Pastors focus more on ministry, less on systems

Jay Height, a bi-vocational pastor in Indianapolis, didn't notice that one of the families in his congregation had been regularly missing Sunday services once a month.

That is, until the volunteer staff at Shepherd Community Church of the Nazarene began generating congregation attendance reports in eTapestry for Congregations.

After calling the head of the family, Height discovered that money is particularly tight one week a month, making it difficult to pay for the gas to transport the family to the service.

"Now, we're working with them to pick them up and help them in other ways," Height said.

eTapestry for Congregations has allowed Height to figure out which members of the congregation may be missing services at Shepherd Community Church of the Nazarene and immediately connect with them on Monday to find out why and offer church support.

"As a bi-vocational pastor, one of the most critical and valuable resources I have is time," Height said. "eTapestry helps me manage my time and manage the care for my congregation. It provides a valuable resource to the ministry. When you help me focus on people instead of on programs and systems, you make me a better pastor."

The Web-based application also allows Height and church administrative assistant, Jennie Gibson, to access their congregation records simultaneously or when they are away from the office.

"Our treasurer can use the same information I'm using so we don't have to duplicate records in two households," Gibson said. "Our treasurer can do her entry while she is at home and I can update addresses while I'm at home. The fact that we can have two different people in two different locations access it without any network of any sort is helpful."

The church does not employ an IT administrator, making eTapestry's remote updates even more of an asset, Gibson said.

Gibson said she has been especially appreciative of eTapestry's responsive support staff.

"Anytime I e-mail or call they get back with me quickly and they don't give up until I'm clear on how to fix my problem," Gibson said.

About eTapestry
Founded in 1999, Indianapolis-based eTapestry is the first Web-based donor database and communications management system that rents its software to customers who access it over the Internet. Nonprofit organizations of all types and sizes using eTapestry do not pay the large upfront purchasing costs or the ongoing maintenance and support contracts typically paid in the purchase of more traditional software. For more information, go to www.eTapestry.com.