Podcast Episode 157: Episode 130: Special Edition with Cecillia Fountain and Tony Visconti

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We've got not one, but two special guests on this episode of Rock Cast. Tony Visconti of College Church in Illinois and Cecillia Fountain of Centerpoint Church in California join us to discuss making the decision to move to Rock, their experiences being new to the Rock Community, and what they're excited about for the future of their church with Rock.

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 Rockcast. We have a special edition podcast today where we're going to interview some members of the community that we think will be really intriguing for those who listen to our Rockcast. I'm Emily Forman. I have Erin Higginbotham with me here. And our special guest today, that's right, we have two, are Tony Visconti and Cecilia Fountain. So Tony is the Digital Ministry Manager at College Church in Wheaton, Illinois. And Cecilia is the Strategic Technology Partner at CenterPoint Church in Murrieta, California. And what they both have in common is that they're fairly new to the Rock community. But also what they have in common is that they've really jumped in with both feet to get not only an understanding of Rock as a platform and a product that their church needs, but also to jump in and see what the community's all about and to learn the dynamics of the give and take in the community from the very beginning. So we know that takes a lot of courage and it takes a lot of enthusiasm and energy, and and we're so happy to have both of you here on our podcast today. Thanks for joining us. Thanks for having us. So let's start with some of the basics. And, Cecilia, I'll ask you first. How did you hear about Rock? Well, it was kind of funny. I we were tasked with finding a new , how do you track a discipleship pathway in a computer system for from from our management at church. So I started digging around, and I was in a different Slack channel for another church management software. And I asked that question, , can you guys track digital digitally a discipleship path? And they they kind of figured it out a little bit. But aside private messaged on the side, I got a a message from a Rock partner developer saying, , have you looked into Rock RMS? And I was , never heard of it. And that was April first of this year, and forty nine days later, we're probably we're starting our implementation. So it's been a rapid ride. Wow. That is a very fast momentum that you had going on there. So you looked into Rock and said, I guess this is what we need. It took me about four or five days to pretty much realize that Rock would eliminate every single software system we had that was outside of our HR and payroll. Wow. That's a lot of investigation. Very cool. So, Tony, how about for you? What was it that triggered your investigation of Rock? Yeah. Mine mine was a little bit longer of a journey, , sixty years ago. I had been working at a previous church had a coworker, our IT directors, who brought up Rock and said, Hey, there's this new system coming out. I've just loaded it onto one of our servers. And I was , We did what? It just perplexed at how quickly he could get something up and that running and just started checking out the system. We weren't in a position really to quickly change things from a training perspective or staff perspective, but something that definitely was on my radar for a long time. And even as I entered my new role a few years ago at a different church, I just kept looking into and trying to kept learning about it. That's great. So you represent a couple of different angles and approaches to learning about Rock and jumping in and getting in the information as you go and doing a lot of investigation ahead of time. So that's really interesting. Think that probably everyone that's new to the Rock community can relate to one or the other of your experiences. Either really fast or a little bit slower than you would have liked. That's alright. Tony, I know that you did a lot of investigating about Rock before you kind of joined the community. So can you tell us a little bit about what you were looking for and what Yeah. Sure. I'm one of those people that's pretty resistant to change. I was as much trying to understand what are the current capabilities of our system? What are the tools we haven't used yet? And is there any additional that we can eke out of those systems before we put our staff through a lot of transition and change? So trying to make sure as I came up to speed on our current systems that we're using them effectively. After I had reached a good point a year or two in when I felt , okay, we're really never gonna be able to get to the point that we want from a ministry effectiveness standpoint and ease of use, training new staff if we don't switch. I really wanted to be convinced that we were gonna get three, four, five times a better user experience by making the change. So it's really just going through the various features with each ministry and ensuring that there would be an overall positive switch for each team as we looked at a new system. And, Cecilia, you have really jumped in as kind of a an early Rock champion. When you discovered Rock, what did you say, forty nine days ago? Yeah. How many videos did you watch that first weekend? I oh, gosh. I think you probably know better than I do because you can track all of that. But, yeah, I watched many videos. I watched lots of listened to a lot of podcasts. I think I read about 10 or 12 manuals all in the first, I said, , four or five days. And, , to Tony's point, it wasn't that I haven't, , done a lot of research in the past as far as our current system and our current processes and where we need to be as a ministry and stuff, and I'd already kinda planned out a what we need to be able to do plan. And so when I came across Rock, it was just it just started filling in all the gaps. And I was, , , a person on a deserted island that's starving to death, And I didn't realize how much I was starving until, , this cruise ship drove, , came by and picked me up, and I got to go into the buffet at the cruise ship. And I just, it was, there's just so much stuff. I was just, , gorging myself because there was just, , more information and more information and and all the good information that I needed. ? It's , oh, that's what I need. That's what I need. That's what I need. That's what I need. So that yeah. That's kinda how I ended up with my Rockmaniac title. I think that's the first time we've heard Rock referred to as a buffet. Yeah. I think it is. Yeah. It's a it's an all you can eat buffet when you come at it from a certain angle. And I know you guys still wanna add more to the buffet, but, , I'm kinda tapped out right now. That's okay. You can take it as you as it makes sense. Yeah. I think I need to slow down. I think one encouraging aspect is as you get more involved in the community, you feel more comfortable with where the tool is at and the direction it's going. From a value alignment standpoint, everything was spot on in terms of the types of companies that I wanna work with and the types of vision that that Rock has been sharing. Yeah. That's really cool feedback. And it's definitely something that that from the very beginning, Spark set Rock up with the the core values of accessibility and community and also craftsmanship and innovation. And it's interesting to see which of those elements first draws someone toward Rock, but it's really hard to beat the community once you understand what it's all about. I was in the community just poking around even before I got my account approved. Because I found out about this on, , Friday, so I had to wait till Monday to get my account approved in the in Rockchat. So I was , oh my gosh. I'm, , dying. I can't get in there. But even well, even the community that I came across on that other Slack channel, , that was still there. And just reading about everything that was going to happen, I I couldn't unsee what I had just seen. And I, it's , if my church doesn't do this, I wanna go find a church that does so that I can be part of this community. It was amazing. It was it's data nerds that love Jesus and are worshiping god with their gifts and talents, and I thought I was the only one. ? And I don't even have official IT experience or training. I'm just, , the lay person who's trying to do the job. Well, that's completely relatable. I think you would find a huge percentage of the community would say exactly the same thing. They're passionate about it. They know technology can empower their ministries and they're hampered by certain inflexible options they've been tied to in the past and so they're looking for that flexibility. And the cool thing about the community, which I know you both know, is that it's exponential. So Tony, if you learn something that's really helpful that benefits Cecilia, then, , we just share these things and so everybody can move forward so quickly. Yeah. I feel I'm so so thankful for all the churches that have gone before me. So, , I it's I get to jump in at version 13, and it almost feels a totally completed project. ? You guys aren't waiting to I think you're waiting for digital signatures still barely, but I think that's the, , the last big thing on your road map that that I was even looking for. And so thank you for all the other churches that have gone before us that did start Rock at version one and have just, , been able to slowly because our church wouldn't have been in a position to roll things out at a , having two databases going type of thing. So the timing for us is perfect. We wouldn't have really wanted to get under Rock, I think, before this. So I know God's timing. It's just John says all the time. If you've been listening to past podcasts, , we're all standing on the shoulders of giants. And Mhmm. And being able to do it together is really rewarding. Yeah. Well, tell us a little bit about what it was to present Rock as an option to your leadership. So you both had done some research. You looked into things, listened to podcasts, watched videos. What was it when you went and said, hey, I think this is I think this might be it? Tony, do want to? Cecilia, do want? Yeah, I'll start. That's fine. For me, was a very natural fit. Our staff outside of just me had recognized that our current database wasn't working. They were in a position where they were ready to tackle something new because we had just finished up a large project with our website prior to that. So for me, it was more about kind of bringing up previous conversations and saying, how we talked about how this isn't working? how we talked about how this isn't working and how we'd love to solve that problem for our teams and for our congregants? Here's a tool that can come alongside and we can come alongside and really move forward into the future together. And so for me, it was an opportunity to really paint a picture of the opportunities that we had available to us. I used a couple metaphors. One was that Legos metaphor that comes up again and again, the training videos. And I said, our current system is Duplo's. It's a little bit clunky. It can build really complex things if you put enough investment and time into it, but we've got another system here, Rock, that's more Legos, and it's gonna be more flexible. We can, again, with the investment of time, build something even more effective. So that's what my opportunity looked . The other metaphor I used was to paint a picture of where we were at. And I said, we're at kind of the end of a train line. And that can be little bit, that can be filled with some anxiety when you're getting to the end of the train line, because you have to make a transition and hopefully where you're going next. And so I talked about how we've got a plan, we're working with a partner. And if we plan appropriately, this can be a good transition for us. So for me, I did a, , a little PowerPoint, Google Sheets or Google Google Slides presentation and which I was prompted to do from a podcast. Listen. I did. , John had mentioned something. It's you can't you can't start a project unless you can, , sketch it out on a piece of paper or put it in a quick, , Google or Google Slides or or PowerPoint. I'm , okay. PowerPoint. Here we go. I'm Google Slides. Whatever. And so I started just sketching out my ideas and trying to capture it on paper. So it was , how can I express, , everything Rock is in a short little period of time? Because you don't have much time to get in front of senior leadership and and things. And, yeah, day six, was able to put together, , a six minute presentation that basically just outlined everything that we currently do have in software and the pain points we have with it. All the things that have come to me over the past few years about, can we do this? Can we do that? Can we do this? And I kept saying no. No. No. No. Or or it's clunky or something that. I was able to show just how Rock can do that discipleship steps that they were asking about, a big high level of everything else Rock could do, and then kinda just left it at, , you guys want to do this. You've been telling me all of this stuff that you wanna do, and this is the product that can do it. And, oh, by the way, , it's endorsed by Life Church and Summit and Willow Creek and all of these other big name churches. So not only is it a nonprofit, we can own our own data, but, , if all these big churches are using it, it's not gonna go anywhere anytime soon. So there was just that trust level that, , I'm still , I'm still new. I'm really still trusting that you guys are saying it'll do everything it'll do because because because we're just still kind of working in a demo site right now, but I'm slingshotting this afternoon, I hope. Oh. So I'm gonna I'm gonna kinda get some data soon. But, yeah, just being able to put that in front of them and go, this is an opportunity we have. And then I had an extra hurdle. We had our lead pastor going off on sabbatical and our executive pastor going on a two week vacation all kind of at the same time. And so I need and we're in our budget cycle, so we have to figure out, , if we can even implement this and afford to implement it and pay for a partner to consult with and things. And so, yeah, God's timing was amazing, and everybody could was able to catch the vision. And I had built up enough, , social equity with the leadership, so they trusted me. And so I'm really trusting you. So I'm kinda going out on a limb, but I feel it's a pretty strong limb with the community underneath us and and the history that you guys have. So It's definitely a community supported limb, and and it's incredible to see something that you probably come in first thinking this is a product and then to see the support that is in place from all the members of the community. And , the cool thing is people are in the community saying, we're this denomination, we're this kind of church, we're that in separating into pockets. It's that it's the shared collaboration, the shared investment. And, , if you look at Rock purely from the product standpoint, where it is today versus where it started has been largely driven by the needs of churches at the time to, in a relevant way, reach their communities and engage them. So it's just a really exciting it's as much a movement as it is a technology platform. Yeah. I've been very grateful for the community. I reached out a couple times. I didn't even know what I was doing, but I heard a little snippet on , those q and a's at the end of the Rx sessions that aren't mic'd, so you can barely hear somebody talking across the room? And and it was some plug in information, and it was , I think I heard this word, and I and I kinda put two two together, and I think, okay. I think it's an Eddie, and he's from Fellowship something. And and so I I was in chat, and I started, , searching, and I found an Eddie from Fellowship. And I'm , okay. I'm gonna, , chat him and see if he has, , some answers to a question I have. I jumped on the phone with him that afternoon for, , a half an hour. He was answering all of these questions, and then it wasn't until I was talking to another person in the community the next day, and they were , you talked to Eddie Holman. I'm , who's that? I mean, , turns out they kinda use the big wig or know something about Rock. I'm , oh, okay. Well but if , everybody's open and available when they can be. My our data administrator tomorrow next week on Wednesday, we're gonna go visit a church about an hour away that runs Rock in production, and they're gonna give us a tour and let us kinda look over their shoulder and see how it actually works in real life because that's gonna mean a lot to us when we when we can see it. We know where we're trying to head that way. So Yeah. That's definitely first way. Tour. It's gonna be so much fun. That's great. It really fills me with a lot of awe that people at churches are just so welcoming and so open and so welcoming to one another. We talk sometimes about kind of the Rock star pedestal a little bit, , about intimidation Rock stars. I love that you don't feel that way. I love that you're just jumping in with both feet and that no matter what position you're in in the community, no matter how long you've been in the community, everybody is just genuinely willing to help. And whatever your background is, the community is full of people that have been at their church. They just had a passion for where technology and ministry intersect, or maybe they just had a leadership directive that says, hey, we gotta figure this out and you look someone who can figure things out. Go. And they're really good at Google. Yes. And, , we have everybody across all sorts of ranges and people with that came in with an IT background. But if you surveyed people, I think that number might be smaller than you first anticipate when you hit the community. Mhmm. Well and I feel , I want to give back to the community, but I'm so new. It's I don't know enough, , quite yet. And but I know that time will come. So I'm just, , asking my questions and waiting for people to be generous to me, and then I'll be able to turn around turn that around in the future. When you're asking questions oh, I'm sorry, Tony. Go ahead. No. I think I was gonna say same thing you are. When you're asking questions, you're you're contributing to something. Right? Yes. Because you might be asking a question that reveals a need or reveals a potential, , new solution that someone hadn't thought of before. So questions are are meaningful and they're helpful, not just the solution end of things. what? That is meaningful to me because I did ask them questions and a couple people that piped up on on the answering side, they weren't actually answering. They were saying, oh, I have that question too Yes. Or I'm curious to know that answer. And I recognize those names as being kind of Rock star type people in other areas. And I was , oh, good. They don't know everything either. Yep. Nobody does know everything. Sometimes there's a need that hasn't been discovered yet. I mean, that happens all the time. And then sometimes you just realize you're kind of a voice for others in the community who are a little bit nervous about speaking up and and posting a question. So there is value in that. And so don't let that stop you from being more question heavy. You can transition to also providing answers, but people who give answers are still asking questions. That's true. Definitely. Okay. Let's talk a little bit about challenges of implementation because you're both facing some portion of a Rock implementation right now. And we know change is hard and change of technology systems has its own unique challenges. What are some of the challenges that or concerns that you have in front of you as you're approaching implementations? And the reason that I'm asking this is because I think other churches need to hear these vocalized as well to know they're in the same boat and it's a common place and there are people they can connect with. Tony, what are your thoughts on that? Yeah. There's a couple that pop out to me. One of them is just managing expectations and trying to stay on top of communication. Mhmm. , so much of the migration is is not only just implementing and configuring a system, but making sure that all your key players are aware of what's changing and getting input for them to make sure that it's a good fit. So that's a huge one. , I I feel if I'm not spending as much time in my week communicating as I'm I am actually configuring the system, I'm probably doing something wrong. And I know my leaning is definitely I gotta get this configured. I gotta get things set up right. So coming back to communication is something I have to remind myself of. I think the other one is really just managing expectations. Rock is so powerful and so flexible. And when you look at the end results of sometimes what's displayed in the training videos or maybe what they heard about from another church, people don't always realize the amount of time and investment that went into creating those systems. So I know one of the things that I'm trying to think about as we head into our training session in a couple weeks is how do I right size the expectations about what we'll be able to create and at what pace? And then just trying to support our team as well. Just make them feel supported, make them feel they have a say in things, and they have the power to learn and change over time. I think sometimes people feel they're stuck and they can't learn one more thing. But most people can with time and the space to do it. Those are really great points. And it's interesting that you pointed out both are around the area of working with people and not working with technology. It is so easy to overlook that in an implementation. A lot of times our plans are really focused on the technology and the features and the data, and those are critical. But it's just as critical to be making sure your whole team can transition with you and start on the right foot. Right. It's easier to amend the systems over time than to amend the relationships. The great point. Well said. You gotta get those prioritized right. We could make a bumper sticker of that one. That's good point. Cecilia, what are some of your concerns or challenges you're anticipating through implementation? Well, I'm gonna echo to what Tony said. The whole relationship thing's gonna be very key. I feel blessed just looking across our team right now. God's kinda placed some tech happy people, and that's what I'm calling them. Nobody's, , has official training, but in each of our departments, we have at least one tech happy person. So we just got approved to actually go forward with Rock last week, and so I tapped these when I'm , my Rock stars in our in my church, I tapped their shoulders last week and gave them an introduction. And so my my goal is that each of them will kind of own a section of Rock. So I've , my children's person is gonna own check-in, but they're gonna own check-in for children's and volunteer ministry because it's all the same thing. Mhmm. So I don't so and then they can cross train other people. And then my groups person's gonna own groups and just how , he's gonna just dive into that. He's not gonna really not tunnel vision. I mean, you kinda have to learn all of it, but, , he's just gonna be that that Rock star of groups. And then we got somebody in our communications department. He's gonna be Rock star of, , website and content channels and that type of thing. Our Freedom Ministries, we have somebody who came from corporate, and he's already used to databases and SQL and things. So he's gonna be my Rock star of data, just how data works and just be that peer coach to other people on why it's important to have data and to track things so that you can get reports this. ? And he's already used our current system and and is able to give some reports. And and that's what our leadership wants. They want some metrics. They wanna see, , where where we've been successful and where we're struggling and, , the areas to put the the efforts into. And then, of course, we have our operations department. So their their job is database in general, but they're just excited about getting their fingers in there and automating a lot of processes and stuff. So so my challenge is to to keep those relationships going and then helping them to to do what they're supposed to do. I'm gonna kind of act as program manager and let them be project managers in their areas. And then, , after I talked to a bunch of people, I realized that it's , you don't really wanna do a rapid implementation. It'd be nice to kinda pace this out and such. So that's what my idea was. Four or five months, maybe we can get this rolled out. Well, I was told that we need to roll it out on September 11, which is, , a hundred days from now. Well, I mean, rollout would be , going live would be a week or two before that. So yeah. So we need to actually try to implement in a hundred days. So that's gonna, , really pare back any of the extras. And, you , what can we wait till after go live to actually implement? So, , some of those plug ins that I was really excited about, they're not gonna get in there yet. Yep. ? So I think our, , a a certain our our whole operations department isn't gonna have any good fun bells and whistles until after we go live. But all the other ministries that are actually , those relationships that are actually with the congregation, we're gonna make sure that bare minimum, we're gonna have a duplo working Rock system that replaces everything that we're currently doing in our current system at the bare minimum level and get everybody trained on how to do that. So that's that's the challenge is kind of the timing Yeah. And the but the game plan is that I'm not the only one. So I'm, , delegating aspects of it out there, and then I just Tony said, I still have to communicate with everybody and make sure that, , we're all still feeling good. We're still feeling loved. We're still feeling cared for. We're ? But everybody that has heard about it is really excited, and they are they're ready to move on. We've had our current system since 02/2008, and it's not keeping up with the times. So they're the the other challenge is to be content with our current system for the next hundred days. , we still have to we still have to actually work in that one still Right. And and not be discontent, not , it's we still have to be content. We still have to be doing our jobs as we are building the new flashy one. So Yes. Definitely. So you're just gonna be focused right now in the next hundred days on what does it take to go from one weekend to the next with your data cut over in the middle without disrupting anything. So that'll be Yeah. That will be a challenge, but we're confident if anyone can do it, you've got it. And I have a partner. And we have a partner. That's that's also a great idea. Consulting with a Rock partner. So that's my safety net. But I'm a DIY person. So I'm gonna get my I'm gonna have my hands in it as much as possible. Well, that's good too, because you won't be surprised at launch. You'll be able to be familiar already with your system. So that's great. Yeah. Well, it's been so great talking to you guys. We really appreciate the valuable input that you've had. We have enjoyed seeing you guys in the community so much. We've enjoyed your questions. you said, those are so valuable and we really appreciate your enthusiasm. Well, thank you. Oh, and I got two Rockchip stickers now. Nice. I got the Star Wars Day one too. I'm all excited. You're so official. I am. Well, thank you so much for your contributions already and and for acknowledging that questions are contributions. That's a critical element of the community. You can't be just answers all the time. It would be impossible. There's a lot of depth and breadth to what's going on in Rock, and everybody does something uniquely. And because we have the LEGO kit, that means that, there are lots of options and ways to do things, that are alright. So it's incredible to see you both diving in with both feet. Thank you so much for joining us today and for your insights. We look forward to a lot of good fun times in the community going forward. And thanks so much for your time. Welcome. It's been a pleasure. 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.