Why I'm building church and school software that isn't designed to squeeze every dollar out of the people using it.
A couple of things have been bothering me for a while, and I finally decided to stop just noticing them and actually do something.
The first one is small and close to home. My kids go to Seeds of Faith, and for longer than I'd like to admit, the school's online payment page hasn't worked. A parent can't pay tuition online. Someone who wants to give a gift can't. Nobody seems able to fix it, because the company that built it doesn't really answer the phone anymore. That's not a rare story — it's just the one closest to me.
The second is bigger, and honestly a little unsettling. This year, a well-funded ad campaign built digital "fences" around churches — including here in Pennsylvania — specifically to target people's phones with ads during Sunday worship. Not hypothetically — it happened, it made the news, and separately the FTC has gone after companies for selling location data collected at churches, hospitals, and schools. A lot of the "free" church and school apps out there have no real answer for how that happens, because in some cases, it's part of how they make money.
A seed doesn't grow by being forced. It just needs good soil, and time.
So that's what I've decided to build — church and school software, starting right here in Indiana County. I'm calling it SEED. It technically stands for something — Systematic Engagement, Enrollment & Discipleship — but that's not really why I picked it. I picked it because my own kids go to Seeds of Faith, and because I don't want to force this to grow any faster than it's actually ready to. Good soil, and time.
There's a deeper reason I'm the one doing this, past just noticing a broken donate button. I'm genuinely good at building systems — SAMICalls is proof of that, not just something I'm claiming — and I've come to believe that's not an accident. Scripture is pretty direct about it:
"Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms." — 1 Peter 4:10
Paul says something similar in Romans — we've each been given different gifts, meant to actually be used, not compared to someone else's or left sitting unused. I think about the parable of the talents a lot, too. The servant who got in trouble wasn't the one who used what he'd been given and it didn't multiply as much as hoped — it was the one who buried his out of fear and did nothing with it at all. If building trustworthy systems is genuinely a gift I've been given, then using it only to build wealth for myself, or not using it for the church at all, feels like exactly what that parable is warning against.
So this is me trying not to bury mine. Not to build a career or a fortune out of it, but because I actually believe well-built, honest technology can help churches reach more people with the Gospel, keep kids safer, and free up pastors and staff to spend their time on people instead of fighting with broken software. If this helps even one more person hear about Christ because a church was free to focus on ministry instead of managing a mess, that's the return I'm actually looking for.
Because I do need to — I'm not trying to get rich off this, but I am trying to build something that lasts, and that means being honest about money, not just idealistic about it.
Most of what a church or school needs — the member database, the calendar, communication tools, even the AI features — is free to use.
I only ask for two things, and I've published both. A small flat amount each month, just enough to cover what it actually costs to keep serving that organization — nothing more. And, only if money actually moves through the platform — an online gift, a tuition payment — a small percentage, smaller than what most giving platforms already quietly take. If your church never takes a donation online, that's completely fine. You're not required to.
Both numbers are public, and neither goes up unless my own costs go up — no surprise renewal calls, no disappearing free tier, no quietly added fee in year two. A church should be able to build next year's budget around this without worrying it'll change out from under them.
Not money — I'm not raising anything, and I'm not trying to sell you on an investment. What I want right now is honest feedback: does this make sense, does "sustainable instead of profitable" actually hold together, is there something obvious I'm missing that someone outside my own head would catch immediately.
Indiana Alliance Church and Seeds of Faith are who I want to build this with first — once there's an actual working product to show them, not just a plan. I'd rather earn that conversation than ask for it in advance. If it's genuinely useful there, it grows from there — first here in Indiana County, and only later, carefully, into the counties around us. I'd rather get it right for the people I already know than rush to grow for growth's sake.
If you've read this far, I'd genuinely like to know what you think — including, especially, if you think I've got something wrong.
— Jim
jim@secondrowsolutions.com · 412-719-5266