Pastor's Blog: "Staying Connected"
| | Dr. Wayne Splawn
Church directories have been a part of every Baptist church I have attended over the years. I vividly remember my parents getting my sister and me dressed up on a Saturday afternoon to go to the church to take a picture for the church pictorial directory. Many years later I did the same with my children here at Mountain Brook Baptist Church.
Why have we kept this tradition going over the years? We have continued this tradition, at least in part, because we recognize the importance of people knowing and being able to communicate with others in their church family. However, as helpful as the pictorial directory has been, it certainly has limitations. Pictures quickly become dated, contact information changes, you cannot access the information in a print directory unless you have it with you when you need it, and it is difficult to keep the information in a print directory updated when changes need to be made.
These are just a few of the reasons why we are encouraging you to create a profile in our online church database known as Realm. Realm has been available to our congregation for some time now, but due to disruptions caused by the pandemic, many people in our church have not learned about the benefits of using this powerful tool. That is why we are relaunching Realm to our congregation this Sunday, March 20.
On Sunday, if you haven't yet set up your Realm profile, you will receive an email with a link that will take you to a webpage where you may create a profile in Realm. Once you have created a profile, you may upload a family picture and update your contact information.
You will also quickly learn that Realm is much more than an online pictorial directory. Realm provides our church easy and efficient tools to register for events, check children in for Sunday Morning Bible Study, communicate with others in your Sunday Morning Bible Study class, stay up-to-date on upcoming events, give your tithes and offerings, and so much more. There is also an app for your smartphone that will allow you to access this important information on the go.
To learn more about Realm, I encourage you to visit this page. As with any new technology, it will take each of us a little time to get comfortable with this communication system and make the most of the features it offers. Should you have any questions about Realm, I encourage you to contact Amy Hirsch (amy@mbbc.org) or Joel Burks (joel@mbbc.org) as they are heading up our efforts to help others connect to Realm. I am excited about the ways this new technology will enable us to stay more connected with one another and with the overall life of our church.