Do you ever feel overwhelmed with people to care for, groups to check on, or reports to review?  These are all important aspects of church staff and pastoral ministry. 

Back in March I wrote a couple of blog posts focusing on how missional and networking non-profits are using Churchteams to manage their ministry.   Those focused specifically on features and how these organizations are using them.  

In June, I did a breakout with about 25 SBC Association Missions Strategists on these features.  If this isn't your bunch, basically, these are people who oversee from about 20 to 200 or more churches in a local geographical area.  Normal is around 40.  

It was a really great time for me to hear their hearts and needs.  Almost all of them had a hodge-podge of software and paper they use for managing data, emailing people, texting people, forms, and events.  They clearly expressed their frustration that everything wasn't working together and some things were even missing.

We hear this frustration all the time with pastors and this isn't the first time with network leaders like this.  I had a little time to dig in further that day, but not enough.  So, I set up a couple of follow up times this summer to listen and learn more.  

In this blog post, I'm excited to share with you an interview with my long time friend, Rick Howerton about his new book.  We got to know each other well years ago traveling to small group training programs across the country as part of a fledgling collective of friends that has become the Small Group Network.

His book, The Perpetually Growing Church, is a practitioners guide to building a healthy, growing church.  He knows a thing or two about this. 

He has been a campus minister, a staff pastor and a discipleship consultant (Navpress, Lifeway, KY Baptist Convention).  He planted The Bridge Church in Nashville, TN.  He has been a frequent speaker and trainer at churches, conferences, and training programs before and since our small group conference days. He has written multiple books and now serves as the Central Group Pastor for Lakepointe Church in Rockwell, TX.

Values-building in an organization is hard work.  I'm not talking about the work of writing something down for a business plan.  Nor the work of an executive team on a retreat wrestling over what is most important.  The result of this kind of work is a set of aspirational values.  These are just seeds.  

I'm talking about the hard work of cultivating, planting, watering, fertilizing, weeding, and protecting these seeds.  There's no shortcut for this work.  It takes time for values to put down roots, sprout, mature, and bear fruit.

Now that Easter is over, pastors and church staff are turning their attention to planning and preparing for summer events.  In fact, a good friend, an elder at his church, recently asked me about using Churchteams for managing their church's mission trips. 

There are software solutions built specifically to solve this problem for churches.  But, he has been around the software world for decades and knew it would be better to use Churchteams if possible than to purchase another software.  The cost of another software is a factor, but the bigger issues are staff and data alignment.

There's a chapter in the book, Perspectives on the World Christian Movement entitled, "The Two Structures of God's Redemptive Mission."  In it Ralph Winter makes the Biblical and historical case for the importance of fraternal church associations.  He refers to the church as the modality structure and these associations as the sodality structures God uses to accomplish His redemptive purposes. 

There's no doubt that what we call network and missional non-profits have been part of God's plan since the book of Acts.  This doesn't take away from the church.  It actually adds to it.  It extends and empowers it.  That's why I love that our software is being used by so many of these organizations.

Sometimes we hear about really creative ways churches are using our software for ministry.  I've shared a few before, but I need to do it more. 

In fact, from now on, anytime you see Epic! in the subject line, you'll know it's an interview or a story from a user.

This one is from Stetson Baptist Church in Deland, FL where Dan Glenn is the Sr. Pastor.  Dan wanted to do a series on "The Power of Routine" to help his church establish some essential habits for spiritual growth.

My bookshelves used to be organized by topic and alphabeticized by author.  I could find anything quickly.  Not so much anymore.  I could give excuses, but they're a mess and make it a challenge to find something when I need it.  

One of our clients asked us a few months ago if we could add spanish versions of the system keywords used in Text-to-Church.  He knew he could already use spanish keywords for any group, event, or form and just wanted to upgrade that a bit to system keywords.