Thursday, April 15th 2021
Please join us in celebrating a very exciting next step for MinistryPlatform, as software and as a community!
We are excited that Ministry Platform is now a part of the ACS Technologies family of products. This has a lot of benefits for you! For starters, most of you rely on Higher Ground for some or all of your IT needs. Now, you are guaranteed more stability and cooperation between teams making this combination of services even better for your ministry.
Together as one company, we can now provide a comprehensive suite of solutions for churches, denominational offices, and dioceses of every size with the largest service, support and development teams in the country.
Mainly, please know, this merger of resources will allow us to serve you better. Our heart for the church and putting you first are what brought us together and what will keep us focused on serving you many years to come!
Please watch this short video from Chris Kehayis, CEO of Think Ministry. Also, here are some FAQs that we thought you may find helpful.
As always, please feel free to give us a call if you have any questions.
-The Ministry Platform Team
On April 5, we are joining forces with some very like-minded companies: Higher Ground Technologies and ACS Technologies. We all share similar goals, cultures, and a heart for the mission and vision of the Church, and now we will be pursuing them under the same umbrella.
In this new space, Chris Kehayias will still be leading the team at MinistryPlatform. And your MinistryPlatform team will continue to deliver world-class service and support. Partnering with you in kingdom work remains our top priority. That is not changing!
Well then, what is changing?
Our combined resources will simply allow us to do all of that… better.
Higher Ground Technologies brings stellar managed services and all of the heavy lifting around servers, virtualizations, and firewalls to the table. And ACS Technologies offers awesome customer service, resourcing, and scale that will propel all three of us into the future to continue serving churches and ministries just like we always have.
We all remain committed to what we were so passionate about when we started each of these companies: Serving the kingdom with you. And now we get to do it as one team. Stronger. Together.
Let’s celebrate together!
As partners in ministry, we hope you will join us for a webinar Tuesday, 4/20 at 3pm Eastern where we can celebrate this exciting next step with you, as well as answer any questions that you may have. [LINK: REGISTER HERE]
Got Questions?
In the meantime, feel free to check out our Stronger Together – MP Community FAQs.
“A cord of three strands is not easily broken.”
Ecclesiastes 4:12
“MinistryPlatform, Higher Ground, and ACS Technologies, will be woven together – stronger together – and here to serve you in ways that we haven’t even imagined yet!”
Chris Kehayias, CEO
MinistryPlatform
MP Community FAQs
Q: What happens to MinistryPlatform (the product)?
MinistryPlatform is not going anywhere!
MinistryPlatform will continue to be supported, developed, and improved, with additional resources to move the product forward. ACS Technologies (ACST) has partnered with Think Ministry to provide solutions for churches of all sizes, denominational offices, and diocese. MinistryPlatform will continue to be supported, developed, and improved to meet your needs and those of other large churches and diocese.
Q: What happens to MinistryPlatform (the community)?
The MinistryPlatform Community will continue to grow!
MPUG, our forum, and all other community facets will continue to flourish and expand in this new endeavor and we look forward to more members joining the community.
Q: What Private Equity firm bought you?
No Private Equity involved. One of the most aligning aspects of working with ACST is our unified values and dedication to the mission of the Church. ACST remains a privately held company and this helps ensure we all continue to be focused on values and mission over profits and performance.
Q: Other acquisitions have not gone well. What are you doing to continue moving the product forward?
We agree that most of these deals in the past have proven to be problematic and not ideal for the church customers involved in the aftermath. But in this case, we all publicly acknowledge that MinistryPlatform (the software and community) will be a central part of the forward strategy and we are all committed to ensuring that MinistryPlatform not only improves, but also grows into the future.
Q: What makes this the right time for this to happen?
Anytime you can gather like-minded, mission-aligned, talented people together with a common cause, it’s the right time. We truly believe this is our reality. We are ready to be a stronger, aligned, unified company serving the Church.
Q: What is the timeline?
We officially tied the knot and became a unified company on 4/15 and we hope you will join us Tuesday, 4/20 @ 3 pm Eastern for an MinistryPlatform Community webinar so we can celebrate together and answer any questions you may have.[LINK: REGISTER]
Customers
Q: How will I request support?
The exact same way you do today. Please continue to use our Support Portal, Live Chat, and other tools, and the same great people will be working with you, just like they always have.
Q: What happens to my Coaching, SPoC, or Technician Retainer?
Any and all retainers and current projects will flow seamlessly into this new reality. What was true yesterday, will be true tomorrow.
Q: Is the KB going to move? What about Customer portal, Support portal, Website, social channels?
Don’t start changing your bookmarks, everything is still in the same place. In the spirit of never standing still, we will continue to welcome solutions that best support you, our MP Community! If any changes are made down the road, we will let you know in advance and where to find what you need.
Q: Will my cost go up?
Prices will not change in 2021.
Q: What about my hosting?
Nothing is changing with your hosting.
One of the great things about this new, unified company is that Higher Ground is officially part of us, and we are part of them! And your hosting will be just as secure as it always has been.
BTW, if you are still self-hosting, we’d love to talk to you now, more than ever! 🙂
Q: What will happen to the MP Team?
We love that you care about the MP Team. And we certainly reciprocate!
Ain’t nobody goin’ nowhere. 🙂
Translation: Everyone has been offered a position and is highly desired to remain on the team.
Q: What happens to MPUG?
It is still on: May 18 & 19, 1-4 pm Eastern. We’ll see you there, right? [LINK: REGISTER]
MPUG is such a central, formative moment to our community and prospects, and serves as the single point in time of the year when we get together, share successes and ideas, learn and grow, and look forward as we envision our churches and ministries for what’s possible.
Q: What happens to my integrations (giving, etc.)?
Nothing. We are all committed to keeping MinistryPlatform as an open architecture, API-driven, integration-heavy platform. It’s part of our DNA.
Q: What about PocketPlatform?
We remain committed to PocketPlatform being our preferred church congregant-facing mobile app and we can’t wait to do even more exciting things with them!
Partners/Integrators
Q: Can we still integrate? Is our integration still going to happen?
Yes. Hard stop. See previous two answers above. 🙂
Q: Can we still access the API?
Yes. MinistryPlatform remains committed to be accessible for integrations.
Q: Can we still access the customer SQL servers for schema updates (white glove treatment)?
Yes. You will still be able to access the customer servers for schema changes and diagnostic work.
Q: Will we have any new or better access to Shared Cloud Customers?
No. As always, we will still require the MinistryPlatform team to perform any schema updates for Shared Cloud Customers.
Q: What happens to MPUG? What if I have a sponsorship?
MPUG only happens on the strength and support of our partners and integrations and we sincerely hope you will continue to contribute to, sponsor, and attend MPUG. You have always been considered part of our MP community, and that isn’t changing.