As a follow-up to my previous post, this post and next few will explain how I moved from using Apple’s MobileMe service to Google Sync Services and how they relate to using technology in ministry. In my case, I took my family’s personal domain and transferred all email services to Google. In order to do that, I signed up for Google Apps for free.
The setup is fairly straight forward with plenty of hand holding from Google. Just remember, you must have at least one email address that is not related to your domain in order to set up the new addresses. For example, if you are setting up me@mydomain.com, you will need to have something like me@gmail.com. This is necessary because if there are any problems during setup, you can still get into the domain management tools. In fact, Google requires it and you can not complete the registration process without one.
Once you have set up your new domain, you should have the following services: email, calendar, documents and groups. This will come with calendar sharing and the ability to sync with your smart phone and desktop. Not bad for free.
Now, if you are setting up a domain for your ministry, you might try using Google Apps for Non-Profits. While I have not used this yes, I will when I transfer our church email over from our current hosting provider.
Just make sure that before you finish, you enable Google Sync for Mobile Devices.
