Podcast Episode 21: Episode 195: Rock Updates, SQL Server, & Customization Insights

Description

The latest Rock release is here – what does it mean for your instance? How can you customize Rock responsibly while leveraging SQL Server best practices? Explore insights from our RX25 discussion and discover key community announcements.

Transcribed Content

Whether you're learning the basics or you want to be a Rock Master, we have a class for you from high level overviews to specific features. Find the training class that fits your needs this year at community.rockrms.com/classes. Welcome to this episode of the Rockcast Podcast. I'm Emily Forman, and joining me today are Jon Edmiston and Nick Airdo, and we're talking Rock. Yeah. We managed to find our way back into the building, by the way. I tried. Yeah. Yeah. You tried to glock us out. It did not work. Yes. And so if you don't know what we're talking about, it's because you're not following John on x, which Failed mutiny. That's the we'll just label that. Failed mutiny. Mhmm. So anyway, there's your little plug, John. There are always entertaining things happening over there. And if you are not in the know, you probably should be. Alright. Let's talk about what we're gonna talk about, then we're gonna talk about it, and then you'll know. Alright. Our agenda for today, we're gonna run through, of course, the latest Rock release, and we're gonna talk a little bit about SQL Server. We will also be discussing the responsible way to customize a Rock instance because there are so many options. What is the way you should pursue inside the Rock world? That's gonna be really important. Then we're gonna hit on Rx 25. It's coming. There are things you should know about it, and we just wanna run through that and a few community announcements. Sound good? Yeah. Let's dive in. Let's do it. Okay. Can I go first? Please. Product updates. All right. Version 17 o, it's been about a month. April 21 is when that came out. So what does that mean? It means 17.1 is about to come out. We're going to start alpha testing probably by the time this is published, and version 17.1 has about 40 plus fixes in it. A variety of them are for next gen check-in. There's some polished points for the email wizard, which is in preview. John just reminded me that there's chat now in 17.1 that's integrated with Rock Mobile, And I guess the people who know about that that's coming kinda know about it already. Well, it's a public thing. Everybody can know about it. And if they want more information, where do they go for that? I'll read the docs. I mean, it it definitely is something you have to have a Rock mobile app for. And it is an additional service on top of that because we have to pay for the chat platform. But yeah, it's an exciting, exciting big feature. It is exciting. And then BLE or Bluetooth Low Energy with check-in, next gen check-in. Yeah. Again, another Rock Mobile feature that's really cool. It's funny because 17.1 is not just a little patch release. That's what it sounds . We're moving people. We're moving forward. Yes. So if you were holding off moving to 17, I would encourage you to get on the Alpha program and help us run it through the ringer, and then you'll be safe and sound when 17.1 comes out. Yes. And start prepping. It's good. We're excited about this. A lot of big things coming in Dot releases right now, and we have a lot coming in 18 that we're not gonna talk about now you need to come to the conference. We'll talk about the conference later. All right. John, do you have an update for us on SQL Server? Yes. So now many people don't need to worry about this topic because they run their Rock instance in Azure and they use Azure SQL. If you're doing that, you're all taken care of. This is why you pay, for the cloud because if someone else does all your stuff for you. Now if you're running on prem, that's a great option too. , that's a it's very difficult for us to to get a product that allows you to install in all different places, but we feel that is a important thing for churches. So for those of you who are running Rock on prem, you need to know this. We're gonna require a SQL Server update soon. Now in the history of Rock, we we've not been really pushy about forcing you to update to the latest version of SQL Server. And the reason why is there hasn't been that many big changes in the database world for a while. So as SQL Server has gone from 14 to 16 to 19, there are a few new aggregate functions that would have been nice to use, but nothing that we we really felt was holding us back, limiting us of what we could do in core. Well, that's changing. In SQL Server 2020 five, there are some features that we absolutely need to have. So much so that we've been prototyping some of those in Azure SQL because Azure SQL's had them for a bit. And we were hemming and hawing, are going to do this on prem? I guess the on prem people aren't going to get these couple features. And Microsoft just announced this week, in fact, that all the features for SQL Server '20 twenty five, the features that we need are in there. It's in preview release right now as of this week. And so just know when that hits full release, we're gonna quickly require people to update. So I think it's an exciting time because the database world, I think, is gonna be changing quickly now as AI tools are being built right into the database. So just just know, , we had about eight years there where we didn't have to worry, and now it's time. We're gonna be updating. And now when you update your database, it's a very safe thing. It's little scary, , It can feel that way, but Microsoft's done a great job with SQL Server updates. They're just Rock solid. That said, once you update your database, you have to also update your instance. So there's a compatibility level inside your database. Don't forget that because Microsoft does not flip that switch for you. , out of an abundance of caution, they don't flip that switch for you, so you'll need to go do it yourself. So and again, these are the things that when you do on prem, there's a lot of benefits to that, but this is one of the things that you responsibilities you take on yourself. And, , I've had some pre conversations with a couple folks and they understand, , they get it. They're wise and they purchase the Software Assurance. So this isn't a cost for them, and they should buy that Assurance because this is a major infrastructure component. Mhmm. So but we're just kind of spreading the word. Get ready. You might consider looking at the preview. Great. Well, thanks for that update. And just with many things in Rock, you can choose where to host, but you can also choose the way that you wanna use the application. It doesn't come glued together right out of the box, so many things are adjustable. And there are quite a few approaches taken. Some work better than others in the long run. And and it's hard maybe to know what's what until you've been familiarized with the platform a little bit. So maybe we can talk today a little bit about good and bad ways, better and best ways to customize for the long term health of your system. Yes. So if I'm describing Rock to someone, I think one of the the best things best features is its extensibility. That's it's an amazing extensible tool. As a product manager, one of the worst things about Rock is its extensibility, for lots of reasons. One is we don't know what things are because you can build it out yourself. You build your own Lego kits, and we're not quite sure what baptism is because it can be lots of different things. It could be in person attribute. It could be a step. It could be lots of different things. And we're addressing that in the product coming up. However, you can also do some bad practices, things that can impact the stability of the product, the speed, the performance of the product. So I think it's really important that we proactively talk about how to be a responsible customizer and how you really steward the platform Rock. So it's kind of cliche, but with great power comes great responsibility. And because Rock gives us this incredible flexibility, far more than almost any other platform I've ever seen, the fact that even that you can host it yourself, that is a huge flexibility. Allows you to do things you simply cannot do in other products. But because of all that, there comes an even greater responsibility. Not just to yourself, but to the organization, to the platform, but also to the community. When I was growing up, my mom would always tell me this, and it didn't really make a lot of sense till I had kids, but she'd say something, the shame is you only pick up the bad habits from your friends. You tend not to pick up the good habits. And I think that's where the community comes into. , if you're out there kind of being a little loose with the best practices, guess what? You're writing recipes, you're sharing those ideas with other churches, and those bad habits tend to propagate. But we need to make sure that we are good stewards of how we shepherd our platform for lots of reasons, but the biggest one too, because it will live beyond you. Mhmm. Shocking thing, all of us will not be in the role that we're in at some point. Career change, life change, or at the end of the day, don't know if anybody knows this, we all die. So guaranteed 100% chance you will not be in the position you are in one hundred years. And someone else maybe will be, depending on your beliefs of the Rapture. So we really have to think about this, that we live in a reality that there's going to be some limitations. There's limitations in everything. Every platform has limits. It's not that this is a feature problem. It's just that it's a reality problem. I again, I will stand on the soapbox and say Rock has probably the fewest fewer limitations of almost any other platform out there, but it does have limitations. And so it's about living within those limits. And it's often much wiser to live within those limits than to stretch and break them in ways that it wasn't meant to be. These short term workarounds cause long term pain, And they always do. always. I've never seen it not have these pains. And I've done it myself. I have a track record of learning from mistakes. So what are we talking about? What are these dangerous practices we're talking about? Well, it's things injecting JavaScript to override core behavior. It's so tempting. It's right there. I can put a block onto a page and I can inject my JavaScript right A lot of products, you can't do that. Can't do that with Asana. Right. It's very difficult. I don't have access to the source. I can't inject my JavaScript easily. Hiding UI or changing things through CSS, sometimes even overriding that with security on that CSS. Bad practices. Again, you can't really do that in Asana. Now there are browser plugins that you can inject CSS and sometimes even some JavaScript in there to to change its behavior. And I have done that. I have done that. And I have paid the price. , all of a sudden, my Asana doesn't work. And I usually forget the little thing I had done, and it's , oh. Mhmm. But it guaranteed it always breaks, , quickly. And when it does, do I go, shame on Asana for, , chain , no. I'm , I shouldn't have done that. I I know better. We're better than this. Also, calling internal code that's not meant for public use, especially in in in Obsidian, there are some ways that you can call some internal functions that you shouldn't be. , guaranteed, we will break those because we're not they're not meant for public use. Editing the Rock core files, that, that's been a problem. , know that. We've we've had we've had that conversation. But also other things, just modifying the core database schema, adding indexes, , it sounds sounds that wouldn't be a problem, but it is. , it's it's going to have a clashing effect with our updates. So these are technical ways to doing it. But there's also more nontechnical ways. It it's I'd call them feature abuse, using workflows in a way they weren't really meant for. Or adding your thirtieth person trigger. Yeah. The entity change triggers, those are luckily, many people don't do that. But there are some who need to put the entity triggers down. And Rock doesn't stop you from adding the nth one, but, , you you need to control that. Yeah. Sometimes it's almost I feel it's a Law and Order episode where there's a hostage negotiation going on. Put down the entity trigger. We can talk this through. But yeah. They they can become addictions. Now why why do these happen? It's not people aren't doing this for fun and sport. Right? There's a sense of business urgency, industry urgency that, , I have to be able to do this. , it's required. Or maybe it's a cycle. This is why we always have done it. , we have technical people, we got this. Okay? Internal pressure from staff or leadership. A belief that there's no other way. But Rock does have a suite of customization options that can really take the power out of the pain. There always is gonna be a limitation at the end of the day. Right? There's again, we can only go so far. So what are some healthy ways that you can support customization paths? And many of these you guys know. Lava. Lava's an amazing tool. And in most cases, Lava is a healthy, great way of making these customizations. Block settings. We do have almost an addiction to block settings. I feel we need to tone that down a little bit, but they are a great way for us to have our cake and eat it too. Mhmm. And so a lot of people have asked for block settings. A lot of some people have even funded block settings. And it's a way for us to tune the behavior of the product to have your cake and eat it too. Again, think we've gone a little overboard on that, but that's still a strategy that we see is is one that we need to keep. Workflows. Again, for the most part, they're a great thing. They can be abused, but managing automation and business logic via the workflow is another way you can do this. Plugins, what other product, especially a product of our size has plugins, has a store, you can just one click install. I mean, do how hard it is to get that Rock shop working? Was really difficult to keep it going. It's very difficult, but it's important because we want to make sure that we have extensibility and that you're not relying upon a single dev team to give you what you need. Also, another one that's really exciting is Helix and Lava applications. These allow you to do some really cool things. I really feel Helix and Lava applications are gonna be a very powerful alternative to writing blocks or especially Obsidian blocks. Obsidian's a little bit harder to do for many people than the older way of our development. But Helix is a great option to do that. And it's now in version 17.1, is it not? '18. Oh, '18. Okay. So Helix is coming. Helix has been donated to Core. So it's a Core thing. And this week, the mobile team has been working on how to implement Helix within Rock Mobile. I mean, this is awesome. Wow. , I I I mean, at a certain point, I'm gonna reach out to the HTMX guys and show them what we did. I think they're gonna be pretty impressive. Because it's always been seen as a web thing. But but because of the way Maui works and XAML and a whole bunch of technical things that you may not care about, it's it's actually possible on mobile too. And I think that's gonna blow their mind. But it's amazing. , the team is super excited about it. They're they're doing a great job coming up with a strategy. We're having meetings about it. It's just awesome. So Helix is another way. So there are ways. Again, there will still be limitations, but there are ways. Now how do manage the path of how to make these changes? Rock is a we're a responsive community, responsive platforms. Feature requests are heard and they're implemented. We have an ideas board. And we do look at that. In fact, I think in the last two weeks, three weeks, we've implemented, at least assigned to development, many different ideas, at least three ideas. Yesterday, we were reaching out to get some feedback about how the communication wizard was going, the next gen one. Or I'm sorry, the preview one. And several people gave us feedback. Many of those feedback items were done that same day yesterday Immediately. And are in seventeen one. That's crazy. Yeah. , at least three or four of them. And many others have been mocked up and are going to production or development for seventeen two or three, Wow. Soon. So, , come on. What other app does that. And it's because we don't see ourselves as a software company, we see ourselves as an extension of the church. And we wanna be in that trench fighting the spiritual battle. And when you do it this way, your extensions, your customizations go further because they get shared with everybody. Instead of a little hack that's gonna come back and bite you guaranteed, you can do it the right way and everybody gets access to it. So you kinda have to have a sense though that not everything that you need, it can be immediately implemented. So you have to have that realization that it can't just be immediate gratification. Sometimes you have to delay that gratification to do it the right way. And also too, when you look at the reason why is it done this way? It may not be exactly the preference that you wanted, But just realize a lot of thought goes into how this works. So many features are designed with long term goals or future features in mind. Grant Wayne Gretzky said his secret to success was not to skate to where the puck is, it was to skate to where the puck is going. And so sometimes it's trying to understand the features not where they are today, but you have to understand kind of where the context or where the features might be going. Now we don't have time to sit and pontificate about all of our thoughts and things, but you can kind of see, and there's enough talk to kind of get the trends and that's where the conference comes into. Talk a lot about there. Listening, being an active listener to the podcast is another great way to get this insight too. But oftentimes, when we make these bad practices, we're working against the tool, not with the tool. But I think it's understanding that having a deep understanding of the knowledge and the elegance that we're trying to put into why we do things a certain way. Or even sometimes we remove a feature or change a feature the way it works. It's , well, why did you do that? We often are trying to make features or small aspects of the product more reusable. And a lot of it comes down to opinion versus the architecture. Many of the reasons that we do, that I see that these changes have been made is really just more of an opinion. Many must have requests are just really more opinionated than essentials. Sometimes these come from internal clients and ministry teams. Mhmm. And that's understandable, but it's our job to lead and not just to serve. I think it's easy to always want to have that service mindset, and that's a great one. But at the same time, the best way someone sometimes you can serve a group is to lead. I used to say too, way back when I was doing a lot more IT stuff, I think within church IT groups, we often wanna be seen as the golden retriever. we wanna be the one that everybody in the staff comes and pets on the head and goes, oh, I love you so much. But I think the best thing we can be sometimes is a tiger. And not that we're gonna try scare people or eat people. That's not where our teeth are going. Our teeth are going out to the world to take on the world and say, Hey, we wanna inspire change and help people. But sometimes that means that we need to have leadership coaching, mentoring, and casting visions before the requests arrive. Yes. Once the request is in front of you, you're at the mercy of being in the middle of someone's bright shiny object and great idea and having to say no to that. That's not a good place to be. You don't wanna be in the middle of that. It's an emotion versus logic kind of conversation. Those are always lose lose. Right. So if someone says, I can't use this until Mhmm. That's what you can let me just translate. What that really means is, if I put it in through, , the Google Translate into digital strategy, it would sound something , you haven't cast a vision for me, so therefore, I'm going to ask for this opinionated need. Or a need that's only gonna help me or my area. So whenever someone says that, I would kinda make that as a radar is going off saying, hey, you haven't cast the vision yet. So let's talk about casting the vision. When staff demands hacks or refuse to use it unless x exists, it often reveals a lack of vision, strategy, and technical leadership. It's tempting now to blame the leadership of our church. Yes. They have not cast this vision. Well, let me just say, the buck stops with you. Because you're listening to this podcast. Now you might say, well, there's an IT director between me and even that, that's his or her problem. Maybe, maybe not though. , maybe your job is to help them. , I think they're busy. , I'm I'm almost guaranteeing you they're really busy. If you're hearing this, , God's called you. It's your job. And if we aren't leading clearly, we'll always be reacting chaotically. You can't lead in the spur of the moment. You have to start that leadership beforehand, especially with the technical vision. And if we're sharing our vision in response to the requests, we're not proactively casting vision. And so you might think, is this vision ? What do you think about it? So me and my friend, ChatGBT, got together late last night. And I just want to read to you something that could be seen as the start of a foundational vision statement. And obviously, you can change it. But it goes something this. Foundational vision statement. Because we desire to minister to our people in the most meaningful and effective way possible, we believe it is essential to truly know them. That level of personalization and care can only be achieved through a system that serves as a single source of truth. One platform that unifies data, insights, and ministry efforts. So here we're just trying to say it's not about the technology, it's about what is the goal that we're trying to do, which is really to reach people, and we need a system that can help support that. To pursue this vision, we are committed to choosing integrated solutions within the system, even when external tools may offer slightly better features, but cannot share the data seamlessly. Mhmm. So sometimes, I said, there are always gonna be limitations. The problem is in these cases, selling it too late, , Product X will always have a few different things that we don't have. But guess what? We have an infinite number of things they don't have. No Venn diagram on products will ever completely overlap. Yep. Okay. Second point. We wanna prioritize holistic, unified strategies over fragmented niche alternatives that create silos and hinder long term ministry impact. Next, we want to invest in long term stewardship by building with consistency, scalability, and sustainability in mind. I think that was really cool. That word sustainability is really important in our digital vision. It's easy to have short term it's easy to check short term boxes, but long term sustainability of your model is really difficult. Next, we want to lead with clarity, coaching internal teams towards a shared vision and understanding, so decisions are made with alignment and purpose. This approach may require sacrifice and restraint, but it positions us to serve more effectively, respond more intelligently, and love more personally. Because our technology strategy supports rather than distracts from our mission. And I think this is the key is we have to excel that this is about the people and life change and loving them and shepherding them. I mean, Jesus, I love that he uses the shepherding concept, right? Because that was what they that was their timeframe, right? Step one in being a good shepherd is know your sheep. Mhmm. Step two, we're supposed to go after the lost sheep, but you have to know that the sheep is lost. Yep. You can't go after the one if you don't know that he's out of the pen. This is what these technologies do. I think if you start with that and cast that vision you have to do this before they have a need. If you have a need, now your vision is staying between them and that lustful shiny object that they want, and that's a bad place to be. But sometimes they cast this vision, I think, is best told through stories. So you could say something, follow-up this with, , for saying, for example, at News Breeden Church, a church found peace after their daughter's passing because a volunteer recorded a note in the shared system about a recent salvation conversion. A simple act ensured that the family knew their daughter had accepted Christ and gave them comfort in knowing she's in heaven. That's a practical example of a church that has this strategy. It's not just a data strategy, it's also a process strategy and accountability of doing the right things. And when you do that, this is what happens. Are you willing to give up that one little micro feature because you can have success that? Mhmm. I think almost anybody on your staff would do that. And if they don't, then they shouldn't be on your staff. Or another church, a man was stopped from taking his own life because a follow-up process was faithfully carried out. The system generated and triggered a timely outreach connecting him at the exact moment that he was, that he was in need, saving his life. Mhmm. Another example of how a system has access to all the data and has this processes built in can trigger something. God uses it to trigger that at the right moment. That's not Rock's perfect timing. It's God's perfect timing. But if you sell these ahead of time and get people to buy in, I think they're gonna come to you and , yeah, what? You give them the permission to kinda opt out of that one thing. I'd to have that one little thing. Yeah. But because of this vision, I'm willing to give up that one little thing. And these stories couldn't have happened with that single source of truth. Right. A shared system that unified the information and the action. They're made possible because a few individuals chose to give up a personal preference or a small benefit in favor of a more greater good. The opportunity to truly minister in changing moments, life changing moments. So again, we can all point out, we can all have that one bright shiny object. And truthfully, sometimes I think the best word to use is lust after. , I've got to have that. My whole life is going change if I could only have that one little doodad. If we've all accepted the vision, it's much easier for us to say, but I'm willing to put that aside so I can have this better object. And I think when we we hear it framed that way, our colleagues will will see that. And and it gives them the opportunity to participate and to join our vision. And once they join our vision, they're gonna self modulate on that. So it comes down to counting the real cost. Quick fixes today become technical debt tomorrow. They cost time, trust. When you get the data wrong in the future because of a little hacky thing, you lost trust. Stability, sustainability. But they also your choice is also gonna fall on somebody else. Your future team, another church perhaps. And stewardship really means just looking at that total cost of ownership and not just having the immediate impact. So, my closing thoughts are every change we make is a legacy we leave behind. So make sure that you think about all of this, document your changes. We have a saying internally that the description field in Rock is a required field. Not technically required, but Should be. It is required. Let's not just be clever administrators, which I think is something sometimes we can be guilty of. We wanna be seen as clever, but let's be wise leaders. And let's be the voice that casts a clear, consistent technical vision, not only within our organizations, hopefully that's the biggest one, but also in the community. And I just kind of finalize that too by saying, let's be the masters of our toolset. You can only do this if you have a deep understanding of the toolset and you really think about, think through your strategies and not just walk in in the morning and be , this is what I'm gonna do. I think I hear that a lot in stories. I just heard a story this week, yesterday of someone who, , had an moment of how they're gonna tackle something and just dug into it, made a huge complex workflow. And then at the end the day, realized, oh, that's probably not the best way of doing it. And basically threw away all that work and started it fresh. So just having a little bit more discipline. So those are some thoughts. Definitely think that's something that as a community, we should try to help support. As we build those strategies, share them with each other. Because what I just wrote, , I think could be used in almost any church. Maybe it's easier to, , polish than it is to create. So we can post that in the show notes maybe in case people want that. Yeah. So that's a lot to think about, and it's it makes a lot of sense. But how do you get started? Casting vision is hard and an uphill battle. And depending on where you are in the maybe an org chart with who you need cast vision for, they may not have a direct report to you or you may report directly to them. So that's one of the reasons that we've kind of remade RX to the event that it is this year, because we want to help you establish that vision setting moment with your leadership and your ministry leaders in a way that might be challenging in just a conversation, and in a way that can happen outside of an emotional moment of maybe having an argument or potential disagreement about some particular item that someone wants. So Rx Vision Day is specifically crafted to help set that vision for digital ministry and knowing your people well with your leadership. And we're putting together an incredible slate of opportunities, content, and speakers that will appeal to your leadership. So that's our part of the job. Your part of the job is to make sure your leaders come. This is going to make your job easier later on when you're able to have the buy in, maybe the budget, the the backup or support at the leadership level for what you need. So let's talk a little bit about what we're doing that will be so helpful for your leadership this year at the event. We've we've broken down on vision day, which is the first day of the conference, kind of the direction that we're going, which is to cast a vision specifically for digital ministry. Why it's important and how knowing your people today requires knowing the data about them and how you can use that then to tailor the message of the gospel and someone's next step journey directly to them because them. And then we're gonna talk about how Rock can help you do that. And then we're bringing in the New York Times bestselling author, Dan Heath, who would be worth coming to hear anyway without any of the strategic elements behind it. And he's gonna be talking about change management because it may involve some change management with your staff. And this is all gonna be a great one, two, three for your leadership to hear. Then that afternoon, we're doing some executive level breakouts. And these breakouts are a little bit different from what you might have experienced at a previous RX if you've come. So we wanna share with you who we're bringing in, who these speakers are, and kind of what their angle is because we think this can be incredibly valuable. And we'd encourage you to bring your leadership in for that full day and not leave just after the morning. So right after lunch, we're gonna have a slate of speaker options, and the actual schedule will come out later, and we'll continue announcing speakers. But let's talk a little bit about who's already lined up to to speak during this time frame. We did a podcast recently with Jay Cranda. If you haven't listened to that, we strongly recommend you go back and listen to it. He's actually the innovative technology pastor at Saddleback and has written a book about digital ministry. And this is a wonderful resource, so recommend that you pay attention to that podcast and also a great opportunity for your leadership to understand about digital ministry. He's been leading in that area for, I think, the last decade at Soundlink. Yeah. Trendsetter for in space. He absolutely is. So an incredible person to look up to and learn from, and very relatable. Rodney Ross is the giving and generosity pastor at Life Church, where they do some incredible things in the generosity space. And this is not just about giving. Right? This is about helping people understand where their heart is and helping minister to them in times of need or crisis. And there are so many incredible ways to understand how giving data actually creates ministry moments. And that's what we're talking about. Jimmy Witcher, another person that we've done a podcast with recently. He leads the Trinity Fellowship Church and has a very interesting background in business and has done a lot of research into AI. So his background that combines business, technology, and pastoral care is helping to create some leading thoughts in this space that everyone is wrestling with. So this would be an incredible one to tune into. Also, not yet announced, but soon after this podcast launches, we'll be announcing Robert Bai, who is a product designer with AllTrails, and formerly with Figma. He'll be For six years. Yeah. Most of the features that you use in Figma, he helped design and make. Super excited to have him here. Yes. Talking about design thinking. And how that applies universally. And just talking with him, it's amazing the agenda God's bringing it together. Because he says, has a good eye for graphic design, but he's , it's not about that. It's about organizational design, process design, and he wants to that's the message that he feels God has him called to give. And it's , exactly. That's awesome. That's so great. God's also creating an interesting message path for a Microsoft researcher named Gretchen Huisinga, and that announcement will be coming out shortly here as well, so you're getting kind of a pre announcement on a couple of speakers. She is a podcast host and researcher, and her specialty right now is AI. She feels very called to lean into that space and try and understand how to wrestle with the ethical and moral responsibilities of the church, the AI tools that exist, how all of this works together, what that means currently for pastors and ministry staff. And again, it's just one of those things that most churches are having to consider and research on their own. And this is gonna be a great exponential way to take in information from innovative leaders in areas that are critical for leadership to understand right now. Yeah. And she's a part of Microsoft Research, which is an internal organization of Microsoft that's worldwide known. And to have someone come from that, who's gonna talk about AI. When she says, When I talk about AI, I'm also bringing Jesus into it. That's right. Everywhere she goes when she talks about AI, she brings Jesus with it. Yes. That's pretty crazy. That's awesome. I can't wait to hear what she She doesn't just bring faith. She literally brings the name of Jesus everywhere So she that's gonna be a good one. Yes. So that should be fairly convincing. Where else is your leadership gonna get this kind of content and these thought provoking concepts? And the chance to then network with other leaders who are in these same situations and having to make the same decisions and try to track the same things. So a really great opportunity. Yeah, and if I was giving a recommendation to hook these two things together, we talked about just having this vision statement for what you're trying to do. And it doesn't matter where you are in the organization level. It's you. Just bring that. Even just take the one we have right here. And while you have them on this trip, after you get through a few of these sessions, whether it's at lunch or maybe it's in in the evening, just pull them aside and say, hey, I just need just want fifteen minutes to wrap up a quick point. Here's what I'm thinking. Yes. We're missing this vision. Let me just Here's a straw, man. It's probably wrong. Let me just share it with you. And then we only need ten minutes. Let's just cast vision for this. You're not gonna solve it there. Don't try to solve it there. They don't wanna solve it there. But if you just cast that fifteen minutes of vision, when you go back, the door's already open. Mhmm. People may not know this, but Spark and Rock was started with a ten to fifteen minute impromptu informal sidebar meeting at a church camp that we were doing our staff retreat at, where I just said to the senior pastor, Hey, can I have just ten minutes? I just wanna share a thought with you. He's , Sure. We literally weren't even sitting down. We were just leaning up against this porch. And I said, This is where we were. This is where we wanna go. What are your thoughts? And again, we didn't necessarily get all the details right, but we got buy in and we got acceptance, and we wouldn't have here today if we didn't have done that ten minute little break. If I called a two hour or one hour PowerPoint driven thing, we would not be here. So I would say, let that be your opportunity to cast the vision for this. Yep. Excellent. So we're helping create that moment for you. Your responsibility is just get your leadership there and and create the space together that you can have these conversations. There's some other really incredible reasons to come to Rx, and we'll list a few of them. Right? So being able to connect with others that do what you do at other churches, there's an explosion of ideas that come out of that, of innovations, just the networking relationships that will empower you all year. Rock is very community focused. Most of that. You're in the chat channels and helping each other all the time. You'll see those people face to face and build the kinds of relationships that you can rely on that are mutually beneficial all year. You can meet all of the Rock savvy vendors in one place. You do not have to set up 5,000,000 Zoom calls. You can talk to them all there. And there's a lot of value in a face to face in in knowing who who supports, who comes to the conference, who's engaged with the community. Those things are very important. There's a lot of learning. We're gonna have technical tracks. We'll have opportunities for connection with other churches that are doing things you can learn from. The opportunity to learn is very high. But we also hear from many people who attend. We send surveys out, and they tell us that the encouragement and the inspiration is what really carries them through the rest of the year. So that's something you don't wanna miss out on. We would consider Rx an essential part of your Rock experience, so make sure that you're there for that. And finally, don't forget, this is where you kinda get that recognition. There's not an opportunity maybe inside your church staff to always have what you do be known, but you can share as a speaker. You can submit the work you've been doing for a community gold circle award. Rockstars are recognized. And so this is a great time to feel some reward for the work that you've been doing as well. And if you're not a rockstar, don't forget that that is an annual appointment based on your engagement with the community. There are lots of ways to get points to become a Rock star, and it's an attainable bar. You can find out more about how to get involved no matter whether you're technical or nontechnical on our get involved page on the community site, and there's still time before the conference where we recognize the next year's group of Rock stars. So take that off your to do list and put it in your to done list. You can do it. There's still time. Alright. Those are just a few of the reasons. But don't here's another thing you need to know. We're planning this and putting it together for you. And you may be going, oh, yeah. I'm planning to come. I'll I'll purchase my tickets. I don't quite have my travel plans around. I would say go get those Rock tickets right now for the conference. Plan your travel, of course, but get your ticket space locked down. That's what helps us understand, , who's coming, how we divide things out. We're still very much in flux about what rooms assigned to what, and your ticket purchase helps influence that. So if you're if you're ready to come and waiting to get your ticket, we just ask that you go ahead and purchase that ticket, and then make your travel plans as that becomes a little more clear. Yeah. And I think in the leadership there, it's key not just for them, but for you. I think it's gonna help you achieve what you want in ministry and what the church needs in ministry. So sometimes we don't to think of it from the selfish perspective, but it's probably okay in this case because we want to educate them that by them having buy into what you're seeing Rock can do and what you're seeing in the community is gonna help the church. Get him there for that reason. Excellent. So there are many other reasons that you should come, but that's a pretty good list for now, and we're looking forward to seeing you there. Couple of announcements. There are the Gold Circle Awards submission process is open, so put your ideas in there, the things that you've been working on and building with Rock for the last year. We're looking for ministry innovations. How are you using the Rock Toolkit to innovate and create ministry opportunities as well as design? So the things that you've been doing in the in the digital spaces, what is that design? So you can upload those directly from the conference site. There's a little awards button at the top menu. Please submit those for our panel of community judges to consider for awards. Also, there is a virtual master class. We typically have one per year and it's coming up in June. I think there are only three tickets left. So if you don't have a seat and are planning on get it on getting one, you'll wanna reserve those as soon as possible. They are going very quickly. And finally, our integrated services survey was a big hit. We had a lot of great feedback from that. So we're looking to send another quick survey out for those of you who are working with Rock Partners that would be a similar type of survey. So keep an eye out for that. Your feedback, of course, is very important here, and I hope you can see that when we talk about things the ideas and bug fixes that we're moving so quickly on and the ways to get involved, the gold circle awards that you can bring in, and now, of course, your survey feedback being something that can help and benefit the whole community. We so appreciate you. Thank you for listening. Thank you for being a part of the Rock community. This all works because of you, and we really value that. Until next time, please subscribe wherever you listen to your podcast so you don't miss our next episode. This episode of Rockcast is brought to you by Rock sponsor, Checkr, providers of integrated background checks. Checks. Connect with Checkr today at rockrms.com/sponsors.