What is it?

Audio and Video files are often quite large in size. Streaming simply means that your people can start listening to a recorded audio or video sermon off of a web page without having to wait for the entire file to download first.

How is it useful to me?

Streaming your sermons, songs, and other events allows your users to start listening as soon as they hit the page. They don't have to wait for the whole file to download, so they will have a much more engaging experience with your web site, and they will be more likely to listen to what you have to say.

Streaming also makes your site feel far more dynamic, and it gives your site visitors -- members or not -- a far better understanding of who your ministry really is. We are streaming 1,000's of sermons every month. Why not let us stream yours? Sign up now!

What is it?

A podcast is a list of songs, sermons, or events that Internet users can "subscribe" to. By subscribing to a podcast, a user is telling their computer to automatically retrieve this list whenever it gets updated by its owner (in this case You).

This process allows users to grab a whole set of audio and/or video content and take it with them, enabling them to listen or watch at their leisure -- an inviting concept to many, many people these days.

Podcasts enable you to connect to the iPod generation, providing media they can take with them as they go about their day.

How is it useful to me?

Short answer: Podcasting is HOT for a reason: it allows us to listen or watch on our terms, not the terms of the site.

Imagine those most interested in your vision being able to listen to your messages while they sit in traffic, work out, jog, walk, or work. You get the idea!

Now imagine you've encapsulated six messages into a short series on, say Marriage. Now imagine being able to distribute it so that small groups can watch this series on their TV and hold a short discussion on the topic when the video is over. This is happening, and it is today. Get started now!

What is it?

Forums: A forum -- or bulletin board -- is an online meeting place where users can create new "threads" of conversation on a given topic or respond to what others have written.

Blogs: A blog is an online journal, a log on the web. Get it? It's a web-log. (That's just how things happen on the Net.) Blog software typically includes an online editor that makes it very easy for a web novice to input text to appear on a web page. The blog software handles the layout, you just handle the content. Users can subscribe to blogs, making it easy for them to keep in touch with what new information is running through the blog.

Note: It is a good idea to assign a moderator of your Forums to make sure content is on-topic and appropriate, but a Blog doesn't necessarily need a moderator.

How is it useful to me?

Blogs and forums help to create an online community of members that are interested in your vision by allowing people to share their own thoughts and feelings. People feel connected, and relationships deepen, when they can share with each other on the beliefs they have in common.

Use a forum when you want to create a community that essentially believes in the vision of the site, but will allow for alternative voices within that vision. For example, picture a site geared around the memorization of scripture that wants to allow different ideas and methods toward that goal. (And you thought memorization was a simple task! Take a look at what one client is doing.)

Use a blog when you have a small team or individual that has a message you want to get out. Blogs lend themselves well to a single, controlled train of thought, optionally allowing input from others. A good example of this would be a Pro-Life ministry that wants to keep its community up-to-date on how current events impact -- or are impacted by -- the ministry's core beliefs.

These are real, and they're for today. Take the plunge and sign up today!

What is it?

The Member Database is a true differentiator for CorData Ministry Services. The Member Database allows your internal staff to track important contact and ministry information on those you consider Members, Visitors and Regulars in your ministry.

The Member Database tracks not only demographic information such as Names, Addresses, Phones, Emails, and Photos, but it tracks information critical to your ministry as a whole such as Donations, Membership Notes, Group Involvement, etc.

One key aspect of the Member Database is that it is available securely from a web browser on any Internet-connected computer. We have taken great pains to make this software sufficient to manage your ministry's communication and management of its "flock", and it grows in depth and usefulness nearly every day.

How is it useful to me?

This tool is one of the most exciting aspects of CorData Ministry Services, allowing you to free yourself both from an internal church network (the old LAN-style application world of Windows) and from a simple web and email services provider (of which there are dozens).

Our goal at CorData is to provide for you a platform for ministry that encompasses everything you need from an IT perspective to grow and maintain with excellence the ministry with which God has entrusted you.

By using this tool, your team can work from the offices of the church, from home, from the hotel at conferences, or even from vacation in the case of a ministry crisis. You can access your ministry from anywhere with an Internet connection and at virtually any time.

Beyond this, we take the burdens of IT off your shoulders. We provide a first-rate platform for your ministry, complete with a top-notch Data Center, Daily Backups, Monitored Services, and more!

So, why are you still waiting? :) Sign up and take advantage of all these tools right away!

What is it?

CorData Virtual Rehearsal Room provides a central database of the songs, charts, etc. that make your Worship Team hum along.

A ministry admin simply uploads the songs and charts they'll need. They asssemble these songs into a service or event, complete with song and score comments, and the tool takes care of the rest.

When members of the band or orchestra login to the Virtual Rehearsal Room, they select the event, and the system shows them the songs and charts they need to practice. When they're satisfied with their level of practice, the system notifies the worship leader.

How is it useful to me?

With everyone and everything moving so quickly these days, time is of the essence, so when you're actually able to get your worship team, band, or orchestra together, you want to honor the value of their time. This tool helps you do just that.

By the time the actual rehearsal comes around, you can know who has practiced and who will need more help and time. By enabling your musicians to hear, learn and practice the songs before rehearsal, the excellence of your worship and praise experience can sky-rocket.

The Virtual Rehearsal Room is another one of those tools that differentiates CorData Ministry Services from the plain old web and email host.

Interested in moving forward with a relationship like this? Sign up now?

What is it?

Audio and Video Streaming and Podcasting are "the stuff". That much is clear. But with so many technology options, and so much complexity, how do you manage them on your site?

The Sermon Library makes it easy to upload, categorize and manage your library of sermons. This tool gives you a way to put the files on your web site, select which lists it appears in, and optionally add them to your podcasts.

The Sermon Library also allows you to add a Word or PDF document to go along with your sermons, making it easy for the listeners to follow along, taking notes.

How is it useful to me?

With HTML, RSS, Atom, and more, there are so many technologies and languages to keep up with, it's difficult just to reach the starting line in the arena of Internet audio and video, much less to succeed in delivering an excellent, engaging experience of the gospel and of your mission.

The Sermon Library feature makes it easy for you to focus on the content of the message by relieving you of having to focus on how it's delivered.

The Sermon Library is another of the many tools that makes CorData Ministry Services unique and very useful for churches and ministries like yours. Sign up here!

What is it?

Content Management Systems (CMS's) encompass a range of features, but at the core, a CMS allows non-HTML-savvy administrators to update web sites. They typically set up a site as a template, allowing the administrative user to enter, edit, and delete the content that fits within.

Content Management Systems are often coupled with Forums, Blogs, and Streaming Audio/Video to create a site that feels like an online community of people -- some staffers and many site visitors -- that all contribute to the content, culture and life of the web site.

How is it useful to me?

A Content Management System frees you from having to call a web developer to make every little change to your site, so it empowers you to keep your site up to date and relevant at your own pace.

CorData uses a Content Management System that allows us to integrate our other tools directly into your site, so you can activate a Sermon List, a Calendar, or a Photo Gallery at will, with confidence that it will fit in nicely with your existing site look and feel.

The Content Management System, integrated with our ministry-focused toolset, is one of the features that differentiates CorData Ministry Services from the average web host. Form more information, please call us at the number below.

Ready to sign up now? Go for it!

What is it?

CorData's Online Donation tools integrate your web site with your bank and the Member Database.

A visitor to the web site, perhaps a member of your ministry, enters their donation information into the web page, much like buying something on Amazon.com, and the payment is processed and the money transfered to your ministry's bank account.

What's more, you can optionally have the donation, registration, or purchase noted in the Member Database, a tool available from CorData Ministry Services.

How is it useful to me?

It's a matter of fact: people do more and more of their shopping, banking and donating online. It was unheard-of only a few years ago, but today it is not uncommon for churches and ministries to accept not only credit cards but online financial transactions. Online Donations allow you to do just this!

By enabling Online Donations within your web site while using CorData's Member Database, you allow your contributors to make their life easier by paying at their convenience -- as they do their home bookkeeping -- and you make your staffers' lives easier as well -- the donations can go straight to the member records. No need for double-entry!

Are you ready to take advantage of the next leap in ministry technology? Sign up now.

What is it?

CorData Ministry Services Hosted Stewardship Accounting system uses leading-edge technology to deliver industry-standard double-entry accounting to your ministry.

As party of the CorData Ministry Services package, Hosted Stewardship Accounting keeps your ministry's books securely online. Using SSL encryption and a standard web browser, access to the system is never far away, and yet never available to prying eyes.

How is it useful to me?

The Hosted Stewardship Accounting tools from CorData allow you to access your ministry book, securely, online, from any computer with a standard browser. This enables you to free yourself both from an internal church network (the old LAN-style application world of Windows) and from a simple web and email services provider (of which there are dozens).

Our goal at CorData is to provide for you a platform for ministry that encompasses everything you need from an IT perspective to grow and maintain with excellence the ministry with which God has entrusted you.

By using this tool, your team can work from the offices of the church, from home, from the hotel at conferences, or even from vacation in the case of a ministry crisis. You can access your ministry from anywhere with an Internet connection and at virtually any time.

Beyond this, we take the burdens of IT off your shoulders. We provide a first-rate platform for your ministry, complete with a top-notch Data Center, Daily Backups, Monitored Services, and more!

So, why wait? Sign up and take advantage of all these tools right away!