TL;DR: Digital Ministry News Recap 

• Appy Pie: Must-have features for DIY church apps.

• Church Tech Today: A guide to stream decks and live stream controllers.

• Worship Facility: What it takes to be a worship Technical Director.

• CNET: Wi-Fi security tips.

DIY Church App? Must Have Features

Appy Pie shares “Top Features Your Church App Must Have!” (6-minute read), a checklist for building a church mobile app: online giving, push notifications, sermon livestreaming, event calendar, prayer requests, Bible/YouVersion integration, member check-in, digital bulletins, and usage analytics. Emphasis: engagement, communication, and donations via a no-code church app builder and social sharing.

Stream Decks: Not Just for Live Streaming

Church Tech Today shares “Stream Decks and Live Stream Controllers: A Complete Guide for Church Staff” (6-minute read), detailing how stream decks can streamline daily church operations, such as accessing Planning Center or financial software, and enhance live streaming capabilities through scene switching and audio management. Ultimately, the article positions stream decks as a valuable investment for improving productivity, reducing stress, and achieving a more professional presentation in church technology workflows.

Worship Technical Director

Worship Facility shares “What It Takes to Be Your House of Worship’s Technical Director” (6-minute read), outlining a TD’s core duties—AVL (audio, video, lighting), livestreaming, ProPresenter/lyrics, and IT/networking—plus team leadership, planning, and calm troubleshooting. Significance: While small churches may not have a formal Tech Director, someone is ultimately responsible for this potentially daunting set of AVL and IT duties.

Wi-Fi Security Tips

CNET shares “10 Tips to Secure Your Home Wi-Fi Network and Keep Hackers Away” (7-minute read), highlighting steps like creating a strong Wi-Fi password, changing default router logins, enabling firewall and WPA3 encryption, setting up a guest network, using a VPN, updating router firmware, and verifying connected devices to strengthen network security and protect sensitive data. Significance: while the focus of this article was home networks, small churches may not have implemented many of these safeguards.

Closing

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