School and Parish Embrace Technology for Better Communication and Greater Security

Pastor Ingram of the Assembly of God is a busy man. After all, he is responsible for two businesses: his church and an associated K-12 school, the Victory Christian Academy. Victory has embraced technology to make communication more effective. It has an informative website complete with audio clips and photos, a local area network (LAN), and its most recent acquisition, a state-of-the-art IP telephony phone system from MKC Networks that’s changed everything about how Victory communicates.”

Keeping the Lines Open

“With a school and church staff, you have to be in constant communication,” Pastor Ingram says. For him and his wife, who oversees the school, that means long hours and constant contact with staff, students and parishioners.

It’s obvious that Pastor Ingram believes in the importance of open and accessible communication between his parish and the people it ministers. He frets over the possibility of missing any request for help. With a previous, older telephone system, he couldn’t tell if he had missed a call, and callers could not leave messages. Now, each staff member has a voicemail box, and a light on their phones shows them if a message has been left.

“So many times I’m on the line, and if someone else calls me I can see who it is and easily get back to them,” Pastor Ingram says of the MKC Networks system. “If they leave a message, I know it because the red light is blinking – so I’m not losing a contact with the individual. This is so important for quick communication and for return communications.”

The auto-attendant feature is also “an absolute blessing for a church,” Pastor Ingram says. “For example, if there has been a death, we can record details of the funeral time and so on. Even if we’re unavailable, the message is there to inform everyone. Same thing if there is a fire drill and we need to leave the building – the automatic attendant lets us give callers that message.”

Setting Him Free

Two days a week, the pastor works from home, where he finds more uninterrupted time to study and read. Even so, he says, “On those days at home I’m constantly on the phone with the church or school.” His receptionist estimates that he’s on the phone with the office for at least two hours per day on those days, and his wife spends two to three hours per week on the phone from home to the school.

That used to mean significant long-distance charges, as the parsonage is in a different toll area than the church and school – a common problem in densely populated locales such as New England. The long-distance charges added up quickly – to at least $160.00/month. With the new system, there are no toll charges between locations. That’s because the pastor has one of the phones at his home office. The communication occurs over the Internet, bypassing traditional copper phone lines.

But more importantly than for Pastor Ingram, the system improves contact between him his staff and community. “If I’m working at home, I don’t miss a lick – it’s just like I’m in the office. I just push a button to buzz the office. This has totally set me free to be there whether I’m sick or studying or just need that time alone – I’m still just a second away.”

Security is also very important to him. The MKC Networks solution operates in tandem with a digital video recorder from partner March Networks, allowing the church staff to monitor more isolated parts of the building and even a new construction site with video cameras. It gives everyone peace of mind.

So does the phone system – while the old system was restricted by expensive physical ports, this new one, which uses software licenses, has enough flexibility to put a phone in the classroom. “If there is ever a serious emergency, I just push one button and it rings the classroom and I can say there is a problem – like a fire drill or a parent emergency and we need to get a child,” the pastor explains. “Or, the teachers can ring us with a classroom emergency. This is absolutely necessary for us. We feel that our security is totally covered.”

Embracing the Future

The new phone system, installed by solution provider Atlantic Telephone, is also very flexible to setup and expand, which will be valuable in just a few months when the church and school move into their new facility, which is now being constructed. “That will be bigger so we’ll have a more extensive setup,” says Pastor Ingram. “We’ll have phones in areas we’ve never had them before, like a kitchen and some bathrooms. Our church will be cabled from one end to the other – we’ll even have a phone in the nursery.”

In fact, he has already installed a phone at the construction site. “If there is a problem out there they just call, and if I need to know something about the job site I just dial an extension and I’m there.” Likewise for the Digital Video Recorder – security cameras are located at the nearby construction site, allowing staff to monitor the site safety and ensure it is locked up at night.

All in all, Pastor Ingram feels the new phone system has “increased our ability to connect by 90% over what we could do before.” Through a combination of the phone system and DVR, the church has achieved “100% improvement in security.”

“We live in an age of technology and the church would be foolish not to jump in the middle of it,” Pastor Ingram concludes. “I hope the word gets out that this kind of system is available for businesses, schools, clubs, private organizations – they all need to know that all of this is available in one unit, which is outstanding. It can certainly make life easier and better for people.”