Intense Debate: Is PC or Mac Better for Your Church?

Six years ago I’ve switched from PC to Mac and then back again last year. The first jump came after a friend gave me a second generation MacBook Air. More recently, due to my disappointment with Apple’s latest update to their MacBook Pro line, I switched back to PC to get a fast seventh generation Intel Core processor and a touchscreen laptop. Apple offers neither as of early 2017.

apple macbook pro

 

The Mac v. PC debate gets people fired up, but I don’t think it should. Both platforms offer similar quality options in both hardware and the operating system. Smart users can run MacOS and Windows 10 safely and can install first-rate software for church and ministry. The reason to go with a Mac or a Windows PC has more to do with preference than quality. So let’s examine some important considerations and the availability of quality software commonly used in the ministry setting.

PC or Mac: 3 Considerations

The transition from PC to Mac for someone like me who never used a Mac regularly took some time and came with some frustration.

Consider a few issues when making the switch:

  • You will need to replace your software with Mac compatible version, which can cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars depending on what you’re using.
  • Everything you know about how to do certain tasks will change when making the switch. Little things like formatting a disk, finding files, or adding hardware peripherals work differently.
  • Generally, a Mac with similar power and features costs more money than a PC with the same specs, especially with the latest generation of MacBook Pros with the Touch Bar. Apple increased the base price for this new feature that a lot of reviewers don’t find that compelling. IBM disagrees. The organization that used to make the original PC, now uses Macs and claims that this switch saves them a lot of money.

 

lenovo yoga 910 windows pc

Going the other direction, from the Mac to the PC, also means replacing software and learning new tricks. However, most of the time going to the PC from Mac will save money. To illustrate, right after the current generation MacBook Pro came out, I bought a Lenovo Yoga 910 laptop. It has the latest generation Intel Core i7 Kaby Lake processor, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. It doesn’t come with dedicated graphics processor like the MacBook Pros, but the MacBook Pros use the previous generation processor. The price difference was over $1,000 less for my system compared to the Mac of similar speed and capability. The Lenovo also adds a great touchscreen display and convertible design, something Apple doesn’t. I’m pleased with my choice to go PC again.

PC or Mac: Church and Bible Software

Churches use different kinds of software in different roles. Here’s a list of the categories that most churches or ministers use regularly.

  • Bible study software for sermon and Bible study preparation and staff development
  • Creative solutions for editing videos for worship, photos for worship and digital/print publications, and desktop publishing for fliers, newsletters and more
  • Worship presentation software
  • Church management solutions for keeping track of attendance, membership, and giving
  • Office suites for writing, creating presentations, number crunching and more

In each category, users can find and use great solutions on both Windows and Mac. It used to be hard to find good Bible study tools for a Mac or good creative apps for Windows. Now, you can have both. Most people can run office suites, church management solutions, or Bible software on either Mac or Windows without a problem. You won’t need to relearn everything to switch.

 

Here’s a list of solutions that run on both platforms with few differences:

*I’m not sure if the Mac version of PC Study Bible runs directly on macOS or uses emulation. Biblesoft’s not been willing to cooperate with my requests to review their software.

PC or Mac: Creative & Worship Presentation Software

 

Like Bible software, the worship presentation software companies make great Mac and Windows software. Here’s a list of the top options that run on both platforms equally well except for EasyWorship, which only comes on Windows:

OpenLP: Free open source worship presentation software runs on Mac and Windows equally well.

Check out our Worship software guide.

The Mac used to rule the realm of creative software, but not anymore. Adobe changed the creative software market with their Creative Suite subscription service. For $10 to $50 a month, churches and ministers can use the best software available and it runs on both Mac and PC with little differences between them.

Apple no longer dominates the creative professional market thanks to Adobe’s accessible Creative Suite subscription.

Some creative types prefer Apple’s Final Cut Pro X for video editing or Logic Pro X or audio editing. Very few still use Aperture, which Apple quit developing recently. Apple doesn’t seem as committed to creative professionals. They limited the amount of RAM available in their laptops and haven’t updated the Mac Pro in four years. But the Adobe solutions work great on any of Apple’s computers and most Windows computers except the lowest price options.

Mac or PC: Which One to Buy

So after all of this, should you get a Mac or PC? It’s plain that neither platform dominates. It’s a matter of personal preference. If you want a Mac and can pay a little more, then go for it. If you prefer Windows, then you’ll enjoy any of the above software.

If you want a touchscreen that works like a laptop or a tablet, then you have to go with a Windows PC. Apple has a touch screen computer available. It’s called an iPad Pro. However, if you want a Mac with a touchscreen, you’re out of luck because it doesn’t exist.

How about for your ministry? What does your church use? I’d love to hear your feedback if you’ve switched from PC to Mac or back to help others along this journey. There’s certainly more than a few readers contemplating the same switch.

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Originally posted here

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Is Bigger Really Better?

The Statistics actually Say “No”!

There are millions of people in smaller congregations across the country who live with a feeling that they are failures because their church isn’t as big as the megaplex congregation down the street. This is sad and should not be the case.

A global survey conducted by Christian Schwartz found that smaller churches consistently scored higher than large churches in seven out of eight qualitative characteristics of a healthy church. A more recent study of churches in America, conducted by Ed Stetzer and Life Way Ministries, revealed that churches of two hundred or less are four times more likely to plant a daughter church than churches of one thousand or more. The research seems to even indicate that the pattern continues—the smaller the size of the church the more fertile they are in planting churches.

It pains me that so many churches and leaders suffer from an inferiority complex when in fact they could very well be more healthy and fruitful than the big-box church down the street.

I am not suggesting that the mega church is something we need to end, I am simply saying that we need other kinds of churches to truly transform our world. I also do not want people in huge churches to think that just because they have more people and more money that they are more blessed by God. The stats tell us that ten smaller churches of 100 people will accomplish much more than one church of 1000.

Christian Schwarz says:

“The growth rate of churches decreased with increasing size. This fact in and of itself came as no great surprise, because in large churches the percentages represent many more people. But when we converted the percentages into raw numbers, we were dumbfounded. Churches in the smallest size category (under 100 in attendance) had won an average of 32 new people over the past five years; churches with 100-200 in worship also won 32; churches between 200-300 average 39 new individuals; churches between 300-400 won 25. So a ‘small’ church wins just as many people for Christ as a ‘large’ one, and what’s more, two churches with 200 in worship on Sunday will win twice as many new people as one church with 400 in attendance.”

Schwarz found that the average growth rate in smaller churches was 13% (over five years), whereas in larger churches it was a mere 3%. A small church in the NCD sample with an average attendance of fifty-one typically converted thirty-two persons in five years; megachurches in the NCD sample averaged 2,856 in attendance but converted only 112 new persons in five years. The same number of persons participating in fifty-six small churches averaging fifty-one in attendance would have produced 1,792 converts in five years.

I know such extrapolations in some ways mean little. I also know that conversions is not the whole picture. My point is that we need to stop seeing smaller churches as less successful. The trend currently is seeing the closing down of smaller churches as larger ones increase in size and number and I think this could be an alarming trend given the actual facts when we measure true influence.

When I mention statistics like these I am often criticized as being a mega church hater, and that is not fair. I am not a hater. I am not a bride-basher because I love the groom too much.

It is hard for me to feel sorry for the mega churches when this information confronts them given that they are so often lifted up as the height of success–often at the expense of the smaller church around the corner. My advice: Get over it. I am not thrashing the mega church here, I am simply saying that smaller churches are necessary, needed, and often more fruitful than we have been led to believe. And they often feel less significant in the shadows of their much larger sister around the corner. Lets look at the truth and accept it for what it is and strive to do whatever it takes to make a difference in this world.

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Effectively Marketing Small Groups

Getting the news out about your groups

Great marketing has the power to move us and to change our routines.  Starbucks Coffee did this by marketing a new way of life thereby changing millions of American’s morning routine.  Starbucks made coffee drinking and going to coffee shops a lifestyle.

At the heart of it, marketing, especially church marketing, is about changing habits and replacing them with new ones.  And that is very spiritual.  Often church leaders shy away from marketing, thinking that it is less spiritual.  Often it is believed church events and activities should simply be announced.  Sometimes marketing is even perceived as manipulative.  But really marketing is about influencing the use of resources and personal habits and that is leadership.

So how do we effectively market small groups in a church?  First, it starts with an understanding that it is not so much about the individual small groups, the current group season, it is about the long view about becoming a culture.  Companies like Apple and Starbucks have a well understood culture and while they take risks, their risks fit who they are and their overall brand message.  Yes, we aren’t companies, but we have an even higher responsibility to keep the message clear and influence our church and community to take steps to grow in faith.  But that won’t happen if the message is unclear, if the immediate is the only focus, and if there is no longview for outcomes.  The first step in effectively marketing small groups is to know why you do them and what exactly you hope they accomplish.  This seems intuitive but churches have a variety of answers to those questions and if why and what aren’t clearly defined marketing the message of how, small groups will never be clear.

Once you are clear about that, there are some tips which will help you in your effort to market small groups.

  • Take Advantage of Natural Season.  In every culture there are natural seasons in which lend themselves to beginnings.  The contexts in which I currently minister much of life revolves around school calendars.  That means the fall is a prime time where families are thinking about commitments, calendars and the coming school year.  This is often when they are making their decisions about how they hope to spend their time over the next several months.  What they can invest time in and what they won’t be able to.  This is a time that must be leveraged for small groups.  Otherwise, time has often already been allowed to other areas and families simply don’t have the margin to join groups, no matter how great of an idea it might seem.
  • Potential Seasons to Leverage
    1. Fall – Beginning of School
    2. New Year – New Resolutions and New Beginnings
    3. Easter – Thinking about Spiritual Matters Again
    4. Seasons of Transition
    5. When People Newly Connect with Your Church
    6. When Individuals and Families Take Steps of Further Connecting
  • Share Stories.  People want to be part of something.  There are far too many things that simply occupy our time.  But just as Starbucks created a coffee shop culture where many Americans began to see themselves as coffee shop people, stories of small group life help individuals begin to see themselves as part of one.  Sharing Stories helps people see themselves in other’s stories.
  • Normalize It.  Make Small Groups part of the language of your church.  Encourage small group leaders and members to talk about their groups and group life.  You want people not in groups to feel like they’re missing out, like it is odd to be here and not be in a group.
  • Preach It!  Obviously, going back to the previous point, it can’t be truly normalized without being preached on Sundays.  It helps to have the senior pastor share stories from their small group experiences.
  • Consistently Communicate the Message.  While leveraging seasons is super important, consistency in your messaging is also vitally important.  Small Groups shouldn’t just be talked about a few times a year.  The message of groups should be layered in at different levels throughout the year.

The key is understanding your message and keeping that message in front of your church.  Capitalize on seasons with the message of groups using stories to connect.  With consistency over time you can create a culture of community in your church.

Posted by JW Hilliard on December 20, 2016 in Small Group Ideas, Small Group Leadership, Small Group Strategy

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This Church Experienced a Failed Campus Launch and Wants to Share How You Can Learn from It.

We told you at the beginning of June that we were going to try to talk you out of going multisite before you’re ready.

In our conversations about what to share with you during this series, we started thinking, “Wouldn’t it be helpful if a church that had actually had a bad experience with multisite would be willing to share their story so other pastors could learn from it?”

 

JeffManessJeff Maness, senior pastor at Element Church in Cheyenne, Wyoming and author of Because You’re Called: Three Words That Will Change Your Life, graciously agreed to write about his church’s experience. Element is a church averaging 1,500 people each weekend and has a vision to plant campuses throughout the state of Wyoming. The church has been named one of the Fastest Growing Churches in North America by Outreach Magazine.

I’ll let him tell you their multisite story.

The first time we launched a campus we were just over three years old and averaging 855 people for the year. At that time we had three Sunday morning services, and we were bursting at the seams in the last two. We knew we needed more space, but we didn’t feel doing another service at a non-optimal seating time would help us with our space issues.

As we fasted, prayed and discussed among our leadership, it seemed as if God was opening up the opportunity to start another campus on the other end of town (a 15 minute drive). Looking back, the need for another campus, and even the open door from God to attempt it were obvious. We weren’t going to reach more people in our current situation, and we didn’t have any red flags or closed doors to seeking this new opportunity.

The vision from the get-go was, ‘More space to reach more people in the most affordable way.’

But we made some mistakes and learned some key lessons along the way that I think other pastors can learn from.

1) We offered live preaching on launch Sunday at the new campus.

To attract people to the campus, we had decided not to announce where I would be preaching live on Sundays. The only guaranteed live preaching service was the 8:30am service at our Broadcast Campus. We would record that service, and then either use the video at our South Campus or I would preach live at the South Campus and we would show video at our 10:00 and 11:30am services at our Broadcast Campus. This was a fatal flaw in our planning.  

Because we wanted to launch well, I preached live at the South Campus on opening weekend. It was the very next week, when we showed video, that people started asking when I was going to be back live again.

2) The campuses were too close in proximity.

While Cheyenne is the largest city in Wyoming, it is very small by national comparison at around 60,000 people. We placed our campus about as far away from the Broadcast Campus as we could, but it was a portable location in a high school that just couldn’t compete with the amenities that our permanent Broadcast Campus had.

We had many dedicated, hard-working volunteers and core people committed to the campus, but when people could just attend the permanent location with much better facilities for their children and for themselves, it was a no-brainer where they were going to attend. It required no more time for most people to get to the permanent location as it did to get to the portable one.

3) We set up our campus pastor to fail.

We placed a volunteer leader as the ‘campus pastor’ and really set him up to fail. The amount of oversight, leadership, pastoral care and vision-casting needed for a second site was more than we were ready for, and much more than we should of placed on a volunteer.

4) Our staff were stretched thin and lost focus.

Just adding one more campus stole a lot of ministry energy. Now our worship guy wasn’t just planning a team for one campus, but for two. Same for our kids pastor, our tech director and so on.

We didn’t go out and hire a bunch of new people to run the campus. We were relying on the people currently on the team to get it done. That takes its toll. It wasn’t too long into the campus and you could see the energy level draining from our team. You could tell it was becoming a chore to keep the campus open.

5) The physical, emotional, relational and financial strain on your church from launching just one site is more than I could possibly have imagined.

I feel like launching a campus was harder on me as a leader than starting a church. It’s just a different beast.

6) We didn’t fully consider our other options.

We eventually added a Sunday evening service that I wish we would have tried before a campus. It has far exceeded the reach of the campus while it was open, and it gave us the space we needed to get us to our remodel and expansion.

In fact, after our remodel, our Sunday evening service became such a viable option for us that we kept it, even though we didn’t really need it any longer. Funny thing is, we are back in the same boat again now. We have maxed out our optimal seating times in our expanded facility and are looking to add an additional service instead of launching a campus.

7) We finally closed the doors.

As energy waned, I think we even began to neglect the needs of the campus, which was in decline, so we could focus on the needs at the Broadcast Campus, because that is where all the excitement and energy still was. You could feel it among the volunteers and the whole congregation as well. Everyone wanted the South Campus to succeed, but it was literally sucking the life out of our ministry. We went into the campus with tons of momentum, and this launch all but stopped that momentum dead in its tracks.

It was confirmation when we decided to close the campus that I don’t think we had even one person object.

The one place we did win during this season was in volunteer recruitment. We have people now, who are high-level volunteers, that started serving because we were launching a campus. We had to recruit, raise and release volunteers across all levels of our ministry in order to get this thing off the ground. From parking to the team that packed everything in and out, it was a massive volunteer recruitment tool. Nothing motivates people more than vision.

 

Originally posted here

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