Podcast Episode 167: Episode 140: Special Edition with Lorrie Yoakum

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Find out a little more about our new Director of Community and Operations, Lorrie Yoakum. What it is like to start a week prior to the biggest event of the year, and how she had been running parallel to Rock until God decided these paths should intersect. 

Transcribed Content

This episode of Rockcast is brought to you by Rock partner Triumph Tech, a full service specialist partner. Rock partners provide crucial support for Spark Development Network and important services for the Rock community. Connect with Triumph Tech today at rockrms.com/partners. Welcome to this special edition of ROTCast. I'm Emily Forman, and I have a very special guest joining me here today, our new director of community and operations, Laurie Yocum. Welcome to the team, Laurie. Good morning. I'm happy to be here. I say new, but we're talking two months in. Right? Yep. So sixty days. Sixty days in. So all the things? No. Not yet. But I every day is a new challenge and a new adventure, and I am up for it. Oh, that's exciting. So this is a great time to introduce you to the community. Now you had your first run, week two, was at RX this year, I think. Correct? Yes. I was on staff for four days before I got to meet the community at RX, which was great because I didn't know if I was talking to somebody I worked on staff with or somebody who was from the community. So it was a it was a fun experience. Yes. It was a lot of fun. And when you say you, went to the conference, what you really mean is you managed the event. Yes. That was part of my position that I learned very quickly, fell under my scope, after I said yes to the job. Great. So for all of our listeners, you may have run into Laurie at the conference. You may have received, oh, I don't know, one to twenty twenty emails from her in the last Probably. Sixty days. Yeah. And there may be some other opportunities to have run across your name, but this is a great chance for the community to get to know a little bit about you. Well, I am happy to tell them what I know about me. Probably more than anyone else knows. Well, we're happy to have you on the team. And the role that you're filling is a really interesting role that spreads across multiple areas of the of the Rock community from the SPARC perspective. So tell us a little bit about some of those areas. From what I understand in my first sixty days, I get to touch a lot of areas that are important to Rock and what we do here. I get to to communicate with our churches, and organizations that use Rock. I get to start to field questions. I get to work with partners and, sponsors. I get to bring them in and explain what Rock is and why we're important, why it's important for them to join what we're doing. I have the privilege of talking to churches about funding Rock and how important that is. If they are able to do our donation model, that's incredible because it helps us keep doing what we're doing. So there are so many areas that I get to be a part of, and they're all exciting. They are all exciting. We talk a lot about the ecosystem around Rock, right? And so that involves the core team that's architecting and building the product and also shepherding the community, which are key in that role. We talk about the partners and sponsors as such a critical element of the funding and sustainability of our community. And then we talk about the churches that are using the product, interacting in the community, and working with the partners and sponsors. And the really unique thing about what you do is you are such an integral part of all of those relationships, and it's such a fun and dynamic environment to be in. So you came to this from some kind of background. Why don't you share with our listeners what that background looks that could prepare you for a role this? I am this is not the first time I've stepped into a ministry role. I met, my husband in Bible College. So I do have a four year degree, a bachelor's in educational ministry from Manhattan Christian College. Married a pastor who has worked in a lot of XP areas, so executive pastor, been a pastor's wife and raised children in the church, and then got to use my degree in a really fun way when I stepped into a role as a children's pastor in Flagstaff and got to do that for five years. So pastor's wife, pastor myself, I've touched a few areas of ministry that I think have have provided me an insight into what's important for Rock. And speaking of Rock, this is not the first time you've interacted with or run across Rock in those roles. Right? No. I have been Rock adjacent since Rock was just an idea in the heads of you and John and Nick too. My husband happened to be on staff at the same church that you guys were at where this was created and started hearing about it very, very early on in its inception. And so actually got to utilize it in my role as a children's pastor and saw the power that it has and what it can do for ministry and the way churches need to use it. Well, that's a really interesting background. So a little bit of Rock, a little bit of ministry, and really, that's kind of what we're set up to to power right here is we want to take innovative technology, put it in the hands of churches and empower ministry with it. So you've seen it from the side of something that's a valuable, helpful tool for you, and even had some exposure to the community previously, right? Absolutely. And one of the things that endeared Rock to me in a moment when the world felt it was coming to a crashing halt was as a pastor, when we were told we had to lock our doors due to COVID, we were all given a set time to come into the church, grab what we needed and leave. And I didn't realize at that moment what I was taking with me when I took my laptop and I had access to Rock. Because I was able to reach out to every person who had ever walked through the doors of my children's ministry, whether it was a child or their parents or a volunteer. And so I I fell in love with Rock all over again, because of that moment. It's exciting to hear the passion in your voice related to Rock and what Rock can do for ministry. And I think that's a really unique thing that you bring to this role that's gonna be very valuable to the churches that interact with you. It's not manufactured. It really is part of your lived experience. 100%. Yeah. Rock is creating a way for ministry to move forward in the society that we live in today. When we were isolated, we had tools to be able to reach back out and to ask for help in church life. Whether it was a pastor or a church member, we could reach each other through the technology that God had the foresight to provide years in advance. It's definitely God's hand has been on our entire journey from a Rock and spark perspective. And now that you're in the role you are, you are still hands on with Rock, maybe even more so. We talk about eating our own dog food here, which means we run everything in pre pre alpha. Every two weeks, we update with the latest bits of Rock. So we test everything out first. We trip over it before anyone else does. But also, you have access to the same tools that you're you're talking to churches about. Mhmm. Mhmm. Absolutely. And there are so many things that I get to see now on this side of things that I wish I would have known as a pastor. So when we advertise those classes, it's for everyone. It's not just for your IT team. You're children's That's great point. If you're a children's pastor, you kinda need to know how to put together your newsletter. And so I would recommend, now that I've seen it from this side too, don't be afraid of those classes. You're smart people. what you need, and, this just allows you to help yourself in ministry and not wait for somebody else. That's a great point as well. So, Laura, you have a really interesting onboarding and hiring story that you just have to share with our audience. Well, we've already talked about God's hand. And I firmly believe that God has had a hold of my life actually since before I was created, which Psalms tells us that. He knew exactly what our days were going to be before they happened. And I'll shorten my life story because there's a few years in there. But to get hired at Rock, it was 100% God's hand in that whole moment. We had come back to the valley after living up north for almost a decade, and I was on a job search and I was trying to figure out where God had me and asking for a ministry position. And it didn't look that was going to happen. In fact, I was on my way out the door for my final interview and to accept a job as a teacher. And my phone rang. And it was a local area code, or I probably wouldn't have picked it up. One of those things about Americans, if we don't know the number, we don't answer the phone. That's true. And, the phone rang. It was a local number. I figured it was the job that I was just about to take. But instead, it was a woman named Emily Forman calling me to say, hey. We think we have a position here at Rock for you. Do you wanna have this conversation? And I said, yes. I'm actually on my way out the door to take a different job. I'm gonna go to that interview and I'm gonna hold them off. And that's exactly what I did. I asked for permission to to have a few days, to search this one out and see if this is where I was supposed to be. So we were within twenty minutes of me already taking a different job when you called. But, again, God's hand, moves, and he opens those doors. He is never early. He is never late. He is right on time. And it's so interesting, now that we can share both sides of that story to to see God's hand at work. But although I had worked with your husband at CCV, and I'd heard your name, we never actually had ever met. No. We hadn't. No. We knew each other, through other people, but that's as far as it had gone. Right. There was probably some social media random connection somewhere that nobody followed up on, but it is just so interesting how paths can be parallel until God's timing causes them to intersect. And the timing was was perfect on our end and it sounds it was perfected on yours as well. Absolutely. God just made me wait for this door to open and again sometimes that waiting feels difficult but His plan is so perfect. We've joked around because the position, even in my title, if you've done anything with a disc test, you understand that this is not a typical role. No. When you're talking community, you're talking people. And when you're talking operations, you're talking procedure. So if you've played around with the disc test, you're talking about an IC personality, which I've laughed for years because I am an IC, and I've said, well, I can plan the party, and I can enjoy the party. So it is the way that God designed me to be. And so to have a role that already exists that understands those two worlds, it couldn't have been more perfect. It is very, very interesting to think through the layers of of detail on that. I remember sitting on the other side of that conversation and thinking, well, something interesting is gonna happen here. It's either gonna be really great, or or Laurie's gonna show up and go, wait. You want me to run a conference in four days? What are you saying? But it it ended up being a really intriguing challenge, I guess, because you did, accept the position. Yeah. And I am so glad that in my first four days, I had nothing but a full on sprint to get to learn people in the community, the people that I was gonna get to work with for the last sixty days. I look forward to the next however many days God has in front of us, which I plan on being a lot. But I just look forward to every day. It's it's a wonderful thing to be a part of the movement and community of what we're doing here with Rock. And in our roles here from Spark, we're just shepherds of that. Mhmm. And and we're excited to have you join our shepherd team because we get to see firsthand in many cases the work that God's doing, and we hold that with such an open hand because we know that God's timing is his timing, and he has made apparent to us in our whole journey, whether it's from this type of connection that we're talking about or whether it's just in time funding. Whatever it is, we have seen God's hand at work in such a way that we know God is present in this, and that's really critical to go to our going forward as well. So to have you join us with that same perspective, I think that's God just reinforcing this is the way that it's going to work because I'm in control, and and I've got that. Mhmm. And and it's been critical to everything with, Rock, and it's fun that your story has just as much an element of that as the the initiation of the project. Absolutely. I love that I was alongside Rock for so long, and now I get to step in, you said, when paths cross. So we hit we hit that crossroads, and I got to take this path. And so I'm so grateful for this opportunity, to work with the community. The community is what makes Rock Rock. Mhmm. And that is, you can hear that, but until you get to witness that and see as a pastor, I've been to a lot of conferences and watched churches stick together and move through a conference that way, but Rock's community is not that. They when you'd sit down at a table, you'd expect them to all to be from the same church, but they were all from different churches. Right. And I believe that is that's the way that God wants us to work. He wants churches helping other churches to reach more people for him. Mhmm. It's that diversity that really does it. And it's not a clicky experience at all. No. It's not. So if you haven't been to the RX Conference, this should be your year because it is, it's an amazing experience. That's a great point. And tickets right now are at an early ticket price. Right? So Yeah. So you may have seen my name on that last email that came out in the last few days that said early bird pricing ends. So please email me or register if you have any questions. We want to get you here. We want to get you involved in that community experience because once you do, it will become part of your normal. That's true. And, , I talk to a lot of churches that are thinking Before this past conference, I was speaking with a church, a fairly large church, and I said, you've got you've got to understand this community. I know your evaluation period's coming to an end, but buy one ticket to the conference and come check it out. And they bought seven. And they showed up with a whole team, and they were probably one of those churches at one of the tables that you're talking about. And and they were able to evaluate it from the perspective of their kids ministry, their communications department, their finance team, their adult ministry, so many different areas, and really get that understanding of, oh, look at this support branch that I have here. There are other people that do what I do. Mhmm. And these tools are powering their ministry. It's not we're not talking administrative function. We're not talking glorified spreadsheets. We're not talking glorified Rolodexes. We're talking engagement features, things that take work off the plates of pastors and increase the ability to engage digitally and in person. So that was a pretty cool experience, and I love that little, , one case study. Right? Right. Yeah. But it is so true. And after the conference, I followed up with him, and they said, oh, that was the best way to know what Rock really is. So Right. It's not just a product. That's right. It's really it's your it's a church lifestyle. Yes. So thanks for allowing us that little journey toward the sign up for the conference. But truly, it is, incredible. Yeah. As somebody who experienced it for the first time and is so looking forward to getting to run it the second time, I I hands down, you have to come. And the connection part's really important. Another cool piece is that 90 plus percent of the content is actually written and delivered by community members Mhmm. That are showing ways that Rock has helped power their ministry, so that's incredible. And we also have a a keynote that talks about product direction, strategy, and vision. And that's actually a a free visible video right now on the community website if that's something you wanna check out to determine, , what it might be if you did attend. So definitely encourage checking out the State of Rock keynote Yes. Under subscriptions on the community site. Mhmm. Mhmm. Well, Lori, thank you so much for joining us and introducing yourself to the community today for those who may have only seen your name on the bottom of an email, or we'll see that in the next twelve months because I know it's gonna happen. Oh, yeah. If you haven't heard from me yet, you can always reach out to me, and I'm happy to introduce myself. Well, we're thrilled to have you on the team. Thanks so much for sharing your story with us today, and thank you so much to those of you who join us for our podcast. Don't forget to subscribe so you get the latest updates on what's going on. We to interview members of the community. We to tell you what's happening behind the scenes with the product direction, with the community in general, and and your support's critical. So subscribe and then share with your fellow friends in the Rock community this podcast. In fact, help us grow our audience there because this is a critical way that you'll hear what's going on before everyone else does. And you can stay in the know with the latest and greatest. Thanks for joining us, and we'll talk with you next time. Do a church that loves the idea of using Rock but hasn't taken that leap yet? With managed hosting, churches of any size can get access to Rock's amazing technology, hassle free. With just one click, Rock's managed hosting removes the roadblocks that might stop a church from switching to Rock by making the process simple. Churches get the ease of a SaaS church management system without losing any of Rock's powerful features. Are you ready to take the next step or share with another local church? Visit rockrms.com/hosting today.