Podcast Episode 128: Episode 101: Special Edition w/ Jason Jones

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On this special edition of Rock, Jon, Emily and Nick are joined by Jason Jones of CedarCreek Church.

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 another special edition of the Rockcast podcast. I'm Emily Forman. I have Jon Edmiston here with me today and a special guest as well. Let's welcome Jason Jones with Cedar Creek Church. He is the project manager of ministries and has been very active in the Rock community for several years. Thanks for being with us today, Jason. Yeah. Thanks for having me. So we're we have seen you in the community a lot. We've interacted quite a bit on email and at conferences and different classes, but I feel the community has also run into you from time to time and you're definitely known as the community cheerleader out there. Thanks so much. Yeah. I enjoy cheering people on. I enjoy just reminding people that we're all in this together, really. Definitely. And I think that you do a great job of helping kind of bring that better together community spirit to the forefront of what we're working on. So we're really thankful you can join us today. Tell us a little bit about how you got involved in the Rock world inside your church. Yeah, that's a really good question. So I am the project manager of ministries. I've been on staff for about five years. And when I first came on, we were with a different platform. And my role specifically is to work with our kids, students and adult next step teams. So I serve those three teams anywhere from expenses to task management, training, onboarding, just helping that team be as resourced as possible. And we have another staff member who is specifically responsible for our upkeep and database. What we realized early on before we migrated to Rock was databases just take a lot of work, right? So our database team is really good at pulling information out of the database and numbers and metrics and just general data integrity and pulse of our church. The ministries team, what I work with, kids, students, adult next steps, we're responsible for putting the information into the database. So as a project manager of ministries, I really took it upon myself to say, Hey, I'm gonna work closely with our ministry services or our operations, our administration side of the church, and really train our team to move forward in the database. So that's kind of how I got involved in database is I was super passionate about getting information in because that helps us know where we're going and where we've been and just kind of being hands on with that team. So then about two We launched Rock in 2018. So in fall of twenty seventeen, when our team started thinking of new ways to resource our church, Rock was on the forefront of that. We went to the twenty seventeen conference that fall and left there and we decided to move into Rock. It was kind of me and this one other person that were , Hey, I'm gonna have a focus from ministry's perspective of how can we make this as easy as possible for our ministry's team to keep putting information in and really get rid of sticky notes and small Excel documents and say, this our platform, our desk. And our other my coworkers started really working on how are we gonna resource the church and and data metrics. So that's how I got started with Rock. Great. And it seems since that early time, I don't know what your, original assignment or perception was of what you would be doing with Rock specifically, but it seems you've been really digging into how to build and share and create recipes and do some really cool things in Rock and and really investing in your personal skill set there as well. Yeah. I'll be I'll be super candid and honest. When we the the conference that we went to in 02/2017 was in Chicago, and I think we took, , eight people to that conference just to kinda learn. I typed an email that I never sent, and it's still in my Outlook today that was a hundred reasons why we were making the worst decision possible. I'm , what are we doing? None of us know how to do this stuff. , there's all this development. , I heard people talk. I'm , I was super overwhelmed. And it's a four hour drive from Chicago to Toledo, and I think I took the entire four hours to write my email where I was just , this is bad news bears. Right? And I think it was February that I was , are we doing this? And everyone was , yeah. I was , then I'm all in. I don't I'm I'm I'm telling you this is this is gonna be bad, but I'm all in. And by April, I was , you guys, , we we there are so many opportunities. And I think it was, , a month later that we hosted our first Rock and Road show. It was in February after we launched, and I'm , , you you just have to get on the other side of your fear to realize all of the potential that you're leaving out. So that's kind of that's what's really drive driven my passion is I'm , I was there. I know what the the what the the valley looks or, , the the deepest area of being afraid of diving into Rock, whether it's asking questions in Rocket Chat or launching this platform or saying I don't have a developer on staff. It's being , I don't I don't either. , if somebody were to , how did you write that code? I'm , control c, control v, and I learned what it broke and then I edited it. And just now, I mean, it's, , December of twenty twenty, we launched in February, and I'm just now starting to make these spark connections where I'm , that's what Lava is. That's how you write this code. That's what that's how it , , now it's all coming together in ways that I'm , I could have never seen that in in February if I had given up. , I just I there was no way that I could have offered myself the opportunity to see it either. So you have to have patience. And so that's, , , I write recipes. I write them with people. There are people in the community that I'm , I I wrote it with somebody and share it because I know how afraid I was moving into it. What? We oh, go ahead. There's your next Rx session right there. I think so. Oh gosh. Because I think a lot of people are in that same boat and a lot of people misunderstand Yeah. , what it takes to to do some of this stuff. It's it's intimidating, but it's not necessarily rocket science. Yeah. Very true. But a lot of the people, by the time they kind of find their voice in the Rock community and they're talking about it, they've reached some of those inflection points you're describing where they are going, oh, now I get it. And so they're excited and they're talking about it, and it creates a lot of chatter or a lot of, , verbal space. And someone who's new peeks in and goes, I have no idea what they're talking about. And so there are some earlier hurdle hurdles to get over, but you can't see those necessarily when you're sitting on the other side of it. Yeah. When I I mean, even when we first joined Rock, , I I added myself to all of the channels cause I was , this is an intense community. , I wanna be a part of all of this. And within six months, I'd removed myself all but two because I'm , this is overwhelming. So last month, I added myself to the Lava channel again because I'm , I I think I'm getting it. , I I think I'm getting it. So I wanted to watch people's interactions and responses specifically to be , yep. I can read that. And then maybe I can try to type out my answer sticky note on my computer and just see if somebody who I consider to be an expert responds the same way. And I'm , great. Now I have the confidence. So I think it's the same way with the SQL class. I'm gonna go to the SQL class in January and I feel I'm 60% there where I'm I'm doing some SQL work, but I'm not confident about it. I'm always second guessing myself. I'm always asking questions. So for me, the cost of going to the SQL class is really gonna I'm hoping I will walk away being confident with what it is I do know and learn some new foundational work. So the cost is I mean, you you can't put a cost on leaving with confidence. That's the same way I left the master class. I left the master class, so was , I really kind of knew all of this because I'd already been on Rock for a year when we went to the master class, but I left being reassured that I know that stuff. And now I think that's when I really started having a voice in rocket chat because I had confidence in myself because I was , I helped other people in the class. I can do this. I can help other people. So for me, those those elements have a a much bigger or broader purpose than just teaching you something. You actually get to walk away with, I I can be confident that I know this. And I think that's really smart. And I do that myself. I'll I'll stretch myself by reading a book about something I know nothing about. But then I also to read a book that's maybe one or two levels more basic than where I think I'm at to exactly what you said, cement those concepts, , kind of show myself, okay. I know these concepts, and then no matter how easy of a book you read, you're always gonna learn new things. And so I think that concept of cementing your confidence is important. And I also think too that people misunderstand what it even if you're doing very in-depth coding, the most commonly used keys are control c, control v. Not that you're copying and pasting code and making a mess, you're copying and pasting concepts that then you then Yep. Change. I was literally talking to my son about that last night. He's a freshman in college and he has to take He's going into engineering, does not want to be a coder. He's made that clear. But he has to take a coding class. And last I was helping him with some of the stuff near the end of the semester. And I was telling them last night, I think there's this misunderstanding that coders sit down and they just type, and it just comes from their memory, and that's not true. You spend most of your time getting concepts from one other place over here, pasting it in, and then reapplying it. And how much time you spend on Google and Stack Overflow is ridiculous. You just don't vomit it out. You're basically copy pasting then massaging it. Yeah. And I mean, I would offer to anybody listening too that I've used that same philosophy when I think I need to pay for a developer. So we don't have a retainer with anybody and we don't have a developer on staff. But when I'm , man, this is just outside of my ability or maybe it's gonna take too many hours, , payroll for me to figure out when I could be doing something else. And I've made the decision to hire a developer or a partner to work on a workflow for me or build out a page. I think really strategically about it. , how can I make this the most detailed for my benefit? Because tomorrow, I'm gonna take this piece from what I know they're gonna build. I don't know how to build it, but I know they're gonna build this piece and then I can take that and I can start to learn. So I really try to utilize our development, partner expenses to the best resource for me because then I can control c and learn and break and figure out what that looks . So I'm not when I go in to pay for additional work that, I don't go into it thinking I'm gonna get this one thing. I'm , how are we resourcing ourselves for the next two to three years with this one element we just paid for? That's super smart. That's super smart. Yeah. So you are known for being somebody who likes to help others kinda come along the path to and make it be a little less scary, and and make it a little easier and more accessible, which is great. That's what the community is all about. But we recently heard from you about how you do that a little bit on your staff in addition to the community, and it sounded some really cool stuff that I think people would be interested in hearing about. So what is it that you do to make Rock more accessible to your ministry staff? Yeah. So I'm just I would say probably anybody on our staff knows I'm super passionate about training people and putting things that maybe into a language that is easier for them to take in bite sized pieces. It can be really overwhelming for me to hear things from experts even in the Rock community where I'm , I have no idea what you just said. So somebody I always ask someone to help me break it down. And over the last few years in doing this, , I get a lot of emails from staff that'll say , hey, remind me how to build a small group out in Rock, or hey, remind me how I'm supposed to close out a connection, or remind me where I find this information. And I would say early on, , I I loved answering people's questions. I would just answer them. I'm , yeah. Here here's your answer. Happy to help. And then three months later, a different staff member would ask. And I don't know what it was that clicked probably about three years ago that I was , how can I what if somebody doesn't even know that they need to ask that question? What if somebody's sitting at their desk at their campus, dislocated from here, overwhelmed with a task and they don't even know that the task can be easier for them. So basically I just, I thought of a way to get my information out. how can I answer your question and give it to everybody else? So we have about a hundred people on staff and I decided to start up a pro tip blog where I was , hey, somebody might ask a question and if I think, man, somebody else needs to know that, I kinda schedule it out in a couple weeks or a month to write out a pro tip and I allow staff to subscribe to the pro tip. So it's I'm not blasting. I mean, I am blasting their emails on a weekly basis because I send one out, and in busy seasons, I send, , two or three out. But it's because they've asked for the information, not because I'm pushing it on them. But the other thing is, , I allow them to subscribe because I know some staff, they're they don't want that one extra thing in their email. So I'm , hey. You subscribe. And I think right now, we have, , 68 of our 90 some staff who are subscribed. So that's it's just absolutely phenomenal to me that I'm , yeah, you want that information. And I try to keep it sometimes it's really detailed. Sometimes it's , here's how to build a group and it just has to be a little bit more detailed. Other times it's, hey, did that you could do this really cool thing in Iraq? And I, , , take a couple clicks and try it out today. And I encourage people to reply to me and just let me know, , was that a good pro tip? Was that too in-depth? Was that overwhelming? , , how can we continue making it better? I think we've written, just over a hundred pro tips in two years. That's kinda it's been going on for just over two years. Yeah. And have you gotten good feedback from the staff? Do they reply and tell you what went well and what they'd to see more of? Yeah. Absolutely. I wish , , one of the thoughts that I wish I had done early on, I probably intentionally turned them off, but the ability to comment. Mhmm. So it's very similar to, , a recipe Mhmm. And what we would consider a recipe in the Rock community where people can comment and ask questions. I never turned that on mainly because I was , I probably don't have the time to answer your questions or manage this one other additional piece of our website. , it's just there's just gonna be stuff that gets left dry. But now people are replying to my email saying, hey. Loved this one. And I'll ask back, , what was it about this one that you loved so I can keep repeating that in the future? And now I'm probably to the point where I'm really encouraging other people on our staff to write them. Do you have an experience that we're not thinking about that you wanna write a pro tip? , write it and I'll proof it and just make sure that it makes sense and it's lined up and send it out. So very similar to recipes but just in practical use. So I'm gonna write something on if, , I think recently we had three or four people email me, hey, forgot how to build a group. So I was , yep, here's my answer But also in two weeks, I'm gonna write a pro tip and everybody can be back on the page together on how we write groups or how we build groups. That's pretty cool. It sounds a great way to set a lot of people up for success and move everybody forward a few steps at a time. Really encouraging. Thanks. Yeah. Thanks for sharing that. Yeah. One of our staff values is mission driven. So I I think I've kind of started correlating pro tips to mission driven. , this is how we're gonna help you drive mission forward. These are the practical ways that, , maybe you didn't know that are gonna make your job easier. And if your job is easier and more efficient, that gives you so much more time to drive our mission forward and reach the community. That's awesome. Well, tell us a little bit about who is Jason Jones outside of the Rock context. What what do you do for fun? I love being outside. So I mountain biking. And in Northwest Ohio, things are pretty flat. So I people know that I throw my bike on my car and it basically stays on there from spring until fall. So anywhere I'm at, if I'm going to see family or going to see friends, , I can just kinda take my bike off and find a trail. I'll be keep a trail map on my phone. So if I'm driving on an eight hour drive and I see a pool mountain biking trail wherever I'm at, I just kinda stop and take an hour break and go for a quick ride. So I'm definitely not an advanced mountain biker, but I do, I being outside. I being on the water, kayaking, whitewater rafting, hiking, camping, mountain biking. I'm I being outside. That's fun. Yeah. Great. Well, thank you so much for joining us today. You're an amazing addition to the Rock community, and I know you've really helped make Rock accessible and fun for a lot of people. And we definitely appreciate that. And it sounds you have a platform for the next, conference presentation. So start polishing that, I guess. Sounds great. And one thing I Yeah. I'm on it. One thing I love about you, Jason, is you're so positive. And even a transactional email you send is Mhmm. I leave with a smile on my face just because of the positivity. It just radiates even from your emails. So keep that up. Oh, thank you so much. I appreciate that. I'm not I mean, I definitely , there are days where I'm , okay, but that helps me It helps remind me that we're all in this together and there's no sense of being bogged down by it because it's very for me to hit those low points. So that helps even myself remind me to be positive. Yeah. Well, even I said, even a transactional email where it's just question answer type thing always is so positive. It's noticeable. Hey. Thanks for that. I appreciate that. Well, thank you. And we appreciate you joining us today. Yeah. Absolutely. Happy to. Alright. Well, we'll talk to you later. Thanks for joining us. Bye. Do a church that loves the idea of using Rock but hasn't taken that leap yet? 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