I don't carry cash.  Actually, I'm rather surprised when I find any amount of cash in my wallet - it means that I forgot to give my wife the change from whatever purchase I made!  Cash is a foreign thing to me, and checks are from the country next to where cash comes from.  Cash, in fact, seems to be a bit of an endangered species, and checks aren't far behind.  This comes to my mind every time I attend a church function with a "suggested offering" plate out, or when I pass by people collecting for any number of worthy causes that use collection plates.  About a year ago, in fact, I asked to gentlemen collecting for the a MS foundation how things were going.  The reply was, "Not good, people just don't carry cash around any more."

Naturally, this is a problem for non-profits which typically have relied on collection plate giving, as well as other gifts (many of which are spontaneous).   Without the ability to collect these funds for their work, what's going to happen?  Some organizations have gone to accepting credit card purchases, but the fees and headaches of setting up such a service often keep smaller organizations away.  Sites like paypal allow for online donations or payments for goods, but they take away the possibility of "real world" interaction with those who would give.  There really hasn't been an easy solution, until now.

Last week I received one of the early invitations to participate in "Google Voice," a service which reclaims the telephone from it's boring existence as an aging device into a powerful tool ready for the digital age.  You might be able to tell, I'm a fan.

When someone signs up for Google Voice they can select a telephone number in their area code, which can be called like any other phone number.  Unlike an ordinary phone number, however, the Google voice number doesn't simply ring the one location that is it is hard-wired to ring.  Rather, it can ring any number of phones that you wish to ring when your Google Voice (GV) number is dialed.  For example, when your GV number is dialed - you can have it ring your mobile, office, and home number at the same time.  You can also sign up for a free account from the Gizmo Project, which can be assigned to ring as well. The Gizmo Project is similar to another internet voice tool, Skype, and has clients which run on Windows, Mac, and Linux.  Normally, it costs money to send and receive calls from "regular" phones via Gizmo - but users of Google voice can do both for free.  This essentially gives individuals and organizations with both a GV and Gizmo account a free phone line!

You can also configure an internet phone adapter to connect to your gizmo account, which allows users to use the service just like they would any other phone.

While this technology is fascinating, however, how can it enhance the ministry of the Church?  This becomes more obvious as we look at GV's features.