One of the biggest challenges in ministry is keeping track of everything that is on our plates as ministers. Very few of us are fortunate enough to be able to focus exclusively on preaching, or pastoral care. Most of us have to wear dozens of different hats a week. To-Do applications are the perfect solution to improve your focus and productivity. Trello will really shines for your ministry.

I loved my old To-Do application – The Hit List – as I went through seminary, worked at a church, and launched my start-up. There were to many moving pieces to keep track of, and thanks to that app I never missed a due date at school over the 4 years. Having a list I could easily add tasks too, and use to allocate my time meant I didn’t have to mentally keep everything in the air. I could relax as soon as I placed it on a list. As great as Hit List was, it’s not web-based, and does not have any collaboration tools.

This spring I fell in love with Trello

Since I started casually using it they have come out with iOS and Android apps. I believe that if your church starts using Trello you’ll communicate better, and be able to stay on top of your projects better.

Collaboration by Organization

This is so cool. Not only can you assign specific tasks to individuals (one or many), but you can actually set up your boards for your whole organization. Each board then can have as many lists on it. I use 4 lists called: Icebox, Queued Up, In Progress, and Completed.

Cards are a Brilliant Idea

Trello is not simply a list of check boxes. Instead they use cards. A card can have multiple check-lists, attached files, due date, an activity log, and more. This makes it really easy to manage projects since you can have the whole project setup on one card. Once you’re ready to start the project you drag the card onto your In Progress list. You can also archive cards that are old to clean up your screen.

The mobile apps are powerful

The apps have every bit of functionality from the website while I’m on the go. I love being able to add items to a check list, or create a new card in the Icebox when the idea strikes me. Since my moments of inspiration come when I’m away from my desk these apps are a life saver. I actively use the Android app on my phone and tablet, and the iOS application looks equally powerful.

Best of all Trello is Free!

I paid for the app I used through school, and it was not as powerful as Trello is. Try it out for a project and see how it goes. It might be a tool you use to track the progress of projects, or it could become a platform for collaboration utilizing the organization functionality. Learn more about Trello and get started!

Are you using Trello or something like it? Do you have any advice for people starting?