I received a letter from a pastor the other day. He is a warm and caring person, and he tried to convey those attributes in his letter. The salutation, however, completely defeated him. The obviously-photocopied letter began, Dear Contributor . If he and his staff had used the mail merge tools in their word processor, he could have written a letter that felt like he wrote it to me... right from his heart. Let's look together at some simple methods that can help you communicate personally to many, and do so quickly.

Rich Hammar, editor of Church Law Tax Report and author of The Church Guide to Copyright Law, recently said Most if not all churches violate copyright law, some more than others. Another expert in this field, Rick Campanelli of Gammon Grange, PC, said, They might be surprised to realize it, but they are taking other people's property, and breaking the law. Whether it's sharing software among multiple computers, distributing copies of a written work among staff or committee members, or showing videos in a classroom setting, these are all protected under copyright legislation. The good news is that doing so legally is often easy and inexpensive! Let's look together at the issues and solutions to bring our ministries into copyright compliance.

Many churches have vehicle fleets. They facilitate ministry, neighborhood outreach, and are often overseen by a volunteer; so they're reasonably inexpensive. But the hidden costs due to recent law changes and potential litigation suggest we might be wise stewards to rethink this facet of our ministry.

The US Post Office requires a minimum number of pieces to qualify for 3rd Class Bulk Mail rates. According to Bruce McClure, a US Post Office Second Class Specialist, you can group together smaller mailings that together total the minimum number of pieces and thus qualify for the bulk rate.

Many conscientious administrators are considering video inventories as a good method of cataloging their organization's physical assets. While we applaud their conscientious approach in having a back-up record in case of disaster, our research has uncovered some surprising information!