Church Management Solution
For those church planters that are following, I have not made a decision regarding church management software. It seems like most of the big name ministries are using F1 but I doubt we are going to start blindly following anyone now.
I had an online presentation scheduled with F1. I had a few simple requests. I wanted them to show me how I would generate a report detailing who is inviting the visitors. I wanted them to show me how I would generate a report showing what steps my visitors have taken since visiting. I wanted them to show me how I would generate a deposit batch. After an hour I was shown that the reports could be generated but was not shown how they are generated. I was told that they would get that set up and call me back. That hasn’t happened in the last couple of weeks.
I am a one man show as far as administration and I am not trying to buy software (or rent software in the case of fellowship one) that makes my job take longer. F1 has lots of features but God has called me to shepherd, not maintain rented software.
The training cost that F1 recommended is $1,000. When I was told that I just began to laugh out loud. Simply put, that ain’t gonna happen. I am sure the training is great but 1, we don’t have an extra grand. 2, there is no way I will remember the training and will eventually have to pay to get someone else trained. 3, if you need a weeks training to use your software it may not be for me. 4, did I mention that we don’t have a grand and if we did it would be wasted spending it on me to learn this software?
I am now in contact with Church Community Builder. Lets see what they offer.
I may just build an access database and call it a day. Bet I can get someone to build a custom one with all the reports I need for $50 through rent a coder or scriptlance. If I did that I would break even after the first month.
I just stumbled across One Vision, which is a Quickbooks add on. I will have to check that out as well. If you have any rec commendations let a brother know!
Hi Carl. I highly recommend you participate in the online webinar for Church Community Builder (CCB) and get the full scope of what CCB can do for you. I work with them professionally to assist with marketing and PR, and have also been in on tech meetings with my own church regarding ChMS software. It has been an interesting process to see each and every person on our team (pastors, admins, etc.) come to see the way our church can improve its communications through using CCB.
I often interview churches using CCB for editorials and success stories. One person I interviewed echoed your thoughts on training by saying that in his perspective, in this day and age, web-based software shouldn’t require that much training – if it’s not easy to use and understand, it will never be beneficial to his church.
Good luck with your search. The folks at CCB are really great–I know you’ll enjoy the journey. -Lauren
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October 4th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
I think that the training is needed because there is so much to the software. It is really amazing what it can do (what it says it can do. I could not exactly figure it out).
On the other hand, I found out that you have to fill out a form and get contacted with a CCB rep in order to watch a promotional video for their product 8-0. Really? That is plain weird. I can’t even find out what your software can do without talking to a sales rep? Cant even watch a video?
F1 lets you sign up and get a free 30 day trial without making contact with someone.
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My name is Trevor and I work for Excellerate church mangement software. I was reading your post and our software can handle the reports you want. You can get a free demo to play with by going to http://www.excellerate.com/?demo_church_software.
Some of the reports you are looking for aren’t standard, though you can easily make them yourself, or the free initial support would cover having us make the templates, which we would email to you so you can use them anytime you want. If you have questions, feel free to call me at 888-371-6878, or email trevor@excellerate.com and I’ll be happy to help you
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ha ha ha
good stuff
i feel you pastor
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I had a chance to talk with Steve Caton, VP of Sales and Marketing for CCB over the weekend about the company’s reasoning for asking folks to fill out a form to view the online demo:
“We think it is important that we have a chance to speak with someone at the church so that we can understand the unique needs of the church and determine whether we are a good fit. Technology should be considered as a solution that empowers key objectives and goals. Unfortunately, many see it only as a commodity. Although we are making our website more interactive, we will always manage our sales process through relationship, not demos. Those that see their technology providers as vital ministry partners appreciate that approach.
As far as providing 30 day free trials, we do offer a way to test drive CCB but not until we have had the necessary conversations to determine the strategic alignment. Furthermore, our experience has taught us that simply dumping people into free trials creates more problems that it solves. It is often overwhelming to the end-user, especially with software as comprehensive as a ChMS.” – Steve Caton
I hope this helps!!! Best of luck in your discovery process.
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1 week of training does seem like a long time and $1000 is a lot of money to learn how to use their software. It’s good that it has a lot of features but wow, not everyone can devote that much time. There are tons of Church membership software so I’m sure you’ll be able to get something that’s easy for you to use.
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Since my last comment, Church Community Builder has revamped their website and now allows you to view some videos without filling out a form. Go to their home page and watch the 7 minute video, Begin to Belong – http://www.churchcommunitybuilder.com/
It’s really awesome.
Best of luck!
Lauren
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