Client Spotlight: LifeGate Denver

It was only a year ago that Pastor Nirup Alphonse and his family moved from Indiana to plant a church in the busy, urban center of Denver. With support from back home, he and his wife, Hannah, settled into one of the fastest-growing cities in the U.S. with the hope of advancing the kingdom of God, and helping people start new lives in Jesus. At LifeGate Denver, their deepest desire is to “make Jesus famous and to make heaven crowded.”

Subsplash (aka The Church App) has been working with LifeGate Denver almost as long as the church has been in existence, and it has been a joy to partner with them to see the Gospel move forward, and the good news of Jesus spread throughout the city of Denver.

LifeGate Denver utilizes Subsplash mobile apps and it has made a huge impact on their ministry. Nirup and his team have definitely maximized the use of their app to reinforce their church’s vision. Though the church is still growing and averaging about 250 people in weekly attendance, their app has been downloaded nearly 600 times and has received close to 15,500 impressions.

Here’s what Nirup had to say about how their app has helped them move the message of the Gospel forward:

TCA: What goals are you aiming to accomplish with your app?

NA: We really want people to know what’s going on at our church, so we make full use of the Events feature and social integration so that people can stay connected to the life of our church. We just started using the app as a “program” of sorts so that as soon as people show up on Sundays they can open their app and know what that week’s service is going to look like.

TCA: How has your app added value to LifeGate Denver?

NA: The app is a great way for people to learn what we are about. We even market our app separately. It’s one of the first things I tell people about when I first meet them. When I tell them about our church, I tell them about the app right away. So many people are taken back by the quality of the app. In a city like Denver, where it is difficult to see the Gospel take root, it is so helpful to have a high-quality app to show to people who really value creativity and commerce.

TCA: What results have you seen through the app?

NA: Hundreds of people have downloaded our app. I get emails all of the time from people all over the world who have downloaded the LifeGate Denver app. It’s a really attractive aspect of our ministry.

TCA: Would you like to share any other comments about your app or the Subsplash Platform, and how you’re using it to engage your audience?

NA: I love the simple design of the Subsplash Dashboard. The push notifications are so helpful. I’ve always really appreciated the quality of customer service at Subsplash. Everyone always goes above and beyond to answer my questions and the support team are some of the most patient people in the world to talk with. They walk with you step by step.

I really appreciate that the Subsplash Dashboard allows you to create an app that is unique and customizable. The Subsplash Platform allows churches to showcase their personality. In the future, we hope to focus on getting more messages out on push notifications and take advantage of music, blogs, and other features as our church grows.
 

We love partnering with churches like LifeGate Denver and seeing how different ministries’ apps bless people all over the world. Learn more about The Church App and find out how a customized app can benefit your organization. We’d love to hear from you!

Client Spotlight: CRISTA Ministries

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Watch the official CRISTA Ministries app video

"CRISTA is a family of ministries loving God by serving people worldwide in the areas of education, international relief & development, senior living, and media. Our seven Christian ministries serve all people, regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, or gender."

We love when our clients innovate and find new ways to reach their audience and share their apps. CRISTA Ministries did just that in this nice little video sharing the features and value of their app.

CRISTA Ministries is a multifaceted organization that encompasses everything from a K-12 school to World Concern, a ministry focused on global relief efforts.  I was able to speak with Ben Wilson from CRISTA on their app experience. "As a unique organization comprised of 7 different ministries, we love the ability for this app to provide an outlet to all parts of CRISTA on the first screen that pops up. Live streaming events, from high school football games to devotions to CEO addresses to our staff, has made this app functional for the staff we have throughout the country. All in all, the creation of the app and our relationship with Subsplash have been seamless. We’re proud to have you as a partner and thrilled at how our app will be able to evolve over time."

Stories from The Church: The Village Church

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"Thank you to all the Subsplash staff who worked to get our mobile app live this week. We’ve received rave reviews already about it because it provides one more medium to extend our messages about the gospel out to the world. Your team worked tirelessly and patiently with us to get this accomplished. I cannot thank you enough for all you guys have done. We love you guys and pray the Lord’s rich blessings on you and your team members. May the gospel be shared over and over through the work you guys do and may our great King’s name be glorified.”

-Matt Chandler, Lead Pastor of The Village Church

The Village Church, lead by Pastor Matt Chandler, is a church of 10,000 people across four campuses in the Dallas, Texas area. "The Village Church exists to bring glory to God by making disciples through gospel-centered worship, gospel-centered community, gospel-centered service and gospel-centered multiplication. The gospel is the story of God reconciling and redeeming a broken creation and fallen creatures to Himself through the life, death, resurrection and future return of Jesus Christ. Our hope and desire is that the gospel would stand at the center of all that we do. It is what directs and defines us. It is our identity." Since launching in May of 2012 The Village Church App has had almost 150,000 downloads, 15x more than their congregation.

I was able to catch up with Scott Ballard, Web Manager at The Village Church, to talk about the impact that The Church App has been having on their church.

Q: What was the heart behind creating your app?

A:“The purpose of creating the app for us was another way to get the Gospel out to an audience we may or may not have been reaching in the first place. We really appreciate the ease of getting the Gospel in the hands and hearts of people through The Church App. We’ve really enjoyed the experience so far and it is serving us really well.” said Ballard.

Q: Have there been any surprising benefits of the app?

A:“We have been especially pleased with the amount of traffic/impressions coming through the app. Social traffic has been huge and much greater than anticipated. Not only that, but the global impact has been really tangible through the app.”

Q: Do you have anything you'd like to share about your experience with The Church App?

A:“Your level of service has been exceptional. TCA is fantastic and your heart to get the gospel out really struck me. We like to partner with people that love the Lord and the Gospel. There is nothing remotely negative to list. The Church App has been a welcomed addition to our family, and has really met our need and served the body well.”

 Download The Village Church App here.

The Iglesia and the Eglise: How churches on opposite sides of the world are engaging technology

Who is the average smartphone user? An American college student? A young professional in a big city? The answer might surprise you: the average smartphone user is most likely to be a middle-aged man in China.*

While apps may have originated with Apple in California and the first smartphone was invented by IBM, China currently dominates the market. In fact, the US market only accounted for 17.9% of smartphone sales in 2012, and growth is expected to be strongest in India, Indonesia, Russia and Brazil.** Smartphone users now reside around the world, and the international demand for apps continues to grow.

“We're working with thousands of churches and organizations around the world, from South Africa to Brazil to Egypt” says Chris Sharpe, Media Director here at Subsplash. “It’s really exciting to have the opportunity to engage with the global church on a daily basis.”

Matthieu Layes, a staff member at Montreal-based Eglise Nouvelle Vie (“New Life Church”), partnered with Subsplash in 2011 to develop an app. “The French speaking world is our mission field. As there still is a large French speaking population that is unreached with the good news, we made it one of our key outreach strategies to reach the masses through the web. Developing an app was the key tool to efficiently reach the millions of French speaking people that own a mobile device.”

Several thousand miles to the south in Bogota, Colombia, Juan Manuel Cortes manages a Subsplash app for Casa Sobre la Roca (“House on the Rock”), a Spanish-speaking megachurch. Cortes first thought about developing an app when he observed a coworker reading a blog on her phone. When he asked her about it, she explained that she had listened to a sermon in English and was reading an accompanying blog post to help her understand the message. “That was the moment when it hit me,” Cortes says. "Why can’t we do the same thing for Spanish speakers? What a good way to take the message to a person.”

With thousands of downloads since the app launched in September and hundreds of new downloads each month, Cortes is ecstatic about the way an app has allowed Casa Sobre La Roca to extend their reach. He has met many people at the church who began attending after downloading the app and listening to sermons.

Cortes loves to share the story of a family who came to Casa Sobre la Roca after one of the sons accidentally downloaded the app on his father’s phone. After visiting the church, the entire family eventually became Christians. “You cannot imagine how many people have been impacted in some way [by the app],” he says.

Eglise Nouvelle Vie has experienced similar success. “Every week we receive emails from all over the world of people who testify how the messages are transforming their lives,” says Layes. Like many Subsplash clients, the reach of Eglise Nouvelle Vie’s app goes well beyond their membership. With over 3,500 members the church is by no means small, but their app is quickly approaching 10,000 downloads.

In an increasingly connected world, churches of all sizes from around the world are finding that mobile apps provide a platform to connect with believers on a local and global scale.

"Our goal is to make the best software available for the presentation of the Gospel. We want to give ministries the ability to have truly affordable high quality apps that they can control in real time, from features and layout, to branding and content,” says Sharpe. “It's been an incredible blessing for us to be a part of what God is doing through these ministries all over the world."

*mobiThinking: http://mobithinking.com/mobile-marketing-tools/latest-mobile-stats/a#topsmartphonecountries and Prosper China: http://www.prosperchina.com/ **mobiThinking: http://mobithinking.com/mobile-marketing-tools/latest-mobile-stats/a#topsmartphonecountries