5 Ways Technology Helps the Church

Our passion is to help churches and ministries leverage technology to help more people hear the Gospel message. Here are a few ways we think technology benefits the church...

1. Wider Reach

In a day when communication travels faster than ever and is immediately available, we have an opportunity as followers of Christ to take advantage of new tools for sharing the Gospel. 

Whether you are creating an app, starting a podcast, or leveraging another communication tool powered by modern technology, you can reach more people with Gospel content than any other time in history. 

2. Cultural Relevance

Our reception or rejection of technology sends a strong message to the culture around us. The best way to reach people with the good news of Jesus is to meet them where they are at in a way that's convenient to them.

Reaching people through technology, specifically mobile technology, is one of the most effective ways to help people see how much you care to see them engage with life changing content.

3. Increased Productivity

Streamlined processes and efficiency are much more common place with smartphones that act as a calendars, phone books, and communication tools all in one. Leveraging mobile technology to get more done in less time can help church staff focus on more initiatives and love more people.

4. Better Stewardship

The costs associated with older ways of doing things can be a major budget drain for many churches and ministries. For example, by making certain resources digital, churches can avoid costs associated with printing out bulletins, song lyrics, or event flyers, providing an opportunity for better stewardship. 

5. Greater Engagement

Nothing can replace the value in face-to-face interactions with real people, but the truth is we live in a mobile world, and being more technologically savvy helps organizations stay more connected and more engaged with their people. 

We want to help you see some of these benefits play out in your church with a customized mobile app. Let's chat!

Shiny New Update: Your Video and Audio Player

Who doesn't like new things? We certainly do, which is why we've upped the shine factor on our video and audio player. Here are a few of the improvements you're going to see to the video player: 

Your play position will now save! That's right, go ahead, answer that call or text. Your video will be waiting right where you left off, no scrubbing necessary!

Now you have direct access to sharing and Airplay controls, making social sharing and streaming on your device of choice just a few taps away.

We have a new 15-second rewind button! Interruptions happen. That's why we want to make it super simple for you to skip back if you happen to miss something. Don't miss a single word of your sermon with this cool new feature.

But that's not all! We've made some improvements to the audio player as well:

New 15-second fast forward and rewind buttons. Easily skip ahead to your favorite part of that song you love, or rewind to hear that great line again in the sermon you're listening to.

See your favorite app's artwork in an even larger view. 

Call us today to see what other exciting features are available for your own customized app! 

5 Ways Technology Enhances Our Lives

Technology has undoubtedly become a fixture in our society–where most everything that we do and interact with during the day involves high-tech in some capacity. It might be nice to occasionally unplug from our technology-saturated world and just enjoy the simplicity and nostalgia of life off the grid; but the truth is, technology has brought about countless societal advancements and benefits that we might not even realize, or take advantage of. Here is a short list of some of the ways technology enhances our lives:

1. It Promotes Education

Multiple studies have been done in recent years that have proven that kids have an easier time engaging with technology, when learning new concepts, over any other method. The use of digital tools in the classroom has increased significantly in the past year, and many schools have seen an increase in their students’ overall performance thanks to the use of mobile devices.

2. It Helps Us Stay Safe

Natural disasters are devastating no matter what precautions are taken, but the recent development of mobile technology might help keep more people safe, and in some cases, even save people’s lives in the wake of events like hurricanes.

With power outages being a common occurrence during big storms, mobile devices can step in where regular news stations aren’t able to. Using your device to receive news updates and even watch videos can be supremely helpful during times of crisis.

3. It Saves Lives

Mobile health apps are becoming increasingly popular and are proving to be a vital asset to families in Africa, where resources are scarce and access to healthcare is difficult at times. For women all over the country, having a free and easily accessible tool like a maternal health mobile app can mean the difference between life and death for themselves and their children.

With the rise of exceptional maternal health mobile apps, the quality of life for moms in developing countries continues to improve.

4. It Keeps Us Connected

We live in a very unique time in history that is marked by interconnectedness and information. You no longer have to wait to hear about your childhood best friend’s engagement thanks to social platforms like Facebook, and you can find out what is going on halfway across the globe in an instant with up-to-the-minute information from online news sources.

Staying connected to the world around us can help with things like keeping the right perspective about what’s going on in your own life, and maintaining relationships with people you wouldn’t otherwise be able to. These advantages can be great for finding a job, reconnecting with old friends, and much more.

5. It Makes Life More Fun

Because of advancements in mobile technology, you can enjoy various types of entertainment like books, movies, or games instantly. In fact, you can store everything from news articles, to TV shows, to word puzzles, on one small device and take it with you wherever you go.

The dilemma of not having enough sources for entertainment is a thing of the past. The only decision you have to make now is what exciting, new thing should I choose to engage with next?

What are some other ways technology has enhanced our society? How has technology personally improved your life?

iPhone 5

five

Apple had a pretty big day last week. In standard Apple fashion, their mystery (not so much) press conference captivated the eyes and ears of millions of people - something they’ve become quite good at. From tech industry execs, to die hard Apple groupies, to Mrs. Peterson’s entire 8th grade classroom, to even your Grandmother, there weren’t many that didn’t know about the release of the new iPhone 5.

Although most were fairly certain that a new iPhone would be the jewel of this San Francisco conference, there was some speculation as to what it would actually be called. These doubts were put to rest, however, when Apple’s official acknowledgment of their announcement was a simple “September 12th” casting a shadow of the number 5. And just like their smooth hint at what was to come, the conference was pretty smooth itself. The conference kicked off with CEO Tim Cook announcing the brand new (Gaudi inspired) Apple store in Barcelona, Spain. Apple’s reach and influence is becoming more and more international as they are entering their 13th country to have an Apple store (Sweden) and the Apple store encountered over 83 millions visitors just from April-June of this year.

Next on the list was some facts and stats regarding Mountain Lion (fastest selling OSX of all time), MacBooks (#1 in market share), and of course - the iPad. In the words of Tim Cook, “The iPad is driving the post PC revolution”. There were 17 million iPads sold in just the time span of April-June 2012. In fact, there were 84 million iPads sold in the world through June! The iPad has a 68% market share in all tablets - talk about domination.

Now what everyone’s been waiting for: the iPhone 5 took the stage. While a slew of new features and improvements were announced, it is easy to say that this is the best iPhone yet. What is hard to qualify however, although improved, is if the next generations of iPhones to come will have the same innovative and brilliant leaps and bounds that occurred when Jobs was still around. We’ll let you decide!

Here are some of the best (and most significant in our opinion) features of the iPhone 5 that were announced last week:

• Dual color back (made entirely of glass/aluminum)
• 4" screen (5th fow of icons on home screen, natural 16:9 aspect ratio)
• Apps don't stretch or scale (slight letter boxing)
• Thinnest phone ever (7.6mm)
• Lightest phone ever
• LTE (HSDPA+ DC-HSDPA support)
• Single chip (A6) (single radio, dynamic antenna, 2x faster CPU and graphics)
• Retina display (326ppi, 44% more color saturation, 1136x640 pixels)
• Ultrafast wireless technology
• Even better battery life
• Lightning adapter (say goodbye to all of your old accessories... or purchase a $30 adapter)
• New camera (8 megapixel sensor, 3264x2448 backside illuminated, 5 element lens, f/2.4 aperture, 25% smaller, faster photo capture)
• Panorama photos (28 megapixel images)
• 1080P HD video (video stabilization, 10-face detection)
• Facetime over cellular networks
• 3 microphones built in (better voice recognition, improved speaker design, reduces noise in area)
• Uses iOS6 (new vector maps, turn by turn directions, notification center, iCloud tabs, passbook, share photo streams, Siri improvement)

Apple ended the press conference with announcements about iTunes (redesigned), next generation iPod devices, and of course... The Foo Fighters. If Dave Grohl doesn't make you want to buy an iPhone, I don't know what would!