Podcast Episode 81: Episode 54: Special Edition - Chip Wears His Sunglasses at Night

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2018 has been an amazing year! Join the team as we briefly look back at some of the highlights in our minds.

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 back to Rockcast. We have a special edition episode for you. And in addition to that, this is not just any special edition episode. This is part of Chip's twelve Days of Christmas. So Merry Christmas, and welcome to another insight with our team. I'm Emily Forman. We have Jon Edmiston and Nick Airdo, and we're here today to share with you a look back on 2018 and some of the highlights that have happened in our community and with Rock along the way. So I think today what we'd to do is take a few minutes to share with you individually some things that have really impacted us by the community or by our personal experiences inside Rock, and just kind of give you a little a little insight into how we work and some of the cool things that have happened. Do have anything you'd to start out with, John? Well, it's been a crazy year, a crazy good year, I would say. Ups and downs, I think there's a little bit of a roller coaster year in terms of growth, internally, externally. But some of things I look back on in 2018 and think about is just, first one is growth, the size of the community. It's amazing to see all the different churches basically just joining the community. Some of them we know and hear about and help, and then some of them just are there. One day all of sudden they're there and they're doing great things. And both are exciting, both are amazing. I think sometimes the ones that surprise us and just also are there and using are especially amazing because it's , Wow, good job, you got there. I think the size and growth at Spark is pretty amazing. I never would have thought that we would be where we're at in such a short time. And then also the growth in terms of opportunities. I just feel almost every week, some new opportunity comes up to work with either a group or a church or mean, every day, it's a new thing. You walk in every day and you had no idea that that would be something that you're thinking about, talking about, figuring out. Kinda goes back to something we said at the last podcast is that from the outside, it looks we travel from point a to point b in a straight line, and it's never a straight line. It's a random, all over the place trying to figure out, , how to drive this car because it's growing so fast and it's getting so much, , attention. But I I also think in in 2018 and and then looking towards the in the very beginning of 2019, Spark has never been stronger. The people that we're hiring, the people that we're bringing in, it's we've never been better positioned with the talent that we have. It's just amazing that we get to work with all of these people and that we're all working together shoulder to shoulder to push this Rock up the hill. It's pretty great. And related to that, if I look at 2018 and think about all the things that were just amazing, is this the people I get to work with personally? I mean, if you just look out, we get to see out the window here in our conference room at all the team and each one of them, what they're doing and what they've sacrificed to work on this is pretty cool. But specifically, wanted to just mention, you guys are right here, but Nick, this year you dropped pretty much everything to help us move to the next And you have already this year, but then I look at what you're gonna be helping us do in 2019 and that's just amazing. And Emily, I think the one thing that I wish more people could see with you is the leadership and wisdom you bring every day. I think people see that a little glimpse of that maybe at the conference. But as we go through these opportunities every day, if they could only see the leadership that you provide to that and the wisdom you help us untangle that path and get us onto a straight line, I think they would be as blown away as I am. So those are the things that from a 2018 is just amazing. It has been a really amazing year. And I think as we look, you said, kind of out the glass windows here on the other side of the conference room where we record our podcast, I remember in, I think it was February of this year, we leased the space that we're in right now and it seemed cavernous. huge. It was huge. And we thought, well, we know how we wanna set up the main room. Do we just go ahead and order those desks now and trust that God's gonna fill them with people? Or do we wait? Well, it turned out to be good that we ordered them. All of our furniture's IKEA, by the way. Do I get some kind of an advertising credit? You should. Okay. So we we IKEA's great. It's it's pretty easy to get and pretty inexpensive and and is awesome. But we decided to go ahead and and buy the desks, which is good because they don't offer them anymore. That's the drawback of getting things at IKEA. That style is gone. So we we had purchased all of them. And guess what? I think we're gonna close this year out with almost all of them full. Wow. And that is a huge God thing. Mhmm. There's so much momentum that has picked up this year, and it's picked up across the board in all areas. And we're seeing that with candidates who really want to work with Spark. We're seeing that with churches that really want to contribute toward a feature that they know will then be freely accessible to all churches, which is awesome. We're just seeing that in so many ways. And looking out at this team and how well positioned we are for the future, it's a it's a complete God thing, and it is so cool to be along for the ride. And all we can do, I think, is really look at this and say, how do we best steward the things that God has put in place? And the things that we don't even know that are coming because just I said, that was February, this is December. Every half a year, what we're looking at is a different set of puzzle pieces with a different potential outcome. And it's really exciting. So the best thing that we can do here on our leadership team is just to keep learning because we can't be the same people tomorrow that we are today. And we're huge proponents of reading, learning, talking to people that have gone before us, seeking insights and trying to synthesize all of that along with the, , the wisdom that God provides us in his word and it and the wisdom of pastors that we're close to. And it's just it's exciting to be a part of something that because I think what Rock is positioned to do for the church community globally is a new opportunity. I think this is where we can say, God is doing a new thing. And our team and the Rock community gets to be a part of that. And it's really exciting. Yeah. And I think we all feel this way, we probably don't say it enough. When we say our team and the Rock community, we see that as one. As we work every day, every hour, we're working with people in the community and we feel there are brothers and sisters in this. There's no hierarchy to our thinking on that. And I think it's just great to be constantly all day working with people in hundreds of churches as if we're all on the same team, literally the same team. Right. Those are the top two items on my list of things that were most memorable for 2018. And it was just seeing the community blossom at RX twenty eighteen. And it was almost a takeover in a good way. And I think I've said this before, but it was just exciting to see them leading each other in the tables at the lunch breaks. We didn't have to organize it. They pretty much took over and did all that themselves. Then can I talk about my other two? Oh yeah, of course. The other one stuck out of my head were some amazing Capterra reviews. Just humbling to see them write up such good recommendations about using Rock and how much they love it. It's just awesome to see that. And then one of my other highlights was seeing the photo from the self organized East Coast user group. I don't know their exact name, but just such a huge group of people helping each other again, just the community. I mean, even last night, or maybe it night before last, I was working on some stuff and also I get a Slack from a community member who won't say his name, Jim Michael. He The editor of our podcast. Yeah. He says, , there's a little bit of chatter in the check-in channel today about how this piece was confusing. I went ahead and added this to the documentation because he has rights to do that. And just wanna let . I mean, how cool is that? , what other product out there has a community because, , it's not just Jim, the community is part of our team. So he sees a thing, he goes in, he's been trained in how to fix that and he just fixes it. And then yet comes back and says a quick status that it's been done, so we're in the loop. And it's just amazing. There's nothing else And yeah, we meet in this room and we work here and we have people remote on our team, but it's really, we see everybody in the community as part of our team. And one of the really interesting things this year has been a little uptick in things handwritten letters that come in that are just so encouraging to the team. And we sit inside a few walls here and we work hard and fast, and we experience the community through Slack and then once a year at our conference and a little bit during some master classes. But sometimes it's easy to lose focus on the impact that we make just because we're we're moving at a fast pace and and doing what we do every day. So we've seen some of those things pick up and they're so encouraging. the weight of that encouragement versus the effort, just wouldn't even believe. And so to see that come in has been really encouraging to the team. And then I just stand out are a couple of direct messages I got through Slack from people I did not know who took the time to send a message to me and just say, hey, thank you so much for the work that your team is doing. Let the team know we really appreciate it. Here's how this is making a direct impact at our church. And that's just, that kind of thing carries us for a long time. Right. In fact, this week I was making my morning tea in the kitchen area and on the board, you put up all the nice letters. I was just I've read them all before, but it's nice to read them again. Because as I make my tea, can either read that or I can read the reporting structure for if I come into contact with bodily fluids. Because you have to have that, I guess. , it's a legal requirement. But I much rather read the encouraging, , letters because it it starts your day off right. Yeah. Definitely better than the bodily fluids. Oh, boy. I was , why do we have to tell people this? But I know we have to. We have to. Do you want me to cite legal statutes? I know you can. Okay. Great. We'll ignore that part. Nick, you mentioned the conference size too. I just have this picture that replays in my head. I was standing right inside the second doorway at Southeast Christian at our conference right as a main session let out, trying to get into that main session room. And I was a salmon swimming upstream, and I couldn't move. I couldn't get in there at all. And all these people were coming past me, and I remember standing there saying to myself in my head, I don't know who all these people are. I don't recognize all the faces, and I don't know all the names. Yeah. And I think at the previous conference, I felt I knew pretty much everyone who was there. I'd talked with them in some regard. I was putting a name and a face together. But this year, when you said the community took over, you were right. And it was so exciting. I still get chills thinking about it standing there and watching this community do awesome things. And I couldn't even I couldn't move in the opposite direction of the community. And I think for me, that's a a word picture that says this community is going in a really cool direction, and and it's bringing everyone along with it. And it it's much harder to swim upstream and try and do it the wrong way than it is to just jump in the stream and go. And it it was a really cool kind of mountaintop experience for me to be standing in that doorway. Couldn't even get in because the community was coming out. And I didn't know everybody yet, which was also kind of a challenge. I to know everybody. We haven't connected yet, you better come say hi to me at the next conference. Agreed. Can I touch on a few personal things that impacted me this year? I mean, I'm new to the team as of July. Well. Sure. Okay, yeah. I've been involved for five plus years and longer, but six months ago I started and I've been here every day then versus Fridays. And so I've learned a lot and that was the next thing on my list is I've just gotten so much mentoring and you guys have poured into me that I am so appreciative of that because I really, I could just say that it's new to me. Let me say it that way. I haven't gotten as much of that in many, many, many years. So that was personally fulfilling to me to get that level of leadership and mentoring from you two specifically, John and Emily. And then number four was once I got a little familiar with what was going on and what I was going to just getting to see the relief off of John's face and taking away some of that stress, taking it from him. Because that's why I came to help out. And John and you were shouldering so much of the burden. So that was fulfilling to be able to pull that from John. I hope I've done that. Yeah, huge. Absolutely huge. We just wouldn't have been in the same position right now if you hadn't done that, Nick. We're infinitely grateful for that. And again, it's rewarding to me to help you guys. But my last item, which is probably the most important, is what you guys did for me when I was in the hospital and in recovery. You completely blew me away. Know, unbeknownst to me, you guys coordinated with my wife. You went and finished my household tasks that I had been trying to get done for a month plus removing carpeting at the house I bought and removing baseboard, moving furniture into the garage so that it could, , we could finish the flooring and put a bed and real furniture into that house. So I just want to say that I've never experienced anything quite that in my entire adult life. The level of family that this team is, is just shocking and awesome. And it's a model. So I thank you. We definitely view you and the rest of our team here as family and the community as an extension of family. But I think there's a word picture in that too, Nick, because what you did for us when you came in this summer, excuse me, was to take a lot of the household tasks that we hadn't been able to get to and clear those up. And so for us to be able to return that is, , just, I think it's poetic and I'm so glad that we can share that together. Yeah. I mean, we do this because of people. We don't do this because of typing on keyboards or coding and the community's people, our staff is people, that's why we do it. Our product is a relationship management system. I mean, it's people to the core. Yeah. Did you find those things I hid in your house? No. Hold that thanks. Yeah, there's a note of five things that may spoil and start to smell. I haven't had anything yet. Needs a little bit more time. Yeah, enough time hasn't passed yet. And I wanna be clear. That was not just Emily and John that were in my house. It was their spouses and the rest of the team pretty much. , Mike and Ethan were there. It was just again, thanks to all you guys. And if that doesn't creep you out that we snuck into your house, watch out community. Maybe the Spark team will hit your house next. That's what it sounded , right? Santa. Santa. One other really cool thing to me is when I joined the team, I had to spend a lot of time trying to set expectations for funding and trying to help educate people on how we function because our model is really different and we require donations to survive, but we don't require donations of everyone who's using the product. So how does that work? How do you explain that? It's hard to understand at first when you move from a more of a vendor model. So there was a lot of education in that and a lot of kind of frustrating conversations with churches that would say, well, just make everybody pay for it. And we're saying, you don't understand what we're getting at. It's it's a heart it's a heart position instead, which is much what churches tell their attendees. But this year for the first time, I would have a first time communication with a church that says, hey, we're getting ready to move to Rock, and we have plans to support you at this level starting at this time. And that has never happened before 2018, and it was becoming a regular occurrence this year. And that's really heartwarming to know that the community's having those conversations without us having to be involved. And that that just shows the trust and the shared vision and goals that I that have been building this year. And and that's happening even outside of our direct efforts and is so helpful. And just kind of a cool thing to realize for me in my area. Yeah. It's just cool to hear the stories that people are having those conversations and they come back and tell us. I mean, I want to mention names, but I know if I do, I'll forget half of them. I don't want to forget anybody, but it's just amazing. I mean, it's they're on our team because they are on our Yeah, it is. It's a big team and it's really exciting. We're in the world series now, I think. It feels it. Yeah. I think also on this particular podcast, we would be remiss not to just have a little throwback to our duck on fire analogy that came up this year in the podcast. That's probably the longest living analogy in a podcast so far. Yes. But and then you don't know this is coming because I had it written down on my my my nice little clipboard here. That I was thinking , , what , preparing to think about this podcast, , what does 2019 look ? And I really do feel I mean, the future is so bright that Chip is gonna have to wear shades for 2019. So I'm working on that. I bet Chip will look great in shades. Because there's just so many things happening in the community. There's churches coming on, churches who are on and have been on for a while who are working on new projects. We have projects Avalanche. We have new team structure coming to the core team to help bolster us and make us more mature in our processes. Mean, this is 2019 is gonna be amazing. It's definitely something to look forward to. And it's a year that's gonna hold a lot of things that are brand new and have never happened before. Not only never happened for us, but never happened because we're creating something totally new. So we're super happy to happy to do that arm in arm with the community. Well, thanks for joining us. Have a Merry Christmas, and we look forward to all that 2019 has in store. Today's show is produced by Emily Forman. Nick was our recording engineer who turned the dials and pushed the buttons. Jim Michael handled all the audio post production mixing. There are amazing show notes, you can find at rockrms.com/connect, were transcribed and written up by Michael Garrison. 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.