Check out the details for the Spring 2010 National Church IT Roundtable being hosted at Rick Warren's Saddleback Church (1 Saddleback Pkwy Lake Forest, CA 92630) on Thursday and Friday March 11-12. A pre-roundtable day will be optional for those arriving on March 10th. ONLY $75 for event registration AND meals!!
For details, go to: http://citrt.pbworks.com/Spring-2010-National-Church-IT-Roundtable
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Avast! Antivirus Software
In setting up the MacBook Pro, I purchased and loaded Avast! Antivirus Mac Edition, which has a really clean user interface and Avast! offers a 50% discount for nonprofits, charities, education, and government customers. The discount is great especially when you are buying multiple 3-year licenses! Check out Avast! at: http://www.avast.com/
MacBook Pro
I recently had the opportunity to purchase and set up an Apple MacBook Pro for one or our church worship leaders. The MacBook Pro and the OSX operating system are sweet! It’s easy to get hooked on the interface and the thin dimensions of the MacBook. We purchased the unit from Consistent Computer Bargains (http://www.ccbnonprofits.com) who gave a good price on both the MacBook Pro and the three-year AppleCare warranty. While I was impressed with the MacBook Pro, I could have purchased at least two nicely equipped Windows laptops for the same price.
Another source for Apple products for churches is the Willowcreek Association (WCA) (http://www.willowcreek.com/), they also offer a discount for Apple products and software for WCA members that appears to be as good as Consistent Computer Bargains or slightly better.
Another source for Apple products for churches is the Willowcreek Association (WCA) (http://www.willowcreek.com/), they also offer a discount for Apple products and software for WCA members that appears to be as good as Consistent Computer Bargains or slightly better.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Washington DC IT Roundtable - Wrap Up
First Topic: IT involvement in strategic planning of the church
Regular involvement with the planning, the good-fast-cheap concept is a reality and is used to force requesters to think about what they really need and their requirements. Outsourcing to Fellowship One and the use of Google Applications has reduced the labor requirements. Good way of collaboration is with the use of Google documents, still supporting some MS Office (none in the school), admin uses Office and the church is still all Office. IT volunteer nights (idea by Jason Powell @ Granger). 100% Cisco shop due to two Cisco trained volunteers who support the equipment.
Challenge is to keep up with growth, very much stove piped like, IT is challenged to stay involved, no vetting process of ideas, business processes are very stove-piped focuses, IT happens with and without coordination with the IT group. Using Fellowship One CHMS. Operations Team sits down with each group to understand and determine which needs to address. 10-year plan for IT and AV teams. Challenge is meeting all the demands.
Pastor not focused on long-term plans, tough to schedule/plan
Meet as a leadership team that discusses strategic plans, lots of information sharing across all departments.
Yearly planning efforts around budget time
Discussions with different departments, sold leadership on a SAN based on consistent argument
Second Topic: Extranets:
Use of SHAREPOINT for project management and for Intranet. SHAREPOINT eliminates the for shared folders. Requires lots of time investment for customization. Microsoft did free SHAREPOINT training for nonprofits. SHAREPOINT designer is the replacement for FRONTPAGE. SHAREPOINT hosting provider is mailstreet and tagit. Google sites is a comparable SHAREPOINT product.
Third Topic: Wireless
Examples of manufacturers of wireless access points recommended by IT Roundtable members: Xirrus, Cisco Aironet, Proxim,
Fourth Topic: Virtualization
Using VM Ware, Jumpbox http://www.jumpbox.com/supported-virtualization-software
Citrix Zen server, ESXi popular with IRC chat members
Fifth Topic: VM backups
Equillogic http://www.equallogic.com
Proxmox – has lots of backup solutions free http://www.proxmox.com/
Crashplan http://www6.crashplan.com
Sixth Topic: Internal Issues
Blocking of email: AOL blacklists quickly and is tough to get off of, use other sources for bulk email, need to get added to their whitelist. Rob uses Fellowship One or Vertical Response. Make sure the SPF records and Reverse DNS are set up correctly. Vertical Response allows up to 10K emails/month free for churches.
Use of Tweeter for alerts for church closings (Tweeter alerts)
Google Calendar works for room scheduling
AV media stored separately usually without back ups
Seventh Topic: WebPages
All Facebook and Twitter accounts are set up by the church with them as the first administrator and then the user set up as a contributing editor. Need for common themes and logos in all communications products and messages.
Eighth Topic: Email
Forever email storage for achieve purposes; Google lets you have 15G. Video and other multimedia files are the largest storage problem, encourage users to store files as separate attachment.
Are there any legal requirements for churches that state how long email need to be retained?
Ninth Topic:
IT Roundtable at
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Washington DC IT Roundtable
An IT Roundtable Discussion is scheduled for Monday 26 October 2009 at the McLean Bible Church: 8925 Leesburg Pike (Route 7), Vienna, VA 22182, (703) 790-5590
Registration is 0800-0900.
More details are at: http://dccitrt.pbworks.com/
Registration is 0800-0900.
More details are at: http://dccitrt.pbworks.com/
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Highlights from the Leadership Summit
Here are some highlights from this year’s Willow Creek Association’s Leadership Summit held on August 6-7, 2009 that I thought were enlightening.
Bill Hybels:
• Jim Collins’ new book, check it out “How the Mighty have Fallen”
• Pastors rather work with souls rather than spreadsheets
• Golden rule of staff reductions: give lots of notice: months, be very clear what the reasons are for the reductions, and be generous with severances
• God works through people who yield to him; 2 Chronicles 16:9
• People are hungry for money management during economic downturn
• People will still give generously during a downturn if you ask them to
Henry Cloud, Carly Fiorina, David Ireland, Patrick Lencioni:
• Boards: Dysfunctional boards exist because they have no values. Boards need to decide what kind of tone they want to set, they need to have trust and build on that.
• People need to humble themselves when in a time of need
• Those who are not affected by the downturn need to step up in many ways
• There is nothing like the local church when it is working like the local church
Gary Hamel:
• Churches must innovate and adapt
• Internal change lags behind external change, in both nonprofit and for profit industries. Change brings opportunity. The problem in the church is not unique.
Jessica Jackley:
• The poor will always be with us
• A loan with a purpose
• Just do it, don’t just talk about it. Don’t be afraid to start small, focus on one thing, think of scale in terms of building on the success
Harvey Carey:
• Most leaders think too much, thus they are hindered from doing God’s work
• Detroit has the most churches than any other city in the world, yet it is the poorest
• Prayer meetings versus strategic meetings, which do you have more of…it should be more strategy
Dave Gibbons:
• Margins move the masses
• Look at the person’s story, not just their strength tests
• Obedience more than passion
• 4 acts of obedience
1. deeper collaboration
2. Communal living
3. Prayer & the power of the Holy Spirit
4. Radical sacrifice for the outsider
Andrew Rugasira:
• Trade not aid!
• No country in the world was developed on handouts, why is Africa different?
• Aid is conditional, the host country will then focus their own money somewhere else
• Farmer networks are the key to growth
Wess Stafford:
• Give up your right for revenge
• If there’s a person who has hurt you, forgive them…otherwise you will carry this burden the rest of your life, “you can not have tomorrow”
David Gergen:
• Leaders who confuse motion with progress, great leaders think carefully about how and what to do with feedback all along the way.
• Someone who can see further back is able to see further ahead
• If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together
• Coming to church provides an inner peace, learn something from the Pastor or from the readings, and building your moral compass, students are finding that church can nourish these qualities. Your ego needs to be kept in check. Anchor your life is your faith. Be the change you want to see in the world.
Tony Blair:
• How do you handle doubt; think through the decision, put aside the fear and be willing to take responsibility
• Strategic goals is based on principle, tactical goals is about give and take
• Leadership is a blessing and a gift that you can use to help others, it is valuable and it’s your duty to serve
Bill Hybels:
• Jim Collins’ new book, check it out “How the Mighty have Fallen”
• Pastors rather work with souls rather than spreadsheets
• Golden rule of staff reductions: give lots of notice: months, be very clear what the reasons are for the reductions, and be generous with severances
• God works through people who yield to him; 2 Chronicles 16:9
• People are hungry for money management during economic downturn
• People will still give generously during a downturn if you ask them to
Henry Cloud, Carly Fiorina, David Ireland, Patrick Lencioni:
• Boards: Dysfunctional boards exist because they have no values. Boards need to decide what kind of tone they want to set, they need to have trust and build on that.
• People need to humble themselves when in a time of need
• Those who are not affected by the downturn need to step up in many ways
• There is nothing like the local church when it is working like the local church
Gary Hamel:
• Churches must innovate and adapt
• Internal change lags behind external change, in both nonprofit and for profit industries. Change brings opportunity. The problem in the church is not unique.
Jessica Jackley:
• The poor will always be with us
• A loan with a purpose
• Just do it, don’t just talk about it. Don’t be afraid to start small, focus on one thing, think of scale in terms of building on the success
Harvey Carey:
• Most leaders think too much, thus they are hindered from doing God’s work
• Detroit has the most churches than any other city in the world, yet it is the poorest
• Prayer meetings versus strategic meetings, which do you have more of…it should be more strategy
Dave Gibbons:
• Margins move the masses
• Look at the person’s story, not just their strength tests
• Obedience more than passion
• 4 acts of obedience
1. deeper collaboration
2. Communal living
3. Prayer & the power of the Holy Spirit
4. Radical sacrifice for the outsider
Andrew Rugasira:
• Trade not aid!
• No country in the world was developed on handouts, why is Africa different?
• Aid is conditional, the host country will then focus their own money somewhere else
• Farmer networks are the key to growth
Wess Stafford:
• Give up your right for revenge
• If there’s a person who has hurt you, forgive them…otherwise you will carry this burden the rest of your life, “you can not have tomorrow”
David Gergen:
• Leaders who confuse motion with progress, great leaders think carefully about how and what to do with feedback all along the way.
• Someone who can see further back is able to see further ahead
• If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together
• Coming to church provides an inner peace, learn something from the Pastor or from the readings, and building your moral compass, students are finding that church can nourish these qualities. Your ego needs to be kept in check. Anchor your life is your faith. Be the change you want to see in the world.
Tony Blair:
• How do you handle doubt; think through the decision, put aside the fear and be willing to take responsibility
• Strategic goals is based on principle, tactical goals is about give and take
• Leadership is a blessing and a gift that you can use to help others, it is valuable and it’s your duty to serve
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