The ChurchApps Podcast

Groups and Teams are two different tools in ChurchApps — and mixing them up is one of the most common mistakes churches make. This episode clears it up.

Groups are for organizing and communicating with people — small groups, classes, ministries. Teams are for scheduling volunteers for specific services, found under the Serving section. They are not interchangeable. The same person can be in both: a Group for communication and a Team for scheduling.

Terry Byrd from ChurchApps support joins as a guest and shares what he hears from churches every day.

Try It This Week: go to Groups and identify anything that is really about scheduling — that belongs in Teams. Then go to Serving and set up one Team for a rotating volunteer ministry, build a simple service plan, and send one schedule notification.

Resources:
support.churchapps.org
[email protected]
github.com/ChurchApps

Kids check-in systems protect against the most common child safety risk in churches — custody disputes. A noncustodial parent showing up while the custodial parent is in the service, with no system in place, is a real legal and safety issue.

Micheal and Kari walk through how a matching security code system works: one tag on the child, one with the adult who dropped them off. The codes must match at checkout. Everyone checks in and checks out, every time — consistency is what makes the system work.

B1 Checkin is a free Android app that runs on a Samsung Galaxy Tab or Amazon Fire tablet and connects to a Brother label printer over WiFi. One-time hardware cost of around $200 to $350 total. No monthly fee, no per-device charge.

Competing systems: KidCheck starts at $25 per month per device. Planning Center can run up to $200 per month.

New features covered: custom background image for the kiosk screen (upload your church photo or logo), idle screen slideshow to display announcements between check-ins, and QR code guest registration so first-time families can self-register on their phone and check in immediately without a volunteer.

Try It This Week: set up attendance groups in B1 Admin, upload a background image under Attendance then Kiosk Settings, enable QR guest registration under Mobile then Check-In, download B1 Checkin on an Android tablet, and do a full test run before Sunday.

Resources:
support.churchapps.org
github.com/ChurchApps
b1.church
Brother QL-1110NWB printer (recommended)
Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 (recommended tablet)

FreePlay is a free app for Apple TV, Amazon Fire Stick, and Google TV that gives any church immediate access to an enormous library of free Christian content — the Bible Project, the Jesus Film, Ark Curriculum, For Ministry Resources, and everything on Lessons.church. No account required to get started.

This is not just a kids ministry tool. FreePlay works for any classroom, any age group, any setting — kindergartners, senior adult Sunday school, youth group, small groups at home.

Ark Curriculum from The Ark Church in Conroe, Texas is completely free — three full years of content for preschool and three separate full years for elementary. For Ministry Resources covers junior high and high school with complete lesson plans and graphics ready to go.

Content downloads to the device during the week so it plays fully offline on Sunday morning — no WiFi needed, no buffering, no panic five minutes before class.

Connect FreePlay to B1 Admin with a one-time QR code scan and your children's ministry coordinator can schedule which lessons play in which classrooms from B1 Admin on Monday — and on Sunday the right content is already downloaded and ready on every classroom TV.

Dropbox integration also available for churches using their own content or curriculum providers not yet connected.

First tester reaction: "I just ran through the demo. Holy moly that is impressive."

Everything is open source on GitHub under ChurchApps. Roku not currently supported.

Try It This Week: search FreePlay on your Apple TV, Fire Stick, or Google TV and download it. Browse Ark Curriculum and For Ministry Resources. Visit support.churchapps.org and click FreePlay for B1 Admin setup guides.

Resources:
support.churchapps.org (click FreePlay)
lessons.church
[email protected] (for curriculum providers wanting to integrate)
github.com/ChurchApps

ChurchApps has been busy — this episode covers a round of recent updates across the platform.

Micheal and Kari walk through native event registration with capacity limits and CSV export, self-service volunteer signup, QR code guest check-in, check-in kiosk theming with custom backgrounds and idle screen slideshows, email templates for groups with merge fields, the audit log under Settings, giving dashboard KPI cards, and the new FreePlay downloads tab.

Try It This Week: toggle event registration on a calendar event, enable self-signup on a volunteer position, set up a QR code at your check-in kiosk, create an email template for a group, and check the Donations dashboard summary cards.

Resources:
support.churchapps.org
github.com/ChurchApps

Welcome to the ChurchApps Podcast — free software built by the church, for the church.

In this first episode, Micheal and Kari introduce the podcast and share the story behind ChurchApps. They cover who ChurchApps is for, why it was built, and what you can expect from future episodes.

ChurchApps is a suite of completely free, open-source tools built to help churches manage people, check in kids, stream content, build websites, and more — with no subscription fees and no per-seat pricing.

Learn more at support.churchapps.org or find the code at github.com/ChurchApps.

Technology has an important place in the church. By ignoring it, you hurt yourself and those leading around you. We know it can be hard that's why we are here to help. Ministry is hard, we want to make it easier!

SignPresenter

Lessons.Church

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The best way to schedule volunteers to create calm classrooms, consistency is key.

The Volunteer Playbook

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We all use time fillers in our classroom time but are yours helping or hurting? Join us as review some of the popular and talk about why we feel one is better than the rest. 

Great games!!

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Are you going? Should you go? Why?

Questions, Comments,  Just want to say hi?

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With tons of options to choose from why it is important to choose the right curriculum for your Ministry. Some options we talk about are listed below. 

Available On Lessons.church

Ark Kids Elementary

Ark Kids Junior

High Voltage Elementary

Not on Lessons.Church but more than welcome to add their curriculum any time. :) 

Orange

The Gospel Project

Hyfi

Questions, Comments,  Just want to say hi?

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