Birth of Jewel . . .

In the 1990's many churches were leaving the DOS accounting software and trying commercial software. This was creating an auditing nightmare and a tech support impossibility. In 1998 the Florida Conference voted to commission a church accounting software package to be written that would meet the needs of all their churches - small and large. The Conference wanted software that would meet all of the Conference standards and specifications. It was to have the reports that the Conference needed and meet the needs of the local church. The new software was to be Windows based and have advanced capabilities for high-tech users.

In spite of all this, the Florida Conference still wanted the software to be user friendly and easy to learn. Recognizing that many Church Treasurers are not accountants, the software should automate the accounting process. Also recognizing that some treasures are not computer savvy, it was to be simple to learn and operate.

To fulfill this need, in the spring of 1998, the Florida Conference commissioned Reggie Thomas to write a software package for their use. Reggie was a junior Computer Information Systems student at Southern Adventist University. The software, Jewel, debuted in January 1999.

Jewel was well received from the start. It soon became known as a very easy program to learn. Its popularity grew rapidly as an easy-to-learn, easy-to-use, fast-to-operate software.

In 2000, Jewel went to the General Conference Session in Toronto and was carried around the world! It is now in use in the Cayman Islands, Bahamas, Canada, and South Africa - oh, yes, all over the United States too!

Jewel has had many improvements and upgrades as it grew to international use - features were added to meet the tax needs of Canada, and to accommodate various national currencies. Also users have seen some of their suggestions incorporated into the program.