[CS-FSLUG] Missionary Contact Programs

[Ritchie, Josiah S.]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Christiansource-bounces at ofb.biz [mailto:Christiansource-
> bounces at ofb.biz] On Behalf Of Tim Young
> Sent: Tuesday, November 08, 2005 12:48 PM
> To: A Christian virtual Free Software and Linux Users Group.
> Subject: Re: [CS-FSLUG] Missionary Contacts Program - Come Help :-)
> 
> Excellent! Glad to see you joining missions...

Thanks. :-)

> There is another product out there, besides TNTMPD that is called
> "DonorManager." It is written in foxpro.

Doesn't someone around here know foxpro? Any chance I can run that on
Linux?

> Another one that is web-based, can be found at servantsite.com.
 
<cut />

> In short, it is not a simple project unless you are just making it for
> yourself. :) The developers of these three projects all do it on
almost
> a full-time basis. They are missionaries in their own right, but some
of
> them put a number of hours per day on their project. A lot of that is
> because missionaries keep getting more technology that needs to be
> interoperated with, etc.
> 
> My advice: If you build something. PAINSTAKINGLY STAY WITH OPEN
> STANDARDS. There is a tool, multisync, that you could build one
> interface for and sync with LOTS of stuff. People are forever
> reinventing a sync tool, a mail-merge tool, etc. Open standards are
your
> friend.
> 
> (Not surprising advice to get from someone on this list, eh?)
> 
> If you could work with ServantSite, I would probably recommend going
> that route before building your own. Shawn Parrish (of servantsite)
has
> been a missionary for years, and knows a lot about what it takes to
keep
> up with your donors. It is a bit complex, but it is a rather cool site
> with a lot of thought behind it, and is very much an opensource
project.

Thanks for the thoughts Tim. I'm all about the open standards. I was
rather hoping you would chime in also. 

You do speak of something that, in combination with what Mr. McCracken
mentions, has convinced me that this is a much bigger project than I
expected. 

My impression of ServantSite is that it is more of a public face kinda
thing. I'm looking is tools to get me off the ground and help me collect
the information from the start/behind the scenes. Is there more to
ServantSite than I have understood by simply looking around the website
for it? I'm also at a disadvantage because I have no PHP skills, but I
guess that could change. 
:-)

JSR/