Getting Started With MissionConnect™

Before you start, please make sure the MissionConnect administrator on your conference staff has created a username and password for you, and granted the necessary permissions for you to access the database. You will also need a Database Authorization key from your administrator to configure the correct database.

Step 0 - Web Apps

Many of the applications in the MissionConnect suite are now web apps and no longer need to be installed. If you only need access to these apps, just click the link to get started.

Center is an online database management application. Center supports the maintenance of professional clergy data and records, church committees and other groups, local church leadership and a host of functions dependent upon the accurate maintenance of this data.

Report is an online report application designed to provide users the ability to either view or print specially formatted Cabinet, Clergy or church reports

Lead compiles data from all clergy records for easy cabinet viewing and access. Lead additionally provides customized profile and assessment tools for the pastor, churches and charges served.

Church Reporting is designed to be used by Churches to enter the data typically provided by the local church, thus saving staff resources in the District and Conference offices. These include:

Statistics – Year-End Statistical reporting through a flexible design which coincides with conference forms. In addition to the required Tables 1, 2, 3, additional custom tables can be created for conference specific data gathering.
Local Church Leadership – Entry of all church leadership accessible by District/Conference offices through Center. Including Leadership positions, tenure, and Contact Information for the church leadership.
Charge Conference Checklist – Customized list of all Charge Conference forms completed online and uploaded for access by District and Conference offices. These forms can also include a customized and secure Clergy Profile completed by each Clergy person, and a customized and secure Church Profile completed by the SPRC Chair.

Otherwise, review the Requirements section at the bottom of this page. Then proceed with Step 1 immediately below. Your conference MissionConnect administrator can tell you which components you will need.

If you have problems with this installation, please send an email to mchelp@greatspirit.com.

Step 1

Most MissionConnect users will need to install Adobe AIR before you can download and install the needed MissionConnect components. Please download and install Adobe AIR from one of these links prior to download MissionConnect.

Download AIR for Mac Download AIR for Windows

Step 2

Click the MissionConnect icon immediately below to download and install. When the Application Install window appears, click Open.

**NOTE: For security reasons Main can no longer automatically install and run the other components of MissionConnect. Please see Step 3 below to install all components that you will need.

Mac Users: See the Mac Known Issues section after Step 3 if Main won't open after installing.

Great Spirit Systems customers may download and install MissionConnect. Please keep in mind you will need to be granted permission to use the MissionConnect applications by your own system administrator.

Refer to the Requirements & Installation section for additional assistance.

Step 3 - Install Other Components

Communicate is an online communication management application. Communicate provides users with the ability to sort and select information from a conference database to print labels or envelopes. It additionally provides an email option along with various computer file format outputs.

Give is an application that provides functions for managing church apportionments, funds, and projects with billing and receiving processing. Exports and uploads a report file to the General Board of Global Ministries (GBGM).

Benefits provides benefits management and billing options for participants of CRSP/CPP, medical insurance, life insurance, flexible benefits, UMPIP, vision insurance, dental insurance, H.S.A., Medicare Part D and other benefits as required by the customer.

PAL provides management and billing options for property, liability, workers comp, and other insurances to churches.

AdminTools is an online access management application for System Administrators and provides the ability to set and manage various levels of access permitted for each individual user, including password management.

Mac Known Issues and Resolutions

Launch failure on M1/M2 hardware. Some AIR applications will fail to launch when run on a device using Apple Silicon (M1/M2 hardware). To resolve this follow these steps.

Go to your Applications folder in Finder.
Locate and open the Great Spirit Systems folder. You should then see a MissionConnect folder. Open it.
You should then see each of the apps that you downloaded (Main, Communicate, Report, etc). Complete the following steps for each app.
Right click (or 2 finger click on track pad, or control+Click), and select Get Info.
In the Info window that you just opened, click the checkbox labeled Open using Rosetta. Do this for each of the apps that you downloaded. Close the Info windows.
From the same Finder window, double-click Main to open it, and log in. On the dock, right-click the Main icon, select Options, then Keep in Dock. Do this for each of the other apps that you installed above (Communicate, Report, etc.)

Publisher verification. AIR developers can sign their packages either with a self-signed certificate, or with a certificate issued by one of a number of certificate authorities. With the latter, the AIR installation process would normally show a message confirming the vendor details. Due to an issue with the internal certificates in the AIR runtime, the signing certificate cannot be validated hence all applications will show the "unknown" publisher warning - see image on the right. You can proceed with the install.

Encrypted Local Store. On MacOS, applications requiring to use the "Encrypted Local Storage" feature of AIR will need to set up a local storage area for this. MacOS requests the user's permission during this process, with the request for a password for the "PrivateEncryptedDatak" keychain password (see image on the right). To proceed, please leave the password blank and click on "Always Allow" - this should only be displayed once.

Requirements & Installation

Mac OS

Mac OS X
Javascript enabled
Adobe AIR®
Internet connection required

Windows

Microsoft® Windows® 7, 8, 10
Javascript enabled
Adobe AIR®
Internet connection required

Problems:

If you have problems with this installation, please send an email to mchelp@greatspirit.com.