Technology Resources for Churches
Technology abounds in everything we do. We carry around cell phones with greater computing power than what produced the Apollo 11 moon landing! We have apps for everything—ordering food, purchasing movie tickets, hopping on Amazon, and the list keeps going. The same holds true for the church. There are apps for everything from connecting to your ChMS or accounting systems to reconciling credit card purchases to managing your travel plans. As the Administrator for Seacoast Church, I utilize a variety of apps and wanted to give you a recap of the ones I have chosen and why. I have broken them down into four categories: Finance, File Access, Communication and Travel.
Finance
Sage-Intacct – In 2014, Seacoast transitioned to Sage- Intacct to manage our finances. This has given us better information and greater access to data. While Sage-Intacct doesn’t have a specific app, their website is optimized for phone access. While I can technically do anything with the web interface, not all of our reporting is optimized for a phone. Nexonia – Seacoast uses Nexonia for employee credit card reconciliation and approval of invoices and expenses. For purchases on their church credit card, employees can snap a photo of a receipt and add details at the time of purchase. The image is matched when the charge hits the card, making it easier to reconcile, while ensuring the church gets a larger percentage of receipts. This has made the Accounting staff very happy! On the invoice and expense approval side, managers can view their staff charges, adjust GL coding if needed, and
approve transactions—all from the app. (These can also be done through an email sent to the manager.) This makes it easier to approve transactions while on the road or working from home. Apple Pay/Google Pay – Whether or not your bank allows you to add your credit card to their system is bank-specific, but if you can, it provides an easier way to pay and track purchases. Contactless payment methods are becoming more prevalent during the pandemic and this is another option.
File Access
Seacoast uses MS Teams and the M365 platform for access to emails, files, team chats and information sharing, and we are very happy with the integration. NFP licenses are inexpensive and offer access to a variety of tools to manage data. OneDrive allows users access to files in their private drive, but also access to shared files across various teams. Sharing of files, either through a shared link or sending the actual files, is simple and effortless.
Not all files are stored in OneDrive, so I also use Dropbox for files that are not sensitive in nature. There are some
who oppose Dropbox and use similar apps, but this is a discussion for your IT Department and church leadership.
Other options include OwnDrive, Box and Google Drive. Evernote is a wonderful app that allows access to PDF files, photos, receipts and documents. Files can be “tagged” which helps to categorize them and make finding information easier. They offer both free and paid versions. The Pro version will scan documents and offers OCR recognition to find serial numbers, phone numbers and any other text item on a document! Being a person who LOVES working with spreadsheets, I have to include MS Excel. The app provides access to all of my documents and allows me to do a lot of work on files when away from my computer. Running pivot tables can be a bit challenging on my phone, but I can still have access to them. MS has mobile apps for their entire suite of programs: Word, PowerPoint, Access, OneNote and more.
Communication
MS Teams – As a M365 church, we utilize Teams for ministry team meetings, video chats and texting between staff. We are very happy with the platform, and new features are being rolled out on a quarterly basis. Zoom – There are some who think Zoom isn’t secure and should be avoided, but it is up to the IT staff and church leadership to decide on approved platforms. At Seacoast, we use Zoom for some video calls. There are a TON of articles on Zoom security.Read them, talk with your IT staff and make your own decision.
Travel
My go-to travel app is TripIt. It allows me to forward emails for plane, hotel and rental car reservations, and the app will create trips based on dates. It makes it easy to keep up with changes and information and giving my wife the login allows her to keep track of my schedule! There are a variety of airline, rental car, hotel and travel apps
available. Find the ones that make sense for you. For mobile boarding passes, using the app for the carrier you are flying is quick and easy—no need to overcomplicate it! FlightView allows me to enter flight information and see a map of the route, as well as weather conditions.
MyTSA is an app that provides estimated wait times based on the time of day and day of the week. It can help you
in determining how early you need to arrive at the airport before your flight. CarFind puts a “pin” in a virtual map and shows you where you parked your vehicle. I “lost” a car years ago at DFW airport because I thought I had left it in one lot, but actually parked it in another. (It took me three hours to find it!) CarFind gets you home quicker because it guides you right to your vehicle. The list could go on and on, but these are my top go-to apps. What are yours?
- Written By Glenn Wood
(Originally published NOV 2020 Magazine)