Company Profile

Since 1976, Shelby Systems, Inc. has been a leader in providing software to churches, parishes, denominational headquarters, independent ministries, and development organizations. Currently, over 8500 users are supported all over the United States and in several foreign countries.

Over 90 employees work in the headquarters office located in Cordova, Tennessee, a suburb of Memphis. In addition, a nationwide network of trainers and agents support sales efforts, conduct training workshops, and provide on-site contact with prospects and customers.

Shelby was the first church management software company to hold Gold Partner Certification from Microsoft. This designation is awarded to elite business partners that meet Microsoft's top level of requirements in the areas of software stability, training and certification of technicians, and customer satisfaction.

Over the years, Shelby has been characterized by consistently providing excellent support, being responsive to customer needs and holding the highest ethical business practices.

Customer Profile

Shelby currently serves over 8,000 customers in more than 45 countries. This includes three Territories of The Salvation Army, numbering over 1,000 corps locations, and the National Headquarters of The Salvation Army.

The majority of customers fit into the general category of not-for-profit organizations. By far, the largest group is churches. The next largest group consists of denominational headquarters such as Assembly of God districts, Baptist associations, Catholic and Episcopal dioceses, Presbyterian synods, and United Methodist annual conferences.

Sizes of the organizations vary widely, both from the standpoint of system size – a single workstation to a 100-workstation network – as well as the number of records maintained – representing under 200 persons to well over 80,000.

Fund accounting distinguishes the needs of non-profit organizations from profit organizations. A Shelby strength, there are some groups who use Shelby primarily because of the accounting portion of the software.

Shelby History

During the 1970’s, while establishing a data processing center at Southwest Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth, Texas, Ernie Hamilton developed a strong background in fund accounting. Recognizing that the computer could be a powerful tool for enhancing ministry, and believing that God had given him a specific vision and talent for this task, Ernie left the Seminary in 1976 to begin the ground-breaking mission of producing computing tools for ministries. That same year, Ernie founded Shelby Systems.

The following year, Ernie hired a young and eager programmer by the name of Frank Canady. Together, Frank and Ernie began designing Shelby software to make financial operations more efficient and accurate. The quality of Shelby’s software and Ernie’s outgoing and persuasive personality soon garnered a loyal client base. In addition to the growing financial suite, Shelby’s membership and prospect tracking became more and more sophisticated. Churches began experiencing improved community outreach as well as increased volunteer and member assimilation. With better understanding of their communities and congregations, churches could more readily define and refine their ministries. Ernie’s vision had become reality and a world-wide ministry began.

In November of 1998, Shelby Systems mourned the loss of Ernie after a tragic plane crash. The baton of Ernie’s vision was passed to Frank Canady, Ernie’s first employee and the author of many of Shelby’s programs. During the past decade, under Frank’s leadership and direction, Shelby has continued to keep pace with ever-changing technology trends and has remained focused on excellent customer service.

Shelby has never lost sight of Ernie’s vision and purpose: To glorify God and further His Kingdom by empowering churches and faith-based, nonprofit organizations with superior technologies, training and support.