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After weeks of rain in Irving, Texas, the sun was a welcome sight as it shone off the sidewalk chalk painted brightly on the pavement. The playground was wide open and the toys stood ready…not for children, but for Fellowship Technologies’ employees during “recess” at the quarterly All-Hands meeting.  There was a back-to-school theme and the challenge was that no technology could be used during the day - a stretch for a software company full of techies! Our staff was literally forced to remember back to how we did things before computers. Poster board, markers and glue were the tools of the day. CEO, Jeff Hook, played the part of “Principal Hook” while each of the employees sat with their “home room teachers,” consisting of the Fellowship Tech Executive Team. Each department had to present their accomplishments for the past quarter as well as their goals for the next…and all without PowerPoint, Internet or even clipart! The morning was full of classes and presentations with a break to walk to lunch, in single-file lines of course, before heading out to recess.
  Games of kickball, football, and foursquare ensued and plenty of bumps and bruises were the rewards for the competitive and friendly matches. After recess came “story time” led by Tammy Polk, VP of Talent and Organizational Effectiveness, with the help of our resident puppeteer, Brian Holt, who uses this skill at his local church in the children’s ministry. Finally, the day was ended with craft projects as part of a fun team exercise.
 
We know this may sound silly to some, or frivolous to others, but at Fellowship Technologies we hope to nurture a sense of fun and family as well as a strong work ethic and high expectations among our staff. It’s all about balance in our company’s culture. We love to play hard because we all know how much we value working hard. The relationships that are strengthened through this interaction and the information exchanged are invaluable to us as a company and as individuals, and we hope to share both our culture and our lessons with each one of our church partners. 
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Christmas has come early for all Fellowship One users! Fellowship Technologies is proud to announce that the highly anticipated iPhone Application called F1Touch, is now available for Apple iPhones as a free download on the App Store. F1Touch exhibits the power of the Fellowship One API in searching for individuals and is fully supported by Fellowship Technologies for all of our church partners. The features for F1Touch include the following: My Profile
The F1Touch application allows the user to be remembered on a particular device omitting the need to log in to Fellowship One every time it is used. This feature will also allow the user to start up the application precisely where they exited the previous session.
People Search
Fellowship One is intrinsically people-centric and the F1Touch follows that philosophy with its state-of-the-art people search engine. Users will be able to do name searches in a variety of formulas. F1Touch delivers quick results by limiting the initial numbers of results, and along with the individual’s name, it will also display images when available.
Individual Details
F1 Touch also allows for a comprehensive view of individual details from the Fellowship One database. Using the F1Touch application, phone calls and emails can be made or sent with just one touch of the screen, and the touch of an address will instantly access Google Maps and provide exact locations. With the F1Touch, the power and ease of the Fellowship One system is literally at the fingertips of the user, which allows the church and its staff to reach its people from anywhere at anytime. The F1Touch iPhone application is available as a free download from the iTunes App Store.
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As we revealed yesterday, the Fellowship Tech Development team has put in an incredible amount of work to give our church partners not only an updated interface, but a more dynamic and efficient experience. Today, we're exploring some of the new enhancements in this important update.
First, here's a side-by-side comparison of the old Portal interface with the new one:
Perhaps the biggest change is the removal of the side navigation bar, which has been replaced by a new drop-down drawer navigation at the top of the screen. This new dynamic drawer menu slides down over the page content, revealing every link in the Portal.
Another intuitive navigation addition is a simple "back tab", which maintains the current state of the session, eliminating the need to use the browser's back button. So, if you're looking at an individual's details, you can always use the new back tab to go up one level to the family view without navigating through the menu.
When you need actionable items, but don’t want to clutter the interface, gear menus can help. They contain a list of collapsible actions at the top-right of the page, so you can have quick access to common steps, eliminating unnecessary mouse clicks. By that same token, the actions sidebar can help keep actionable items visible, without making them a focal point of the page. You can focus on the task at hand with secondary actions nearby on the sidebar.
A new convenience feature allows you to view more details about a person, without leaving the page. This will show a picture (if available) and pertinent details that are most commonly needed when trying to find contact information. Included in this view is a map link that pulls from Google Maps to show you exactly where a person lives.
 
Tomorrow, we'll look into even more new aspects of the new Portal interface and share some of the cool, new ways to maximize Fellowship One.
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We are excited to tell you about the upcoming interface redesign for Fellowship
One. We will be placing the newly redesigned Fellowship One into
the staging environment on Monday, October 12th, so that your church has plenty of time to become
familiar with the changes before the final release planned for November.
The changes, updates and enhancements are far more than cosmetic; they
represent a wholesale change in how we will build future functionality. We
chose to redesign Fellowship One primarily to improve ease of use and provide
more room for new features. Please read on for more details about this exciting
project.
BEFORE AND AFTER
As you can see from the image below, we've made some dramatic changes to the overall look and layout of Fellowship One. But don't worry, all of the same powerful features are still available.
EASE OF USE
A number of changes were made
to improve the usability of Fellowship One. We increased the font size and
created a common experience with a consistent look and feel throughout the
application. We added helpful and intuitive functions such as a new gear tool
and actions bar that should help minimize training efforts, and make it easier
to learn.
We grouped menu items more
appropriately, and in some cases, renamed certain items to better reflect the
action. For example, all Volunteer Pipeline actions are grouped together and
located under "People." We have also placed the "Ministry Selection" drop-down
in the center of the page, and redesigned the home page with a new "My Tasks"
section as the prominent feature on the screen. As a side note, the new design
provides support for the Safari and Internet Explorer 8 web browsers. Please note that Internet Explorer 6.x or below will no longer be supported.
BREATHING ROOM
The new menu navigation drops
down from the top to create more space for both an improved work flow and room
for additional information. In the future, this additional space will be used
for dashboard-like tools displaying relevant data points. Another benefit is
the elimination of horizontal scrolling, making readability of the pages much
higher. We also provided a new hover feature over the person icon for a quick
picture (if available) of each member.
FUTURE GROWTH
There were a lot of technical
reasons we pursued this project as well, such as gains in performance,
shortening the development time of new solutions, and much more. To learn more about the technical benefits please visit the Fellowship One Developer blog.
Finally, check out this satirical video we put together of our developers describing the new Fellowship One Portal interface.
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The September newsletter is full of information about the latest Fellowship One releases and projects, our new monthly Fellowship One User Story Contest, details about the upcoming Dynamic Church Roadshow in California, and so much more. Keep an eye out this afternoon for this month’s installment!
View Newsletter Here
Didn’t receive the newsletter? Next time you’re logged into Fellowship One, click your name in the upper-right corner and make sure that the “Send me product and training updates via email” checkbox is selected.
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Pensacola Beach will play host to Ministry 2 – this hands-on workshop and live event is designed for church leaders and volunteers interested in enhancing their ministry using cutting-edge Internet tools and social media. Ministry 2 Pensacola will take place at Gulf Breeze Church from October 9-10, 2009. We're excited to announce that some of the key church web and social media experts from around the country will be leading workshops and sharing their experiences. Leaders such as Tony Steward from Lifechurch.tv, and John Saddington of North Point Community Church and ChurchCrunch.com will be in attendance. Ministry 2 will give you a unique opportunity to ask questions, develop a plan, and share with others in a collaborative environment.
Event topics include:
- Implementing the tools of social media in your church;
- Producing a web development strategy;
- Managing vendors and volunteers;
- Bridging the gap between technology and ministry;
Whether you're just getting started with your ministry's first website or trying to build community using social media, Ministry 2 is an event to help you get there. We hope to see you this October. Learn how you can unpack the possibilities at http://www.ministry2.org/pensacola. A discount on event registration is being offered to churches in your area. To redeem this discount, simply use this code when checking out: COUP1009.
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Fellowship Technologies is proud to announce their new partnership with Olan Mills, a name synonymous with quality. By leveraging Fellowship One, churches can take advantage of automated picture uploads and Olan Mills’ digital photography to create a church directory. This allows the church to upload both individual photos and family photos right into the Fellowship One member records. Olan Mills has worked to develop a division catering to churches and church directories, and they have built a reputation for high quality, innovation, attentive customer service and fast delivery time. Fellowship Technologies is excited about this new level of partnership with Olan Mills and knows it will help churches put a face with the name of the individuals and families in Fellowship One. More details about Olan Mills’ integration will be released soon. In the meantime, feel free to visit the Olan Mills website at http://ChurchDirectories.OlanMills.com/FellowshipOne/ .
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Churches are in the “people business,” with the mandate to change lives. At times, that change can be both unexpected and dramatic. For those of us that work with churches, it can be easy to lapse into the “just business” mentality of our day-to-day work. We can lose sight of what is truly important, and of how deeply individual lives can be touched by what we do. Fellowship Technologies got that reminder recently with an email about a young man named Anthony.
The staff at Fellowship Technologies received an email from Nola Sweet with Christ the Rock Community Church in Menasha, WI. She shared an amazing story about Anthony and how the church was able to prevent his suicide with the help of church staff and Fellowship One church management software. As she recalls, “Anthony came to a Saturday night service to pray before going through with a suicide plan. He gave Pastor Bill a note and asked him to read it later, and then he left.” Unfortunately for Bill Lenz, Senior Pastor at Christ the Rock, he had nothing to help him track down the young man. All he had to go on was an approximate age and the man’s first name found at the bottom of the letter. They were faced with the horror that they might not be able to find Anthony before it was too late. According to Lenz in his August 9th service at Christ the Rock, he and other staff members searched the church hoping Anthony had not left the premises. No one knew him, nor did they have any contact information. Their last hope of finding him was through their Fellowship One database. Logging into Fellowship One they typed in “Anthony,” then looked for the age range that matched the young man Pastor Bill had met that evening. They found a match and called the number. Miraculously, it was the right Anthony, and they were able to meet with him that evening and talk him out of his plan.
Sitting across from Anthony, Pastor Lenz found out why he had contemplated suicide. Anthony had always felt alone as a child. He had been sent to a military school at an early age and then joined the Army. During his time in Iraq he saw plenty of action, and did his best to place himself in danger. He wanted to die. Once he returned to the U.S., Anthony coordinated the steps to take his own life. He knew from his military experience that people tended to pray before they died, so he wanted to do the same. Anthony joined the service at Christ the Rock one evening in January of 2009, and quietly passed a folded note to Pastor Lenz before leaving the church. This was the first step in his plan to end his life. Little did Anthony know that God’s plan was already in effect. A few weeks earlier, he had visited Christ the Rock, and filled out a visitor’s card. That card was then passed to staff members who carefully added his information to Fellowship One in hopes that he would visit again. No one could have guessed that this little act of care and attention to detail would one day save his life. It was that card, those staff members entering his information into Fellowship One, and the quick thinking of Pastor Lenz that eventually brought Anthony out of his suicidal plans, and to his decision to accept Christ. Fellowship Technologies is honored to have played even the smallest part in a story such as this. It is a reminder of how managing the details can lead to a life changed forever. Pastor Lenz said it best, “When we meet Christ, our lives change. That’s what we’re here for as a church, to introduce more and more people to the Savior and see their lives changed for eternity.”
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 We’re bringing a taste of the Dynamic Church Conference to you! We’re calling this special one-day mini-conference, the Dynamic Church Roadshow! While the Roadshow is just a small sample of the over 100 education opportunities available during our main user conference, it’s still packed with great Fellowship One education classes and best practices.
The DC Roadshow crew will hit the road this fall to California for the first two stops of what will eventually be a nationwide tour.
If you are a Fellowship One user, you don’t want to miss this unique, one-day, educational opportunity priced at just $99. For more details visit one of the following pages:
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We asked you to check out the new Add a Household and address verification features available in the Fellowship One staging environment—and you delivered! We have spent the last three weeks reviewing your comments and have taken every effort to identify and fix the issues associated with this process. We targeted the following five items as high priority issues that could delay the release of this crucial piece of functionality:
- Apartment numbers were being dropped from Address Line 1 and/or Address Line 2.
- When adding a new household, the Add Address form contained no default cursor location needed for rapid data entry.
- When adding another individual, there was no default cursor location which is needed for rapid data entry.
- The Add a Household screen showed "Church status" and "Church sub-status." This was reverted back to “Status” and “Sub-status” for documentation, reporting and admin setup purposes.
- USPS acceptable city names were not being accepted. The acceptable city name was being changed to the major city name. Note: Several acceptable city names originally reported have been fixed, but some are still not being recognized by the address verification provider. Fellowship Technologies will continue working with the provider to identify and include additional city names in the provider’s database. The change from acceptable city name to major city name should not affect mail delivery. If you find this as an issue, please open a support ticket and include the acceptable city name AND the major city name it is being changed to so we can communicate it to the address verification provider.
We believe we have corrected these issues, but we urge you to go try it yourself and let us know how we have done by commenting below. Access the staging environment HERE and login using your Fellowship One credentials. Remember, the staging environment is just a "sandbox" with a copy of your data. Feel free to try out the features without fear of disrupting your church data. Our goal is to release the week of September 23, 2009.
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How do you get 75 influential and dynamic pastors, teachers and leading ministry-focused business leaders together for one day? The answer: give them 9 minutes each! A brainstorm idea birthed by Todd Rhoades, Director of the Teaching Church Multiplier Project at Leadership Network, the Nines Conference began by asking those 75 leaders the question: “If you had nine minutes to talk one-on-one with thousands of church leaders, what is the one thing that you would tell them?”
The result is a free, online all day conference that starts at 9:09 AM on September 9th (9/9/2009) and runs continuously for roughly 9 hours. Naming the conference became abundantly clear, given the unique time in history when so many “9’s” ran together. Todd explained the genesis of the event and how it will work, “With the way it grew, it will be like drinking from a fire hose,” he admits. “Each speaker gets to talk about anything they want; however, what’s compelling is that each one is speaking about what they're most passionate about and what they would tell church leaders in such a short amount of time.” Each of the 75 presenters pre-recorded their nine-minute message and submitted them to the team at Leadership Network. In addition to the live back-to-back streaming of each nine minute message, the messages will all be made available for viewing after the conference. “We feel this much great content will be repurposed again and again,” said Rhoades. “These messages will be useful for staff meetings, personal motivation and training.” There are no breaks throughout the day, but at the top and bottom of every hour there will be a live feed from Catalyst headquarters. Catalyst is a hugely popular leadership conference for churches that is based out of Atlanta and partners with Leadership Network. The all-day online conference is completely free, but registration is required at the Nines Conference website. Attendees are encouraged to use Twitter and Facebook to update what they’re learning and use the hashtag “#thenines” to make it easy to connect with each other.
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This month's newsletter contains exciting information about the Dynamic Church RoadShow coming to California this October. Also, learn about recent changes and what's coming next to Fellowship One.
View newsletter now
Didn't receive the newsletter? Next time you're logged into Fellowship One, click your name in the upper right corner of Fellowship One. Make sure the Send me product and training updates via email check box is selected.
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You don't want to miss this month's newsletter! Learn about changes to Add New Household, Going Digital with Fellowship One and our new daily tips on Twitter.
View the newsletter now
Didn't receive the newsletter? Next time you're logged into Fellowship One, click your name in the upper right corner of Fellowship One. Make sure the Send me product and training updates via email check box is selected.
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An open, standards-based, API 
Fellowship Technologies has released a new application programming interface (API) that will allow churches and business partners to easily extend the power of the Fellowship One church management software. The new Fellowship One API is built upon REST application architecture principles and is open for use by churches using Fellowship One and for qualified business partners.
A developer community site
A new community site, specifically for developers using the API, is now available at Developer.FellowshipOne.com. The community site includes all of the details you need to begin building add-ons or integrating a 3rd party application to Fellowship One. The site includes working example applications for the iPhone, Facebook, ExpressionEngine, Microsoft MVC. We are excited to see all of the creative things that the community of developers will build for the Church with this API.
Get started today!
To learn more and apply for a key to use the Fellowship One API please visit Developer.FellowshipOne.com today!
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 As the school year comes to a close many churches are gearing up their summer programs and that often involves a Vacation Bible School (VBS). If you are using Fellowship One Check-in for VBS then we have a treat for you! We worked with November Sundays to create some Check-in themes for the three most popular VBS programs: Group’s Crocodile Dock (preview theme) and Rome (preview theme), and Lifeway’s Boomerang Express (preview theme).
We’ve already pre-loaded the themes into Fellowship One for you. Simply go to the Ministry tab and select Activity/Room Setup and Theme Manager to preview the themes and apply them to activities. (Note: To see Theme Manager, you must have Check-in Theme Manager security access rights.) If you are using a different VBS program or simply interested in having a custom theme developed for your church, your children's ministry, or a special event, please visit www.NovSun.com, or contact Andy Mullins directly at andy (at) NovSun.com.
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