study meeting to his group and asks you for your help in distributing the communication? Plus, you know there’s times when that urgent communication needs to go out ASAP.

I have a lot of apps on my phone. I’ve crammed most of them into folders and relegated them to the last page, since I only open them once in a blue moon. But Instagram? That little app sits in the bottom row on the front page (a place of honor, since it’s right where my short fingers can reach it when using my phone one-handed). 

It doesn’t really matter how large your congregation is, there will always be more work to do than your church staff can handle on their own. If you take a good look at thriving congregations, their church staff typically isn’t comprised of doers; it is comprised of equippers. Of course, staff workers will end up doing a lot of the work themselves, but to really get things done, they need to be able to equip their volunteers to assist them in doing the work.