It’s easy to see how God has been blessing the good people of Progressive Baptist Church in Aurora, IL. The church has not only been a strong pillar of the community, but a shining light guiding those toward a closer experience with the Lord.
Founded in 1963 by Robert Wesby, a freedom fighter for Martin Luther King, Jr., Progressive Baptist Church is committed to presenting the word of God in a practical, relevant and loving manner. Though it has recently moved to a new location, the church’s goals haven’t changed a single bit. The members and leaders of Progressive Baptist Church still believe in introducing new visitors to Jesus Christ and helping them grow in discipleship.
Mary Hayes, office manager for Progressive Baptist Church, has been able to see this deep connection with the surrounding community firsthand.
“We are a church where anyone can come worship and feel safe and comfortable doing so. We still have an openness to any culture for anyone that would like to visit,” said Hayes.
In addition to opening their doors to all people, they also have a strong stance on helping the community through mission work, mostly with assisting area youth. Hayes explains that as their largest functioning ministry, the Progressive Baptist Church youth program has helped with organizations such as “Feed My Starving Children,” as well food banks on a local level.
“They assist with recycling programs, cleaning, even adopting families during the holidays. They do all of that,” said Hayes.
However, though the church had created a thriving ministry and youth program, there were some aspects of their administrative process which needed to be addressed. Specifically, how they handle and record member donations.
The staff at Progressive Baptist began looking for an alternative solution to their current church management software.
“(Our old software) was not doing what I needed it to do,” said Hayes. “I was working remotely and I was having issues not being physically here logging in.”
Luckily, Hayes and Progressive Baptist found Realm and saw the features provided were a good fit for their ministry. Since Realm is a cloud-based church management software that can literally be accessed anywhere with an Internet connection, she no longer had to be at the church building to update member or giving information.
“With Realm, I can log in from my phone and see contributions, weekly giving and keep track of donations or breakdowns of any capital campaigns that may be going on, which is helpful,” said Hayes.
The cloud aspect of Realm also assists administrators in not only viewing contributions, but allows members to donate to their church directly from their own account. So much so that Progressive Baptist is now in the process of forming a link through their website so people can contribute to the church online.
Though Hayes is still learning all that Realm can do for their congregation, she is excited about the future at Progressive Baptist Church and how Realm can be a part of it. As the Realm administrator, she hopes to train other staff to experience how easy it is to use as well.
“Eventually I will get the ministers and deacons trained so when they need to pull up member information, they will be able to do that easily,” said Hayes.
Is your current church management software keeping you tied down? Learn more about how Realm’s cloud-based giving solutions provide the freedom to revitalize your ministry.
