I did a workshop recently at  the Disciple Leaders Network conference on the topic of "How to think about and map out an effective assimilation strategy."  The host team asked us to make it a working time so that participants could walk away with some tools on our topics.  I thought I'd share mine here as well. 

I started by introducing our view of assimilation as a network of buckets and workflows.  Buckets are the groups, events, responses, steps, etc. in which we gather people with the same interests.  Workflows help us move them from one bucket (group) to another.  Here's the illustration I used in the workshop.

The French writer, poet, and aviation pioneer, Antoine de Saint-Exupery famously said, "A goal without a plan is just a wish."  

Easter was just a couple of weeks ago.  Hopefully, your church saw lots of visitors and twice-a-year attenders. How has your follow-up with these people gone?  Are you working the plan or was your goal for them to return really just a wish?

Feature upgrades / new releases often come from users' input and end up making their work a little easier.  Here's what Mary shared with us recently.  (Stock photo, not really Mary.)

"Adobe wouldn't let me save my latest email newsletter because it was too big to save the way I always used to do it (8 steps 😝).  So, I decided to try your “create a link” feature in Email Templates.

It worked beautifully! And in the future will save me SO MUCH TIME! Thank you for providing this tool!  You guys are so wonderful at providing what we users need to do our work for God’s Kingdom."

About a year ago I met Sam Rainer at a Discipleship Pastors retreat.  He is a pastor, author, and President / Sr. Consultant with Church Answers.  His books include "Obstacles in the Established Church" and "Church Revitalization Checklist."

In the last few weeks we've seen some history and stats on texting, how businesses are using texting, and how churches are using texting.  In this final installment we are going to provide some best practices for using texting.

These may seem pretty basic, but I think if you read beyond the section headers, you will discover some interesting and helpful nuggets that will get you nominated for best church or non-profit use of personal  texting.

Text to give made its popular debut with United Way at the Super Bowl in 2008. A few years after that online payment processing companies began offering it to churches as a giving option.

We became convinced that this method of contributing to ministry was more than a passing fad and released it in 2016 as a part of our online giving services.

Industry enhancements to the texting infrastructure in recent years have opened up exciting new ways for churches to use texting beyond mass communication and giving. Here is a list of the ways that Churchteams clients are using it.

Last week we looked at three reasons why churches should be thinking about using text messaging: 1) texting has a history, 2) people have the app, and 3) people use the app. These mean it is the most widely used and most reliable channel for communication available to us.

When we were redoing the Text-to-Church page on our website last fall, I came up with the word "text-savvy" to include in the by-line.  Obviously, a twist of the word tech-savvy, it has forced me to think about and research a response to the question, "what does it mean to be knowledgeable about text messaging?"

"When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd."  Matthew 9:36

Data is important not only for tracking the crowds, but also for seeing their needs.  One of the most powerful ways to use ChMS reporting is to identify and flag significant pastoral care and discipleship needs.  

Two of the most common reports for pastoral care are the lapsed givers and missing persons reports.  Here is what these look like and how to build them.

A few weeks ago, coinciding with the new year, I started a series of blogs related to the difference between tracking something to achieve a goal and tracking something as part of an ongoing relationship.  So far we've looked at demographic data and guest follow up tracking.  In this article we look at tracking adult small groups.

Most pastors encourage adults to be in small groups as an important step in their spiritual growth or discipleship process.  However, once the data comes in and pastors realize that small group enrollment has a direct effect on giving and worship attendance then there's a temptation to make small group tracking a goal to achieve rather than a spiritual formation relationship to develop.  I know this because I lived it.

I was at a church in recent months and shot the QR code to fill out the communication card.  One of the options was to talk with a pastor.  I had a couple of questions, so I checked that box. 

A short time later I received an email back confirming that I filled out the card and would be contacted.  I never was.

Personally, I'm okay.  I know that church staff are busy and church systems often fail.  Plus, I don't want to have an over-inflated view of my value to them.  That feels prideful.

However, professionally, I'm not okay with that.  It's hard enough to get guests to respond, but if they do and we don't follow through, what does that say?