5 FREE technology tools for pastors
I’ll never forget what one church treasurer told me: “Cheap is good. Free is better.” I think she was right!
Here is a list of FREE tools for pastors that will save on your expenses, increase your efficiency, and help you focus more on ministry and less on administration.
1. Tungle.me. This is an online scheduling service that allows others to see your availability. People access your page (mine is tungle.me/benstroup) and suggest a meeting time that works with their schedule. Either you or the other individual can suggest multiple meeting times and let the other party decide what works best for them. No more “back and forth” e-mails trying to settle on the perfect meeting time. Once the meeting it scheduled, it automatically adds it to your native calendar.
2. Dropbox. Throw away your thumb drive…forever! Always be just a click away from your most important, most used files. Every file automatically syncs with your computer and can be accessed from any computer with an internet connection. (If you use this link to sign up, we’ll both get a little extra storage space.)
3. FreeConferenceCall.com. Get a personal, dedicated phone number for up to 99 people to be on the same call with you. No more trying to conference people in with the phone system and accidentally hitting the wrong button only to have to start dialing all over again. Plus, you can record calls for review later.
4. OpenOffice.org. Why are you still paying for Microsoft Office when you can get the same functionality with Open Office? Seriously. The latest version interfaces with Google Docs. A great benefit is that you can save and open files in almost any format.
5. Google Apps. Kill your Exchange Server today. Move your entire church to Google Apps for free. No more having to dial into the server or expensive IT maintenance fees. You’ll still get to keep your domain name (e.g. “@yourchurchname.whatever”), and you’ll gain the power of Google.
I use all of these tools and encourage all my clients to consider them. The life of a pastor is busy. (If you’re a bi-vocational minister, it’s even more chaotic.) It’s crazy not to think about ways to leverage technology to decrease the amount of time you spend on administration so you can do what you do best…ministry.
Save money and do more ministry today!
Do you currently use these tools? Have they been helpful? What would you add to the list?
Related Post:
11 reasons why I use Google Voice
7 questions that reveal if you (and your leadership) are “all in”
One of the most important things that I highlight and reinforce with church leaders related to funding is the importance of the leadership being “all in.”
NOW is the time to decide if you believe enough in your church and what your charged with funding to decide if “you’re in” or “you’re out.”
That may sound harsh, but the reality is that if those asking others to contribute their time, talents, and treasures to the Kingdom through the ministry of the local church aren’t already doing this, then the fire and passion (and credibility) needed to invite others to do the same will be missing.
As many churches embark on their annual stewardship campaign in January, here are seven tough questions to ask yourself and all church leaders (lay and staff):
- Do you believe in your gut that God is calling you to do big things to build the Kingdom through the ministry of the church you lead?
- Can you clearly articulate and quantify the impact you’ve had in the past and what your project to accomplish moving forward?
- Are you asking others to give in ways that you aren’t presently giving?
- Are you convinced that the programs and ministries your church invests in are producing measurable results that are expanding and empowering Kingdom growth?
- If someone were you ask you why they should contribute to the ministry of your church, are you prepared to respond with why the ministry of your church is the best use of their God-given resources? (By the way … “just because” isn’t a good answer.)
- Are you prepared to ask, in person, others to contribute to your church? (If you don’t, someone else … probably outside the church … will.)
- Are you prepared to challenge every leader – lay and staff – to contribute at their maximum capacity? (WARNING: This is going to upset some of you. If you get upset, at least I told you so. If you have leaders who aren’t contributing or who are exhibiting signs that they aren’t “all in,” then it’s time for a one-on-one conversation. No leader can inspire others to go places they haven’t already been.)
Ask the tough questions now. Otherwise, you risk the integrity of the campaign. Don’t think the people in the pew don’t know who is “all in” and who isn’t.
(Hint: It will be UNBELIEVABLY obvious who is “all in” and who isn’t. Those who aren’t will object to asking the hard questions.)
Church Funding Friday: “Fat Thinking” about church giving
Jim Sheppard is an innovator and leader when it comes to the world of generosity. He co-navigates an organization called Generis. Jim was the ONLY person included in the invitation-only event called “The Nines” hosted by Leadership Network that spoke to the subject of ministry funding.
I was so compelled after listening to his presentation that I tweeted him to talk further about the changing climate of church giving.
You’re going to love this! This guy is the real deal.
The difference between “stewardship” and “generosity”
The Church rightfully owns the word “stewardship,” and the Church rightfully owns the word “generosity.” BUT I think many Christians (a.k.a people who should know better) have little understanding of the difference between the two.
Let me give you a hint: THEY DON’T MEAN THE SAME THING!
(I guess this reaction is what my English teacher was talking about when she used to get frustrated and say, “just because it sounds right to the ear doesn’t mean it IS right grammatically.)
Stewardship is a Lordship issue. It has been stolen from the Christian’s vocabulary and practice by just about everyone else. Passing the Plate calls the average American Christian’s posture to church giving “discretionary obligation” (i.e. “I’ll decide how much of God’s money to give Him.) Further, The Bible (Jesus had “a few” things to say on the subject), money, and the Horatio Alger American myth presents a point of tension that the Church has yet to deal with strategically.
We, as Americans, pride ourselves in our ability to make something of ourselves. And when we do, we take all the glory. This is inherently inconsistent with a Biblical worldview of money and success, yet it is woven into the fabric of American Christianity.
Therefore:
1. We must address stewardship before we can even begin the conversation of generosity.
2. We must practice the Gospel we profess – that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior of our lives – before we can begin to think about being generous.
Those who misunderstand stewardship will also misunderstand generosity. We must practice stewardship BEFORE we can be generous. We must exhibit a rule of life that says all that we have, are, and will ever become is God’s and has been given to us in the form of assets to be managed for the Kingdom. Only then can we begin the conversation of generosity.
The trend and conversation that believes “generosity” is the new, improved, and “cooler” version of the “old” word stewardship is flawed.
Perhaps the strongest evidence of our lack of stewardship understanding and practice is our inability to be self-sustaining as individuals and churches in the midst of uncertain (really any) economic times.
3 steps to increasing your church’s giving capacity
We spend a great deal of time pointing to the faithful giving of the few and trying to convince those who will never give to “think about” giving. Neither one of those objectives is off base. In fact, they are necessary. What does get overlooked is the largest population among the people in our pews who ARE NOT giving at their maximum capacity.
Why not?
1. One segment is in so much debt they can’t see straight.
2. One segment is out of debt but doesn’t have a habit of giving.
3. One segment has a habit of giving but not tithing.
4. One segment is faithfully tithing but has never been challenged to be generous.
We need to spend more time unlocking the giving potential of the people already present in our pews. So what are three steps to increasing your church’s giving capacity:
1. Know your giving data.
Sorry. There is no way around this one. You are going to have to look at numbers and segment your population and quantify the giving habits of your membership. The information that lies in the numbers will tell you more than can imagine. Pay close attention to one, three, and five year trends. You have to establish a baseline before you can begin to measure progress.
2. Implement a plan.
There is nothing new about this step. Define what steps you will take as church leaders to cultivate encourage the practice of stewardship and cultivate a culture of generosity in your church. No plan = More of the same. (And if you’re satisfied with where you and your church are today, you should save your church the trouble and fire yourself!) Those churches who consistently realize fully funded ministry budgets are also insanely specific about how they teach and encourage faithful giving.
3. Measure the results.
You will need to establish a few metrics to use as a measuring stick to determine whether or not your plan is having a sustained impact on the giving habits of your church membership. Metrics are different for every church and should be tied to the overall vision and focus of the church. Measuring progress (quantitatively) is so important because you can’t manage what you don’t measure.
Bottom line, increasing the giving capacity is a year-round effort, doesn’t “just happen,” and is vitally important to your church’s ability to fulfill the unique vision and purpose God intended.
Get to work! We have a Kingdom to fund and build!
3 Del.icio.us links on Thursdays about stewardship and giving
I’m trying something I’ve never done before.
Every Thursday during the month of December, I’m going to pick three links I’ve cataloged in my Del.icio.us account during the previous week. (This site houses 100′s of links related to stewardship, generosity, and giving – and the list grows almost daily – that can be easily searched and used for sermon preparation, committee prep, funding strategy, etc.)
Here are my top picks for the week:
1. Top 10 Ways to Screw up Your Year-End Fundraising Campaign
Thoughts: Churches are in the best position to secure funding from the people in the pew. Sadly, churches are often the WORST at doing it. While each of the 10 items listed doesn’t have direct application to the life and practice of the church, pay special attention to numbers 2-5.
2. 5 Trends Affecting Your Ministry in 2010
Thoughts: Funding is directly tied to the people in our pews. We need to ensure those of us who are called to the pulpits of churches are also in touch with the shifts of the people in the pew. I teach that giving begins with the worldview of the giver. This article highlights important shifts that church leaders must be mindful of as they develop a ministry strategy.
3. Giving to Receive: What Legacy Will You Leave?
Thoughts: Don’t be confused by the title. This article isn’t about planned giving. What it’s asking the reader to consider is what point is it to collect and not share. The writer argues that we need to think about how we can invest what we do have in others today. How we practice this in our own lives will determine the legacy we leave behind.
I hope this link collection is helpful to you in your ministry. Be sure to visit my Del.icio.us account regularly for updates or subscribe via RSS.
And always feel free to send links to anything you think is missing.
Church Giving: The rules have changed
I was invited a couple of weeks ago to present to a group of African-American pastors at LifeWay about church giving. I thoroughly enjoyed my time and am grateful to Jay Wells for the invitation. Below is the presentation.
Compelling church giving statistic
“If members of historically Christian churches had chosen to give 10% to their congregations in 2007, rather than the 2.56% given that year, there would have been an additional $161 billion available for work through the church.”
– Empty Tomb, The State of Church Giving through 2007
How much MINISTRY are we leaving on the table when we refuse to talk about stewardship and generosity?
Why I do what I do
Have you ever thought about WHY you do what you do?
Is it because you couldn’t find anything else to do?
Is it because you let somebody else tell you how you should spend your days?
If you answered YES to either of those questions, then STOP RIGHT NOW.
LEAVE.
GO do something ELSE that ignites the very core of who you are.
If the reason you do what you do is anything less than BECAUSE YOU CAN’T THINK OF ANYTHING ELSE YOU WOULD DO RIGHT NOW, then it’s time for a change!
I call myself the CHIEF BROKER OF OPPORTUNITY.
I help churches fund their budgets.
I help pastors and church leaders do what seminary failed to prepare them to do … manage the pressure of dollars in the plate and people in the pew.
What’s really strange is that I stumbled into this world.
BUT it keeps getting bigger and BIGGER!
I met with a church yesterday that should be thriving, but it’s not. It’s struggling due to some things it can control and – like all of us – things it can’t control. I listened. We discussed. I left the meeting not sure the direction to take BUT I COULDN’T STOP THINKING ABOUT THEM and the challenge before us.
Then it hit me.
An idea came to me that I thought might work.
I made a phone call.
It was well received.
So the work began.
I woke up early this morning … 4 AM … and wrote a proposal for this church to consider.
THEY LOVED IT!
Not because it was all about ME but because it was ALL ABOUT THEM … even better … the end result was FULL of POSSIBILITY!
And they said ….
YES!
LET’S DO IT!
WE’RE IN!
Don’t we all love it when we put ourselves out there and someone else says that’s EXACTLY what I was looking for but couldn’t find. OF COURSE!
I help pastors and church leaders be successful balancing ministry and money. But MONEY is not the end result … it’s the vehicle that God provides to fund the ministry HE has called the CHURCH to accomplish, a unique purpose that only the CHURCH is designed to fulfill.
I do what I do because I believe …
the CHURCH CAN’T FAIL. There is no PLAN B.
The thought of playing a role in the Church realizing its God given potential is what gets me up early and keeps me up late. It’s what causes me to take on the challenge, even when it seems impossible.
I CAN’T HELP MYSELF. So I keep going. Why? BECAUSE I CAN’T THINK OF ANYTHING ELSE I WOULD BE DOING RIGHT NOW if I wasn’t doing what I do!
Why do you do what you do?
