In college, I was an active member of Reformed University Fellowship (RUF), which introduced me to contemporary praise and worship music for the first time. Each week, a band stood before us (a first for this Southern Baptist), and we sang not from hymnals but from words projected on a screen. It was very "old school" in comparison to today's church A/V; we used a basic classroom overhead projector, with someone changing transparencies in between each song.

Today, not only do I witness the evolution of this type of communication each week in my own church, which is on the cutting edge of A/V technology, I also get to read, thanks to my job, about the latest advances in church software packages as they're rolling off the assembly line, per se. It's my privilege to pass this information on to you each month.

As we put together our annual church software issue, I'm always amazed at the continuous progression of this segment of the industry.

Software for the church continues to make great strides in meeting the needs, and advancing the desires, of churches, helping them both communicate their message each week with presentation software and streamline the nuts-and-bolts operation of the church with management software. It is a highly customized industry, which truly benefits you as a church leader.

I hope that you're taking advantage of the opportunities that software can afford your ministries. Take a few minutes, read through our special software section this month, and visit the Web sites of the companies profiled to see for yourself which software packages are good fits for your own church. The technology exists to take your church to the next level, enabling you to convey your message more effectively and run your facility more efficiently.

I'm always interested in hearing from you. You can reach me at jill@rpnmag.com.

God Bless,

Jill Pinheiro
Managing Editor