January 28, 2010 was a great day, it was the first time I had the chance to really talk with Kevin McCord and the team at Think Ministry to begin learning about an ambitious project they were working on: Ministry Platform. Before we go too much further, let be back up and set the context. We were a Multi-Site Church, a very web-based, and web-focused church, and the system we were using simply could not keep up with the demands the ministry had in the area of ChMS.
We looked at many of the other solutions out there, but there was a consensus among all that looked that we would be compromising too many desires / values to adapt the way we did ministry to the other systems on the market. After all this is software, why can’t it adapt to the church. Software is a tool for Church, not the the other way around. The tools we did see and like parts of were too expensive and too heavy to deploy to consider. Most of the tools we looked into had “workarounds” to make multi-site work, but no real concept of multi-campus / multi-congregation church. We had actually reached a stage where I shared with several other Church IT Guys, “I think we are going to build our own ChMS.” This is when a long time friend and colleague suggested I call Think Ministry, to which I replied, “Who?”
Back to January 28th – After two hours of watching screens flash and listen, everyone in the room left in amazement. This system seemed to be the one. As most of the folks left the room I waited behind to find out how many children or organs would have to be sold for the church to acquire this software. Much to my amazement, my child and kidneys were safe as this software was being developed by guys who had a heart for the Kingdom and had worked in churches. So I kept wondering…”What’s wrong with this…It’s too good to be true!”
Key Selling Points for CCM
- We own and host the data on our servers – Big one for me! I love the cloud, but I want to own my data…I can host in the cloud if I want to.
- The system has an open API. We can extend the system and create new capabilities without the introduction of
any competing data structures… We had landed on the “Holy Grail” database… One Database to Rule them All… You get the drift. - System is web based – Hallelujah – I hate keeping software up to date.
- The system integrates with our current website… No pop-up windows, no launch something else. Simply put, the links into the ChMS look and feel like our website.
- Vendor could and was willing to assist in the data conversion. We had multiple legacy systems that needed to be merged and sanitized in a new database.
- Road map – many of the innovations are still to be done. Ministry Platform is still a young system and many new features are coming down the road. We are stoked that we get to be part of that by making suggestions to a team that actually listens!
- Online Giving – I am just ecstatic that Online Giving is fully integrated. No more exports / imports / guessing. Oh and my second favorite – Missionary Giving – I have a special thing for Missionaries, and whenever we can support them and make their lives easier…I am on board!
- Online Giving – Last one, maybe – Mission Trip giving…Kinda goes with the whole mission thing. Now your facebook friends can be involved in your mission trip! That was awesome for me!
- Did I mention multi-site. The system is designed from the ground up to easily accomodate multi-site / multi-congregation churches. No work arounds, no messing around. The system is primarily built upon the concept.
- Check-in – The system incorporates a very flexible checkin system that allows for multi-site checkin for Kids Ministry, childcare events, Ministry Events, and just about anything you could come up with for checkin. The checkin system is themable. For some examples see my Kiosk Article.
We have enjoyed working with Think Ministry to get our system up off the ground. We are in a constant place of deploying more and more aspects of the system. We are currently developing an addon to ministry platform with our development team that will link Facebook Profile data right into Ministry Platform. Next time, we’ll take a look at the Checkin System.