Discover how to leverage technology in your church

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. 

A quick online search about making yourself replaceable at work is likely to try to offer you articles about being irreplaceable or indispensable. While each of us brings a special set of skills and abilities to our jobs, we should all keep in mind that illness or sudden changes in life could mean that we have to leave our job to another person with little notice. So how can you prepare for someone else to take over?

However, I am not that way when it comes to purchasing new softtware. In fact, I tend to go about it in a completely different manner. I research all available options, I search for reviews, I test it extensively, and I sleep on the decision before finally making the call to purchase.

Co-written by Rev. Keith Haney, Mission Facilitator, LCMS Northern Illinois District

We see them all the time while driving down roads. Some brick and mortar, others monument, and the most recent trend - the led message center signs.

For many web developers who are moving beyond the basic link and page behavior, the next step is to learn JavaScript, a powerful programming language that runs in your user’s browser to enable your website to change its behavior in response to the user. (While some newer frameworks are making use of server side JavaScript, today’s focus will be on the more traditional client side usage.) 

While JavaScript in its original form is pretty powerful, there are some common frameworks that you can add to get yourself up and running with very minimal programming experience. One of the most common of these is jQuery.

In a previous post, I touched on some helpful sites to find stock photos. I believe there are many great opportunities to use stock photos; however, one place where I’d rather see candid pictures is a church’s social media stream and website.