Even the most advanced modern technology can sometimes prove faulty. Servers can crash without warning, often times causing an irreplaceable loss of vital data. Such a tragedy recently happened to Dan Mefford, Church Administrator for First Baptist Church in Savannah, Missouri. “Our server crashed and burned,” Mefford explains, “I lost the main hard drive and the server.” Thankfully Mefford had decided to purchase LiveStor, an automated, offsite backup program, last spring. Thanks to LiveStor, the situation was easily handled. “I was able to get our data and put it on individual computers while we waited for our server to be repaired,” says Mefford, without a trace of anxiety.

In Need of Backup. Mefford and First Baptist Church decided to purchase LiveStor after taking advantage of a free trial offer. “We decided to keep it no matter what,” he says. “We needed to backup our ACS programming. Backing up to CD was not as secure as what we wanted so we went with LiveStor because it gives us an offsite backup.”

With a steadily growing congregation of 850 members, First Baptist would be in serious trouble if it lost all of its member and financial records. “We back up our member and financial information daily,” says Mefford, “plus all of our files for bulletins, newsletters, and so on.” First Baptist depends on its ACS People and Financial software modules for keeping up with important member information. “Our ACS software has helped us get a handle on exactly who our membership is,” says Mefford. “The contributions module has helped us be more accurate in reporting to our members exactly how much they’re giving.”

Simple to Use. Even though Mefford has been working with computers for almost two decades, he doesn’t consider himself to be an expert. That’s why he’s been so pleased about the ease of LiveStor. “The program has surpassed my expectations because it’s so straightforward and simple to use,” he says. “Installation was so quick and easy. We were up and running in no time flat. The program is pretty intuitive and fell into place really well. I didn’t have to tweak anything.”

If Mefford is ever away from the church and someone on staff has a question, he knows the ACS Technologies support team can assist them. “Every time we call, we get what we need,” he says. “Any questions we have, they resolve. And they don’t argue with us, which we love. If our secretary has a problem, they take over the system for her. She doesn’t have to try figure out what a tech support person is saying to her.”

With LiveStor, First Baptist doesn’t have to worry about its most recent or even a future server crash. “LiveStor is there in the background and I don’t have to think about it,” explains Mefford. “It does its own thing. None of the programs I’ve used before have been this self-sufficient.”

About First Baptist Church
First Baptist Church in Savannah, Missouri, has been around for 101 years. The church was founded by a group of women with a desire to reach Savannah and Andrew County for Christ. Their mission hasn’t changed since 1903. After 90 years in their original structure, First Baptist moved in 1994 to a brand new facility. In just 10 years, they’ve added on twice with a third addition in the works. Dick Lionberger serves as Senior Pastor at First Baptist.

ACS Technologies Products and Services Used
People Suite: People, Contributions, Reservations,
Financial Suite: General Ledger, Payroll, Accounts Payable
Growth Products: Ministry Scheduler, LiveStor, CASS It!, Report Designer
Service Suite: Support, Network Multi-User

Website
http://www.fbcsavannah.org/