“Church management software is not made for the needs of children’s ministry and safety, even though it is great at church/congregation management.” This was the lesson learned by Gina Eggebrecht, the Preschool Director at Bible Church of Little Rock in Little Rock, Arkansas.

The Bible Church of Little Rock decided to give the check-in component with their church management system (ChMS) “the old college try”. They wanted to try to utilize all the pieces available in the ChMS, integrate various systems, and maybe save money. Not only was it not a good experience, but they also didn’t save money.

Eggebrecht’s team had to buy specific laptops required for use with the ChMS check-in, different barcode scanners to scan QR codes on phones, brand new label printers, and mini-PCs versus the laptops they were originally using. As Eggebrecht said, with sarcasm, “Way to save money there, huh?”

It wasn’t just about cost. Unlike KidCheck which just simply works, the ChMS check-in was unreliable. Eggebrecht shared, “Week after week, we had issues – and that is not an exaggeration. Parents did not like it. Workers did not like it.” She elaborated, “Check-in kiosk workers could not get the check-in kiosks to load correctly” and joked, “You had to hold your mouth just right to get scanners to work with the QR displayed on someone’s phone.” Perhaps the biggest frustration per Eggebrecht was that “check-in backed up EVERY week because checking in on the app didn’t really check-in the kiddos.” Plus, they were missing many of the security elements and features KidCheck has including how clearly allergies are handled, knowing if there is an unauthorized guardian, the birthday cake icon on labels, and so much more.

The breaking point came when a parent lost his cool with Bible Church of Little Rock’s ministry team, as well as with his own kids, over the ChMS check-in not working.  Per Eggebrecht this was when the pastoral staff decided, “No more!” and asked, “How quickly can we move back to KidCheck?”

Going back to KidCheck was fast and easy. The church set a go-live date back to KidCheck for a promotion Sunday just three weeks away. The return transition was seamless. Eggebrecht simply reached out to KidCheck, gave them a credit card number to get started again, and “they were off to the races”. She went back into their KidCheck account, made any needed changes to their set up, and were ready to go. Eggebrecht was thrilled that “it was all still there for us.”

The church also decided to update their mobile printing hardware and purchased the latest KidCheck ExpressHub. The KidCheck ExpressHub provides fast, reliable mobile label printing and enables Express Check-In, where parents check in from their own smartphone without needing to wait in line or use a check-in station.

Wouldn’t you know it, two weeks later, the week before they were scheduled to return to KidCheck the ChMS went down, again – website down, nothing worked. And per Eggebrecht, perhaps the worst part was “NO SUPPORT on a Sunday morning!” With KidCheck, her team could always count on reaching a live person on a Sunday morning to resolve an issue if ever needed. Children’s check-in needed to work, so Eggebrecht, who was prepared for the transition back to KidCheck, explained, “I grabbed our new ExpressHub out of my office, plugged it in, went to the KidCheck website and fired up our check-in kiosk in the browser.” Eggebrecht stated, “We were using KidCheck again in literally five minutes.” Emergency averted.

Church staff and volunteers weren’t the only ones thrilled with the move back to KidCheck. Per Eggebrecht, as soon as they started using KidCheck again, one of the parents walked over and asked, “Are we going back to KidCheck?” and when she responded, “We are!” he raised his hands and said “Thank. The. Lord!” and he wasn’t joking.

After trying the ChMS check-in component, Eggebrecht summed it up, “Lesson learned. Returning to KidCheck was the best decision we ever made!” She continued, “Thank you KidCheck for doing what you do so well!”