Church Software - Free , Open Source , Public Domain

I found this software around mid March. My primary requirement was to find something that would help in dual display and song presentations.

I came across a lot of proprietary software like Easy Worship , Worship-him, Praise! and it was really getting frustrating when I saw their very heavy price tag ranging from a minimum of Rs. 10,000/- And I was beginning to lose hope when my good 'ol pal Google saved my day my landing me on the website of Church Software.

Before looking at Church Software, I did have a look at many other open source software like Openlp and Zionwrox, but the problem was that it did not support Tamil.

There was just one thing on my mind when I was searching, dual display for song presentation and that's it, but when I saw the mind blowing features that CS had to offer, it was just more than what I had asked for....

Presentations

• Church Service Planner - pre-select songs, verses for display.
• Easy selection of Bible multiple verses and instant display on projector screen in any supported language.
• Enhanced Quick Search with auto-flling and Bible Reference Only option
• Our LORD's worship songs display in any supported language.
• Managed MS Powerpoint - Display sermon slides using thumbnails.
• Blank Screen option added for all consoles which displays the background template/image without the Bible verse/lyrics
• Automatic Birthdays and Marriage Anniversaries display.
• Birthday and Wedding Anniversaries displays with photos if present
• Templates with background images
• Previous and Next butttons included for Photo Gallery and MS PowerPoints.
• Automatic projector selection and display.
• Type and update the projector immediately for any instant announcements.
• Grab the displayed presentation text and dynamically edit it. E.g., when the preacher stresses a word in the Bible verse, the projector operator can bold that word in the verse by grabbing the displayed text
• Lyrics Library. Preloaded with 4000+ lyrics for 6 major languages (English, French, Spanish, Tamil, Hungarian, Portuguese)
• Lyrics editor for adding/editing/pringing lyrics with transliteration option
• Used to display video presentations with preview. Supports many video formats.
• Capture streaming video from camera device and display it on projector.
• Transition effects between slides
• glGui 3.0 Music Player
• Sermon Recorder
• Church calendar events Display

Tools

• A complete Backup and Restore.
• A complete audit logs is available for every changes made in church members and budget.
• Virtual Keyboard to type in your own language even if OS does not support it. Transliteration is supported for some languages

Bible Study

• Bible search available for all supported languages. (Note: some language search may not be accurate).
• Bible available for all supported languages and all supported English versions.
• Bible Reading Planner for all languages.
• A complete Bible genealogy (based on complete-bible-genealogy.com)
• English to any language and vice versa is also available.
• Parallel Bibles to compare any number of versions.
• Detailed Bible liking genealogy with KJV+ Strong Dictionary.
• Export Bibles to e-Sword, SWORD, GoBible, PalmBible+ and Text.
• Completely Customizable
• Multiple themes for look and feel
• Church Logo, Background image, default language and many others can be customized.
• Menus in your selected language.

Church Administration

• Church Members Database. Birthdays and Wedding Anniversaries display fetches data from here. Members can be added, modified and removed easily.
• Photos can be included in Church Members database
• Chruch members can be exported to and imported from CSV (comma seperated files), Excel and Church Software Members (CSM) file
• Church financial budget is included for easy financial management.
• Church Calendar. Create events and display on projector and/or publish as ics.
• Print postal address labels of church members.
• Print ID cards for representing the church.
• Financial Report generator.
• Annual church report generator.
• Church attendance module with absent report.
• Chuch Members Report.

User Management

• Users for this software can be created and managed.
• User groups can also be created defining what access each group has.

Automatic Updates

• Updates are now made automatic.

Other Features

• Transliteration and Phonetics for most of the supported languages
• Complete Unicode support
• Preloaded with 154 Bibles from various languages/translations
• Preloaded 56 English Bible Versions

Honestly speaking!!! Many new things that could be done occurred to me only after having a look at the features enlisted. Mr Felix Jeyareuben (the father of Church Software) has not just brilliantly put together an efficient piece of code which requires a minimum piece of hardware but has also worked hard to identify the specific requirements of the church in its different dimensions.

Another very nice gesture of Mr. Jeyareuben to respond to every query regarding the use of the software through his forums without delay. He'd answer basic questions on usage as well as clear bugs in code with the same promptness.

The different versions of bible available are really very helpful when pastors quote verses for comparison and study.

I think an incredible work has been done on the song collections . And not just that, making the software being able to support 61 major languages is a clear evidence of the kind of herculean effort put in.

Churches using this software, should not just stop with just recommending it to others, but also try and contribute to this powerful initiative. Many things could be done

• You can send gospel lyrics of songs available in your language.
• You can send newly typed songs to get bundled for the benefit of all.
• You can provide new feature suggestions.
• You can do testing to find bugs.
• You can participate in Forums to help others with their ideas and issues.
• You can inform or provide new electronic Bibles for other languages to get included.
• You can design templates for use.

And the rest is left to your innovation and your heart to share.

When I was hunting for some worship presentation related products, I came across this marketing statement by a proprietary 'christian' software ....

"Purchase our new Shadow of the Cross PowerPak at 60% off and breathe new life into your worship service."

This is definitely not the kind of trend that we should be heading to.

I don't believe that true worship needs any extra frills. We can survive without expensive gadgets, smoky stages, sizzling performances, extravagant interiors, large LCD panels and trendy technology. The heart of worship is all about surrender and gratitude to the Creator King.

But an attempt of this kind, "does not just help to make worship better" but the hard work put in, is worship by itself.

The greatest resource for the church is not the money, or the building or the popularity of the pastor. But people. People who are ready to get together and work together in love and faith despite the differences in lifestyle, culture, education or spirituality.

But today, the sad fact is that, we have begun to imitate the world in our dealings and transactions.We look for personal profit, recognition and gain even in church.With all the "show",maybe we are doing many things perfectly right, but we are certainly not doing the right things.

Church Software has done the the right thing the right way. Technically, it is sound.And the spirit with which the software has been developed has truly made it honorable in God's sight.

Church Software is an attempt that compels the rest of the church to be go-givers and show the world not just our potential but also the Master's heart.

My verdict, Church Software is a one stop solution for the needs of the church, totally customizable, and truly Christian at heart.It is available for Windows/Linux and Mac machines.It requires just 256 MB RAM and 533 MB hard disk space.Bugs are constantly updated and new features are consistently added with increasing frequency. Developer guides are provided and the entire implementation is in java.It has tremendous community support and a steadily growing international user base.

What are you waiting for??

Use it, Recommend it and Contribute towards making it grow!!!

Download at http://churchsw.org/content/downloads

The Shack - William P. Young

I got this book on 16th January 2009. It was a paperback of about 300 pages. I was pretty jobless at that time, and in my usual pace I could have finished that book by 3 days. But I took 10 days to finish this book.

So what does that make you think about it..??

The story is narrated by Willie who is the closest friend of Mackenzie Allen Philips (Mack) the protagonist of the story.

So here's the basic plot as the author gives it and there are no spoilers ahead!!

Mack's youngest daughter Missy has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found on an abandoned shack deep inside a wilderness. Four years later, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God inviting him back to that shack for a weekend.

Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack in a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there is the rest of the story.

Let me confess, the story took sometime to pace up. Maybe that was because I was so used to the style of secular fiction, where the drama and action begins quite naturally in the first few pages itself.

I was so used to a reading about blood,anonymous mails,high tech gadgets, state of the art apartments,kidnaps and genocide in the intro, that when this author speaks about rainfall and winter and wind and snow, for the first few paragraphs. I had to be a little patient.

The plot is divided into different topics, the titles of which seems like a fantasy movie, check that out, "In the Belly of the Beasts", "A Long Time Ago, In a Garden Far,Far Away"...

This book is heavy, very heavy in content. He communicates his thoughts with clarity. Each line is a sermon by itself, and you can hardly read more than 7 pages a day, because your mind would have absorbed so much.

There is action in the place where you least expect it. The dialogs between the characters are really long, but it just sticks so close with the plot that you can hardly get bored reading them.

The author has a great way of driving a very valid point through a simple conversation between the characters. I wish I could quote, but then I could never decide which one to put.

Maybe.. I'll try to list a few;

"Relationships are never about power, and one way to avoid the will to power is to choose to limit oneself - to serve"

"Its not the work, but the purpose that makes it special"

"Jesus didn't hold on to any rights; he willingly became a servant and lives out of his relationship with Papa. He gave up everything, so that by his dependent life he opened a door that would allow you free enough to give up your rights"

"So many believe that it is love that grows, but it is knowing that grows and love simply expands to contain it. Love is just the skin of knowing"

There's still lot more. But I think it would be better if you read it yourself.

Though it is deals with tough stuff, the book has a prominent lighter vein. Certain parts of the story sets you laughing loud.

This book falls in the genre of theological fiction, as some would like to put it. But I think that it is just a feel good book, entertaining and thought provoking, but not something with a very strong biblical base. It does have a few errors.

My verdict.

Don't miss reading it! There's lot of hard work ,creative energy and wisdom in it. !!

But don't build your convictions or theological studies based on this book. Don't give in to non-Christians and new believers. If you are a discerning reader, read it and enjoy it thoroughly.

All human work is filled with errors and misinterpretations, and so is The Shack. However, it is closest to revealing the heart of God. God must be proud!!

Hurry!! get your copy!