Contacts - the Basics
Contacts is the ideal part of eAdventist for recording:
- visitors
- interests
- members of other churches
- business contacts
- ministry partners
Contacts in eAdventist are designed to provide compatibility with Disciples ( getdisciples.com).
Owner
Like Committees and Tags, contacts are "local" to each organization - the conference has it's own contacts and does not see contacts belonging to churches. A pastor with multiple churches can choose which church to assign a contact to. The conference clerk is able to view each church's contacts in order to answer questions and provide help.
Source
Knowing how a person first visited or contacted your church will help your team decide the best followup - letter/email, personal visits, Bible studies, event invitations, event/ministry information. Use this information to see which outreach is most effective in your church.
Interest level
Each contact's interest may vary over time. Use this information to prioritize and plan the best way to reach out to them.
Status
Track each contact's progress toward joining your church family. Use this information to provide action lists to your "interest" ministry team.
Birthdate/Age group
If a contact chooses not to provide their birth date, use Age Group instead to help your ministry team.
Notes
Record visits, requests, background information, etc. and use Search to find this information later. This is also a good place to record Attendance of services or events until that feature is added.
Timeline
A quick overview of previous activity for each contact.
Coming soon to Contacts
- Attendance - record visitor participation in services and events
- Relationships - to members or other contacts (e.g. spouse, parent, child, sibling, friend)
- Reminders - coordinate your ministry team's followup
- Expiration date - focus on "fertile ground" by expiring inactive contacts (e.g. 2+ years without response or contact)
- Member logins - will enable your ministry team to use eAdventist for visitor/interest care