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Resources to learn how to use Google Analytics

April 13, 2010 in for Churches

As far as website analytics goes, Google Analytics is advanced. It’s free, which is great, but just because it’s free doesn’t mean it’s straightforward to use.

When I chat to people about the analytics they are collecting on their website, it’s not uncommon to hear “We’ve got Google Analytics installed, but we don’t really look at it”. Not surprisingly, if you don’t take the time to learn Google Analytics (or any other analytics program you’ve got running on your website), you won’t be able to make the most of it.

If you’re after a less complicated solution, for my money (slightly more than the cost of Google Analytics), Clicky is the winner. It’s simple, easy to use and cheap (but not free). I’ve written about its benefits previously.

However, Google Analytics is the industry standard. ‘27 features that make Google Analytics best of breed‘ might be three years old, but it still applies and then some, with even more features added since.

Here are some resources to learn more about Google Analytics so it can be more than just code you’ve got running in the background of your site!

My first recommendation is to go to ‘Conversion University’ and take lessons in Google Analytics IQ. These short tutorials provide a beginners overview to Google Analytics, what it is, what it does, and how you can set it up. If you’re brave, you can then do the test!

I also recommend checking out the following:

Is your church or ministry using Google Analytics on its website? Do you feel like you are making the most of it?

Don’t buy another bad (Christian) book

April 12, 2010 in Christian Living, for Churches, Pastors

A brief visit to Koorong makes it clear that not all Christian books were created equal. Discernment is required in selecting your reading material.

These three sites provide book reviews to help you find Christian books worth reading:

Where do you go online to find book reviews before buying or reading a book?

Do you hear what I hear?

April 11, 2010 in for Churches

Christianity Today reports on the exclusion that many deaf people experience in churches, and what one ministry is doing about it. Here’s a couple of choice quotes:

“Language and cultural barriers have left the deaf a veritable unreached people group right in America’s midst.”

“Over 90 percent of deaf children are born into hearing families, yet most of these families never learn enough American Sign Language (ASL) to talk about matters of faith. Deaf children find themselves equally isolated at church.”

“Deaf Video…has produced almost 500 videos of Bible stories, sermons, dramas, marriage counseling sessions, and children’s programs—all in ASL.”

Thanks David for letting me know about this.

Six reasons my church uses the Jethro member database

April 7, 2010 in for Churches, Pastors

In July last year, I wrote a series on ‘Search for the ideal church database’, exploring a range of web-based member database solutions for churches. Here are the posts to refresh your memory:

After much deliberation, the member database my church decided on is Jethro.

Here’s six reasons why we chose Jethro. None of these on their own sealed the deal, but together formed a compelling case for my church to use Jethro:

  1. Jethro is Australian. I’ve got nothing against solutions from overseas (there are some first-class solutions, particularly from the U.S.), but I really like the ability to easily receive support in my own timezone. I also liked the opportunity to support a local church who had generously developed the database and made it available for free.
  2. Jethro is open source (and free), but well-supported. I’ve been very impressed by the support provided by the developer, and set-up on our server wasn’t a difficult tasks. For the record, the support provided by Ascribe and Church Community Builder in particular, was also excellent.
  3. Jethro is easy to use (and not just for tech-savvy people). Our staff team has a range of technical skill levels. Jethro is intuitive making it easy to use and easy to learn. I wrote a brief user guide for our staff, but I didn’t want to (and couldn’t afford to) invest in complex training or an on-going support package that is required or recommended by some other solutions.
  4. Jethro can do all the things we needed a database to do. I wrote a list of requirements, and with one minor exception, Jethro meets these requirements.
  5. Jethro has great tools for tracking attendance. One of our core requirements was to be able easily track attendance, and identify people to follow-up, who haven’t been regularly attending. This is an important part of caring for the sheep entrusted to us. Jethro does this very well.
  6. Jethro doesn’t do too much. Some databases had amazing functionality that went above and beyond our requirements. Powerful community tools, iPhone interfaces, child check-in systems, etc. These are great, but for various reasons specific to my church, these aren’t necessary and would be features we would pay for but don’t need. Jethro met our needs without providing more than we needed.

Two things I should make clear:

  1. It simply wasn’t possibly to comprehensively review each of the 32 solutions – I’d like to do this and post the findings on Communicate Jesus in the future, but I don’t have time at the moment :) I narrowed down the list of options based on my church’s requirements and the information provided on the websites of providers (including how accessible and intelligible this information was).
  2. I want to make clear that each church is different, and the needs of my church might not be the same as yours. Understanding your specific requirements is key. Jethro may not be the best solution for your church, but for my church’s current and (anticipated) future needs, it will serve us well.

40 worship presentation tools

April 6, 2010 in for Churches

I remember being on ‘OHP duty’ at church, and being presented with a collection of transparencies to place on the overhead projector, and the challenge of keeping up with the songs throughout the service. As one song progressed, I’d have the next transparency ready to slide up onto the screen, hoping that I had it around the right way, and that the current slide wouldn’t prematurely slide off the back. Those were the days!

Since then, every church I’ve been in has used PowerPoint to project song lyrics and other media onto the screen during church services. PowerPoint has been a very adequate solution. Mostly dependable, and managing the basics well. In recent years, numerous other products have entered the market, promising to help churches project song lyrics and other service elements. I don’t want to use a product just because it’s new (if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it), but I do want to consider how newer products might be used to the glory of God. What do they offer that PowerPoint doesn’t? Would these features be useful, or just extravagant?

I did some research and I discovered a list of church presentation software, but a number of the items in the list are no longer available. Last year, Collide Magazine wrote a review of nine presentation software products. I’ve collated current products from both lists, and put together this list of 40 worship presentation tools. To be honest, the number of items in the list is daunting – I’m not sure how they can most effectively be reviewed. If you’ve used any of these products, we’d love to hear of your experiences!

  1. Microsoft PowerPoint
  2. Apple Keynote
  3. EasyWorship
  4. LiveWorship
  5. MediaShout
  6. ProPresenter
  7. SlideRocket
  8. SongShowPlus
  9. WorshipCentre Pro
  10. Paperless Hymnal
  11. Worship Him
  12. Presentation Manager
  13. Easislides
  14. Sunday Plus
  15. Power Worship
  16. Worship Assistant
  17. Sing and Read
  18. SongPro
  19. Praise
  20. Worship Presenter
  21. Freepath
  22. Worship Live!
  23. WorshipSession
  24. Tempo Productions
  25. ChurchView
  26. SongBase
  27. Songview
  28. Words of Worship
  29. ShowNak
  30. VideoPress
  31. Zionworx
  32. ServiceBuilder
  33. Dreambeam
  34. OpenSong
  35. Digital Songs and Hymns
  36. Marietta
  37. Datasoul
  38. Church Presenter
  39. Spool Worship
  40. SongLeader

Update:

6 online apologetics resources

April 5, 2010 in Christian Living, for Churches, Outreach, Pastors

I’ve just returned from Katoomba Easter Convention. A wonderful weekend of fellowship and cracker Bible teaching. One preacher I was particularly looking forward to hearing was Dr John Lennox – Professor of Mathematics at Oxford University. The talks were brilliant (as were the talks by Stephen Um and Ray Galea) – they will soon be available online. John is a master apologist and gift to the church, science and the world. I’d like to share with you some online resources to access John’s material, as well as other apologists online.

  1. The website of John Lennox. Talks and resources, including ‘Who created the Creator?‘.
  2. Apologetics 315. A resource I frequently return to with recommended books, top 16 apologetics podcasts, quotes, and a basic logic primer.
  3. The God Delusion Debate. A debate between Richard Dawkins and John Lennox. Lennox is brilliant.
  4. Reasonable Faith. The site of apologist William Lane Craig – one of the best known apologists of our day. An interesting resource is Craig’s weekly ‘Q and A‘.
  5. The website of Lee Strobel. A friend of mine became a Christian after reading the Case for Faith. I read it recently and loved the style – Lee asks all those curly questions about Christianity that Christians often get asked, and documents the answers he receives. This site has links to Lee’s books, a large collection of videos, and a blog (that unfortunately hasn’t been updated since 2008) and newsletter.
  6. Centre for Public Christianity. A range of video and print resources on topics including Christianity, the arts, world religions and more. There’s also a selection of resources from John Lennox.

Have you discovered any helpful apologetics resources online?

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