In part 1 yesterday, I listed 5 equipping strategies we were challenged to dream about for 2009. Here’s the list of 4 connecting ideas that Kurt and I came up with, too:
CONNECTING
SSM Online — We want to launch an online church experience for students. The Student Ministry internet campus will feature live chat, a series archive, live service streaming and immediate reponse through pastoral volunteers. It will be enhanced by a stronger online community presence on Facebook and other social media as well.
Text-based response cards – We want to do away with printed response cards and go strictly digital. For example, we would use for High School Ministry a number like 949-HSM-TEXT for baptisms, salvations, communication and more. People could text the number a keyword and it would automatically send them the info they were looking for. It could also get updates on trips and arrival time status after an event, too.
Parent Campus Connection Nights — Our goal would be to find parents in the same life stage and with students in the same class or better yet the same school. It would be a connection point to help them sharing the experiences together and sharing the load of caring for the school. They would spend time connecting together, but also in prayer and spreading the word about projects or initiatives that would concern the Christian parent.
ThumbSWIPE- One of the biggest ways we can care for our students is launching a comprehensive weekend digital check-in and follow-up system. The system uses thumb scans to track attendance and automatically generates reports, emails and texts to those who haven’t attended in a preset number of weekends.
JG
Josh Griffin has been in youth ministry for 15+ years and serves as the High School Pastor at Saddleback Church. [
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Geoff Stewart serves the Jr / Sr High School Pastor at Peace Portal Alliance Church in Surrey B.C.
DUDE! If we can be of any assistance to you guys as you launch your student online service let us know!
wow the thumbswipe sounds kind of 1984ish =).
I know … I almost deleted the Thumbswipe one …
JG
What’s the technology backend you plan to use for these? Existing services or are you starting from scratch?
I have some concepts for a simpler attendance system that I’d love to get your feedback on (not nearly as crazy as the thumb scanner!) I know some ministries even use RF tags…
PLEASE TELL ME THIS THUMBSWIPE SOFTWARE YOU SPEAK OF……TELL MEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!
we tried the thumbscan thing like two years ago and some of our parents thought this was about as close to the end times as they wanted to get. we’ve patiently waited for their kids to graduate so we can get it, it’s so fast and easy and a mennonite school in town uses it for their lunch line, i mean, really, if the mennonites are using it, i think we’re fine. in the meantime we use a touchscreen deal to do what you’re talking about…works well
I’d love to have the name of the company that developed/sells the thumbSWIPE software that you use. Does the software interface with your existing Saddleback data base, or is it a stand alone used only for your high school ministry? Thanks.
I think the coolness factor of the Thumbswipe outweighs the creepy factor.
The only hesitation I have is the seeming impersonal-ness of the follow-up. I thought the whole point of follow-up was that a PERSON noticed you were not at a service, not a computer program noticed you did not input your thumb print. I’m the first to admit that I have allowed kids to fall through the cracks because I didn’t follow-up on absences, but to have a machine do it for me seems a little cold. I wouldn’t mind the machine reminding a human to make contact, but an automated text/email. . . ???
Josh, I think the coolness factor outweighs the creepy factor for the kids, but not for the parents…
Josh, I have heard you referance Yahoo Calendar quite a bit. As I look to stay more organized, I was looking at setting things up. I do not have internet over my mobile listening device but have text. Could you tell me if I could get alerts from Calendar using only text charges? Love your advice on the podcast and thank you in advance for your answer.
Glad to see the action on here – let’s keep it going!
So, first off, these are dreams … we haven’t looked into feasibility, manpower, alignment with vision, cost and creepiness … these are just ideas we have for the new year.
Having said that – as far as we can tell, the solution could be built on the same platform as the children’s ministry uses now – a check-in system they built in-house several years back. Instead of membership cards and stickers, it could use a thumb scan. Several years ago we used SWIPE cards in some areas of the ministry, but that never took off.
JG
Swipe cards = definitely less creepy. I don’t know, would you guys feel that it was creepy if it was a retinal scan and not a thumb swipe? Something about body parts being scanned creep me out. Also, I agree that it makes it less personal… unless the info is being used for personal follow up.
True – but people forget/lose swipe cards too easily for it to work (in our experience in the past). You can’t lose a thumb! OK, you can, but you get my point.
JG
I really like the idea of the thumb scan…we are constantly looking for a way to track our students…we thought about the card swipe but doubt most of our kids would remember to bring it/not lose it. I think as long as the follow-up is personal, like a hand written note or a personal phone call…not an automated one, the impersonal factor goes away.
I was at concert last night and they did they text based response cards…It was a freaking awesome idea and worked out great…I sent in a text saying I got saved to see what happened and started getting texts about where to go to get resources to aid in my salvation (it isn’t a christian concert without product)…Anyway, do you know what are some of the companies are that have these software?
I know Willow Creek uses thumbprints for their JH ministry but they also use it on top of a “in house” software platform…who is the company that integrates the thumbSWIPE?
I would love to use those things. If only I had a budget. Any ideas for the less financially stable churches. How would you set up the txt based responses?
love the text based response but only half of our kids have phones and we are in the seattle area and a pretty tech savy culture around here.
Thumb swipe would be great, we are currently using the card swipe check in and find that only about 1/3 of kids use them.