Westover Hills Assembly of God is a thriving, vibrant church located in San Antonio, TX. On any given weekend as many as 3,000 participate in worship services held at Westover. Often with this many people involved in a ministry, it can be easy to get lost in the crowd and the ministry leaders of Westover wanted to ensure that this never happened.
Although Westover had been an ACS client for over 10 years, the products and services they had were under utilized, and no one on staff focused exclusively on managing their database. So, the church leaders brought in Lesley Baker as Westover's new database manager and contacted ACS Implementation Specialist Barry Moon to help the church begin to fully utilize their ACS products. "Barry's initial visit in August 2007 gave us a great assessment of how we could really utilize ACS as a ministry resource to reach our people and keep them involved in the church," states Lesley.
Implementation Process
Lesley shares, "During the assessment process, Barry and our staff discussed several areas that needed to be addressed, chiefly our usage of ACS People™ and Access ACS™. We also focused on best practices and recommendations for data analysis and reporting of the information we were getting from our software. Everything that Barry suggested for our church was right on target. We have decided to implement his suggestions one project at a time.
"We know it will be a lengthy process but already we have made great headway into our project list."
| "Our ACS Implementation Specialist's initial visit in August 2007 gave us a great assessment of how we could really utilize ACS as a ministry resource to reach our people and keep them involved in the church." |
| Lesley Baker, Westover Hills Assembley of God |
That's not to say, however, that Westover did not experience stumbling blocks along the way. "We had to change the mindset of our staff, and move from thinking of our ACS products as secondary ministry tools to thinking of them as a primary resource that would help us stay connected with our members. Once the staff adopted this new mindset, it was much easier for everyone to get on board with the changes we were trying to make. We discovered the most success when we introduced the changes as they were happening and trained everyone in each process," states Lesley.
Results
Working together with the ACS Implementation Team comprised of pastors, ministers, and business administrators with years of practical experience, Westover Hills was given a fresh perspective and a unique insight into reaching the goals it had set for its ministry.
Lesley states, "Since beginning the implementation process, there has been a significant improvement in our ministry across the board. Communication and information sharing with our members has increased, and the management and maintenance of our database has improved. We've streamlined our database from 30,000 profiles to only 8,000 which saves us both time and money. And best of all, now our church leaders are constantly on the lookout for newer, better ways to utilize our ACS tools in an administrative capacity.
"We would definitely recommend using ACS Implementation services! Barry is great, he has definitely become a part of the Westover Hills family. His guidance has been a tremendous asset to us. We will continue to rely on his advice, especially as we move to go live with Access ACS in the summer of 2008."
ACS Technologies Products and Services Used
People Suite: Access ACS, Attendance, Checkpoint, Connections, People, Reservations, Contributions
Financial Suite: General Ledger, Payroll, Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, Fixed Assets
Church Growth Tools: CASS It!, Special Mailings, Report Designer
Services: Network/Multiuser, Implementation
About Westover Hills Assembly of God
"Making New, Making Great" is what Westover Hills Assembly of God is all about. "Making New" by introducing people to Christ and "Making Great" by leading believers into the abundant life that comes with spiritual maturity is their mission.
Web Site: whag.net
See how ACS Implementation can help you implement success with your next project, check out the resources at acstechnologies.com/implement or call 800.736.7425.
ACS Technologies Group, Inc.
ACS Technologies designs desktop and Web-based software solutions that help over 50,000 faith-based organizations manage their information better. We have been dedicated to serving churches, schools, and other organizations since 1978. To discover how we can further help meet your needs, call us today at 800.736.7425.
