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Show HN: OneBody Church Directory software I've been hacking on for 7 years

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Re: Show HN: OneBody Church Directory software I've been hacking on for 7 years

#181

Post by callmeed »

jashmenn wrote: post #169
callmeed wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great job, Tim. Looks really solid. I really think you should team up with someone to offer hosted versions of this to churches (take the WordPress model). My church uses The City [0] which charges anywhere from $20 to hundreds of dollars a month. It works well but I definitely think there's room for others. Also, Zondervan acquired The City from the developer/Mars Hill (he was an Amazon engineer too IIRC). I also th…

Our church also uses The City and I'd say it's fine but not great. There's a lot of room for another startup in this space - I've considered it more than once. The problem for me, on a personal level, is that it's very hard to mix business and the church. On the one hand, the technology used in the church generally lags far behind what is available and there are real benefits to the church body by having tailored tec…

Well said.

I actually built an MVP for a "Kickstarter for Missionaries" crowdfunding project a couple years ago. I thought (and still do, to some degree), it could be a good way for churches and missionaries to get steady/predictable support (which has always been a problem for my friends who do it).

But, the same dilemmas exist. Figuring out a business model I was comfortable with seemed hard. And, like you said, the more open you are about other faiths/sects using your platform, the more likely you are to tick off hardline people.

Re: Show HN: OneBody Church Directory software I've been hacking on for 7 years

#182

Post by sbhere »

krapp wrote: post #180
mwcampbell wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I realize you may have been joking, but I wonder how most atheists and other nonreligious people here would feel about selling a product or service targeted specifically at religious people or churches. To me, it feels dirty, like I would be saying, "I know that religions are false and even harmful, but I'm going to milk those less enlightened believers for all they're worth."

What difference would it make? Religious institutions, writers, horse-traders, scuba divers - a market is a market. If you go into any business harboring that level of disrespect for your customers then you're probably going to fail to provide a product they'll be willing to use. Although there is also an argument to be made for domain experience - if you're going to sell a service to religious groups wouldn't you be…

This is actually startlingly true - it would make a lot of sense for someone to steal OP's idea and capitalize on it. I hope, however, that no one does. It's a great thing he's done.

Re: Show HN: OneBody Church Directory software I've been hacking on for 7 years

#183

Post by jashmenn »

callmeed wrote: post #181
jashmenn wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our church also uses The City and I'd say it's fine but not great. There's a lot of room for another startup in this space - I've considered it more than once. The problem for me, on a personal level, is that it's very hard to mix business and the church. On the one hand, the technology used in the church generally lags far behind what is available and there are real benefits to the church body by having tailored tec…

Well said. I actually built an MVP for a "Kickstarter for Missionaries" crowdfunding project a couple years ago. I thought (and still do, to some degree), it could be a good way for churches and missionaries to get steady/predictable support (which has always been a problem for my friends who do it). But, the same dilemmas exist. Figuring out a business model I was comfortable with seemed hard. And, like you said, th…

Yes! I completely agree that there is some improvement possible here. There is a sense in which social networks in general have greatly helped the fund-raising process for missionaries.

I don't mean to seem unscrupulous, but the process of raising money for a missionary is not unlike what is done by a sales rep or a realtor: you have to keep yourself at the top of people's minds or the money dries up.

In that regard, software like facebook and even contactually are invaluable.

But, it seems to me, there's even more work to be done around custom platforms.

That said, how are you going to make money? Take 30% off the top? 10%? People (rightly) want to make their money go as directly as possible and so often won't even pay by credit card because you lose 3% in fees.

These platforms do cost money to run and not every church has someone on staff qualified to host an open-source solution. So if someone doesn't create hosted services that are financially viable, everyone loses out.

I also know several genuinely good people who desire to go to seminary but simply aren't able to take 3 years off of work (because they have families etc.). Of course you always have the risk of folks taking advantage of the system, but in the success / genuine / majority case, I feel that a kickstarter for people who want to do domestic ministry is a real need right now.

If anyone is interested in working on (and working through) these kinds of problems, drop me a line. My email is in my profile.

Re: Show HN: OneBody Church Directory software I've been hacking on for 7 years

#184

Post by drdaeman »

maga wrote: post #18

What if my church is called a mosque?

From a quick glance, the software - while being marketed as one for churches - isn't really religious. Accounts, profiles, timeline, photos, directories, attendance tracking - that's generic stuff not specific to churches. And verses are - technically - just articles.

From a quick glance it seems it could be fairly easily adapted for use even by non-religious organizations (say, clubs) with mostly basic UI text editing, so possibility of use by mosques seems even more trivial.

Re: Show HN: OneBody Church Directory software I've been hacking on for 7 years

#185

Post by fiatjaf »

I don't understand what does the software do. It is a "group manager" for churches? Something like Facebook Groups or many others of the same kind?

I really liked the aspect of the app and that it was built, because I really think group management and group data is an issue, but WHY is it a problem when there exists Facebook Groups, email groups and lots of other solutions?

Is church directory a totally different domain? Have I understood everything wrong?

Re: Show HN: OneBody Church Directory software I've been hacking on for 7 years

#187

Post by arikrak »

elwell wrote: post #178
arikrak wrote: post #141

Looks cool. Maybe you should change the name so it's not just focused on churches? Non-"church" denominations and organizations could use it as well.

Or branch out several personalized versions for each faith/denomination.

Yea, maybe I'll try one.

Re: Show HN: OneBody Church Directory software I've been hacking on for 7 years

#188

Post by mseebach »

krapp wrote: post #180
mwcampbell wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I realize you may have been joking, but I wonder how most atheists and other nonreligious people here would feel about selling a product or service targeted specifically at religious people or churches. To me, it feels dirty, like I would be saying, "I know that religions are false and even harmful, but I'm going to milk those less enlightened believers for all they're worth."

What difference would it make? Religious institutions, writers, horse-traders, scuba divers - a market is a market. If you go into any business harboring that level of disrespect for your customers then you're probably going to fail to provide a product they'll be willing to use. Although there is also an argument to be made for domain experience - if you're going to sell a service to religious groups wouldn't you be…

There is actually something to be said for not being personally/emotionally invested in the market you're in, it can help you to see things more objectively.

On the other hand, if you're emotionally invested in atheism, in the sense that you actively want to see religion gone (as opposed to just not believing as a personal choice), you're emotionally invested in religion by extension.

Re: Show HN: OneBody Church Directory software I've been hacking on for 7 years

#189

Post by lotharbot »

staticelf wrote: post #177

I wouldn't develop software for chuches since my opinion is that they are bad for society. Feels weird for me to wish you luck, since I want religion to vanish. But good job in making a sophisticated software, even if it was for a horrible cause. EDIT: I knew this was probably going to be downvoted. But I just want to say that I have nothing against this person. I just dislike religion but understand that other may n…

From the guidelines (https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html ):

"Be civil. Don't say things you wouldn't say in a face to face conversation."

"Please avoid introducing classic flamewar topics unless you have something genuinely new to say about them."

...

The sentiment 'religion is bad' is neither civil nor genuinely new/enlightening/informative. Please refrain from making such comments in the future.

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