Believers Southern Baptist Church in Wichita, KS, has an average attendance of approximately 250. Their belief statement says, “At Believers, we strive to give glory to God in everything we do. In our worship, bible studies, and fellowship, the gospel is at the center of it all.”
Janet Anderson joined the staff as Financial Secretary in May of 2010 when they were using ACS Financial Suite and ACS People Suite. She didn’t have a lot of training because of what was going on at the time, but thankfully, she was able to get in and just run with it. She said it was very easy to navigate, which helped.
In April 2020, after looking at it for a while and working with their excellent sales representative, they decided to make the switch to Realm. Janet says that was the best decision they had ever made. The migration to Realm was flawless, and the little bit of data that didn’t transfer at the time was super easy to input and update.
Janet shares that having Online Giving through Realm has been incredible, especially during the COVID-19 shutdown.
“During the COVID shutdown, having online giving in place helped maintain our weekly giving. Working through Vanco has been wonderful; there have been no issues of any kind. The only suggestion I would make for new churches converting to Realm would be to auto-post the contributions. I opted not to because I didn’t have a comfort level and created more work. The auto-posting is awesome!”
Janet Anderson, Financial Secretary
Another of Janet’s favorite features of Realm, and also a favorite for church members, is the communication tools through the Connect App. They could communicate with their members through all of the COVID-19 lockdowns. Janet also started sending their weekly worship folder digitally via email through Realm. This helps keep their members informed of upcoming events, and a plan for Sunday and the following week.
In addition to the communication tools through Realm Connect, their members and group leaders find the online directory helpful. It is important that their members have all of the data they need in the palm of their hands. They can look up other members of their groups, and have basic contact information for anyone opted into the directory.
“Our members love the Realm Connect app so they can access the directory information on the go! Some of our leaders have taken the initiative to send out correspondence within their groups.” Janet Anderson, Financial Secretary
A huge time saver they utilize is background checks through the Verified First integration within Realm. It is vital they don’t have confidential information printed out and lying around. They simply send the member an invitation from Realm, the member accepts the invitation and fills out their information, and then the staff at Believers submit the application. When the background check is finished, it gets posted to the member’s profile, and an alert is set up to notify them when it is time to renew the background check. Having that option saves a significant amount of time, and it is simple and secure.
Janet says the other major time saver for her is Realm Accounting. It is so easy to use, and the reporting gives accurate and complete information in just a couple of clicks. Between the reports and the ease with which the month and year-end closing can be done, it reduces Janet’s workload immeasurably!
With Realm, Realm Accounting, Background Checks, and Online Giving, the staff at Believers Southern Baptist Church have everything in one tidy package that makes their jobs more manageable and less time-consuming.
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Stacey Smith
Stacey joined the ACST team in 1998 in the support department and joined the marketing team in 2021 as an Associate Marketing Coordinator. Today she runs the ACST Ministry Champions program, which involves all references, reviews, and testimonials for all of our products and services. When she isn’t at work, she is spending time with her husband, two teenage daughters and furbaby Copper.
