On my research list for this week was the best way to embed video directly into email. For a long time this was impossible, but now the HTML5 video tag opens up some possibilities. The best info on video in email is this blog post from Campaign Monitor. It discusses to pros/cons and html needed. Support is still pretty limited, but something to think about…

If doing all of this yourself seems like too much trouble you could also use a service like Bomb Bomb.

Big news today. Today we announced the creation of a new non-profit organization entitled the Spark Development Network at the RefreshCache conference. The goal of this entity is to support the development of quality open-source software for churches. The initial project will be the creation of an open-source church management solution called Rock ChMS.

While a usable solution is still a ways off, we’re very excited about the future. I encourage you to head over to the Spark website to find out more and to register to recieve periodic updates on our progress. We’re also very interested in help with this project. If you have C# development experience or are an experienced web designer please let us know!

A leader is best when people barely know that he exists.
Less good when they obey and acclaim him.
Worse when they fear and despise him.
Fail to honor people, and they fail to honor you.
But of a good leader, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled,
they will say, “We did this ourselves.”

Lao-Tzu

Our Director of Security (think physical security) ask me if I could put together 10 points for information security for an upcoming conference he is presenting at.  These points are mainly for small churches without IT staff.  I wasn’t going to post them here as they’re pretty basic, but as I wrote them I couldn’t help but think how much improvement we could still make in some of these areas… I won’t say which ones 

Anyways… for what it’s worth, here they are.

1. Train employees not to give out personal information on attendees
   Speaking Notes: Most breaches come through “Social Hacking”.  Someone calls the organization with a “good story” and the employee hands out proprietary information.
2. Check what leaves the building through the trash
   Speaking Note: All of the information security in the world is a waste when information can be printed, put in the office trash and then placed at the curb of the street.
3. Limit access to servers and network equipment
   Speaker Notes: The first layer of IT security starts at physical access.  Servers and switches should be behind locked doors / cabinets.
4. Implement password changes / sharing
   Speaker Notes: Passwords should be required to change every 45 days and should not be shared with volunteers or other staff.  Each person should have their own.
5. Protect computers from viruses and spyware
   Speaker Notes: Every server and computer on the network should have anti-virus / spyware  software installed and up to date.  This doesn’t have to be expensive.  Small churches can use AVG and Malware Bytes.
6. WiFi networks should be protected
   Speaker Notes: WiFi access points should be configured by someone familiar with the various types of encryption available.  WiFi networks for use by attendees should not be on the same network as the office.
7. Access to backups should be secured
   Speaker Notes: Access to backup hard drives / tapes should be secured.  A good off-site option is to use a safety deposit box at a bank.
8. Laptops with attendee private information on the local drive should be encrypted
   Speaker Notes: Computers with attendee information on them should have their hard drives encrypted.  This is built into Windows 7 Ultimate, but other free tools exist like TrueCrypt.
9. Educate volunteers on your information security practices
   Speaker Notes: Anyone with access to attendee information should be instructed on the proper use of it.  Never assume that they know right from wrong.  There have been several cases where a volunteer has used the church’s attendee information for their network marketing business and never thought twice about if it was right or wrong.  It would be best to have them sign a documenting that they understand and agree to the policies and procedures.  We call this the “Ministry Partner Form”.
10. Never feel like you’re finished
    Speaker Notes: These are the very basic of tips.  Always realize that it takes work to keep up with these 9 items and there is always more that could be done.

Seth Godin often writes about getting promotion tools/information into the hands of those who are on fire for your organization.  They can’t help but spread the word.  For a long time our team has been wanting to focus on this.  We finally made the time to tackle one such idea.  Here’s how it works.

As soon as Baptism photos come back from the volunteer photographers they are added to a person’s record in Arena.  That night the person baptized will receive an email with a personalized link to a page where they can view it (image below, names and faces blurred for privacy)

They can also, with one click, share the photo and link on their Facebook page, Twitter, email and Google +.  They also can download a digital copy of their picture.  The individual person still receives a printed photo and certificate in the mail.

For years we’ve been looking for tool to help us audit and manage our PCs.  There’s a lot out there… (Spiceworks, ManageEngine, etc.) but none of them come close to what we need.  That is until we found LAN Sweeper.  It quickly scanned, audited and reported on our network.  The more I use the tool the more I say, “These guys get it”.  It’s obvious they have managed a network and created a tool based on experience. Here’s just a few of my favorite features:

• Scans by looking at both Active Directory objects AND scanning entire networks.
• Easily allows you to remote control a machine, grab a screen shot remotely, or open the machines c drive.
• Allows you to customize devices by SNMP OIDs
• It not only pulls in computers, but also their owners.  This allows you to quickly search on a person and see what computer they’re logged into.
• Tracks hardware, software changes made to a computer over time.
• Tracks licenses
• Easy to customize
• Easy to make reports

LAN Sweeper costs $300/yr.  It’s installed on your network, but you must license it each year.  Check it out…

I have a minor addiction to magazines.  I love to flip through them looking for new ideas and products.  I even flip through the US Postal Service’s Deliver magazine, which actually is better than you might expect.

In the latest issue (available on-line) they have a article on recent demographic research done by Peter Francese.  In it he states:

My research found that there is no longer an average American. When I was a child, people used to talk about John Doe; he was the average American in a relatively even society where vast numbers of people had the same sort of needs for consumer products and services. There was a significant uniformity of society that has really never been matched. But I can predict with a high degree of certainty that the 2010 census will essentially put the last nail in the coffin of the average American, because he or she no longer exists.

This makes thinking about target marketing even more important.  Thought I wonder if having just a single target is enough these days.

Feel free to read the rest of his article which starts on page 17.

It’s that time again.  Time for Luke Air Force Base’s Air Show.  For the last 6 years (the show is every other year) we’ve put a full back cover color ad in the shows program.  It’s handed out to over 75,000 people.  Below is a comp of this season’s ad.

We heard a great story about the ad from two years ago.  One of the instructors at Luke told us that the ad is up on the dashboard of the flight shuttle that takes pilots from the squadron house to the flightline.  That it’s literally the last thing a pilot sees before getting into their plane and the first thing they see when they return. It’s funny how God uses our efforts in ways we never realize.

We’re lucky to have Luke AFB in the valley.  It’s the primary training facility for the F-16 and soon the F-35 JSF.  We’re even more lucky to have many of it’s pilots, crew and support staff call CCV their home.

If your church has a local military base I strongly recommend partnering with them on efforts like these.

Sorry for the delay in getting back to the follow-up on our branding project.  After defining the first two models we started to create a fictitious target profile.  The single person embodies who we see our target as. 

As a reminder from the previous post… we narrow our target not to be exclusive (all are welcome), but instead to focus our decisions (programming, events, marketing, etc) to who we feel we can best reach.  Some would say churches should not have targets.  I agree that the Church should not have a target, but every church has one, whether they know it or not, we’re just trying to understand it and make decisions with the best possible information.

To help with communication we gave our target individual a name, Mike Haas.  So here is Mike:

(click image for PDF)

Creating this document was an interesting process.  As we talked with our leadership team about each characteristic (type of clothing, car they drive, etc) we learned a lot from them on who they see the target as.  For instance the conversation as to whether Mike used an iPhone for Blackberry lead to a lot of insight on how Mike makes product selection.

The output of the process was a redesigned identity package.  More on that next time.

My heart sank last night when I heard that a federal court judge had be shot in killed at the shooting in Tucson. I rushed to the Internet only to find my worries had been confirmed, it was Judge John M Roll, a close friend of our family.

Judge Roll was a great man. I remember with I was a kid he was the first to jump in to volunteer at our school. He and his wife worked side by side with my parents often, even co-chairing the parents association. We setup many an event together. He and his wife also jumped to help Heidi and I when we were looking for a location to hold a couples wedding shower and hosted the event at their house.

I also admired Judge Roll’s work. I heard a lot about it through my mom (who is best friends with his wife). The death threats, to integrity in being an impartial jurist. I often hoped he’d be selected to be on the Supreme Court one day. He was the type of person this country needs.

I believe you can judge a man by his kids. In this Judge Roll exceeds. His three boys were always kind, helpful, and hard workers.

I also remember his kind words. He once told my parents that he looked forward to my wife Heidi’s Christmas letter every year. He commented that it was always so creative and humorous. A small comment, but one I treasured and thought of each Christmas.

Finally, I admire his faith. Judge Roll was a devote Catholic and his relationship with Jesus Christ was evident in each day of his life. It didn’t surprise me in the least to hear that he was visiting Congresswomen Gifford after attending Mass.

The country lost a great man on Janurary 8th, 2011, but his memory will live on. I will be passing on his memory and lessons to my boys.