Tony Dye

Where Have I Been?

Wow, it's been a long time since I've done any blogging. Several posts abandoned, some drafts in progress, and a big queue of stuff waiting to be posted.. OK, I'll be back! Need to finish up the ChMS series (some things have changed), and may have some other things to announce very shortly.

I'll be at Watermark next week for the national CITRT, along with about 250 others. Woot!

Has Your Church Considered Sermon Transcription?

Have you thought about sermon transcription for your church? If you are doing audio, then you're already part way there. But how do you search audio? And some people are just visual learners and do better with written (or displayed) words, and some need the audio and the words!

If you've tried automated transcription, you probably know that's a technology that's not quite ready yet. If you've tried off-shore outsourcing, then I guess the fact that you're still reading this indicates how well that worked out. Would you like a better option?

Yes, this is going to be a plug for a great service I believe in and do have some connection with. So, with that disclaimer, here goes

Let us transcribe your sermons each week so you can:

• Post transcribed sermons on your church website
  • Makes it easy to search through them
  • Many people love being able to read the sermons
• Have a written transcription of each week's sermon
  • Build a database of your sermons
  • Use for reference purposes

• Typically $75 per sermon
  • Easy payment options
  • Billed monthly
• Scripture and references always included
• Varying levels of editing available according to your preference
• Sermon transcription usually completed within 3-5 days (can be sooner if necessary with advanced notice)
• I simply download the audio sermon from your website or you can send it to me as an mp3, then I email the transcribed Word document back to you

Contact Margaret Salyers, Sermon Transcription, MargaretSalyers [at] gmail.com or call 606-706-5006 and receive a FREE TRIAL - your first sermon transcribed at no charge.

(Please tell Margaret you saw the reference on my blog)

Did You Know?

If you have *anything* to do with Church IT, please join the CITRT group on LinkedIn. For all things Church IT related, check out http://CITRT.org/

If you are considering a new Church Management System (ChMS), be sure to include MinistryPlatform by Think Ministry Inc. in your research

 

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The iPhone Twitter App I Want

I don't think I'm all that hard to please. I want a simple Twitter App for my iPhone. I just want an app that works like I do. OK, maybe I'm not normal -- but I can't be that weird, can I?

I want an app that shows me what I care about in a single stream. What I care about is NOT everybody I follow (sorry). I care about a group of searches (#citrt, #chms, some keywords, etc., and it does include a few people I might follow, and even some I don't) and any direct messages to me or mentions.

Now, I'm convinced there must be apps that will do exactly that. Apparently I'm just not using them right. Anybody know one? (free would be a nice)

 

Inaugural Nashville Regional Church IT Roundtable

Thursday, October 21, will be the first ever regional Church IT Roundtable in the Nashville area. Click here for details and registration.(A full list of sites and dates can be found on the CITRT homepage.)

If you are ANYWHERE in Tennessee, northern Alabama, northwest Georgia, central Kentucky, or northern Mississippi, this will be the location for you. Of course, anyone is welcome, from any state, who wants to make a trip to the Nashville area – what a great place to be in late October!

J.Mac Brown, who will be the host for the event, offers this short testimonial:

“I have been in and around the CITRT for four years now and for me personally it has been a huge benefit and support to my job.  Each time I have attended an event I have walked away with a new tool we have implemented in our organization.  I flew back home from our National Roundtable (at Saddleback in Los Angeles) in March feeling encouraged and fired up about the role I play on our team at Fellowship Bible.”

The cost and time commitment are low but the benefit can be big.  Hope you can make it.
J.Mac Brown

This is your chance to be part of a great new beginning AND help CITRT celebrate four years. Register now!

CITRT at CCB conference, 9/10/2010, Colorado Springs

Church Community Builder & CITRT are hosting a Roundtable in Colorado Springs, Friday, September 10, 2010. This event is open to anyone involved in Church IT, whether a CCB client or not.
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Advance Registration required
> CCB conference attendees can select the CITRT day as part of the conference registration.
> Non-CCB clients register here: https://tribe.ccbchurch.com/w_form_response.php?form_id=35
* There is a $20 registration fee which covers all costs, including lunch and snacks. Of course, transportation, lodging, etc. will be at your own expense.

Location:

Church For All Nations
6540 Templeton Gap Rd.
Colorado Springs, CO 80923
http://www.churchforallnations.com/

Proposed Schedule
8:00 – 9:00       Registration, meet & greet
9:00 – 4:00       Roundtable
<evening>        optional hang-out time as long as anyone wants; plenty of places nearby

http://www.connectedchurchconference.com/ is the CCB conference site

CITRT information is always available at http://CITRT.org/

Are You Looking for a New Church Management System?

Per my earlier post, I'm working with Think Ministry to find a very few, very special, churches to be the final "charter partners" in the development of MinistryPlatform.

What sort of special churches are we looking for?

• Large: at least 2500 weekly worship attendance, larger is better
• Strongly prefer Multi-campus (or at least multi-congregation). If not multi-congregation, then "large" above should be even larger
• An IT staff that’s been around a while [or an excellent outsourcing firm that can be fully engaged] (Not because it's difficult, on the contrary, supporting MinistryPlatform is a joy for IT compared to most other products)
• Church leadership that is fully engaged in transitioning to a fully-used, single point of reference, ChMS
• A ChMS champion exists, or is ready to step up
• And finally, motivated to make a change within the next few months

If this is you, or your church, let's talk. If you don't already have my contact information, you can send me an email. I'm TonyDye and I use gmail. Easy enough?

Although Think Ministry is a new player in the Church Management market, we have a stable product that is currently being used in 7 large churches successfully. MinistryPlatform in an amazingly competitive product that, in my biased opinion, is a game changer and is more comprehensive than any other product on the marketplace. As a "charter partner," you will be in a position to influence features and form. Also, if your church is a bit unique, we'd like to ensure we can address your needs.

Once a church is on-board with Think Ministry, the data migration is typically completed in just a few days so the church can begin to see real data in the new system very quickly and immediately get the benefits of easy access and simplified views and queries.

Moreover, you get full check-21 compliant check scanning, online giving, online event registration, and the most powerful check-in system on the planet out-of-the-box. (yes, I am biased, that doesn't mean it's not true!)

Churches & Chambers of Commerce?

Have you ever known of a church which joined a local chamber of commerce? Does it make sense for churches to be part of the "business" community? Hmmm...just thinking...

CITRT, June 16, Atlanta

Just like ACS did in May, Shelby will be hosting a CITRT event open to *anyone* involved in Church IT, whether using Shelby’s products or not.

June 16, 2010: Atlanta, as part of Shelby’s International Shelby Conference (ISC)

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Shelby & CITRT are hosting a roundtable in Atlanta, June 16, 2010.

Advance Registration required
Register here (update: NO COST!*): http://isc.shelbyinc.com/citrt.aspx
(Same link for all attendees, even if you are an ISC attendee)*

The event is no charge. Transportation, parking, and food/refreshments will be at your own expense. We will likely all do lunch together (somewhat) at the CNN food court. There is also a coffee shop near the meeting area

Location:
Omni Hotel CNN Center
International Ballroom F
100 CNN Center
Atlanta, Georgia 30303
http://www.omnihotels.com/FindAHotel/AtlantaCNNCenter.aspx
See also: http://isc.shelbyinc.com/travel.aspx

Approximate Schedule
8:00 – 9:00           Registration, meet & greet
9:00 – 5:00           Roundtable (break for lunch, may do as a group)
<evening>          optional hang-out time as long as anyone wants; plenty of places near the OMNI

http://isc.shelbyinc.com/ is the Shelby conference site

Note: Shelby is not providing any meals for this event. A coffee shop / snack bar (pay as you go) is near the meeting room. Expect that we will all choose to do meals together, one way or another.

Technologies for Communication

Trivia Question. This almost sounds like Rick Warren from the Spring CITRT, but it's not. Do you know who said it? (NO, don't go look it up, make a real guess)

"What it comes down to for me is this: Will the technologies of communication in our culture, serve to enlighten us and help us to understand one another better, or will they deceive us and keep us apart?"