Three practical updates across ChurchApps — one for building your website, one for reaching your people, and one for welcoming new members.

Build It — The B1 website editor got a significant overhaul. Settings now open as side panels instead of popups so you can see your page while you edit. Drag and drop is easier with larger drop zones. Undo and redo are fully supported with Ctrl+Z and Cmd+Z, and a History button in the toolbar lets you jump back to any saved snapshot of your page. There's also a built-in help dialog right in the editor so anyone on your team can get started without hunting for documentation.

Reach Them — When you add someone to a group, serving team, or role, you now get the option to send them an invite email automatically. Your choice every time — send it or skip it. No more volunteers being added to a team and never finding out.

Welcome Them — New members now receive a six-digit verification code instead of a set-password link when creating their account. The whole process stays inside the app — no clicking a link that opens a browser, setting a password there, then going back to log in. You see the code, you type it in, you're done.

Try It This Week:
1. Open your B1 website editor, make a change, and press Ctrl+Z or Cmd+Z — then check the History button in the toolbar
2. Add someone to a group or team and watch for the invite email prompt
3. Walk through new member registration with a test account to see the verification code flow

Resources:
support.churchapps.org
support.churchapps.org/docs/b1-admin/website/page-editor
github.com/ChurchApps

Every B1 church account includes a free, full-featured website builder — no developer, no monthly platform fee, no third-party tools required. In this episode, Micheal and Kari walk through everything you need to get your church website up and running.

Topics covered: setting up your domain, building pages with sections and content elements, getting your logos right and why you need four different versions, navigation, reusable blocks, and managing your files.

A 2025 audit of 2,725 churches found only about 1 in 3 have a website that makes a good first impression. Pew Research confirms online search is one of the primary ways people find a new church. Your website is the first impression — before anyone ever walks through the door.

B1 AI Prompt Guide — download the free guide, drag it into Claude Desktop, type "I want to build my church website in B1," and Claude walks you through the whole thing. No tech skills required. Most people have a professionally styled section on their site within 10 minutes.

Download the guide: https://churchapps-podcast-rss.micheal-ab4.workers.dev/b1-guide

Want a human to help? Emily at S Five Design works specifically with churches on their B1 websites. Start with a free website evaluation, then set up a one-on-one call to get your site built right.

Free evaluation: https://go.churchapps.org/current-website-satisfaction-value-assessment
Emily's website: https://sfivedesign.com/

Resources:
support.churchapps.org
admin.b1.church
github.com/ChurchApps

Sources:
One Eighty Digital, "State of Church Websites: Insights from 2,725 Churches" (Feb 2025) — https://oneeighty.digital/2025/02/03/state-of-church-websites-insights/
Pew Research Center, "How Americans Search for a New Religious Congregation" (2016) — https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2016/08/23/1-the-search-for-a-new-congregation/

Over the past decade, private equity has quietly purchased most of the major church software platforms. This episode explains what that means for churches — and what the alternatives are.

Micheal and Kari cover what open source actually means, the private equity consolidation happening across church software, and the real risk of vendor lock-in. Companies covered include Ministry Brands (30+ brands, over 90,000 organizations), Pushpay and Church Community Builder, Tithely and Breeze, ACS Technologies, and Subsplash (sold to Roper Technologies in 2025). They also cover Gloo, which targets 245 million Americans with church-related data and cut its free tier by 95% after going public.

Honest comparison: paid software is not bad, and some platforms like Planning Center have legal protections against being sold. The concern is PE ownership and what happens when the business model shifts.

Alternatives covered: Planning Center (Ministry Centered Foundation — legally cannot be sold), Rock RMS (open source for larger churches with technical capacity), and ChurchApps (free, open source, built for churches without IT staff).

Try It This Week: Google your current church software provider plus the words "private equity" or "acquired by" and see what comes up.

Resources:
Church Software Transparency research: https://churchapps.org/church-software-transparency
Planning Center commitment: https://www.planningcenter.com/blog/2024/06/a-commitment-for-our-customers-never-being-acquired
Rock RMS: https://rockrms.com
github.com/ChurchApps

The B1 Church mobile app is completely free and fully branded with your church name, logo, and colors — no monthly fee, no per-seat pricing.

Micheal and Kari walk through everything the app includes: giving with recurring support and auto receipts, calendar, groups, member directory, kids check-in, and push notifications. Push notifications are free — send to everyone, a specific group, or your volunteers, and schedule them ahead of time.

Custom tabs let you add any web page as a tab inside your app — sermon archive, prayer requests, volunteer signup, live stream, whatever your church already uses.

Platforms that charge for comparable apps: Tithely at $89 per month for a standalone app, Pushpay and Subsplash with pricing available only by quote. B1 is free.

Try It This Week: create your free account at b1.church, upload your logo and set your color palette under Website then Appearance, add a custom tab under Mobile for something your church already uses, download the B1 Church app and search your church to walk through it as a member. If you are paying for another app — compare what you are getting versus what is already free.

Resources:
b1.church
support.churchapps.org
github.com/ChurchApps

Groups and Teams are two different tools in ChurchApps — and mixing them up is one of the most common mistakes churches make. This episode clears it up.

Groups are for organizing and communicating with people — small groups, classes, ministries. Teams are for scheduling volunteers for specific services, found under the Serving section. They are not interchangeable. The same person can be in both: a Group for communication and a Team for scheduling.

Terry Byrd from ChurchApps support joins as a guest and shares what he hears from churches every day.

Try It This Week: go to Groups and identify anything that is really about scheduling — that belongs in Teams. Then go to Serving and set up one Team for a rotating volunteer ministry, build a simple service plan, and send one schedule notification.

Resources:
support.churchapps.org
support@churchapps.org
github.com/ChurchApps

Kids check-in systems protect against the most common child safety risk in churches — custody disputes. A noncustodial parent showing up while the custodial parent is in the service, with no system in place, is a real legal and safety issue.

Micheal and Kari walk through how a matching security code system works: one tag on the child, one with the adult who dropped them off. The codes must match at checkout. Everyone checks in and checks out, every time — consistency is what makes the system work.

B1 Checkin is a free Android app that runs on a Samsung Galaxy Tab or Amazon Fire tablet and connects to a Brother label printer over WiFi. One-time hardware cost of around $200 to $350 total. No monthly fee, no per-device charge.

Competing systems: KidCheck starts at $25 per month per device. Planning Center can run up to $200 per month.

New features covered: custom background image for the kiosk screen (upload your church photo or logo), idle screen slideshow to display announcements between check-ins, and QR code guest registration so first-time families can self-register on their phone and check in immediately without a volunteer.

Try It This Week: set up attendance groups in B1 Admin, upload a background image under Attendance then Kiosk Settings, enable QR guest registration under Mobile then Check-In, download B1 Checkin on an Android tablet, and do a full test run before Sunday.

Resources:
support.churchapps.org
github.com/ChurchApps
b1.church
Brother QL-1110NWB printer (recommended)
Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 (recommended tablet)

FreePlay is a free app for Apple TV, Amazon Fire Stick, and Google TV that gives any church immediate access to an enormous library of free Christian content — the Bible Project, the Jesus Film, Ark Curriculum, For Ministry Resources, and everything on Lessons.church. No account required to get started.

This is not just a kids ministry tool. FreePlay works for any classroom, any age group, any setting — kindergartners, senior adult Sunday school, youth group, small groups at home.

Ark Curriculum from The Ark Church in Conroe, Texas is completely free — three full years of content for preschool and three separate full years for elementary. For Ministry Resources covers junior high and high school with complete lesson plans and graphics ready to go.

Content downloads to the device during the week so it plays fully offline on Sunday morning — no WiFi needed, no buffering, no panic five minutes before class.

Connect FreePlay to B1 Admin with a one-time QR code scan and your children's ministry coordinator can schedule which lessons play in which classrooms from B1 Admin on Monday — and on Sunday the right content is already downloaded and ready on every classroom TV.

Dropbox integration also available for churches using their own content or curriculum providers not yet connected.

First tester reaction: "I just ran through the demo. Holy moly that is impressive."

Everything is open source on GitHub under ChurchApps. Roku not currently supported.

Try It This Week: search FreePlay on your Apple TV, Fire Stick, or Google TV and download it. Browse Ark Curriculum and For Ministry Resources. Visit support.churchapps.org and click FreePlay for B1 Admin setup guides.

Resources:
support.churchapps.org (click FreePlay)
lessons.church
support@churchapps.org (for curriculum providers wanting to integrate)
github.com/ChurchApps

ChurchApps has been busy — this episode covers a round of recent updates across the platform.

Micheal and Kari walk through native event registration with capacity limits and CSV export, self-service volunteer signup, QR code guest check-in, check-in kiosk theming with custom backgrounds and idle screen slideshows, email templates for groups with merge fields, the audit log under Settings, giving dashboard KPI cards, and the new FreePlay downloads tab.

Try It This Week: toggle event registration on a calendar event, enable self-signup on a volunteer position, set up a QR code at your check-in kiosk, create an email template for a group, and check the Donations dashboard summary cards.

Resources:
support.churchapps.org
github.com/ChurchApps