Yes, the product is open source, and there are a handful of churches using (or trying to use) the self-hosted option. I don't have good numbers on that, but I think you're right -- more churches are paying me to host than doing it themselves.
The City, and just recently, The Table are both bigger competitors.
...so you're saying, reduce the feature set and make the smaller product more focused? That's a good idea; thanks for the advice!
You don't have to reduce the feature set by a lot, but you can at least put the technical features under an 'advanced' section or something so non-technical users are not intimidated.. or you can take them off completely. Facebook integration would also help, I'm sure.. Can't tell if you have it or not from the site but it looks like just twitter. The ability to share events and such on FB that would take members to your site would help (I would think).
I've been so discouraged about the whole thing lately, thinking I need to shut it down and do something else. Though, it sounds like, you're saying I'd be better off making some significant changes in my approach and seeing if that works.
I just wonder... when do I say, this isn't going to work. I guess that's the whole point of entrepreneurship... not giving up. :-)
[edit: not sure why I thought HN might advise me to give up. :-) ]
The City, and just recently, The Table are both bigger competitors.
...so you're saying, reduce the feature set and make the smaller product more focused? That's a good idea; thanks for the advice!