The Church IT Network (formerly the Church IT Roundtable) grew out of a need for a peer-learning community for church and ministry IT professionals worldwide and is designed for anyone – staff or volunteer – with responsibility for Information Technology in a ministry setting.

The three-day event kicks off with a full day of training workshops covering a broad array of topics, including network infrastructure, exchange servers and unified communications.

This is followed by two days of keynote speakers and roundtable breakout sessions designed to help IT professionals connect, share and learn from one another. Last year’s event included over 200 participants from all over the country.

This year’s gathering has expanded to include designated discussions for web developers and developers of church membership systems (ChMS). Some of the topics will include: social media, buy vs build, web and ChMS integrations, cloud vs local host, and more.

For more information about the Church IT Network, including information and registration details for the Spring 2012 Church IT Roundtable Event, visit the organization’s website at www.churchitnetwork.com.

• 02/11 – Active Network acquires Fellowship Technologies
• 07/11 – Active Network acquires Connection Power
• 10/11 – Active Network acquires ServiceU

While this latest move isn’t surprising, it is significant nonetheless. If you are not familiar with Active Network, please read up on my previous post and you will understand why. What is even more interesting is since their entry into the church market in February, Active Network has become a publicly traded company on the New Your Stock Exchange under the symbol ‘ACTV.’ Though their stock has performed commensurate with the rest of the market (see comparison), they did earn a record net income of 5.5 million in Q2 of this year:

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With the acquisition of ServiceU, Active Network gains a VISA/Mastercard certified level 1 service provider and adds 2,400+ clients (though many likely overlap with the client base of Fellowship Technologies and Connection Power). ServiceU is no lightweight. There are plenty of case studies by Dell, AMD, and Microsoft that attest to the maturity and infrastructure that lies beneath the ServiceU platform. Allen Ratta, CEO of ConnectionPower has already made it clear what all of this means: “Over time, the unique ministry features of ConnectionPower will be incorporated into Fellowship Technologies’ solutions into a branded suite of products called ActiveWorks | Faith.” ServiceU is another addition to this suite of products. This move makes complete sense for two reasons: (1) Fellowship Technologies and ServiceU had already formed a partnership a year ago this month (prior to both their acquisitions). And (2) ServiceU falls in line with Active Network’s core business…event management.

Given AN’s history, one might ask, “Who’s next?”

• SoChurch? After all, SoChurch formed partnerships with both Fellowship Technologies and ServiceU less than a year ago. Though it is unclear if the integration between SoChurch and F1 was ever completed.
• Table Project? The integration exists with F1 but it is a direct competitor with SoChurch (in my opinion). Table Project appears to have more momentum than SoChurch.
• Monvee? Now this is a great tool and has some real potential for facilitating spiritual formation in the local church, but it doesn’t scale well unless it is integrated with your ChMS. Their partnership with ACS has resulted in a universal API, but it is unclear if that same partnership would exclude them from any considerations by AN.
• I could go on but the landscape is littered with numerous smaller, niched applications.

In the end, I am pleased to hear the good news….knowing that in time churches will benefit from a fuller featured and integrated suite of products from Active Network. In the interim, we need to continue to pray for the leadership at Active Network:

• Pray that AN’s senior leadership will maintain a clear mission, vision, and corporate identity given their long history of acquisitions.
• Pray that AN’s senior leadership will always remember that their greatest asset is their own people.
• Pray for the Tim Whitehorn and ServiceU’s employees as they begin this transition.
• Pray for Jeff Hook to discern wisely how best to merge these teams together and to discern rightly the next steps in the product road map.

• We are not businesses.
• We don’t have competitors. In fact, we are just the opposite. We intentionally share ideas, resources, and sometimes even pool resources to accomplish goals for our respective organizations.
• We do not sell products. We serve people.
• We don’t have customers or clients….we have members and guests.
• If you price your products based on user or usage….you will likely eliminate churches as a market since we often use technology for our church members not just our staff. We consider every member of our church an ‘employee’ in accomplishing the mission of our church….they just don’t get a paycheck.
• We do not engage in fundraising. We teach stewardship.
• Our profit is not money. It’s changed lives.
• We don’t make decisions based on ROI. We evaluate solutions based on ROM (return on ministry). We ask the question, “How will a solution impact our ability to increase the speed at which we do ministry and effect changed lives?”
• Don’t underestimate the church. The technologies we employ are often highly visible to our church members….giving you as a technology provider greater exposure to other potential consumers.
• Listen before you speak.
• Ask questions before you suggest solutions.
• We aren’t religious. We can share with you why, but just know that we just don’t respond well to that term.
• Non-profit pricing says to us that you understand our needs and challenges or that you value the impact we make on our community and culture.

Between the Trolls and a community of angry atheists, our YouTube video was attacked with an increasing number of negative comments and ‘dislikes’. It became so bad, I had to shut down commenting for a 24 hour period before adding it back with moderation turned on. The comments included profanity, hate speech, and sexual remarks. The Trolls found our church Facebook page and posted pornographic images on it. Fortunately, I discovered this within a few minutes over their posting and removed them. In the short time I have encountered this devious subculture, here is what I have learned:

1. ALWAYS moderate your comments on YouTube and perhaps other sites as well where possible.
2. Once trolls hit your video, turn off commenting for at least 24 hours, then turn it back on. They may come back, but more often they will have moved on.
3. Approve negative comments but only if they don’t include profanity, sexual remarks, or serious threats.
4. Post a comment explaining why you moderate comments and what criteria you use to approve them. Ban those who are repeat violators.
5. Don’t argue with them….that is what they want. You won’t win them over so don’t even try. Be respectful and loving and don’t lose your cool.
6. Let the jury of your readers/viewers determine whose comments are more hateful.
7. If you have copyrights to your media, exercise them. YouTube responds quickly to copyright complaints.

More than 2,000 people from Second Baptist Church, Houston, Texas, gathered at Discovery Green in the heart of Houston to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. The purpose of Dance Your Shoes Off! was to proclaim the resurrection of Jesus Christ in a powerful and celebratory way. Most importantly, each participant left a new pair of shoes on the field for those in need. These shoes will be given to local mission agencies, including Star of Hope, individuals all across the world through our mission partners and mission trips.

• 45 million: The number of transactions processed in 2009 on Active Network systems.
• 7 million: The number of unique visitors each month to the company’s combined web properties.
• 75,000: The number of customers using Active Network’s Web-based services.
• $245 million: Annual revenue in 2009. (The year the company became profitable)
• $173 million: Annual revenue in 2008.
• 44 states: The number of states for which the Active Network’s ActiveOutdoors division processes hunting and fishing licenses and/or campground reservations.

This company has grown at an amazing rate. On several occasions since 2006, I have evaluated three different event/camp management solutions for our church and all of three have since been acquired by Active Network. The company has a track record of growth through mergers and acquisitions:

MERGERS:

1999 – Merged with RaceGate.com, an online Web portal for events, online event management services, athlete training tools and community resources.
2000 – Merged with Sierra Digital Inc. to become the first to offer a hosted, Internet registration solution for the recreation industry.
2001 – Merged with Myteam.com, a leading online center for the team sports community and a direct marketing company.

ACQUISITIONS:

2000 – Acquired eteamz, leading web community for sports teams and leagues.
2004 – Acquired Class Software Solutions Ltd., a leader in recreation and municipal management software solutions.
2004 – Do It Sports, Inc., an online events management company providing advanced technology services for races and marathons.
2005 – Tee Time King and launches ActiveGolf.com.
2005 – Vision Sports & Entertainment Partners, a youth sports marketing agency.
2005 – Public Enterprise Group, a developer of municipal marketing partnerships and revenue-generating programs.
2006 – Promote It!, the nation’s largest health club promotions agency.
2006 – Acquired IronPoint Technology, Inc., a content management software solutions provider.
2006 – LeagueOne, a leading registration and data management software provider to state soccer associations.
2006 – PreEnrollTM, an early innovator and leading provider of online registration services,
2006 – SPORG, a successful developer of online data collection and transaction processing systems.
2007 – InfoSperix a public parks/camping reservations and point-of-sale solutions provider.
2007 – LaxPower.com, the leading online community for high school and college lacrosse players and fans.
2007 – Thriva LLC, provider of online registration and payment processing for camps and event organizations.
2007 – CoolRunning.com, one of the leading online resources for runners of all abilities.
2008 – RegOnline and WingateWeb to become nation’s largest provider of event management software.
2008 – HY-TEK Sports Software, the leading software and services provider to over 95 percent of the swimming and track & field clubs, schools and organizations in the United States.
2008 – iPlayers, LLC (www.iplayers.net), an online recruiting site for high school athletes and college recruiters.
2008 – AcALS, Central Trust Bank’s Conservation Licensing Division and Outdoor Central. All three organizations joined Active’s ActiveOutdoors division, which encompasses solutions and services for state, natural resource, conservation and park agencies.
2009 – ReserveAmerica from IAC. Reserve America is the leading camping reservation and campground management solutions provider in North America (more than 17 million consumers with camping reservations each year).
2010 – Assets of Channel:1 Corporation, a premier provider of onsite event management software solutions.
2010 – Assets of Clubspaces, Inc., a leading provider of online technology and services for youth and amateur sports associations, leagues and teams.
2011 – Fellowship Technologies, an online church management software provider (ChMS).

Wow! 3 mergers and 24 acquisitions in 13 years….almost 2 acquisitions a year. So what does this mean?

The big question is, “What will the product road map look like for Fellowship One?” Given AN’s history of mergers and acquisitions, will AN only mature that ecommerce side of the product (it is their strong suit.)? Given the number of different applications acquired by AN, what user experience should we expect as it becomes integrated with other disparate systems? (Good news is that they stopped in 2010 to face this very challenge by readdressing their infrastructure…read more). Will AN generalize its feature set over time…attempting to make it fit a broader audience or will it retain its specific focus on the needs of churches. Time will tell. There are many details and decisions yet ahead and all the more reason for us to prayerfully support Jeff Hook and his team as they walk that road with the leadership of Active Network.

Though AN’s acquisition of F1 seems a little out of the ordinary given their past, I am very excited about the days ahead. Consider the following:

• This is the first occasion where a ChMS have been acquired by a major player in a different market and one that historically has not been niched specifically for churches.
• The market for church technologies is growing as such that secular companies are beginning to take notice, and interest.
• Active Network has a tremendous record of growth and expansion which mean they have the infrastructure, talent, and the resources to take Fellowship One to the next level.
• Active Network’s suite of solutions could potentially provide a completely integrated and fully featured ecommerce solution for today’s church…giving, events, camps, sports and recreation. This means churches don’t have to maintain separate systems for membership (ChMS), events (i.e. EventU, etc), content management (i.e. Ezekiel), etc.
• Active Network has the opportunity of maturing a ChMS that may actually meet and exceed the needs of the largest churches…who struggle with current options available to them today.

As a pastor and the IT Director of a church with very complex and diverse needs, this is nothing but good news. It is exciting to watch a great product move forward to becoming even greater.

Related Posts:
03/21/2010 – ChMS of the Top 10 Largest Churches
04/12/2010 – ChMS Comparison Charts

Description: Career Connections is the Career Resource Ministry of Second Baptist Church. Career Connections provides support and encouragement in the form of workshops, online tools and resources to help form an effective action plan for starting your new career. Career Connections is a branded version of Job Connection by NeedsMet Inc. If your church is looking to start a career/job resource ministry, then you should give NeedsMet a call.

Ministry Applications:

• Create a branded career/job board for your church’s attendees. You review and approve both job seekers and employers that submit resumes and job openings. You can also backfill the software with job opportunities from your specific geographic area. From day one, you can launch with a bank of job opportunities for your members and visitors.
• Promote your job board by hosting career and networking seminars. Given our current economy, this is a great resource to meet the real needs of prospects to your church. Here is an example of a seminar (link may expire once the event is over) that our church is offering as a complement to our online job/career board. The seminar is led completely by members of our church.
• NeedsMet now offers a similar tool called Stuff Connection. In some ways, it is your own branded version of a craig’s list or similar tool for two parties come together online to give and receive in a easy-to-use environment. This is a great tool to connect people within your church to meet the needs of one another (Acts 2:44-45).

Description: While you’re writing, the Livescribe Smartpen is remembering–linking everything you hear to everything you write. Later, simply tap on your notes to replay the recording. You can then upload your notes and audio to your computer, share it, search it and more. Now you can find and get what you need, instantly, with a tap.

Ministry Applications:

• Recruit a great note taker to take notes of Bible Studies or sermons while recording them on their pen. Then publish them by linking to the online audio and notes. Your audience can then click anywhere in the notes and begin playback at the time the note was taken.
• Use this pen to record leadership meetings, committee meetings, etc and then share out the notes and action items to each of the attendees and absentees.
• As a pastor, I use this pen frequently for internal staff meetings and project meetings. It helps me capture decisions made, details that are often missed, and summarize next steps for everyone involved.