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Re:Ask HN: Any Christian software engineers here? by timmorgan on Saturday July 09, 2011 @07:29PM (#2746581)
Thanks for the thoughts!

My wife and I have volunteered in a local ~800/week church for close to ten years, managing the technology there. We've worked hard to introduce OSS in as many places as possible. Our network servers are mostly Linux, and I even wrote a SaaS (also OSS) similar to The City called OneBody (http://beonebody.com).

So I agree with your thoughts on OSS.

Unfortunately, OneBody suffers from many of the same problems as you describe of The City, only worse since I have no marketing budget, and I'm about the only guy doing the coding.

I think I might like to build a new solution for churches, possibly OSS, that integrates with social media, but is designed for use by minsters and leaders -- not another private social network, which I have decided will forever be a hard sell.

I'd like to follow you on Twitter or get your email address if possible.

Re:Ask HN: Any Christian software engineers here? by jackpirate on Saturday July 09, 2011 @07:52PM (#2746614)
Something that integrates with social networks rather than replaces them could work. Maybe an automated way to setup a Facebook group, G+ Circles, twitter feed, etc. Sort of like a super-blog for churches to make sure everyone gets announcements in a format that's convenient for them.

I've noticed that lots of pastors create a blog, post actively for a few months, and then never post again. 5 years later and there's still a huge link to the defunct blog on the church's website.

My email's jackpirate@gmail

Re:Ask HN: Any Christian software engineers here? by timmorgan on Saturday July 09, 2011 @08:26PM (#2746679)
I started a new blog at http://church.io where I hope to eventually flesh out some of my ideas about church software.

Thanks so much for your thoughts.

I agree about pastors blogs as well -- I've seen the same phenomenon.