International Shelby Conference
That’s right, this Wednesday through Friday, I’m at the International Shelby Conference. It’s been a truly interesting couple of days so far. After our “Ask the Programmers” session today, I’ve got lots of good feelings about where Shelby is going. Still, I’m not convinced that it is the right solution for our church.
I’ve been pushing my church leadership to change our Church Management System, and I’ve been met with lots of opposition. See, the bottom line is that I know what we can be and I know how technology can help us get there. What I’ve really enjoyed about this conference is seeing what Shelby is capable of. It is a good suite for many churches. The question still remains to be answered if it is the right solution for our church.
I’ve met a lot of great people this week, including Nick Nicholaou and Jeffrey Thompson. That is the one major benefit of this type of conference: when you get a group of church I.T. people together, solutions start to flow.
I’ll be writing more in coming days of some of the specific ministry insights I’ve gathered from the conference, but they’ll be more ministry focused than I.T. focused.
Bye for now.
Matthew,
What is it that excites you about Shelby? Have you looked at other vendors as well? What sort of challenges are you facing as a church that the software will solve?
I’ve found in churches that resist change that the best way to approach it is to identify the most painful areas that the staff is dealing with on a daily basis and find what solves those issues. This is especially critical for IT ministries, since we are the lifeline for the non-technical staff members to getting things done.
It was good meeting you too, Matthew. The conference was a good one, and I’m glad it served you well.