RX 24 - Transforming a Large Church - Personalized Engagement for Deeper Connections - Bliss Ellis

Transcribed Content

Welcome, everyone, to this session. I'd like to introduce our next speaker. Let's give a welcome to Bliss. Hey, everybody. How are you guys today? I hope that you are not are good and caffeinated and ready for the next session. So today, I wanted to talk to you about transforming a large church and how we use the personal engagement through rock for some of those deeper connections. And so just a little bit about me. My name is Bliss, as he said. I am with Church of the Highlands. I have been married for a little over thirty years. I have four kids and eight grandkids. And I started at Church of the Highlands in 2013, '20 '14, and then started part time on staff in 2018, full time in 2020, and this is my third Rock Conference. So happy to be here. So we moved to Rock in 2020 right about the time that I came on staff full time. So I've kind of been in it from the beginning on the ministry side, so I'm definitely not the tech side. But I work with our ministry teams, and I'm kind of a kind of the bridge between our ministry teams and our rock team. So that's kind of my role on the team. And I grew up in Snowden, Alabama, which is just a little town just south of Montgomery, Alabama, and attended Snowden United Methodist Church. So we had probably about 25 people on average, and I think that you had to be over 70 to be a member. It was one of those. I was the youth group. There was no other. And so as I, you know, became an adult, got married, and had kids, I definitely wanted my kids to be involved more in a larger ministry with other things, never knowing that I would go from one extreme to the other. So we have 25 campuses currently. And so yeah. So we have a large church that I've noticed the importance of keeping those deeper connections because, you know, at Snowden, you knew everybody and you knew more than you wanted to know about all the people that were there. So we just realized how much it takes intentionality to remain connected. And so that's what I wanted to talk to you guys a little bit about the challenges of large churches. You know, like in really at any church specifically, you just wanna maintain that in intimacy with everybody. You don't want to have that big church feel. You want to have, you know, even the larger settings, wanna keep it intimate. And so a couple of the difficulties that we found were just scalability. That was one of them. Just the sheer number makes it difficult to keep those personal relationships and ensure that everybody is just feeling individually connected. And then the other piece was the authenticity because, you know, sometimes just because as the scale increases, there's a risk that the interactions become less personal. All of a sudden, you start getting these mass emails and and those kind of things, and you're not it's not definitely not the personal touch. And so that is where we just kinda ask the question, how do we maintain those connections without losing that personal touch in such a large large community? So at Highlands, we have a mantra. It is it's know the one. Like, that's been kind of our little cry that we have are kind of hanging our hat on. And it's if our goal is to know the one, then we had to develop systems around that goal that would help us lead to that goal. And so that really became personal for me back in I think it was probably about 2017. Before I came on staff, I was a coach of our administrative team. And so one day, one of our other coaches walked up to me and was like, hey. We have I met this guy named David at our info booth, and he we in conversation, he said that he had tried to join your admin team, but that you never called him back. And I was like and she was like, I know that's not you. I got his phone number. You know, you can connect. And I was just like, no. That is definitely not my heart. And I started looking looking through our paperwork and everything. So back in the day, this is fellowship one, our central team would give us a team ready report. So it's basically anybody who has met all the requirements to join the team, they would give us the team ready report. We would contact the people and get them connected, you know, as far as serving. And I looked back through. No. He was not on any of my team ready reports. So I got with some of our staff and was like, what's happening? And we realized that he had missed just a simple checkbox on a form that, you know, I think it was for membership. And so he was never, quote, unquote, team ready. So he was never on my on my list to to contact. And so we started thinking through, like, you know, how many other people are experiencing this? You know? Are are we losing people? Because we know that with David's story, it was great. We connected. Love him. We still talk to this day. But how many other people could be just have walked away from church or been rejected or felt hurt? Perfect way for the enemy to say, hey. That church is too big. They don't need you. You know? So we just wanted to find a way. And so we started using third party systems to kinda track that until we moved to rock. And so then with one of the things that we were trying to see is, like, those areas of where we could be intentionally losing people. And we felt like rock was a great segue, you know, for that system. Our goal in everything that we do really revolves around trying to make big church small. And so, our author John James Clear in his book Atomic Habits said that you don't rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems. And so what are the systems that we're gonna put in place to ensure that we don't lose anybody? Also, there's a fantastic article out there. I don't know if you guys are familiar with Dan Reland Reland. It's called I think it's called the most underestimated advantage for church growth is follow-up. And so in that, he lists, like, how he would hear so many people saying, I checked, you know, a box on a card and nobody ever called me back, or I signed up for a serve team and I didn't ever hear from anybody. And so that just makes me cringe all over because you never want that to be what your reputation is or for one person, much less multiple people. And so in that, I wanna talk through a couple of systems that we've put in place to kinda close that gap so that we don't let people fall through the cracks like David. The first piece of that is our connections, and I mentioned that a minute ago. I know this looks like there's a lot going on, and it has evolved over time. But basically, when somebody comes through our growth track and at the point where they say, I want to be a part of a team or I wanna be a small group leader, they fill out a form that creates the connection. And so then we track them from that point no matter where they are in the process, whether they've completed the growth track, whether they have joined our church, whether they have filled out required paperwork, whether they've got a background check, no matter what, we track them from this point forward until currently, we're tracking through the second serve, and we're probably about to change that to track it on a little further because we're just seeing where the our data is showing us that the third serve is really like the the pinnacle point of where they really are connected and and engaged. So in this connection, when they're signing up, it shows like what team. And so then it pulls in the group requirements for that team. And so I think the biggest piece is over here on the right hand side where you see it says next step, complete team requirements. That's where we have people that follow-up, and that's where they're going. They're looking at that. Hey, what's this person's next step? Because it might be an interview for small group leader training. It might be they're missing some type of team requirements, which are actually listed below in the little red red pieces. It could be they need to be sent to HR for a background check. It could be they need to see our security team for whatever reason. Or the next step could be they're ready to add to the team. And so whatever that next step is on that side is what we're basically following up with the person on. So we we make sure we don't lose anybody and can track them through through those other serves. You'll also notice some icons up there. We use a lot of the segmented icons to just know what steps people have taken in the journey. And again, this was a serve someone that's looking to join a serve team, and so that helps us know whether they've attended our small group, either a small group leader training or our growth track in all of those pieces. And I think our goal for this is just that we never have another David. Like, no matter like, catch them at step three and even you know? And, again, I think we have to help our staff make sure that they are following up with the people. And so but at least we have an accountability method now, whereas before we didn't. Another way that we use the personal engagement is through segmented icons. And so this is just kind of a picture of of our app, and it allows us to speak to specific audiences. And we also will have a touch point at every point in a person's a person's journey, a spiritual journey, and it's all unique. And so on this page, it gives us the ability you'll see up at the top the little cross and the little water drop all the way across the top there. Those are each tied that's a segment and icon for a step in the person's spiritual journey. And then below that is a for you section, and then below that is a news and events section that that we have that's all through. We're able to communicate specifically to people and allow us to speak to the one, which helps retention because we're actually addressing their needs and their interests. And so now I'm a I have a teenager, and so but I also have grandkids that are, like, part of my profile. So I'll get things about Summer Blast, and I'll get things about our our motion team, but I don't get the men's conference information. You know I mean? So it's very much segmented toward me. And so if you don't have small children, you may not get the kids, you know, so it's very definitely pointed as to you where you are in the process. It also allows us for ongoing care and communication as well. Each of the icons, they are there's a commit. Let's see if there's oops, wrong one. Yes. There's a commit. That just means they've, of course, been saved. And then a baptism, if they've had a water baptism, they can at Highlands or if they have already been baptized somewhere else, they can self report that they've had a baptism, and so then we can add that in. The worship icon is lit by a number of different ways. So we will use we kinda have a check-in on our app, and so if they check-in, if they check-in to serve, if they check-in a child, if they fill out a connection card, or any kind of event card, any kind of interaction with us basically lights that worship icon. The small group one is if they are in a small group. The growth track one is, of course, if they've completed our three step growth track. The serve icon is what it says, like, if they've served. And that one is like a one out of I think that one's one out of every 12. So if they've served once in twelve weeks, that icon will be lit. Whereas the worship one is, I think, a rolling one out of 16. And then the lead icon is if they are any kind of leadership position, whether it's staff or if they're a small group leader or if they are a coach or a team leader of one of our serve teams, then that icon is lit. And so then we have the ability to speak to them a little differently based off of of where they are in their journey. Okay. So as I kind of mentioned, I was talking about icons being lit. That's that's kind of what I mean. If you'll see up at the top, you see the little cross is kind of more lit up and the other ones are not. So that's where a person can see in in this, like, as an attendee or a member, anybody that has the Highlands app can see where they are in their spiritual journey. So sometimes people will look at that themselves and are like, we're you know, because we're trying to educate them on what that means. And so it helps them even take steps of, hey. This could be where my next step is as far as serving or attending your growth track or be even just attending a small group. And so if it's lit, they've taken that step. If it's not lit, they have taken that step. So now we can gear messaging toward that person and where they are on that journey. Also, this allows us to target those specific audiences with more personalized communication. I know I mentioned that a second ago, but our this gives our leadership the data to really know the overall spiritual journey of our members and attendees, which can lead to more strategic decisions around messaging or conferences and all of those kind of things. So that's really been a huge help for us. Okay. Moving on. Another system that we've kind of put in play to kind of go I know I talked a minute ago about our onboarding with our connections. So we all know that I've heard several people say during this conference that the backdoor is something that we're always concerned about and looking at, and so we wanna make sure that we're using the systems that we have to address that as well. And so we have a Dream Team toolbox that we have built in Rock, and this is one of my favorite things that we have done so far. And one of our pastors said probably the most important thing that Jesus did other than the cross was his investment in in his team. And so we want our leaders to model that for their teams, and so our toolboxes have helped equip our serve team leaders to take care of the team members and just to help us pastor everyone in their care and to be more intentional in those conversations. So in our toolbox, which is also, you know, it they can access through the app if they are a coach or a team leader of a team. They have access to see this, And so it gives them the ability to manage their own team. So they'll be able to view other leaders on the team. They can view scheduling reports. We've recently moved over to rock scheduling, and so they've started scheduling out their serves. And so they can now see people that have accepted or declined and who is you know, who hasn't responded yet, so they can reach out and touch base with them. The other things, there's a lot of filters on here, which are great because then you can filter for a certain like, I'm a coach, I wanna see everybody that's at the 945 service that are team members there. You can filter for certain serve times or preferences. You can filter for group member status if they're an inactive member or an active member. You can filter for their role. So if you can filter for, like we have a role that it's development. So if for our worship teams, if they're in development before they're active members. Also, if they're team leaders or coaches, if you wanna see anybody on the on the team that has that role. Of course, gender, you can do male, female. Has not checked in, that's one of my favorite ones because that helps you kind of prioritize care. If they haven't checked in more recently, I'm probably gonna reach out to them first to try to help get them back engaged. And then the steps needed, so that now I could see everybody on my team that maybe hasn't attended one of the steps of of our spiritual journey that we have laid out. And then another one of my favorites is birthday month. So you can shoot you know, people can shoot them a quick text and wish them a happy birthday. Also, they can view their whole roster of their team. And we have these color coded last check-in dates, so it gives you a visual to see when they last checked in. So if it's green, they're actively serving. That means they've checked in at least once out of the last four weeks. If it's yellow, they haven't checked in once in four weeks. And if it's orange, it's eight weeks, and red is twelve weeks. And so, of course, our goal is to not have any reds, really any eights either, I mean, any oranges either, but this at least gives the coach or the team leader a quick glance to see who they need to reach out to. Also, if they click on a person, they can text, call, email right from there. It'll open up their own text message box so that they can easily contact them, and they'll also see their purse that person's steps of their spiritual journey as well. We've also added a couple of more in our Dream Team toolbox as far as the segmented icons that are in it like, that's for our people on our teams. That in the ones that we've added are membership, small group leader training, and background check because those are more relevant to our team, not to the overall population of the church. A few other things is we can view an individual's profile. And I love this one too because a lot of times you'll be talking with somebody, especially if they're newer to your church, you may not remember who what their husband's name was or their child's name, and they have told you all about it, and you want to be more intentional about reaching out when you have conversations. And so this gives you the ability to be like, oh, gosh. How's John doing? You know? And and it just looks it it gives the appearance, not that you're trying to be fake about it, but it just gives the appearance that you are intentional about knowing who who is part of their family. Also, birth anniversary date. Those are just kind of fun things that, you know, you can celebrate. Hey, so and so's been on the team for six months now or whatever that looks like. Also, they we can we've allowed them to be able to update the group member's profile. And so they can change a role on a team. They can remove a team member if need be, if they've moved on somewhere else. Also, can submit a team member data error to let us know if there's any incorrect information or if there's if, you know, the team member has said, hey. That I have been baptized, you know, and it's just not showing up. They can submit a team member data error for the person. And then, also, they can view the attendance history to kinda get a like, I know we have the color coded quick glance, but if they're trying to see, you know, like, the consistency of their serves, they can see an attendance history. And then another one of my favorite pieces is the group member notes. They can leave notes on a specific group group member, and we use that for care. So it's just when you have several people that you're trying to take care of, if they leave notes, the next time they reach out, they can review those and be like, okay, this is where we kinda left off. Let me follow-up. And so they can leave the good notes on on their profiles. This this isn't the same as like the I said profile. I meant this particular profile. These these don't go to the rock profile. This stays within the group, so only the coach and team leader and the staff can see these notes. And so that's kind of nice. Okay. Another one, which I'm super excited, y'all got to hear a minute about it in the keynote today, is our small groups toolbox. And so this was a huge project that we just undertook this last year, and we really moved all of our small groups over into rock. It was a huge project. And part of that project, with a new directory and all the things was that we now have for our small group leaders something very similar to our Dream Team toolbox. And so in it, it looks very similar except for the functions are a little bit different. The small group leader can view and edit the details about their group, and they can view and contact additional leaders in the group as well. You can see all the the details. There's some of the details that we don't let them you know, like, they can change a lot of the verbiage and things, but some of them will kick it back to us to review, like, if they're changing age groups because, like, if they were not leading minors and now they're leading minors, you know, we wanna there's just different requirements for that. So most of the things that but if they're trying to change an address or the name of the group or those kind of things, we let them have autonomy to do that. Also, they can add members to the group. They can invite additional leaders to the group. They can view leader resources and curriculum and filter for gender, birthday month, and steps needed. And I think that we we've recently added we have an add member to the group via email, and we also have a text option, so that's made it really nice. Because our goal for our leaders is to get everybody on a roster because we know, like, for pastoral care purposes, if you're meeting with somebody and something has happened, if you're able to look at their roster I'm sorry, their profile in Rock and know that they're in a group, whose group they're in, you can bring them alongside for care, you know, if there's been an accident or something like that. We've we've already used this currently, you know, with people meeting with other people, Like, whose group are they in? We need to get them, you know, part of that. So this has been great. We just literally launched that this summer. So we kinda did it in a short semester just kinda test out the waters, and then we'll get rolling with it this fall. So we're excited about that. Again, just like the others, you can they can see the all their group members. And then if you click on their group members, you can see, again, their they they can contact them and they can speak see their icons in their spiritual journey, which if you look at this one, this is Mason McFake, and you can see that all of her icons are lit. And so I'm gonna talk to her, you know, if I'm if she's in my group, I'm gonna know she's, like, super engaged with our church. She's a leader. She's been through her growth track. And so my conversations with her are probably gonna be a lot different. Will probably be more about self development and discipleship and those kind of things or even, hey, why don't you come co lead a group or lead a group? So it's gonna be a little bit different conversation than my next guy, Bubba John, had to put a Bubba in there from Alabama, you can see that only a couple of his icons are lit. So, like, that's gonna give me the ability to talk to him a lot different. I can see that he hasn't been water baptized and he hasn't been to a worship service in sixteen weeks because his worship icon or at least he hasn't had an interaction with that. He has attended our growth track at some point, but he's not serving. So I just think that that's gonna help our leaders know how to talk to kind of know who they're talking to and what kind of and where they kind of are in their spiritual journey. So they can help just guide in that. Also, they can manage group members. Again, it's very much similar to our Dream Team toolbox. They can submit data corrections, so they can remove people from the group. They can also put the group member notes. We've seen this at another church that had the group member notes. I just I mean, my heart went out to it. It was a a girl that she had been in an accident and had been killed, and the mom the family was reaching out. She lived in another city. I think she was a college student, but she had lived in another city. And they were able to go to her profile and see through their small group notes that the the girl had been saved and when she was water baptized and, like, gave such a peace to the family to know that their child is with the Lord. I think this is going be a huge blessing for our church to be able to do this. And so in all of these things, we've just seen that the benefits of it. There's just fosters a sense of belonging and value, enhances spiritual growth, creates intentionality in those touch points that that we have. One of the biggest things I I heard was that our follow-up and everything, it creates a trust for people that are attending when we do what we say we're gonna do. We know, like, that's the definition of integrity, you know, do what you say you're gonna do. So if if I come to a conference and I fill out a card that says, want more information on this, like, then the follow-up on that's huge. We'll have better engagement in church activities because we're being so intentional. We feel like the regular interactions, like I just talked about that, building trust. And then then those people that trust us now become ambassadors for us and can help us bring other people to us because they're involved and they're engaged and they know that we care. And somebody said that they don't know they they don't know how much they don't care what you know until they know that you care. And so I think that all of these tools that Rock provides for us is just gives us a great a great start into helping make a large church seem a lot smaller because we definitely want to make sure that we continue to know the one. So I just wanna open it up for some questions. And if y'all have anything, please let me know.