MBS Transfers Policy & Procedure Handbook Template Series to ECFA

Here's a copy of our 4/18/2011 press release on this:

MBS (Ministry Business Services) and ECFA (Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability) are jointly announcing the transfer of MBS' "Policy & Procedure Handbook Template" series to ECFA. ECFA will make the policies available via its website, www.ecfa.org.

"We saw the need in churches and ministries for accurate, easy-to-implement policies, and enjoyed helping them by creating this series of templates," said Nick Nicholaou, president of MBS. "The templates are used in thousands of churches and ministries throughout the U.S. and cover the management of finances, human resources, information technology and risk. We often hear from folks how fast and easy these are to implement."

Nicholaou said MBS is focusing more on information technology solutions and that ECFA would be a good steward of the company's template series.

"ECFA is the perfect fit to continue providing these policies and procedures," said Nicholaou. "The organization has a solid reputation for advancing good church and ministry management."

The policies are in the process of being reviewed by ECFA experts in the field and will be incorporated into its robust web site Knowledge Center soon.

MBS (www.mbsinc.com) is a consulting firm specializing in church and ministry IT and CPA services. In the IT area they are known for high-reliability, low-cost data networks and cloud solutions.

ECFA, founded in 1979, provides accreditation to leading Christian nonprofit organizations that faithfully demonstrate compliance with the ECFA standards pertaining to financial accountability, fundraising and board governance. For more information about ECFA, including information about accreditation and a listing of ECFA-accredited members, visit www.ecfa.org or call 1-800-323-9473.

New Article: Review of Microsoft Office 2010 & 2011

Microsoft released two versions of their Office Suite last year (Windows and Mac), and folks want to know if it's worth upgrading to them. The bottom line is, yes! On either platform!


To read the article, click here!

New iPad2 -- Is It Worth Upgrading?

Okay, maybe I'm turning into a fanboy (aaggghh!), but I went to our local Apple Store to talk to the geniuses about buying a new iPad2.  There are some improvements and changes (it doesn't necessarily have to be better, just different!), but here's what they told me:

• The processor is faster, but you won't likely notice a difference
• The case is white
• It has two cameras

The bottom line for me, they said, was that if I didn't need the camera, I should stay with the iPad I have.  That was good advice, I think-- and it saved me about $900!

Churches & Cell Towers May Not Mix!

There is a thread about cell tower panels on church roofs in a church administrators Yahoo Group I participate in.  Zach Watson, the Administrative Pastor for Boulder Valley Community Church, had an awesome contribution to the discussion.  Here's what he said:

"We considered allowing a cell tower on our building about 6 years ago, ultimately we decided not to.  The main reason we decided not to was due to the ever-increasing adult content transmitted via cell phones.  We simply did not want any part of our building be a conduit for that material."

Honestly, I had never considered that before!  WTG, BV leadership team!

New Article: Security Vulnerabilities

A security expert said that about 40% of church websites are vulnerable! I've just released an article to publishers of some common vulnerabilities for websites and networks and their simple fixes... it may be a 'must read'.

I hope you find it helpful.

Click here to read it!

WTG Houston CO+OP!

I had the privilege of speaking at the Texas Ministry Conference today in Houston, TX.  It is put on by the Houston CO+OP, and it was very impressive!  With more than 600 registered attendees and over 800 total in attendance (exhibitors, volunteers, and speakers included), it's impact for The Kingdom was impressive!

WTG, Houston CO+OP!

Mac Firefox Fix: Tab Key Skips Some Fields

I use and support both Mac and Windows systems.  I do most of my work on a Mac, and Firefox is my favorite browser.

In Firefox, when using the Tab key to move from field to field in Firefox, it natively wants to skip over any non-text fields.  For instance, when completing an online form and moving from the City field to the State field, if the state field is a pull-down option field, using the Tab key skips over it.

The fix is a simple Mac OSX Preference setting!  I found it at this website (click here), but in case they remove the page, here's a screen shot of the fix: