Church tech leaders and creatives will understand: to keep the engine of ministry running smoothly, we need high-quality and low-cost tools and resources. This is especially true for creative and tech departments. In an age of rapid technological innovation and a changing social landscape, church tech leaders are under pressure to captivate their audiences for the kingdom.
But good tools are hard to come by.
To help solve that problem, here are five of our favorites. We picked them up during our time as church tech directors, or we noticed them in our quest to stay on top of the latest trends in the industry. Every one of them is changing the game for ministry in the digital age. We love them, and we love you – so we wanted to share them:
In this article:
Planning Center
For those who don’t know, Planning Center is a suite of custom-built software designed to help churches grow – and to help them run their ministry. We love them because they’re built by churches, for churches. So, you don’t have to make a marketplace tool work in your non-profit context – Planning Center is designed specifically for church ministry.
They constantly update their product to make it better and offer intuitive tutorials for all their systems. Churches can use it to manage volunteer teams, event signups, children’s ministry check-ins, service flows, tithes and offerings, and more. If you haven’t checked it out already, you owe it to yourself to visit planningcenter.com and see how it can benefit your ministry.
We loved using it to schedule our volunteer teams and make sure that every critical position was filled for each service. It was also amazing to have our service orders in one place so that there was no confusion or conflicting information.
MxU
MxU provides on-demand training material for church production teams. They have hundreds of videos all geared toward teaching audio, visual, and lighting in the church context. These guys have seen church at the top of its game and have banded together to help others put on the absolute best worship services possible.
During our careers in church tech, we often found ourselves in situations where we didn’t have the technical knowledge we needed. Maybe our pastor asked us to do something we’ve never done before, or we bought a shiny new piece of gear that we didn’t know how to use yet. Either way, we now wish we had something like MxU to grow our knowledge instead of learning things the hard way.
We love them so much that we’re providing a free 12-month MxU license, complementary with all our install projects. If you’re curious about what they can do for you, visit mxu.rocks and see for yourself!
Church Media Squad (CMS)
In our time working at churches, we noticed a problem: the demand for quality graphic design often far exceeded the abilities of the communications team – or required them to put in ridiculous hours to get everything done. And of course, we also saw many church tech leaders get thrown into the role responsible for graphic design, social media, and print. Can you relate?
We heard (and have thought ourselves) people say things like, “I wish I could just pay a monthly fee and then get an unlimited amount of graphic design work from a pro.”
Well, the founders at Church Media Squad saw this pattern too and decided to do something about it. They operate on a monthly fee system, delivering a 2-3 day turnaround on all your graphic design needs. Even if you’re not the creative director at your church, you should consider showing this to them.
Several of our clients have tried CMS out and have had a great experience. They told us it’s like having an entire graphic design team… but without the price tag. We’ve also heard that they provide excellent customer service in their goal to help churches win.
Resi.io
Simply put, Resi has redefined the live streaming industry.
To speak technically, they use the same DASH protocol used by streaming giants Amazon and Netflix. This eliminates buffering and dropouts and enables 1080p streaming with no delays, even if your church’s upload speed isn’t the best. They can do true live streams as well as sim-live broadcasts. They also allow streaming from multiple campuses at the same time, eliminating the need for expensive streaming hardware or ridiculously expensive site-to-site connections.
In layman’s terms, they give you a reliable online church service that starts on time and doesn’t have any problems.
Amid the pandemic, when a huge percentage of congregants haven’t returned in person, we need reliable and quality streamed church services. Especially since Millenials and Generation Z are more likely to visit your church online before they ever come in person. See if Resi.io can help your church fulfill the Great Commission in the 21st century.
ALTA Systems
You know we had to include a shameless self-plug!
If you’re a technical or creative church leader, we want you to grow – and we know how to get you there.
At ALTA, we don’t even focus on technology. Weird, right? Instead, we focus on your vision. When we select the technology for your production system, our team of experienced tech gurus works to design the perfect blank canvas for your creatives to… create.
At ALTA, we think of our clients as partners forging a new future with us. As the church continues to evolve over the 21st century, we want to be at the forefront of innovation. And we want you to join us.
If you’re curious about any of the resources listed above, or you’re looking for something else, then give us a call. We know a thing or two about succeeding in ministry tech from our time serving at some of the largest churches in the world. We’ll also chat about your mission, vision, and needs. No matter what, you’ll walk away more knowledgeable and confident about your ministry.
Looking forward to working with you! Book a meeting here.
