324 updates shipped across ChurchApps in the last few weeks. Micheal and Kari pick the one that changes every day you spend in the software — the new global search — plus three favorites (your sermon library is now a podcast, duplicate person detection, and a refund button for donations) and a lightning round of ten more, all linked below. The theme running through all of it: more power, less clutter.

THE HEADLINER: GLOBAL SEARCH (Command Palette)
- A search bar now sits at the top of every B1 Admin page — click it, press Cmd+K (Ctrl+K on Windows), or just tap the / key
- "Do" actions: add a person, start check-in — straight from the palette
- "Jump" to any section: People, Groups, Donations, Plans, Attendance, Site, Sermons, Calendars
- Type a member's name and jump straight to their profile — no menus
- More on finding people: https://support.churchapps.org/docs/b1-admin/people/searching-people

FAVORITE #2: YOUR SERMONS ARE NOW A PODCAST
- Sermons page → new "Podcast Feed" panel → copy your church's feed URL and submit it once to Apple Podcasts / Spotify
- Sermons now accept an audio file; only sermons with an audio or direct video file are included in the feed (embeds alone won't work — keep your recordings!)
- New Podcast element in the website builder displays episodes on your own site
- Sermon library docs: https://support.churchapps.org/docs/b1-admin/sermons/
- Full sermon setup guide: https://support.churchapps.org/docs/b1-admin/guides/sermon-library

FAVORITE #3: DUPLICATE PERSON DETECTION
- Adding a new person quietly checks your database first — a match on email, phone number, or name + birthdate pops a "Possible Duplicate" dialog showing who it found
- "Use Existing" takes you straight to the record already in your system; "Create Anyway" is there for legitimate cases (like family members sharing an email)
- A matching name alone doesn't trigger it — two real Bob Johnsons are safe
- Adding people docs: https://support.churchapps.org/docs/b1-admin/people/adding-people

FAVORITE #4: REFUND BUTTON ON DONATIONS
- Open an online donation in its batch → a Refund button now sits next to Delete
- One confirmation refunds the gift in full through your payment gateway; the donation shows a "Refunded" badge, the amount is struck through, and batch totals update
- Applies to online gifts (ones with a card transaction); requires giving edit permissions
- Recording donations docs: https://support.churchapps.org/docs/b1-admin/donations/recording-donations

LIGHTNING ROUND — TEN MORE
1. QuickBooks export on donation batches — https://support.churchapps.org/docs/b1-admin/donations/batches
2. Lapsed Givers report (use it as a care list) — https://support.churchapps.org/docs/b1-admin/donations/donation-reports
3. Failed recurring gifts auto-retry and email the donor — https://support.churchapps.org/docs/b1-admin/donations/online-giving-setup
4. Manual headcounts + headcount trend report — https://support.churchapps.org/docs/b1-admin/attendance/recording-attendance
5. Birthday-week condition in the check-in label designer — https://support.churchapps.org/docs/b1-admin/attendance/labels
6. Curriculum year plans follow the real calendar; publishers can pin lessons to holidays — https://support.churchapps.org/docs/b1-admin/serving/scheduling-lessons
7. Profile visibility levels: Staff Only / My Group Leaders and Staff — https://support.churchapps.org/docs/b1-mobile/profile/privacy-settings
8. Group join requests become approvable tasks for leaders — https://support.churchapps.org/docs/b1-admin/groups/group-join-requests
9. Dark theme for B1 Admin — https://support.churchapps.org/docs/b1-admin/
10. Japanese language support + Canada/Australia/NZ giving statement formats — https://support.churchapps.org/docs/b1-admin/donations/giving-statements

SEE EVERY UPDATE
- All development happens in the open — every change, every discussion: https://github.com/ChurchApps
- Have a feature request? Open an issue on GitHub — that's how many of these updates started.

Try It This Week: Log into admin.b1.church, press Cmd+K, and type the name of somebody you've been meaning to check on.

NEW TO B1? START HERE — IT'S FREE
- First time? Go to b1.church to create your free account — no cost, no credit card.
- Already set up? Log in at admin.b1.church.

Resources:
- Create a free account: b1.church
- B1 Admin (log in): admin.b1.church
- Help & Support: support.churchapps.org
- ChurchApps on GitHub: github.com/ChurchApps

The B1 website builder just picked up nine new elements, shaped section dividers, a section template gallery, site-wide widgets, an accessibility checker, and a conversational mode for forms — all free. This episode walks through the whole batch: the elements that pull live data so your site never goes stale (Service Times, Staff Grid, Campaign Progress), the first-impression elements (Countdown, Testimonial, Stats, Gallery, Icon Feature, Social Icons), and the design tools that make a volunteer-built site look professionally designed.

FULL WALKTHROUGH WITH SCREENSHOTS
- Every step from this episode, with screenshots: https://pages.churchapps.org/website-builder-update-guide

WHERE EVERYTHING IS
- Elements: Website → Pages → open a page → Edit Content → Add Content. Panel has search plus Common / Media / Church / Advanced tabs. Click or drag to add.
- Shape Dividers: open any section's settings → Shape Dividers (wave, waves, slant, curve, triangle, peaks — plus color, height, and flip)
- Section templates: when adding a section, browse the gallery by category (Hero, About, Services, People & Groups, Media, Giving, Call to Action)
- Widgets: Website → Appearance → Site Widgets (Announcement Bar + Launcher)
- Accessibility checker: the accessibility icon in the page editor toolbar
- Conversational forms: People → Forms → edit form → Display Mode → Conversational

THE NINE NEW ELEMENTS
1) Countdown — count down to a date, or Weekly Service mode (pick day + time, recurs every week). Custom "completed" message when it hits zero.
2) Service Times — your campuses' service schedule, pulled automatically from attendance setup. Adds structured data so search engines understand your schedule.
3) Staff Grid — live photo cards from a group's roster. Requires the group's public roster option to be enabled. Update the group, the page updates itself.
4) Campaign Progress — live giving-goal thermometer tied to a fund (pairs with Pledge Campaigns from Episode 16). Goal amount, optional start/end dates, show/hide amounts, optional donate link.
5) Testimonial — quotes with author, role, and photo; single or rotating display.
6) Stats — big-number highlights with labels (years, kids, meals served) in 2–4 columns.
7) Gallery — multi-photo grid or masonry layout with column and spacing options.
8) Icon Feature — icon + title + short description; use three or four side by side for "what to expect" sections.
9) Social Icons — linked icons for Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, X, TikTok, Vimeo. Only the links you fill in are shown.

SITE WIDGETS (Website → Appearance)
- Announcement Bar — site-wide banner on every page: text, link, colors, and start/end dates so it schedules itself and takes itself down.
- Launcher — floating corner button that expands into quick links (Plan a Visit, Give, Watch Live). Choose corner and color.

ACCESSIBILITY CHECKER
- In the page editor toolbar. Scans for images missing alt text, low color contrast, and headings out of order — each finding links to the element so you can fix it in place.

CONVERSATIONAL FORMS
- People → Forms → edit a form → Display Mode: Conversational. Presents one question at a time instead of a full-page form.

Try It This Week (ONE thing):
- Open your home page in the editor (Website → Pages → Edit Content → Add Content) and add the Countdown element. Mode: Weekly Service, pick your day and time, save. Two minutes.

NEW TO B1? START HERE — IT'S FREE
- First time? Go to b1.church to create your free account — no cost, no credit card.
- Already set up? Log in at admin.b1.church.

Resources:
- Episode 20 walkthrough with screenshots: https://pages.churchapps.org/website-builder-update-guide
- Create a free account: b1.church
- B1 Admin (log in): admin.b1.church
- Help & Support: support.churchapps.org
- Page editor docs: https://support.churchapps.org/docs/b1-admin/website/page-editor/
- ChurchApps on GitHub: github.com/ChurchApps