Heyworth Christian Church has been with Rock since the beginning. A small church with an average attendance of
190 in Heyworth, Illinois, they began looking for a new church management system at the same time Rock beta was
released. It was a natural fit. "We took it as a sign and started making plans for installation," mentioned
Andrew Lee, head of the technology ministry.
Shortly after learning about Rock, Andrew and the church's finance ministry began migrating their data, a
process that they continued for over a year. Early last year, they began to record their contributions in Rock,
which has happily resulted in major timesaving for the staff. Giving statements were simple this year. After
editing the template to include a message from their senior pastor and lining up the address with windowed
envelopes, it was "print, stuff, done." Big believers in slow, steady steps, Heyworth Christian Church found
their best internal results came from focusing on one area at a time.
"We started with a meeting with the main users (senior pastor, secretary, youth team, and finance) to introduce
Rock and discuss the possibilities. It was a good intro, but didn’t produce much movement," says Andrew.
Staff communication improved dramatically when they approached each team with a plan for how they could
continue their job functions while using Rock as their new tool. "Now we are really turning the page with
these groups starting to ask how to use additional features. We are testing the Pushpay integration for
online giving and experimenting with bulk messaging."
While the church hasn't yet jumped into many of the flexible features of Rock, they are excited about the
almost limitless customization. With due caution, they've noted that, "while we are happy to have stumbled
upon Rock, and are amazed at the functionality provided by this open-source software, we also realize that it
is brand new and there will be glitches along the way."
This realistic approach to a new application helps keep expectations in line with learning curves and product
improvements. Slow and steady is definitely winning the race at Heyworth Christian Church, resulting in a
partnership that was obviously meant to be.
Top Tip: Take your time! "By rolling out functionality slowly, you can avoid turning
users loose on features that aren’t ready for prime-time, which keeps the experience positive."