Just saw this posting on ChurchCrunch regarding a new service by a company called Godios (http://godios.com/). For $7/month (on the basic plan), they list your church in an iPhone app that’s pretty easy on the eyes – check out screenshots on their site. Besides just your location, service times, and contact info, it will also list upcoming events and downloadable sermon podcasts. On the one hand, this is actually an iPhone app that I could get behind. I could see recommending this for many churches I work with, for that low price, as a way to get them some iLove without overcommitting them to something beyond their capabilities. I’d just love to see the reaction on a church leader’s face if I recommended trying to stream their worship service to mobile devices – this just requires a church to submit some info online.
The drawbacks and potential problems here though revolve around two things. First, people have to use the app to find you; and with 3 trillion apps on the App Store right now, there’s no guarantee Godios’ app will get any exposure. Second, the app doesn’t appear to be able to harvest those events or podcasts from your site, so it would require someone to go to Godios’ control panel and update that as well as the website. It’s hard enough making sure one is kept up-to-date, much less two, and if it’s not current, you’re essentially paying $7/month to advertise that you’re apparently not on the ball with your Internet ministry.
I do like the idea, with those two caveats. One last thing to note is that the $7/month is for a “Lite” plan; the ability to list more sites, events, and have additional space for podcasts can cost up to $29/month. I imagine most could get by though with the former.