 16 August, 2008 Wow. We finally got to Phase Two. Phase two is where five lucky IFB Churches receive Church Commander, before anyone else. Hopewell Baptist Church, in Napa CA, is our home base church, and they were first up. To say things have gone well and everyone is very excited ... is an understatement. We need to find four more churches that want to be part of Phase Two. If you are interested in being a beta tester for the software when we begin Phase Two, please send us an email.
So what is Phase Three? Err, um, well...thats where we turn Church Commander loose to any IFB Church that wants it. Slight problem. We have no idea how to fund the labor for this activity. We have a fundamental objection to charging churching for our services, or for the software. So if we can't charge for it...then how do we roll it out everywhere. Thats the million dollar question. I am open to suggestions. To make the introduction of any software package effective for a church, the church has to have "some level" of hand holding from the "computer pros." These computer pros are students at Golden State Baptist College in Santa Clara, CA, or from West Coast Baptist College in Lancaster, CA. Students can't work for free, so there is still a financial issue that has to be addressed. On top of that, "any old student" cannot do this work. It takes my company 4 to 6 months of training before any student has a minimal skill to help a church. So you see...we have a bit of challenge. - Richard Carlton
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“Church Commander” is currently entirely funded by Richard Carlton Consulting, Inc. (RCC) , and is made available as a FREE software package to Independent Fundamental Baptist Churches.
In early 2004, I saw an opportunity to greatly improve how our local IFBC organized its membership and soul winning information. Other than announcements made during a church service, there was no effective means of communicating with the church members. Automated phone messages to members have become largely unpopular due to public backlash against unsolicited phone calls from telemarketers. Also, the desire for soul-winning follow-up was there, but the means to carry this out effectively and efficiently was largely lacking.
Most IFBC's focus on Soul Winning as a primary objective. This is great! However, once people are saved, they need to STAY “plugged in” to their local church (Heb. 10:25). Keeping people involved in the church improves their lives, making them effective witnesses to their unsaved friends and family. It is hard to track people using the back of a receipt you stuck in the cover of your soulwinning New Testament (or your car’s glove box, or your kitchen counter, or…well, you get the point?).
The Bible says that “every man hath his proper gift of God” , and that these gifts are “for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,” and that “if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth” . Through fifteen years of experience, God has allowed me to see a path to assist churches in effectively organizing their data. He also gave me a good feel for when people are frustrated by organizational inefficiencies.
I was sensing these sorts of issues in my local church, as well as other churches I visited. Therefore, I set my company to the work of developing Church Commander. I have presented the idea to many pastors in my area, and all of them have agreed that Church Commander would help them immensely in the area of Church Management. Several have tried other systems, which work well—to a point. But these pastors all agreed that a custom-fit solution made by Independent Fundamental Baptists for Independent Fundamental Baptists would greatly enhance their ability to “let all things be done decently and in order ”.
We would love to be able to help you obey God’s command to “make full proof of thy ministry,” being “not slothful in business,” and “giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed: But in all things approving… [your]selves…as the ministers of God,” “Tak[ing] heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfill it.”
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