With a congregation of 7,250, the Community Bible Church in San Antonio, Texas continually looks for ways to increase ministry efforts and reduce administrative work that hinders productivity. Always looking for new solutions to make his church run more smoothly, Michael Ramon, the church’s Information Technology Manager, purchased Access ACS in order to create better communications within the church and enable lay leaders and volunteers to do their jobs more effectively.

“We purchased Access ACS to allow our staff, our volunteers, and our small group leaders to access membership records and information from their home computers,” said Ramon.

Control Needs. With dozens of small groups, adult Sunday school classes, and a wide breadth of ministries to meet the needs of its large congregation, Community Bible Church wanted a way for leaders in the church to have the ability to access vital information online in order to keep up with new members, people in need, and to prepare for their ministries from the comfort of their own homes.

“Now, making phone calls and sending emails to members from home is possible, and everyone benefits from this. My job is made easier, and ministry leaders can focus on ministry, not administration,” Ramon exclaimed.

Access ACS helps the church significantly cut down on communication time, while omitting the need for Ramon to install a new client for each person that needs to access the database.

Easy Access. Because Access ACS is a Web-based program, when updates are made, Ramon doesn’t have to install new software in order to get everyone up-to-speed. The updates are automatically made via ACS. This saves work for Community Bible Church and allows Ramon to spend time tackling other operational issues. With Access ACS, not only does Ramon save money and time for the church, he makes it possible for his staff to better communicate and be more involved in ministry instead of technology.

Continued Growth. Community Bible Church just moved into a sanctuary that seats 3,500 and now offers three weekend services to accommodate their growth. Access ACS continues to play a vital role in the church life and allows everyone to stay connected with over 500 user accounts. Members can easily access through a link on the Church’s homepage on their website.

All of the off campus LifeGroups (small groups offered at Community Bible Church) and most of the weekend LifeGroups (Sunday School classes) use Access ACS to post attendance and to communicate with one another and staff. The benefit is tremendous for the users. With continually changing information, Access ACS allows the user to stay up-to-date and have current information at their fingertips.

The Sportslife Ministry (made up of sports teams) also uses Access ACS to communicate with one another and the church for scheduling and events. Because the church believes in the benefits of using Access ACS, part of the Leadership Training now includes using Access ACS to manage all of the small groups.

Ramon comments, “Access ACS brings my total cost of ownership down and allows me to give more access. It’s allowing us all to have more control over valuable data and focus on ministry!”

About Community Bible Church
Pastor Robert Emmitt started Community Bible Church on May 26, 1990. Community Bible Church is made up of members from all walks of life. They come from many denominational and non-denominational backgrounds. Their purpose has been, is, and will continue to be to reach, teach, and help people in Jesus' name through large group celebration and small group ministries. Community Bible Church is known for offering an energized approach to worship and practical down to earth Bible-based teaching.

ACS Technologies Products & Services Used
People Suite: People, Contributions, Attendance, Connections, Special Mailings, Reservations
Growth Suite: Ministry Scheduler, Volunteer Manager
Web Suite: Access ACS
Service Suite: ACS Network/Multi-User

Web Site:
http://www.communitybible.com