TECHNOLOGY EMPOWERING MINISTRY

the best place to post church communications • podcasting guide

SMS TEXTING STATISTICS • VITAL QUESTIONS FOR APP DEVELOPER

communication
through the ages
APRIL 2018
www.ministrytech.com
 CONTENTS 12

04.18
malicious or not
malicious, that is the
real (time) question
Explore the heuristics of
virus detection and proactive
identification—through the eyes
of a seven year-old.

4
the best place technology as
to post church good as donuts
communications God has answers for how
we use our tech.
A surprising list of ways to
break through the digital noise.
20

your complete
guide to
podcasting
Podcasting is over a
decade old—what’s
holding you back?
10

Can Technology Be the Answer to Better

Faith Community Communications?........................................ 7

TECH CHECK 04.18................................................................................19

30 sms texting
statistics that'll
6 Vital Questions to Ask Your App Developer................... 23 blow your mind
16
2 | MinistryTech.com
 A Word from the editor
Ray Hollenbach

Marketing Manager
Rudy Kovac
TAKE AN INVENTORY OF YOUR CHURCH TECH
Managing Editor
Ray Hollenbach When the Father wanted to information in service of a church’s
Art Directors communicate his love for every man, ministry) to video announcements
Troy Irvin, Henny Vallee woman and child on the Earth, his and curricula, the church has always
Contributing Editors “method” of communication was embraced whatever technology is at
Matt Farrand, Russ McGuire, Jesus—God became man! hand and used its know-how to
Caleb Neff, Nick Nicholaou,
Mike Norris, Yvon Prehn, Jesus is The Word of God. spread The Word.
Jonathan Smith, Steven
Sundermeier Our faith has always been about Has your church leadership team
Copy Editor communication. The world of church ever inventoried the technology at
Laura Severn technology hums with the use each week and then surveyed
ADVERTISING undercurrent of communication: How the tech landscape for more effective
VP Advertising Sales do we carry out the Lord’s mission to ways to steward the message of the
Jared Bryant
share the love of God expressed in gospel? The “language” of the 21st
National Media Consultants Jesus Christ? century is rapidly shifting to Big
Nikki Dirks, Charles Fleece, Malari
Foster, Joseph Landry, Seth From the earliest days of the Data, best practices, and social
Rankin, Barbara (McDonald)
church, communication was central to media. We can be sure that the
Wolfe, Ryan Yoder
the mission. The “technologies” of the people in our congregations
Account Associates
Leslie Massey, Bethany Payne, day have been letters written on understand these forces of change.
Syndie Porter, Nicole Vargas,
parchment instead of pixels on The real question is whether (and
Lara Whelan
glowing screens, but The Word was how) we will embrace and use the
Administrative Director
Rebecca Meyer still communicated. The “Internet” of tools capable of reaching our
Publisher
the first century may have been the neighbors—and caring for our flocks.
highways and roads built by Rome, This month I invite you to survey
but The Word was spread from city to the wide variety of approaches
Outreach Inc.
city nonetheless. represented in these articles, and then
5550 Tech Center Dr. So it should be no surprise that draw your team together to ask, “Are
Colorado Springs, CO 80919
(800) 991-6011 church technology is all about we using every tool available to fulfill the
Ministry Tech® is a registered finding effective, safe and Great Commission?”
trademark of Outreach, Inc. Written
materials submitted to Ministry trustworthy means of stewarding
Tech® Magazine become the
property of Outreach, Inc. upon and sharing the good news of the
receipt and may not necessarily be
returned. Ministry Tech® Magazine gospel. From church management
reserves the right to make any
changes to materials submitted for software (which safeguards vital
publication that are deemed
necessary for editorial purposes. The
content of this publication may not
be copied in any way, shape or form
without the express permission of
Outreach, Inc. Views expressed in
the articles and reviews printed
within are not necessarily the views
of the editor, publisher, or Ray Hollenbach is the Editor of Ministry Tech magazine. He has previously served as the
employees of Ministry Tech® editor of Outreach’s Better Preaching Update, and as the editor of the Pastor channel at
magazine, or Outreach, Inc.
© Copyright 2017 Outreach, Inc. Churchleaders.com. You can reach him at rhollenbach@outreach.com.
All Rights Reserved.

April 2018 | 3
 THE BEST PLACE TO POST
CHURCH COMMUNICATIONS
(AND OTHER LOW-TECH SECRETS)
High or Low Tech, Become All Things to All People
by Yvon Prehn
T
he Apostle Paul said he “became all things to all people
that he might win some” (1 Cor.9: 22). We need that
same adventuresome spirit if we want to use all the
media channels we need to use to reach the people God
has called us to reach. These days we often start with
digital media, especially email and social media, even
though we know that much of our audience does the same
thing we do when we have a full email inbox—they delete
as much as they can as fast as they can. While this can be
discouraging it should also motivate us to creativity and
other additional communication channels you can use to
reach your audience.
The following are some additional communication
channels, from the obvious-but-useful to a few others that
might require a little more adventuresome spirit.
POSTCARDS
These are one of the most obvious alternative media for
church communications, and though they’ve been around
a long time, they not only aren’t going out of style or
effectiveness, but they seem to be undergoing a revival in
their use. Consider the quote below:
People receive so many digital messages all day now, while
their stack of mail is getting smaller and smaller. . . A direct mail
piece [and the most frequent and effective one is a postcard]
stands out. It gets noticed, it gets read, and its offers and
coupons get used. ~ Inc.com
4 | MinistryTech.com
The best place to post church communications is the
refrigerator. No matter how glued we are to our
phones, the refrigerator is still communication
central for every home because it's the place where
we post the schedules, reminders, the communications
that get us to activities and ministries at church.
Technology has made postcards even more effective
because they can be produced in church offices with
a quality copier, large format inkjet printer or digital
duplicator, or they can be ordered from companies that
personalize, print and mail them out for churches.
Postcards are so powerful because you are almost forced
to read them—even if you toss them, you at least glance
at the message. If you like the message, the postcard then
moves to the most important communication location of
every home . . . the refrigerator! The postcard then serves
as a mini-billboard to remind people of your message. (I’ve
written in depth about this approach here.)
Keep the refrigerator in mind as the best place to post
church communications.
THE SECOND GREATEST PLACE TO POST CHURCH
COMMUNICATIONS
The church bathroom.
Seriously.
 Think about it, especially for the
ladies. You have people's undivided
attention, for a least a minute or so.
In the past I recommended this
and got some great responses, both
in terms of ingenuity and in how
successful they can be. The one I
remember most was The Stall Street
Journal, a great summary of key
church events that was published each
week and posted in the bathrooms on
literature holders inside the stalls. (I’ve
written in depth about this approach,
too, here.)
it might be an effective way to
communicate.
Movie theaters
Movie theaters show numerous
advertisements before the main
feature, and here’s what the AMC
chain promotes their advertising sales
by saying: “Give your message the
impact it deserves by advertising on
the big screen. No other medium can
match the benefits of cinemas high
definition towing canvas and fully
engaged audience.”
They also state that advertising on
the big screen gets 36 percent higher
ad engagement over live sports and
prime time TV. I’m not sure exactly
what they mean by that, but if your
church can afford it, it might be worth
a try.
Posters
These can take a variety of formats
and sizes and can either be smaller
ones that are distributed to coffee
shops, libraries, campuses and similar
settings that invite advertising of free

COMMENTS FROM KIDS ON THE

BEST MEDIA To
When I recently asked some middle
and high school students where they fully fulfill
most liked to see announcements
about events their Youth Group was the Great
holding and what would get them to
attend, I was very surprised to hear Commission
them say that #1 was: the chalkboard.
A chalkboard?
They explained to me that just like
the fancy chalkboards that places like
Starbucks have, at their church they
RESOURCES FOR
have a BIG chalkboard outside the
youth room where they post the latest
CHURCH
COMMUNICATORS
events. They said they always check it
out and they can take a picture of it on
their phone to share with friends.
Simply Google “Chalkboard art on
Pinterest” for lots of great ideas.
Video screens outside the Training
sanctuary
The students also said that they Templates
thought video screens outside the
sanctuary worked well in the areas
Strategy
where people have coffee and Resources
donuts. Again, I thought perhaps
that’s because so many places people Podcast
eat today have TV screens with
something playing, and for people used
to simultaneous input of messages
www.effectivechurchcom.com
April 2018 | 5
 events, or larger ones to promote events around the church.
Check out the latest technology in large format printers
if you are interested in producing these at your church or
with online printing companies to get large numbers of them
professionally printed.
Graffiti
Large scale graffiti art, whether hand-drawn or pasted
posters, is extremely popular today. Of course, you would
want to do it on a building you own and under whatever
local laws apply, but many churches, especially urban ones,
have walls or the sides of buildings facing streets that are
just begging for a big, bold, message about Jesus. Why not
discover—and engage—the taggers in your congregation?
Billboards
Did you see Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri? The
Academy Award nominated film was all about billboards.
Billboards remain a powerful way to communicate. In
addition to a reminder of the impact they can have, the
movie provided lessons on designing them—few words and a
powerful message communicate most effectively.
Billboards don’t have to be big to communicate. The old
Looking to reach more of
your community, more often?
Reach more people online with professionally
designed images posted automatically every
day to your church or ministry’s Facebook page
with Social Reach Daily!
Social Media Outreach has never been
easier or more affordable!
Learn more at:
SocialReachDaily.com
6 | MinistryTech.com
Burma Shave signs, small signs with a progressive message
along the highway, can also be a great way to communicate
a message.
Design and Creation Advice
This isn’t design as usual. Some of the ideas above require
significant cost and creativity, but you, in your church and
with your people, can do them. If God puts it on your heart
to create a graffiti wall on the side of your church facing
a busy street, or a movie short, a billboard or unexpected
postcard, pray that He will inspire an artist or communicator
in your church to do it. Young, older and in between—don’t
count anyone out. You never know who might be a hidden
artist in your church: People who know what slogan or
message will resonate with your community.
Please let me know what you create. Send me pictures at
yvon@effectivechurchcom.com and I’ll share your creations
on my website! MT
Yvon Prehn’s ministry to church communicators
has two parts: http://www. effectivechurchcom.com
a site of FREE templates, strategy, and resources
and http://www.churchcomtraining.com a Church
Communicators Online Training School.
Try it FREE
for 30 days
use code SRD18
Categories
for everyone
Scriptural
Inspirational Weekend Invite
Conversations Spanish
Educational Women’s Ministry
can technology be the answer to
better faith community communications?
D
espite heroic efforts and substantial talent, faith
communities across the country struggle with
effective communication. The many initiatives
planned by staff and volunteers are exciting and vital to
the health of a faith community. However, if they lack
one key ingredient—great communication—they will
ultimately fail to achieve their full potential. Consider
these factors relating to challenges unique to the faith
community environment.
A MULTIGENERATIONAL AUDIENCE
Your members’ ages likely span from cradle to grave.
As such, all members do not share the same perspectives
or worldviews. They don’t necessarily speak the same
language, and they have vastly different time commitments
and priorities. Sometimes communication fails because
faith community leaders have not tailored information,
language cues and motivational points according to
differences in generational groups.
With this wide range of age groups also comes a
spectrum of communication device preferences. Want to
alert the teens in
your youth group
to a schedule
change? Forget
about using email—you’ll need to send a text message
or post your announcement to a social media account
instead. Want to reach the older adults? A voice call
through the standard landline telephone might be the
preferred method. Communications can fall short when
faith communities fail to recognize and appropriately
leverage the multitude of available communication
channels and devices.
DEALING WITH INFORMATION OVERLOAD
We are bombarded daily with thousands of print
advertisements, billboards, commercials and signs. Even
within faith communities there can be a multitude of
activities, requests or announcements that compete for
mind-share. As a protection mechanism, our brains were
created to filter and discard the vast majority of these stimuli.
Communication can miss the mark when faith community
April 2018 | 7
 leaders fail to adequately capture people’s attention and rise
above the noise and filters of daily routines.
DEALING WITH URGENT NEEDS
Another challenge in church communication is the fact
that urgent needs arise on a routine basis. Volunteers
for services become unavailable and need to be replaced.
Members face difficult times and need prayer and support.
The response to these things either contributes to or
detracts from the creation of a feeling of community. Yet,
efforts here are often slow, manual or reliant on poor
processes such as “call trees.” Communication efforts can
be perceived as inadequate when people are not informed
quickly and precisely when urgent needs arise.
A CALL TO SACRIFICE
In a faith community environment, most of our
communications contain an element of personal sacrifice
for the listener. Whether asking for commitments of time,
money or talent, our messaging often involves at least some
degree of “pain” for the audience. When there is a gap in
communications, the blame may not lie with a failure in
creating awareness or outlining the cold, hard facts. It may
have been that an emotional connection was missing.
Can Group Messaging Technology Close the
Communication Gap?
These and other challenges make communicating in
the faith environment difficult. Trying to address each
of these challenges in a manual way is time consuming,
costly and inefficient. Is there anything that can be done
to make communications more streamlined and effective?
For many, the answer is “yes.” Faith communities across the
country are turning to group messaging services to boost
their communications. Also known as “mass notification
systems,” group-messaging applications are online software
packages designed to help people easily manage contacts
and send all types of messages through virtually any
device. These systems can deliver thousands of voice, text
and email messages in minutes. Here are a few ways faith
communities commonly use group messaging.
URGENT PRAYER REQUESTS
When unexpected needs arise, group-messaging
software can be used to quickly inform people and request
prayers. In addition, some faith communities utilize the
service for weekly prayer reminders.
8 | MinistryTech.com
Group messaging solutions allow users
to manage their database of contacts and
personal information.
SERVICE OR EVENT CANCELLATIONS
Faith communities are not immune to severe weather
or other unforeseen circumstances. Group messaging
technology can be used to alert the whole congregation to
a service cancellation or change within minutes, keeping
people from being exposed to dangerous situations
attempting to attend a cancelled service.
VOLUNTEER COORDINATION
Most faith communities rely heavily on volunteers, and
these volunteers must be coordinated to ensure people
are aware of their duties or find replacements. Group
messaging software can be used to notify people of their
service responsibilities and confirm participation. Or
notices can be sent to groups of volunteers when someone
who was previously scheduled cancels. Two-way feedback
can be used to fill gaps in an automated way.
VISITOR WELCOME
Immediate feedback from the faith community helps
reinforce a visitor’s experience and make them feel truly
welcome. Computers at the visitor help desk can feature
a self-registration portal in which visitors can enter their
information. Messages can be sent via SMS or a recorded
voice call sent from the pastor. While not a substitute for
true hospitality, technology can help “systemize” the visitor
welcome process.
CONTACT MANAGEMENT
Group messaging solutions allow churches to manage
their database of contacts and personal information.
Contact information can be manually entered, imported
from a spreadsheet or, in more robust systems, integrated
with other software packages (such as a church information
system). Some also provide the ability to set up a self-
registration portal, through which members and guests can
create and update their own contact information.
DYNAMIC SUBGROUP SELECTION
While it’s easy enough to send messages to everyone in
the congregation, most faith communities also utilize the
software’s dynamic grouping capabilities
for selecting targeted subgroups.
Information such as: service preferences,
volunteer teams, youth or other group Improve Church
Engagement
memberships, and special needs can all be
queried to create subgroups for messaging

Through
on-the-fly or saved for future messages.

MESSAGING THROUGH VIRTUALLY ANY

DEVICE
Group messaging solutions also Communication
solve the problem associated with
communicating through today’s plethora
By subscribing to our on-line
of devices and preferred channels. Voice
messages can be recorded, or typed and service, churches can call, text,
read by the computer (known as text- email and notify all their members
to-speech technology), then delivered
at once through one simple platform.
to land or mobile phones. SMS text
messages or emails can be sent to large
groups of people at once. And, some
solutions will even post a message to your
faith community’s social media account
automatically. The selection of the devices
used is completely up to the message
sender.

TWO-WAY COMMUNICATIONS & ONLINE

REPORTING
With group messaging, questions and
responses can be incorporated into the
message. When recipients receive the
message, they can indicate their preferred
response (e.g., press 1 for “yes” 2 for “no”).
Some systems will allow for responses
through any device.
While technology can’t replace a smiling
face and a friendly handshake, thousands
of faith communities across the nation
have turned to group messaging services
like One Call Now to improve the overall
effectiveness and efficiency of their
communications. Whether for urgent
situations or routine tasks, One Call Now
can help members feel connected and
motivated instead of feeling disengaged 800.462.0512 | ONEC ALLNOW.COM/CHURCH
and uninformed.

April 2018 | 9
 your complete guide to
PODCASTING
Three Steps: What Could Be Easier?
by Mike Norris
O
ne of the most popular posts on my blog was one I
shared 10 years ago about podcasting for churches.
Since that time much has changed, and yet I still
receive questions on a regular basis about how to create
a podcast for sermon audio. I wanted to share the basics
of how you can start sharing your sermon audio through
several different podcast providers.
Here are the basic steps you will need to follow.
1. Record the audio
2. Upload the audio to your website or podcast provider
3. C
 reate the Podcast feed and submit it to different
services
Let’s break it down step by step.
RECORD THE AUDIO
This is an important step. Many smaller churches have
poor audio quality, which results in a podcast that is hard
to listen to. You have several options, but I recommend
recording the audio directly from the soundboard if
possible. On many newer digital boards, you can record
directly to a SD card or attached USB external drive.
This would work great for sermons. Check out the QSC
Touchmix, Presonus Studiolive or Behringer X32 series
for easy to use digital soundboards.
If you have an older analog system, you can use an
10 | MinistryTech.com
aux feed or tape out jacks to connect to a digital recorder
or CD recorder. Recording directly from the board can
eliminate static hum and ambient noise that a handheld
recorder or camcorder will capture.
If you want more information on how to record
the sermon audio, check out my detailed post about
recording audio. I also talk about how to edit and save the
file in the correct mp3 format for podcasts.
One final note: If you have static hum, find out what
is causing it and fix it. Many audio-editing programs like
Audacity can remove hum after you finish recording, but
the resulting file can sound robotic. It is much easier to
fix the problems at the source. Hum is usually caused by
ground loop problems in your sound system. You can use
direct boxes with a ground lift setting, or hum eliminators
for computers or devices hooked up to sound system.
upload THE AUDIO
This will require some research. First, you will need
to check with your website provider. If you don’t have a
website, then I suggest you stop right here and pick one
that offers podcast support. Many church website providers
have built-in podcasting support, so you will need to find
out how to upload your audio and create a feed.
I highly recommend doing your own website using
WordPress. Using the self-hosted
WordPress system, you can easily
add a theme from ChurchThemes
and end up with a great looking and
You want the
easy to use church website. You will freedom to
have the added benefit of being able
… reach out
to sort through your sermons by
author, topic, scripture and series. … minister to people
ChurchThemes has a great tutorial
… create fellowship
section on their website sharing how
this works. … contribute to
If you use another website service your community
that doesn’t offer built-in podcasting,
PowerChurch Plus was
you will have to use a third party created for just that!
system to store your audio files.
You can look at Buzzsprout, Libsyn,
BluBrry or SoundCloud. These will
require a monthly fee, and are a Membership
We provide you with the tools to increase
little more complicated to setup and
administrative efficiency and streamline
embed on your website, but you can Accounting accounting tasks, freeing you up to perform
still end up with a great result.
the work that matters.

SUBMIT THE PODCAST FEED Contributions

Now comes the fun part. Depending Install on your PC or network, or access online.
on which system you use, you will Events Choose which fits your needs.
have to find the podcast feed that is Calendar
generated for you. This will be an RSS
feed that you will submit to iTunes
Check In
and the other providers. Each system
is different, but a quick Google search
can help you find the info you need. Completely
We provide software tools,
Integrated
For WordPress websites using a theme freeing you up to fulfill your mission.
from ChurchThemes, you will find
the necessary info on their podcasting www.PowerChurch.com • 800.486.1800
guide. For our church WordPress site,
I use the Blubrry Powerpress plugin
to add additional information to the
SUBMISSION LINKS and like, and the affiliate links help
cover the cost of running my blog. MT
• iTunes Podcast Connect
podcast feed. If you use WordPress, it
• Stitcher
will work with any theme and create Mike Norris, a former design engineer
• Google Play who now pastors Cornerstone Community
the podcast feed for you.
• TuneIn Church in Galax, Virginia. He’s passionate
I recommend submitting the RSS about following Jesus and loves technology.
Here are a few products I
feed to iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play He’s been married to Jennifer for 22 years,
mentioned in the blog post. together they have three awesome kids,
and TuneIn. Here is a great online
Disclaimer, some of the hardware Emma, Luke and Drew. Check out his blog
guide that will help you with the site, FaithEngineer, where this article first
and service links are affiliate links. I
basics of submitting your feed. appeared.
only recommend services that I use

April 2018 | 11
 PROTECTED WITH PURPOSE

malicious or
not malicious,
that is the real
(time) question
In the World of
Cyber Security —It’s a
Jungle Out There!
by Steven Sundermeier

A
s a recognized expert in cyber
security I’m often pressed
by the media for comments
relating to current cyber-related
headlines. In a recent encounter I
received a call from a newspaper
journalist. Toward the very end of
the call the columnist thanked me
for my “valued” feedback and said,
“I must tell you Steven, after every
conversation we have together,
I feel sick to my stomach, and
like I must go home, hug my kids
and immediately disconnect all
our computers and devices.” The
cybersecurity world can be a very
dark place (and I don’t mean that
a light has merely burned out). I
witness (and deal with) countless
accounts of evil, greed and wrong
doing on an hourly basis within my
office day—and I am guessing that
as I write monthly articles about
just a minute fraction of these new,
emerging dangers and threats,
many readers probably share in the
same sentiments of the journalist.
While it’s my responsibility (and
pleasure!) to help educate users on safe
computing and to never turn a blind
eye to the cyber-evil out there, for
this article, I’m going to digress from
educating you in hand-to-hand cyber-
combat and write about something
different: how we (virus researchers)
classify the severity and maliciousness
of the latest cyber threats—through
the eyes of a child. Here is a hint—
it correlates with God’s beautiful
creatures and his wisdom in outfitting
them uniquely and classifying them.
In a past article I referenced my
family’s recent holiday cruise, and
my kids' fascination with all the
different local currencies as we
visited several countries in South
and Central America. One of those
countries we visited was Costa Rica.
We were told by our local excursion
guide that Costa Rica is home to more
than 500,000 species, representing
nearly 4 percent of all total species
estimated worldwide (spoiler alert—
rainforests). To maximize the number
of species we’d see while our ship
was docked for just five or six hours,
we decided to experience the Costa

12 | MinistryTech.com
 PROTECTED WITH PURPOSE

Rican rainforest via an all-terrain am not ashamed to admit that I know reptiles, birds, or insects). I’d imagine
“Monster Bus” (imagine the Monster less than a 7-year-old when it comes to most of the animals she’s seen in the
Jam Truck ‘Gravedigger’ only with an neuroscience, cognitive psychology, or wild are repetitive: animals native
old-school bus body!). If you thought any science relating to the brain. My to Ohio (squirrel, deer, horses, fish,
the cybersecurity world was scary, basic reasoning for how she came up robins). Some of the animals, both alive
picture yourself scaling a mountain with that answer and how quickly it and extinct, she knows and recognizes
on a muddy dirt path (barely wide came to her boils down to this: likely may have come from visits to
enough for our vehicle, and with no In her mere seven years on this numerous zoos, seeing local animals
guard rails) at an angle greater than 45 planet, my daughter has likely already on vacations, reading books, watching
percent during a heavy (Costa Rican seen millions of “animals” (we will use T.V., and at school. My point here is
rain-forest) rain in a “Monster Bus” this term loosely to describe mammals, that regardless of age, we all have a
custom built by two men—using spare
parts! My wife speaks a little Spanish
and she completely freaked out
when the only road sign we saw was
the upside-down yellow triangle of
caution, and it had the word PELIGRO
boldly printed on it. (“Danger” in
Spanish.) This may have not been my
best fatherly decision in the name of
family time. Or was it?
As we finally came to a stop
somewhere up the mountain, so did
the tropical rain, and the guide had
us disembark to experience the rain
forest. However, before doing so,
he matter-of-factly warned us not
to touch anything, as many of the
plants and animals right next to us,
dangling down around us, growing
wild beneath us, were either extremely
dangerous or deadly poisonous.
(Where are my kids?) He also said that
in the event of a jaguar sighting that
we should remain calm. (Does anyone
else doubt the parental decision I made
besides me?)
Once outside the bus, the guide
immediately pointed to a bright red dot
on a fallen tree and asked if anyone
knew what this mysterious red spot
was. Without hesitation and almost
as if on cue, my 7-year-old daughter
shouted out that it was a poison dart
frog, and she was right. I was floored! I

April 2018 | 13
 PROTECTED WITH PURPOSE
large collection set of animals we
recognize and label. We label animals
broadly by their different feature sets.
A feature is an individual measurable
property or characteristic of the things
being observed. Does it have wings?
Can it swim? Does it bark? You get
the point. Identifying good features
is one of the most important steps
in distinguishing one type of animal
from another. For example, if we were
distinguishing between a pig and a
zebra, asking and extracting features
such as “Does it have four legs?”, or
“Does it have two eyes?” would not
make it possible to classify them
separately. So, when deciding if that
Costa Rican red spot was a poison
dart frog or an African hippo, my
daughter’s collection set of animals she
knew about had to be large enough
to tell one animal from another,
there had to be a feature extraction
process so that the animals could
be systematically categorized into
individual animal families, and the red
color was certainly a narrowing factor
in her little mind.
What about the speed with which
she answered? In the antivirus world,
a process called dimensionality reduction
can be used. Dimensionality is the
process of automatically reducing the
number of unwanted or redundant
features. Removing or combining
such features saves space and time
and improves performance. In our
case, animals that share in many of
the similar extracted features can be
carefully excluded with the attempt to
increase time and accuracy. Again, the
larger the initial sample collection set,
the better!
Now: What we have done so far is
14 | MinistryTech.com
called creating a Training Model.
If my daughter encounters an
animal, she can quickly extract the
features of that animal, apply the
Training Model, and quickly determine
the species of that animal. In its
simplest form, it is in this very same
way that we fight new malware. My
firm, Thirtyseven4, incorporates a
very powerful, fully dynamic-based
behavior detection engine called the
Advanced DNA Scan (DNA). Just like
my daughter’s example, the DNA was
created to quickly and proactively
analyze all new files in real-time, both
clean and malicious, and immediately
identify them as either suspicious
or clean. The process of making that
determination is the same. It starts
with a huge collection set of both
clean and malicious files (millions of
files), extracting features from them,
systematically categorizing them, and
applying dimensional reduction and
other advanced, proprietary machine
learned algorithms, to create a robust
training model. When Thirtyseven4
intercepts a new file (or a red poison
dart frog), the feature extraction
process starts, the training model is
applied, and the DNA can quickly
determine, in a fraction of a second,
whether a file is clean or not.
By utilizing and combining the
latest technologies, Thirtyseven4
strives to be cutting-edge and to be
the industry leading next-generation
scanning engine. We want our
users to be in similar disbelief and
amazement, just like I was with my
daughter identifying the poison dart
frog, when Thirtyseven4 proactively
prevents an unknown threat from
infecting a system.
Just as animals are classified
and separated by features and
characteristics, this is a simple way to
grasp the heuristics of virus detection
and proactive identification. It’s an
abstract comparison, but hopefully
one that gives you a simplified
understanding, appreciation and
“backdoor” look inside anti-malware
scanning.
Did we make it out of the Monster
Bus tour alive? Absolutely. The guides
never faltered and their peace gave
us peace. They were a neat example
of people who had a dream (showing
tourists the “unseen” beauty and
nature of Costa Rica) and they worked
very hard to build their dream
in creating a safe and cruise-ship
endorsed Monster Bus excursion.
What we saw and experienced was
raw and awesome. I am not sure the
flora, fauna and animals will always
be as prevalent there, and in the end,
I was glad I booked the adventure for
our family.
I hope that viruses, ransomware,
bots and the like will not always be
prevalent. That they would die off
like an extinct species. But until then
Thirtyseven4 will keep classifying
and protecting. A poison dart frog is
tiny and lethal, but the destruction
that new strands of malware can
take on our machines and us is just as
daunting. MT
Steven Sundermeier is the
owner of Thirtyseven4, LLC, a
leading provider of antivirus/
security software. With 17
years of experience in the
cybersecurity field, he is one
of the nation’s leading experts in virus,
malware and other threats. Before founding
Thirtyseven4 in 2009, Steven worked in a
number of roles in the antivirus industry
dating back to 1999.
FREE DOWNLOAD:
Digital Giving Trends
in the Church

DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE COPY AT

echurch.com/Digital-Giving-Trends2018

April 2018 | 15
 S
30
MS text messaging has
sms texting statistics
that'll blow your mind
by Shophorn Clay, of Trumpia.com

97%
become one of the top ways of Americans use texting at least
to reach your congregation once a day on their cell phones.
effectively. And statistics support PEW INTERNET
that many people prefer texting,
especially in specific situations.
Those who have adopted SMS

more
80% over 6 billion
texting as a marketing tool are
finding that there are many uses
of this channel of communication. than texts are sent in the
SMS works well on its own as a of American adults United States each day.
FORRESTER
marketing channel, and it also text which makes it
works to enhance other channels the most common
such as email, social media or cell phone activity.
calling. SMS is a good way to send PEW INTERNET Email has a 20 percent
appointment reminders and event
open rate, while text
invitations.
messages have a
People do not need a
smartphone to send and receive
texts. This opens up lines of
Text messaging has a 98% open rate.
MOBILE MARKETING WATCH
communication with demographic 45% response rate,
groups such as the elderly or while email only
lower-income families who may has a 6 percent
response rate. 90 percent of all SMS
not own smartphones. If you are
VELOCIFY texts are read in under
looking to reach people quickly,
SMS may be the right solution
for you. Consider these statistics
3 minutes.
CONNECT MOGUL
before you make up your mind.
While these statistics were On average, text
culled from a variety of secular messages are

75%
advertising sources, they are read under of worldwide
cell phones are
also a powerful call-to-action for
forward-looking churches (of any 5 seconds.
SLICKTEXT
text-enabled.
DUOCALL COMMUNICATIONS
size) that want to stay connected
to their congregations.

16 | MinistryTech.com
9. An average adult uses a
total of 23 hours per week
texting. (USA TODAY)
10. On average, Millennials
exchange 67 text messages
per day. (BUSINESS INSIDER)
11. Americans exchange on
average 2X as many texts as
calls. (NIELSEN)
12. Only 43 percent of
smartphone owners make
calls, but over 70 percent of
users text. (CONNECT MOGUL)
13. 55 percent of heavy text-
message users (more than
50 texts per day) prefer to
receive a text than a phone
call. (PEW RESEARCH CENTER)
14. On average, it takes a
person 90 minutes to
respond to an email, but it
only takes 90 seconds for
them to respond to a text
message. (CTIA)
15. Women in America text 14
percent more than men.
(NIELSEN)
16. 79 percent of businesses
believe that customers
20. Preferred texting activities are to check order status
(38 percent), schedule or change an appointment
(32 percent), and make or confirm reservations (31
percent). (HARRIS)
21. More than 1/2 of consumers would be likely to text
with a customer support agent. 52 percent would
prefer texting with customer support over current
methods. (EWEEK)
22. More than 1/3 of business pros cannot go more than 10
minutes without responding to a text message. (EWEEK)
http://trumpia.com
Text Messaging
for Churches
Saddleback and Mariners
use Our Intelligent SMS Software!
See Why:
"With Trumpia's text messaging
software, you can reach who you
need to reach instantly,
no matter where they are"
-Mariners Church

prefer SMS/text support.

(ICMI)

17. 61 percent of call centers CLICK HERE!

to learn more
will offer SMS text support
in 2016. (DIMENSION DATA)
18. 80 percent of people use
texting for business. (EWEEK)
19. 1/5 of consumers are just
as likely to prefer an SMS
message from businesses
to a phone call. (ICMI)

April 2018 | 17
 23. SMS texting converts a
$6 to $10 phone call to a
pennies-per-session chat.
top 8 reasons why SMS is so powerful:
• 97% of Text Messages are opened, with Email coming in at only
(FORRESTER & CONTACTBABEL)
20% on average
24. Prospects that are sent
• 23 BILLION text messages are sent per day
texts convert at a 40
percent higher rate than • 80% of people are now using text messaging for business in some
those not sent texts. form or fashion
(VELOCIFY) • 70% of consumers appreciate getting text messages from their
25. Over 65 percent of
health care providers
marketers report SMS • 75% of people would prefer to have offers sent to them via text
texting as being very • 70% of employees think that companies should use texting for
effective. (EXACTTARGET) internal communication
26. 70 percent of consumers • 67 – The number of text messages sent per day by the average
appreciate getting text millennial
messages from healthcare • 1/3 of Business Professionals can’t wait 10 minutes to respond
providers. (LOYALTY 360) to a text
27. 75 percent of consumers SOURCE: TRUMPIA.COM BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO SMS MARKETING
would like to have special
offers sent to them via
texting. (DIGITAL MARKETING
MAGAZINE)

28. More than 80 percent

of consumers prefer no
more than 2 marketing
text messages per month.
(DIGITAL MARKETING MAGAZINE)

29. 20 percent of financial

services use SMS messages
to add to their multi-
channel capabilities.
(LOYALTY 360)

30. 72 percent of professionals

prefer SMS to messaging
apps. (EWEEK)
Find out how you can take advantage
of SMS texting in your mobile marketing
strategy. Download Trumpia’s
complementary Mobile Marketing
Success Kit to see how you can diversify
your company's communications with
existing customers and new prospects.

18 | MinistryTech.com
 tech
check
04.18
Visual Storytelling is
Within Reach
Churches have always
understood the power of visuals.
From illustrated Bibles for children
(or who can forget flannel boards?)
to PowerPoint for sermons, or
MediaShout for worship, many
churches have done a good job
incorporating visuals into the main
service or Sunday School.
The folks at GoAnimate have
developed a tool for engaging
and entertaining animation. It’s
a secular business tool that has
energized visual storytelling. The
applications for preaching, youth
ministry or Sunday School are
immediately apparent.
Check out their website, which
offers three possible buy-ins and
also a free 14-day trial. n
Stabilize Your Videos
It’s been something of an Internet
sensation. Flowmotion is a smartphone
stabilizer. That is: If you shoot video using
your smartphone, the Flowmotion device
will cause the video image to become rock-
solid and shake-free. It’s like cinema-grade
cinematography for your iPhone videos.
More than 15,000 units have been pre-ordered for this
groundbreaking new product, which will enter the market at the
$250 price point—something within reach for nearly all churches.
Imagine the look and feel of professional video for everything you
record, from church picnics to man-on-the-street interviews.
Check out their demonstration video, or go directly to
Flowmotion’s introductory website. n
Slingshot Group: Connecting Ministers
With Ministry
By now we’ve all heard of employment websites that
warehouse millions of resumes and claim they can match up
your business with a qualified candidate. But church staffing is a
different animal. When your church is hiring a new staff member,
finding the right fit is crucial.
That’s where The Slingshot Group comes in. This nation-wide
organization specializes in placements for ministry positions.
Like most websites, it connects those who are hiring with those
who are looking for a place to serve. Yet The Slingshot Group has
focused on the unique needs of churches and ministries, and
tailors it approach according
to the needs of both sides of
the equation.
Their introductory video
tells their story beautifully,
and invites you (whether you
are hiring or looking to be
hired) to taste and see. n
EDITOR’S NOTE: Who can possibly keep up with all the tech options available
these days? TECH CHECK highlights tech news and new gadgets that save you
time, energy, money—and keep you from re-inventing the wheel. Have a hot tech
tip or news item? Email rhollenbach@outreach.com.
April 2018 | 19
 technology as good as donuts
“Help Me! I Can’t Stop Myself!”
by Jonathan Smith

T The Bible is pretty clear: a less cool iPhone

here is little doubt that technology keeps getting better
and better. It’s evolving at an exponential rate, making
it difficult not only to keep up but also to know how to
or bad tasting donut is not going to solve our
use all of this technology in a way that honors and glorifies
addictions or misplaced priorities.
God. Tech advances also reveal our misplaced priorities.
For example, one of the challenges we now face is the ability to discern how to use it properly.
apparent desire to blame everyone else for our problems. God also isn’t surprised by our technology. (Insert obliga-
Recently a group of investors has demanded that Apple tory Al Gore invented the Internet joke here.) Even though
solve the issue of “screen addictions.” This baffles me. the Bible was written thousands of years before Facebook,
Telling Apple their product is so good that we can’t put it fiber optics, flip phones or smartphones, it is still relevant to
down and then asking them to somehow fix that problem how we use that technology today and tomorrow.
is blame shifting at its finest. god has answers for how we use our tech
That’s akin to telling the good folks at Krispy Kreme Since God and the book He wrote aren’t surprised by our
that their donuts are too tasty and since we have no technology, it stands to reason that He might have some
self-control to stop eating them that they need to fix that answers for how we use our technology. The Bible sets the
by making the donuts less tasty. The Bible is pretty clear: standards for how we are to live our lives, both offline and
A less cool iPhone or bad tasting donut is not going to online.
solve our addictions or misplaced priorities. For example, what does the Bible say about gossip? Go
Mobile device companies like Apple and Samsung ahead, look it up. I’ll wait.
know what they are doing. They know how to make and
market a product that we all find useful for life—and
ministry. I think it is fair to say that everyone has been
surprised at the influence these devices, and the things
they connect us to, like social media, have had on our
lives, our culture, our worship and our planet.
So what are we to do? Should make inferior technolo-
gy since we are apparently unable to handle the devices
and services we’ve got now? Should we water down the
Krispy Kreme recipe since we can’t stop eating them on
our own? Should we ask McDonald’s to make sure all of
their fries are mushy and not golden brown and crispy?
The foodie in me and technologist in me says, “NO!” So
does the believer in me. Here’s why.

god is bigger than our tech

Do we really believe “God is bigger than our tech,” or do we
just say it like some old cliché? God is bigger than our screen
and/or donut addictions. Not only did God create us, but He
also gave us the intellect to invent our technology and the

20 | MinistryTech.com
 The Bible says that gossip is sin,
period. I hope we can all agree on that.
If gossip is a sin then does it matter
whether that gossip happens with our
#RUHOOKED
tongues or with our fingers? Spoken Teens & Social Media
or typed, gossip is still gossip—and still
sin. So whose fault is it if we gossip By Jonathan Smith
online? Is the device maker somehow MinistryTech Monthly Contributor
liable if we can’t put our devices down
because we are too busy tearing oth-
& National Speaker
ers down instead of building them up?

The Bible also talks about worship,

and who we should worship. Is the
way we use our phones an indicator
of who we worship? Is the device
manufacturer responsible for who we
worship? I agree that screen addiction
is a problem, but I don’t believe we
should be asking anyone other than A book for teens and the people who care about them.
the person holding the device to fix it.
Maybe the first step is to put down the #RUHOOKED
device and talk to God.
ISBN: 9781939881175/$6.99
god's church can help
The church is uniquely positioned to Available at
help those struggling with technology TRISTANPublishing.com
as good as donuts. If we truly believe and Amazon.com
that God is bigger than our tech and
has answers for how we use our tech
you is to offer classes on technology, strong. Jesus didn’t die on the cross
then it should be easy for us to share
everything from how to use Facebook and rise again three days later to save
those answers with the communities
to how to make a PowerPoint. companies; he died and rose to save
God has called us to serve.
With our focus on God, we can individual people. MT
Using tech in a fashion that hon-
handle our screen, and maybe even
ors God should be woven in to how
our donut addictions! Before blaming Jonathan Smith is the Director
we teach Christian living. The youth
another person or another company, of Technology at Faith
group, the adult small group, the kids
let’s look at our own hearts first. Then Ministries in Lafayette, Indiana.
Sunday school and more should all be You can reach Jonathan at
as technology continues to evolve we
using technology as a means to help jsmith@faithlafayette.org and
can use it in a way that honors God
folks know God better. One of the follow him on Twitter @JonathanESmith.
because our relationship with Him is
easiest ways to reach those around

April 2018 | 21
8 | MinistryTech.com
6 vital questions
to ask your app developer
by Subsplash
D
oes your church or ministry currently have an app?
Are you shopping for an app? Have you thought
about getting one before? Do you currently have an
app but wish you knew if it was the best option? If you
are reading this, then chances are you probably answered
“yes” to at least one of those questions. With so many app
and giving providers on the market claiming to offer the
best product, it can be hard to know which platform is the
right fit for your ministry. Subsplash wants to make that
easier for you, so we’ve compiled a list of questions to ask
every app-developer (and giving company) you talk to. If
you are shopping for a mobile engagement platform, these
questions will help you narrow your search:
Do you have a native media player inside your apps?
Many providers put media in their apps by linking to
a third-party media vendor (such as YouTube, Vimeo or
Soundcloud). This means that if something goes wrong
with your media hosting, you have to reach out to a
third-party company to handle the issue. Additionally,
web-based media players are usually slower to load,
not as easy to interact with, and drain more battery life
and data from a user’s phone. Why? Because they were
created to be used on the web, not inside a native app. If
you want your users to have the best mobile experience,
pasting those web-based solutions into your app will not
be the answer. A native media player gives your users
significantly more flexibility, which keeps them coming
back to your app, which will help boost engagement in
your church.
Do you offer unlimited tech support with every package?
As a ministry leader, you probably have a pretty full
schedule. There is no reason why you should have to
spend hours learning a new system or updating your
app every week. A good support team will help alleviate
that burden and make the setup process an easy one.
You’ll want to make sure that unlimited phone and
email support is included with any app package you are
considering. If it isn’t, you could be setting yourself up for
future frustration.
What engagement tools do you offer?
If you are looking into getting an app for your
church, it is probably because you want to use it as a
discipleship tool. Make sure to ask every provider what
kind of engagement features they offer, and how each
of those tools can be used to help your congregation on
their discipleship journey. A few foundational features
you’ll definitely want to keep an eye out for are one-
click media publishing with the native media player
like we mentioned above, user accounts, group push
notifications, events, custom Bible reading plans, connect
forms, ChMS integrations, digital bulletins and an easy
sharing experience.
Who builds your platform?
Believe it or not, many companies simply white-label
other app platforms. This may not sound like a huge deal,
but when you purchase an app from a company that is
reselling another company’s software, you simply aren’t
going to get the same support, updates or new features
as you would from an in-house platform. Companies
that white-label other platforms have limited control
of what they are able to build for you, simply because it
is not their own software. A company that builds their
own software and has a good track record of adding new
features will be able to serve your ministry best.
What is your effective rate for online and mobile giving?
Any giving provider you talk to should (hopefully) be
transparent about their processing rates, but they may
not go into much detail about their effective rates. It is
extremely important to get as much detail about this as
possible. What exactly does “effective rate” mean? Glad
April 2018 | 23
 you asked! Your effective rate is
going to be the total percentage of
money that the giving provider (and
any third-party service involved
with the transaction) is taking
from every donation. In addition
to standard processing fees, many
companies charge hidden fees that
impact each transaction and leave
your ministry with less money. You
will want to ask each provider, “If
John donates $100 to our church
with his debit card, how much of
that $100 will end up in our bank
account after all fees are taken out?”
The answer will determine your
effective rate. To learn more about
Use one of our
Jumbo Sleeve effective rates, download our free
Banners as a
photo booth! eBook—it has all the information
you need to ensure that you get the
best rates.
Plan a special
service and invite What is your pricing structure?
Some companies determine their
everyone in your pricing based on your church’s
community to join size and budget. This means that a
in a celebration of church with an annual budget of
women on Mother’s $1,000,000 could end up paying
Day weekend. more than a church with an annual
budget of $100,000 for the exact
same product and features. There is
no reason why your church should
have to pay more money for the
same product simply because your
budget is bigger. Ask each company
if you can see a specific breakdown
Outreach offers a variety of resources that can help you of their pricing levels and what they
invite more people, dress up your church for the event offer with each different package.
and connect visitors to your ministries. There are many more good
questions to ask your app provider,
but we didn’t want to keep you
here all day. If you would like the
complete list of questions to ask,
click here to find an eBook that
goes into even more detail of what
questions will help you get the best
deal and why they are important. Or
View all the resources at: Outreach.com/Mothersday
call Subsplash with any questions:
phone at 206-965-8090 (or by email
at hello@subsplash.com).

24 | MinistryTech.com
 THE LAST WORD

He is not here;
he has risen,
just as he said.
Come and see the
place where he lay.
MAT THEW 28:6

April 2018 | 25