Run Your Church From Your Smartphone4/7/2009 9:13:00 AMYes, you read right...you can literally run your church from your handheld smartphone, and here's how.
Aside from the standard use of placing and receiving calls (ergo, a phone), most of today's smartphones are literally handheld computers, capable of doing many things that a desktop or pc can do. For instance, you can send and receive text messages, which most standard phones can do as well. And, like most standard phones, smartphones come equipped with a built-in camera and sometimes a camcorder as well. And finally, most if not all smartphones give you advanced email capability.
But what sets a smartphone apart from a standard phone are features like office productivity software. There is also built-in internet access, mp3 capability, voice recording, and storage capacity that can be upgraded, allowing you to load additional software as you need.
I am not going to recommend any specific brand (that is really your personal preference), but some top named smartphones out there include the Blackberry family (Storm, Curve, Pearl, Bold or World), Samsung Omnia which comes preloaded with Microsoft Windows 6.1 mobile and a 5 megapixel camera (the best camera built into a phone), or Apple IPhone.
So, here is how you can use the smartphone to run your ministry: For starters you can use the built-in word processor to draft your sermons, the spreadsheet app to keep track of attendance, financial records, or other numeric functions, and the built-in presentation program to create slide-shows. Using the phone's camera, you can take photos and import them right into your documents (some phones even allow you to edit your pictures as well). Use your phone's voice recorder to keep notes or inspirations, or the video camera to record important moments in your ministry. The built-in web browser will allow you to access online sites such as Sermon Central or Christianity Today. You can upload edited audio tracks to the phone's media player, and using the headset output running through your church audio system, you can augment your music ministry in case you don't have a musician or they happen to be on vacation. My smartphone even has built-in access to mapping software so I can see what my target territory looks like, and also navigation software in case I have to drive somewhere and don't quite know how to get there.
This is but a very small list of what you can do with your smartphone in terms of running or growing your ministry. If you have any additional ideas, please feel free to share them with us and we will share them with our readers. So, call your local wireless provider and ask about upgrading to a smartphone today. It may be one of the best moves you'll ever make of your ministry.