ChurchApps — Conference Talk Notes

00 — Open

Introduce yourself: Michael Byrd — one of the founders of ChurchApps and a full-time volunteer serving as a Ministry Resource Provider.

Hook: "The Capital C Church spends over a billion dollars a year on software. What if it didn't have to?"

Open with the billion-dollar number — it earns the next 20 minutes.

01 — Our Why

To run a modern church effectively you need certain software and curriculum. The Church has outsourced these platforms to for-profit companies which often don't share our mission or values. This makes the Church less effective in its mission.

The thing is — the Church has the people and the resources to build this software ourselves and share it with every church in the world. Instead, the Capital C Church is spending over a billion dollars a year to purchase these resources and making tools in-house they don't share with other churches.

Meanwhile, the poorest churches in the world are going without and the overall mission of the Church suffers. When profit is the motivator, loyalties are to the shareholders — not Christ. The Church needs to stop outsourcing the Great Commission and start modeling the generosity of Christ so the Capital C Church can function at full capacity.

It's really not a technology problem — it's a stewardship problem. We exist to fix it.

Pause after "We exist to fix it." Let it land.

02 — What We Built

A complete, free, open-source software suite — every major tool a church needs, at no cost, forever.

Made for the Church · by the Church

B1 Admin replaces paid church management software — manage people, giving, groups, attendance, volunteers

B1.church church website, mobile app, member portal, giving, and groups — web & phone

B1 Check-In replaces check-in kiosk software — self-service for services & kids ministry

Lessons.church replaces paid curriculum — free, open-source video lessons from preschool through adult

FreeShow replaces paid worship presentation software — lyrics & slides on Sunday

FreePlay replaces paid classroom curriculum TV apps — delivers lessons to classroom screens, plays offline, no tech skills needed

03 — What God Has Done

15,000+ churches now using ChurchApps every day — all free, and growing
Churches we've helped are now sponsoring and helping other churches — the multiplication effect is growing
Igniting fires in people in other countries to get involved and carry this forward
Better tools → more effective disciple-makers → more people coming to Christ

Story — Southside Christian Church, Fort Pierce FL

Pastor Paul Hugenbart was about to spend money on ProPresenter, Planning Center, and paid curriculum. He agreed to try ChurchApps first.

FreeShow replaced ProPresenter. B1 Admin replaced Planning Center. Lessons.church replaced their paid curriculum.

He told us ChurchApps moved them forward two years. No budget debate. No anxiety. And now Southside is paying it forward, helping another church get on their feet.

That's one story we know about. What really excites me is the ones we don't know about.

This is your anchor story. Take your time here.

04 — The New Model

Our dream isn't primarily that everyone knows the ChurchApps name — it's that the Church sees a new model is possible: technology created by the Church, for the Church, shared across the Church
We're a small team backed by a world of developers — 23 open-source repos at github.com/ChurchApps, 55+ contributors, 430+ forks, nearly 1,500 stars, commits nearly every day
As churches grow, they need more customization — off-the-shelf software makes you fit its mold. With open source + AI, we build custom tools for churches in days, not months
AI + open source = an unfair advantage for the Kingdom as SaaS costs keep rising
Christian developers contributing code as an act of ministry — our team becomes moderators, not sole builders

05 — Call To Action

Church leaders — try it. Everything is free at churchapps.org. Stop paying for what the Body has already built.
Developers & designers — contribute. Your code can serve 15,000+ churches. This is a mission field.
Partners & donors — invest in keeping this free for every church in the world, especially the ones that can least afford it.
Everyone — tell one pastor about ChurchApps this week. Awareness is our biggest barrier.

The Church needs to stop outsourcing the Great Commission. The people and resources are already in this room. Let's model the generosity of Christ — so the Capital C Church can function at full capacity.

Close on the generosity line, put churchapps.org on the screen, and stop talking.