Shepherd's Staff has numerous applications that will increase public awareness of the church, assist you in moving forward in your outreach efforts, and increase over-all involvement in your ministry. Here are great examples.

The Ministry Route Manager, found in the SCHEDULER module, can help the church organize and operate:
  •  Shuttles to Sunday School or VBS
  •  Senior or Shut-in shopping days
  •  Neighborhood evangelism planning
  •  Homeless/sheltered shuttling and scouting
  •  Holiday Food Baskets
  •  Meals on Wheels

Using the Selected Events Report in the SCHEDULER module enables your church to reach out to existing members showing appreciation and affirming their value. The following story is a great example:

A church elder took it upon himself to send everyone in his ministry group a card on their birthday. Frequently people approached him thanking him for remembering them with a card. Over the next year, the church secretary began to track attendance and contributions by elder ministry group. The elder sending the cards had far and away the highest percentage of people assigned to him attending and contributing. The pastor then required the other elders to send birthday cards also. Over the next year the church realized an increase in their attendance, not only at Sunday worship but at other church events as well.

Tragic national events, such as the World Trade Center attack, draw normally "unchurched" people to your services. By creating dynamic subgroups in your ATTENDANCE module these event-inspired visitors can be differentiated easily. Your ministry teams can then provide targeted contact, additional support and fellowship to these seekers. This same system can be applied to identify holiday-only attendees.

Anther great ministry use of the ATTENDANCE module is to identify a regular attendee who has been missing. In a small church this can be done by sight but in a large church it is far too easy to slip through the cracks. By recognizing who is missing you can make calls and visits and find out if there are issues your ministry can address. Helps solve small problems before they become large ones!

With the Ministry Position Manager found in the MEMBERSHIP module, finding the perfect candidates for any ministry position is a snap! A specific name can be assigned for an job that has required activities, skills or training assigned. Only those people fitting the profile will be listed in the results and a subgroup can be attached which will further qualify by age, gender, years of church membership, etc. The end result is a list of members truly qualified for the open position. What a time saver!

Pledge drives are much more effective when the CONTRIBUTION module is used to its full capability. Whether you are funding a youth mission trip to Mexico, or initiating a building fund, this module will help you determine membership giving patterns. You can then focus particular attention to those people with a propensity towards giving to those specific funds. You can easily see which members you would send a fund-raising mailing to, and to which members a personal visit would be wise. Increased efficiency saves time and increases the total dollars raised!

We have compiled a white paper on using church management software to expand your ministry. Please feel free to share this with others. If you would like to receive a color printed copy of the paper contact our sales staff at 1-800-325-2399.