Churchfront shares "The AI Workflows Every Church Production Leader Should Try" (32-minute watch), in which Jake Gosselin and Luke Jackson walk through how Claude now runs their email, calendar and files. Luke's inbox gets swept three times a day and comes back as drafts in his own voice; nothing sends without him. For a tech ministry, the standout is simpler: photograph the equipment closet and ask for the manuals for everything in the picture. Their setup starts with a Claude subscription at $20 per month.

Editor's note: One host talked through each mobile road case into his phone, and Claude turned it into a two-page setup guide for the worship leader replacing him. That is the volunteer-handoff problem, solved in an afternoon. Churchfront designs and installs church AV and sells a coaching membership and course library, Churchfront Premium, at $97 a month.

Church Tech Today shares "How Do Churches Handle Photo Consent for Kids?" (9-minute read), on the gap between the permission form on file and the person holding the camera. The fix is a no-photo flag printed on the child's check-in tag. In Planning Center that takes about 10 minutes with a Yes/No custom field. Default every new check-in to no photo, and make a blank answer look exactly like a no. Free to read.

Editor's note: The line to act on: your media team is a child safety team now, so screen camera and social media volunteers on the same track as nursery volunteers. No software that prints flags? A sheet of colored dots at the check-in desk works. It closes with policy language you can adapt.

REACHRIGHT shares "Best Church Texting Services for 2026 (Compared)" (15-minute read), ranking seven platforms on published price, Planning Center integration, guest follow-up automation and free trials. Its overall pick for churches of 200 or more is Clearstream at $35 a month. Smaller budgets have options: texting is a $5 monthly add-on in Planning Center, and Flocknote is free for networks under 40 members. Whatever you choose, collect opt-in consent first and honor STOP.

Editor's note: REACHRIGHT is a Tithe.ly partner and may earn a referral fee through its Tithe.ly links, and says so up front. The author is executive pastor of a church of about 300. Do the credit math before signing: one all-church text uses one credit per person on your list. Finally, the article omitted Gloo Communications which has a free tier that includes 500 text message credits per month.

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) shares "Faithful leadership in an age of artificial intelligence" (5-minute read), a report on the Rev. Dr. Andy Morgan's keynote to the Presbyterian Older Adult Ministries Network. Americans over 60 lost nearly $5 billion to fraud in 2024, up 43% from the year before. Morgan's PATCH response to an urgent call: pause, agree on a family safe word, trace the source, cross-check, hang up and call back on a number you find yourself.

Editor's note: His companion site, discernai.church, is free and needs no account: seven short lessons, about an hour in all. Morgan suggests finding a partner to start. For an older-adults class, work through it together and send everyone home with a safe word arranged with their family.

Brady Shearer (Pro Church Tools) shares "The Politics of Church Announcements" (20-minute watch), a visit to Summerside, where everyone pitches in on communications and nobody owns them. Announcements get settled in a huddle 10 to 15 minutes before service, so the squeaky wheel wins. The fix is four ministry levels. Three stage slots default to core next steps like groups, serving and giving; church-wide and next-gen events can displace one, and everything else cannot.

Editor's note: The trick worth stealing is what they call the smuggle announcement: use a story from a small event, like the men's breakfast, to freshen a core announcement such as groups. The small ministry gets heard; the destination is unchanged. The church chaos score behind the visit is free and takes about three minutes.

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In the interest of “shunning the appearance of evil” resulting from undisclosed relationships and/or potential conflicts of interest, we disclose our relationship(s) with the providers mentioned.

We also disclose our own use of AI. This newsletter is researched and drafted with Claude, an Anthropic product. Every issue — the summaries and the editor's notes alike — is reviewed, edited and approved by a human editor before it is sent, and the selections are made by a person, not a model. We are stating this plainly because a Wall Street Journal opinion piece in August ran without such a note and the omission became the story.