The economy has hit churches hard all over the country. But, even in the hard times, you still have to make major purchases from time to time. George Kreger from SaveYourChurchMoney.com has some great suggestions: 1. Major “players” need major profit margins! You have received those catalogs for y...

Ze Frank has two thought-provoking posts — pointed more at the techies but well suited for the church crowd — called “Simple questions to ask when planning a contribution-based project” Parts 1 and 2. Church has its own technology, unrelated to equipment and electronics. It&#...

Notes from my scanning workflow from yesterday. I’ve had my Epson Perfection 3490 Photo scanner for years — a gift from Hubby, Christmas 2003 or 2004, I think — but it never played happily with whatever Linux set-up I had at the time. But there’s a maxim that Linux distributi...

Another church administration tidbit, in a roundabout way, though really more directed to membership organizations with any sort of international outreach – Membership organizations usually offer discounts for cause to members of certain classes of person — the young, the unemployed, stu...

Earlier this month Jina Bolton wrote “Writing an Interface Style Guide” at A List Apart, and if you have responsibility for your church Web site you should click over to it, read it and bookmark it. She wants to spare your beautiful site from disintegrating from a thousand little degrada...

Brad Johnson is a great communicator and had a bright future as a pastor. That all ended when he admitted to an affair one year ago this month. What follows is an open letter that Brad wrote to his elders and church family on the one year anniversary of his departure. Brad writes: One year ago today...

To be listed as an emerging congregation at UUA.org, “the group should have either a meeting address or working website or both.” Hmm. One can be almost free of charge, with community support to develop and maintain and is an important communications and resources channel; the other is c...

Here's the premise: "Churches could see charitable donations decrease if our current economic trend continues." Chris Goff, Director of Outreach & Discipleship at First United Methodist Church in Thomasville, GA says its clear members of their congregation are struggling financially. But they say so...

There’s a thread at MetaFilter entitled “What single book is the best introduction to your field (or specialization within your field) for laypeople?” It concerns the hard sciences and mathematics in the main, but the same question is fair for the ministry, church administration or...

Yesterday, I made significant weight-loss and a financial security goals. I also bought a new computer. A light one. In cash. I had written about the Asus Eee PC — which I’m calling “One Laptop per Adult” — but was thinking about waiting until April or later, when a rum...