A 70-attendance church plant meeting in a school cafeteria

An 18-month-old church plant runs Planning Center, Clearstream, and FlockConnect for about $70–100/month after a first year where plant discounts made the stack nearly free. A cellular hotspot lives in the trailer so kids check-in never touches the school's wifi.

By Caleb Brooks · Published September 2026· Editorial standards · Conflict of interest

Field guide page: steps and costs from hands-on church-tech work, written under a pen name. Church names stay private. See how we write and verify.

What kind of church is this?

This plant launched eighteen months ago and meets in an elementary school cafeteria. Everything lives in a trailer and gets set up and torn down every week. Staffing is one full-time planter, partly funded by the sending church, and a part-time coordinator covering worship and kids. Attendance hovers near seventy. Guests get coffee invites. Kids rooms do not open without two screened adults.

Portable church means every missing cable and every missing admin habit shows up by 7:30 am Sunday.

Why does this mix exist?

Year one rode plant discounts: Planning Center gives church plants the whole first year free, and Clearstream does the same, so the software bill was basically FlockConnect’s $9 a month plus a cellular hotspot. Month thirteen ended the free year. The stack now runs about $70–100 a month on low paid tiers. The planter’s advice: put the free-year end date on the calendar the day you sign up. His treasurer opened the first invoice and texted him three question marks.

Services holds the Load-in plan with named positions. Check-Ins runs on two iPads and a label printer off the trailer hotspot after school wifi blocked them on Sunday two. Church Center takes connect cards. Clearstream sends Monday coffee texts. FlockConnect holds interaction notes shared with the coordinator so care survives the planter’s phone. The sending church gets a monthly anonymized giving report from Planning Center Giving: trends, not names.

Who owns admin

The planter is still sole admin on two accounts and knows that is a problem. The coordinator should be second admin on Planning Center and Clearstream this month. The coordinator already sees shared FlockConnect notes and owns much of Load-in scheduling in Services. Kids screening renewals need a written owner before the first cohort expires in the same month. The sending church sees giving trends only, not donor names.

Until second admins exist everywhere, vacation weeks are a risk.

What this costs monthly

After the free year: about $70–100/month for low paid Planning Center tiers, Clearstream at $29, FlockConnect at $9, plus the hotspot cellular plan, plus giving fees (2.15% + 30¢ cards, 30¢ ACH). Year one was near $9/month plus hotspot. Confirm plant discount end dates and paid tiers before month twelve so the treasurer is not surprised.

How the week actually runs

Thursday: Load-in team confirms in Services. Sunday 7:30: trailer opens, positions run, hotspot powers Check-Ins, rooms open only with two screened adults. After service: teardown into labeled bins. Sunday afternoon: planter reads Church Center cards. Monday: Clearstream coffee texts. After coffees: FlockConnect notes shared with the coordinator. Monthly: anonymized giving trends to the sending church. Annually: watch the free-year cliff (learned the hard way) and background-check renewals.

Copy this if

Copy this if you plant in a rented school or similar portable space, you qualify for Planning Center and Clearstream plant discounts, and you need kids check-in that does not depend on venue wifi. Copy the Load-in plan-with-names pattern even if your trailer is a van. Copy shared care notes before month nine if you can.

What breaks first

Venue wifi trusted for check-in. Free-year end date missing from the shared calendar. Planter as only admin on giving and texting. Care notes only in a phone app. Empty Load-in positions with no floater. Every volunteer background check expiring in the same month. Leaving gear in the cafeteria after teardown.

What they would change next

Second admin on every account. Free-year and screening dates on the calendar. Bin labels matched to Services positions from week one. Keep sending-church reports anonymized.

Field note after masking-tape Sunday

School wifi blocked Check-Ins. Twenty kids waited. Parents wrote names on masking tape. The hotspot moved into the trailer that week. Never again on building wifi.

Field note after three question marks

Treasurer screenshot the first paid invoice before the planter saw it. They paid, then calendared what they should have calendared at signup. Discounts are gifts. Silent end dates are still deadlines.

Local reality check

A 70-attendance church plant meeting in a school cafeteria still has to finish ordinary Sundays with the people they have. If a tool in this mix demands a role you will not fund, cut that tool or fund the role before go-live. Faithfulness here is a kept promise to guests, volunteers, and givers, not a complete feature matrix.

When you adapt this page, keep the lastVerified habit. Re-check pricing and admin names when staff changes. A stack page older than your last admin handoff is a rumor until someone verifies it again.