Blog

December 11, 2018

Custom Field Upgrade for Church Membership Database

The Membership Database latest upgrade allows custom fields, allowing you to better personalize for your ministry needs. You can create date or text fields and include instructional notes to the right of each field with no limit to the number of fields you want to track. Fields can be created to go with an individual's record, or with a family record. 

November 29, 2018

New Feature: Push Notifications for Browsers and Android

Our new Push Notification Integration means that visitors to your OCS website in all major browsers, or viewing your Mobile Web App with an Android smartphone, can agree to receive push notifications from your church or ministry.

Push notifications are a great way to send announcements or reminders about

• upcoming events
• the latest sermon upload
• prayer requests
• service cancelations due to bad weather

And push notifications are not limited to just a small amount of text; they can be hyperlinked to a page on your website or to another web link you want to share with your visitors. They can click for the latest sermon link, to register for an upcoming event, or however else you want to connect with your congregation.

To get started, go to the Website Editor in your OCS account, and then the Push Notifications menu item near the top.

P.S. When you viewed this blog post, did you get the prompt in your browser or on your Android? Be sure to allow/accept so you can get updates from us!

November 16, 2018

Closed for Thanksgiving Week 2018

We're closed the week of Thanksgiving, Monday, November 19 through Friday, November 23. We will reopen on Monday, November 26. Enjoy this time of returning thanks to God for our many blessings this year and always!

November 13, 2018

Get Your Church Website Ready for Christmas

 We're officially in the season approaching Christmas, so it's time for our annual question: Is your church website ready for Christmas? Before life gets really hectic, take a moment to check out our list of 10 Things for Your Church to Check Before Christmas! 

November 08, 2018

November 2018 Newsletter

Check out SSL (HTTPS) for your website, the New Mobile Web Texting App, and more in our November Newsletter.

November 01, 2018

HTTPS Secure: Your OCS Website Has an SSL Certificate

You might have recently heard about the need for all websites to have the HTTPS in their address for security, or you may have seen in your Chrome browser URL Address Bar a "Not Secure" notice for unsecured websites. We're happy to let you know all OCS websites come with HTTPS, keeping you secure even if you don't handle sensitive data or monetary transactions through your website. You can find the option to enable SSL in the OCS Menu on the left, near the top labeled SSL Settings.

Why have this extra protection? Google sums it up best that HTTPS:

• protects the integrity of your website
• protects the privacy and security of your users
• is the future of the web

To understand more about each of those points, head over to the Google Developers article, "Why HTTPS Matters."

HTTPS means your site has an SSL Certificate, which usually must be purchased. We're able to provide you this service for no additional charge. And don't forget that, if you use the Membership Portal in our Membership Database, your members' login is also protected.

October 19, 2018

New App Keeps the Text Conversation Going

Our new Mobile Web Texting App connects our Membership Database, Group Texting, Keyword Texting, and Visitor Follow-Up tools with a new combined communication tool that will allow you to continue your church text conversations right from your phone. 

When you use the "Text From a Number" feature in those tools, any responses to your texts can now be forwarded to the cell phone number of your choice (currently you're notified via email). Those texts sent to you will include a link that will open our new web app and allows you to view the name and info of who sent the text (retrieved from your Membership Database or Visitor Follow-Up records), then respond and keep the conversation going. 

When someone texts one of your keywords, not only will they get the automated response you have defined in Keyword Texting, but you will be notified so you can choose to interact via text.

If you're using the Group Texting in the US using an email address, this will continue to be no cost. To use this new feature, sending from a phone number instead of an email address, a Plivo.com account is required at a cost of $0.80 per month for the number, and $0.005 per text. Example: 200 texts would cost the monthly 80 cents and $1.00 in texting charges to send.

You can view your text conversation histories in the new Mobile Web Texting App or in the Membership Database, continuing the connection of all of our Tools together together in one place. To get the new app, just look for the link when you log in to either Group Texting or Keyword Texting, and be sure to add it to your phone's homescreen.

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