Founded in 1923, St. Agnes Parish has been known as the “cornerstone of Roeland Park,” a suburb of Kansas City. They are a multi-generational parish, hosting three masses with about 250 attendees each weekend.
Mike Verquer joined the parish staff five years ago as the new Parish Accountant, bringing 40+ years of accounting experience with him to this role.
He came into the role trying to make use of the desktop program they had at the time. However, it didn’t take him long to realize that their current software solutions were outdated, creating more problems than they were solving. Because they had no cloud-based solution, the staff had to come into the office to complete simple tasks, taking multiple steps to update information, not to mention there were no tools for parishioners to take on simple requests such as retrieving their giving statements or updating their contact information.
With a growing, multi-generational congregation, the parish realized it needed to streamline all processes into one cloud-based software solution to reach EACH parishioner, regardless of age.
“We wanted a modernized program that was user-friendly and transparent for our congregation, one that could give them tools to go online, retrieve their giving statements, and things of that sort. And Realm provided that for us.”
- Mike Verquer, Parish Accountant
St. Agnes is committed to serving its community, hosting numerous ministries each week and month. From its oldest ministry, Women of St. Agnes, which invites women of all ages to grow in their spiritual walk through service, to its Christian Youth Organization, which offers organized sports for both boys and girls, there is a place for each and every person to plug in and grow in their faith.
As Mike shared, it was paramount that groups and ministries could access communication and relevant information to the parish through a cell phone or tablet to ensure connection.
While they did consider other software programs, Mike says they landed on Realm because of its ease of use and the support offered by ACS Technologies to its ministry partners.
Because he is the Accountant, Mike spends most of his time in Realm Accounting and the Realm eGiving tool.
“I really like the ease of doing things in Realm, like sending giving statements or being able to present good, clean reports in financial meetings. It’s very easy to make inquiries and see multiple transactions. Even the ability to download a General Ledger report and drop it into Excel has been very helpful to me in my role.”
“Support has been excellent, as well as the help desk inside of Realm. And the MinistrySmart videos are very helpful, too.”
Mike Verquer, Parish Accountant
St. Agnes migrated to Realm earlier this year, and while they are still helping their congregation adopt the tools it offers, they are eager to implement a solution that will help foster growth and connection amongst its staff and its congregation.
To learn more about Realm, click here.
To learn more about St. Agnes Parish, click here.
Jenna Wallace
Jenna joined the ACST team in February 2020 as a Ministry Consultant for small to mid-size churches with a focus on empowering these ministries with the tools they need to accomplish their goals. She believes regardless of the size of the ministry, each church can utilize technology to fulfill the calling God has given them. Prior to joining ACST, she spent several years as a Sales Consultant across multiple industries, all focusing on relationship building, which she feels has allowed her to provide trusted advice to those in need. Jenna is passionate about helping others which fuels her eagerness to serve.
