Recently when on the phone with a client, they shared a personal story with me that I had to pass along. I think many of you could put yourself in their pew (or your folding chair, bench, or even movie theatre seat depending on where you meet…) This church staffer was sitting in their site a few rows from an individual they had been working closely with. They had advised this individual through confirmation so a good bit of personal information had been shared, as part of this information of course the names of their family members. The confirmation member was sitting with their parents. The staff member became concerned because understandably the confirmation advisee would expect that he would remember the name of his parents.
As all of you know, you deal with a LOT of names, relationships and faces. You do your best to keep them all straight, but there are still a good many people walking through the doors. Then, he remembered our Church Life App! He discreetly pulled out his smart phone and opened up the app. He did a search for the confirmation member. There, he could easily see the parent names on his record. He took a quick glance at the photos on their records just to do a double check. Then when the service was over, he stepped up, reached out his hand, and greeted everyone by name. A win!
I love the real life stories of use of the Church Life app. (Please pass them on to me!) Sometimes it is even the most basic of functionality with viewing names and photos that can be a key moment for you as well as your church member. Please don’t forget you have this handy tool at your fingertips before you are in an embarrassing moment. As part of this, an update will be out for the Droid and iPhone any day now that includes an enhancement to photos. It will let you select them to see a full screen image of the photo so you can identify that face even more easily before greeting them! (This update also includes the ability to enter a new connection/task via your phone as well as birth date and member status being displayed for those that have access to view it on the member profile.)
Happy greeting!
