I just read the blog post on Google Sites. This looks like great stuff. I know that our IT team has SharePoint on the radar screen for an install here at Resurrection, and it looks like there may be some similarity in features here.
Any church leaders implementing or thinking about implementing any of the suite of Google Apps in your congregation? This is one technology that I think may be a great help for congregations as the functionality (email, documents, intranet) and price point (free for registered US non-profits) hits a sweet spot.
Rev. Andrew Conard 
4 replies on “Google Sites at Church”
For a counterpoint on Google Sites, there’s an interesting post over at http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/google_sites_the_next_sharepoint_maybe_notwhy_google_apps_could_lose_the_enterprise_market.php – the author makes some very valid (and important) points.
We have purchased and use a google search appliance for our site search….so were googled that way!
I’ve been using Google calendar for my local church’s calendar. I have it configured to send reminders 2 days prior to meetings. Various committee members have said that they appreciate receiving these reminders.
For our congregation (50 in worship), it has a major selling point — it is free. It was also easy to configure and requires very little maintenance. As a lay person with a full time job the ease of maintenace was another selling point.
Google Sites might prove beneficial for some congregations. However, it does have a prerequisite that will keep some (especially small) churches from using it — the ownership of a domain name. I’m hoping to play around in Google Sites for the school district I work for — once we obtain a domain name to use with it.
Ian – Thanks for the valuable counterpoint. I much appreciate your insight and resources.
chuckinisrael – 🙂
mcphilbrick – Thanks for sharing your experience withGoogle Calendars. Free is a great selling point. I do not know much about obtaining a domain name, but my sense is that it is not a difficult thing. Hmm… Maybe not that easy though.