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I’ve been a Google evangelist for a couple of years now, but this week, I realized that they can actually make a church’s worship ministry run more efficiently, too!

This is so simple that I could slap myself for not figuring it out sooner. And I would be really surprised if other worship leaders aren’t already doing some version of this already, but to my knowledge no one has blogged about it yet, so…

Here is my Getting Things Done post on Google Docs & Worship.

Problem #1: Too many computers.

I use my desktop computer at home (PC #1). When I’m away, like at Panera or Kade’s, I use a laptop (PC #2). Then when I’m at work, I have another desktop computer (PC #3).

In the past, I used a flash drive to store all of my documents and spreadsheets, but if I decided to work on worship stuff and forgot to bring it with me — I was sunk…

It’s happened to me. It’ll happen to you.

Problem #2: Too much paper.

My system of selecting songs for worship literally involved flipping through a file full of papers (chord charts, sheet music, lyric printouts, etc.) and pulling out whatever songs seemed right.

Obviously, this was not very efficient.

Adding to that frustration was anytime I forgot to put a chord chart back after a Sunday service, it was gone. Forever.

the Solution? (big surprise here) …Google Docs!

The word processor lets me create new files, upload existing files, and even create new files via email. Granted, it doesn’t have all of the bells and whistles of Word or even Open Office, but I can still do all the basic things like change font size and type, and insert tables and pictures.

The old accordion file system is gone. Now, all of my worship files/songs are stored online.

It also uses tags the same way Gmail uses them to organize your messages. So, after I created/uploaded the files, I just gave them tags like “Chord Chart”, “Slow Tempo”, “Fast Tempo”, “Key of E”, etc.

So, now when I pick out songs for Sunday worship and I need an upbeat song in the key of G, I just pull up my Fast Tempo tag with the Key of G tag and voilà! All the matching files are instantly before me for the choosing.

Absolutely brilliant. and absolutely free.

How does Google make your life easier?

(Digg this.)

Categorized as Web/Tech, Worship