Blog

Upper Room in Minneapolis Does it Right

We've seen some amazing launches happening this fall. We couldn't be more proud of our new churches and the creativity they are pouring into their launches. One church here in Minneapolis really blew us away. 

Upper Room is a vibrant community (they prefer this title to church) that has made waves in the Twin Cities in recent years. Worship at Upper Room is always hard hitting and ground shaking. Their services find that difficult balance between modern and intense yet still genuine and relatable. The result is an experience that leaves you amped up on the Spirit and ready to take on the week. Plus, they have a handle (pun intended) on how to leverage new technologies for the benefit of their community. Simply stated, they rock.  

For 10 months they have been planning their launch of the Table. Launch Sunday coincided with the beginning of a new sermon series focused on innovation in their community. The title of the first installation was "Rethinking Community." Enter, the Table.

Computers lined the santuary with helpful Table team members wearing Table logo t-shirts . They also invited me, Caleb, to be a part of the fesitivities! (More on that in a later blog). But, the crown jewel on this impecably planned launch weekend was Pastor Joe's pithy words about the Table. You cannot understate the value of having a pastor that really "gets like" like Joe. Listen to what he had to say...

"Life on life." I love that. Hats off to Keith (@KeithKlingen), Nathan (@nathannerland) and the rest of the Upper Room Community (@urminneapolis) launch team. Thanks for letting us be a part of your amazing launch weekend!

To listen to the full sermon, click here.

Permanent link for this entry

Case Study: Giddings First Assembly of God

Giddings First Assembly of God in Giddings, Texas, is a rural congregation with an average weekly attendance of around 130. They launched the Table in the spring of 2011. The congregation is led by Senior Pastor Pat Herlitz. His son, Luc Hertliz, was instrumental in launching the Table. Luc is an associate pastor and focuses on creative arts and media.

How did you prepare for the launch?

Pat: My son had launched his first Table while on staff at a church plant is the Detroit area. That launch did not take off quite as well as his second attempt here. He learned from his early mistakes. One of the first things he did was require the pastors to get on first and he worked with us for weeks before we launched it to the congregation.

Luc: The problem in Detroit was that I moved four days after the Table went live. Your system was new and I ended up moving to Texas. Because I didn't have a chance to get much "buy-in" it never really took off. It's a pretty tech-forward church, but without leadership pushing it forward, it just collapsed. Here in Texas, I took a more hands-on approach. All staff are required to be a part of the Table. We keep it very active.

What did you learn from that experience?

Luc: Leadership buy-in is imperative.

What kinds of things did you do to encourage people to check out the Table?

Pat: When we were ready to launch we made use of the posters (24 x 36" in the foyer) and we used the promo video in our video announcements.

Luc: I demoed it after service in the foyer. Plus our church shut down its Facebook prayer wall and moved it to the Table.

What specific steps really seemed to help with the launch?

Luc: Seeing the leaders and staff involved, clear demonstration of the value of the service and a demonstration of its ease of use.

How has it been going at First Assembly?

Luc: Our Prayer Wall is exploding.

Pat: I see Prayer Wall posts daily. The Serve App has not quite caught on, but the prayer app is invaluable.

Do you have some stories you can share?

Luc: My personal story is about when my dad had a tragic accident and had to be airlifted to an Austin hospital. While I followed the ambulance to our local hospital (before he was helicoptered) I put an urgent prayer request on the Table. Instant notification came to me minutes later with incoming prayers.

Are there ways that the Table uniquely helps a rural congregation?

Pat: Since going to the hospital requires a 40-60 minute drive, the Table is invaluable in terms of feeling connected to our brothers and sisters who are hospitalized.

Often there's a stereotype that rural populations aren't as tech savvy or plugged in. How has your rural community adapted to a digital space?

Pat: While rural defines us, we are not technophobes. It is safe to say the vast majority of people over 18 who attend regularly participate in our Table to some degree. Giddings is as smart phone connected percentage wise as Austin. When I walk through my Wal-Mart; I see as many bluetooth ear pieces per capita as I see when I am in Austin.

Sometimes people think small churches already have community and don't need the Table. How is the Table helping you as a small church?

Pat: It really has been the Prayer Wall that has created the most connection. One woman started attending our church on special occasions about three years ago. We'd maybe see her six times a year. After she joined the Table and added a photo, she started posting regularly. Before I could encourage her to come to church more, she did. She's now coming to church twice a week.

Permanent link for this entry

Case Study: Granger Community Church Part 4

All week we've been sharing stories and insight from Granger Community Church's launch of the Table. There's a lot we can learn from this large, nationally-recognized church near South Bend, Ind. Today we're going to look at a few more pieces.

Granger's Launch Plan
If you want to launch the Table right you need to do a lot of planning and work. We offer a roadmap that can show you the way. Granger did that planning and work. You can see some of it reflected in their detailed launch plan, which includes specific text for tweets/slides promoting the Table. Check it out:

• Launch Plan in PDF (201 KB)
• Launch Plan in Google Docs - If you have a free Google Account, you can click on ‘File: Make a copy' to save your own version of the document and then customize it for your church.

More Resources

• Launch Weekend - During launch weekend Granger's teaching pastor, Rob Wegner, shared the vision of the Table. This is how vision casting is done.
• Welcome video - Granger's welcome video is worth taking a look at, as much for what it doesn't say as what it does.
• Table video - Granger also put together a quick video summarizing what the Table offers.
• Web page - Their public website also has a Table section that includes all kinds of helpful resources and links.
• Q&A - And if you haven't seen it yet, be sure to check out part 1, part 2 and part 3 of our interview with Kem Meyer, Granger's communications director.

Permanent link for this entry

Case Study: Granger Community Church Part 3

Granger Community Church (GCC) is a leading congregation in Northern Indiana that launched the Table in the fall of 2011. Granger often draws national attention and helps other churches through their Wired Churches network of training and resources. With an average attendance close to 5,000, Granger put a lot of planning and effort into their launch, which was led by Communications Director Kem Meyer, author of Less Clutter. Less Noise.

We've been talking with Kem about their efforts with the Table. Part one of our interview covered why they needed something like the Table and part two covered how the Table has been received. For part three we dive into what made the Table work:

What do you think are some things that helped your launch to be so successful?

Kem Meyer: Let me mention five things...

There were pre-defined wins.
We took the time up front to identify our ministry needs (member and staff) before we started asking specific questions about functionality. We were careful not to react to new technology products, but to proactively connect value to our mission, vision and values. That's key. It was all about enhancing existing ministry—not adding on. We listed our objectives and tested every decision against those objectives along the way.

There was shared ownership.
We identified an advocate for the process, stakeholders and affected teams up front. We had early and on-going conversations throughout the entire year-long discovery process, answering respective questions and getting feedback all along the way. We even assembled a small team of volunteer beta testers from the congregation. Their questions and feedback were helpful from the start—they understood how people would use/not use features better than we did.

There was teamwork.
Not only were there a few churches already on the Table who took the time to share their story with us and answer questions for us, the staff team at the Table Project was invaluable to us. They listened, responded, offered assistance and were pretty much our "doctor-on-call" in the weeks and more intensely in the days leading up to and right after our launch. Their experience with the Table's use in a variety of settings provided us with a much needed advisory voice. They provided missing pieces and helped us make sense of things. Because of their commitment to us, we were able to make informed decisions about our plan for communication, launch and on-going care. Without them, we would have been flying blind.

There was context.
We were intentional about timing and language. The sequencing/invitation and consistent communication, including how-tos and celebrations, have been significant. We set our launch date during the "serving" weekend of our generosity series. A perfect fit. All of our planning and preparation for communication (launch and on-going) was about people, mission and ministry—it was not an announcement about a new "social network," website or technology.

As a matter of fact, we've been very intentional about not referring to the Table as a social network, social media or online network. The context that comes with those words for most people can be bad when we're trying to cast vision and create distinction for the unique value the Table brings to our congregation. Eliminating these words helps. For us, the Table has always been referred to as a "private network just for our church" or "a 24/7 hub where GCC people can connect with each other to serve, share and pray together."

There was care.
Before launch, we identified a couple of people to work together and build a Table Waitstaff team. They operate as Table community advocates by championing the appropriate uses of the Serve App, Discussion Board and Prayer Wall; helping members post pictures; monitoring all the traffic and offering personal coaching as needed. Two to three weeks after launch, the norms were quickly established, the community seemed to quickly figure things out and the need for personal coaching dropped off drastically. The current level of involvement needed by the Waitstaff is minimal (three to six hours a week) but crucial.

What kind of roadblocks did you run into post-launch and how did you deal with them?

Kem: It's been a tremendous launch and the right tool at the right time. I couldn't classify anything as a "roadblock" but there were two sticky points we didn't anticipate.

We didn't realize the constant communication it requires to get people to upload profile pictures or the complaints we'd receive from people getting too many emails from the Table. It's been pretty easy to navigate both issues; we just keep reinforcing the value of connecting names and faces and stay responsive to help people change their notification settings. It's constant, but simple. For example, we share a "Table Tip of the Week" to help with these sticky points. You can see a list of those at the bottom of this page: http://gccwired.com/table

There were a couple of controversial posts in the first few days, but we re-directed those directly and sensitively with help from our Table Waitstaff team and haven't had any other issues since that first couple of weeks.

You guys do a ton with Facebook and are very successful at it. Do you feel like the conversation is different on Granger's Table? How so?

Kem: The atmosphere of privacy and intimacy in the Table is safer, more personal—it's a conversation centered around church life, not all life. Because of the common faith and trust in the church family, people are sharing things on the Table they wouldn't share on Facebook and there's more intentionality with what is shared. Which in turn creates a more personal and meaningful response from others. For example, a woman posted a prayer request after losing a child and six people she had never met before in her own church have connected with her for support through a grief you can only understand if you've been through it. Another person posted a prayer request and serve opportunity on the Table for their neighbor who lost her husband unexpectedly. Within one week, they had enough people respond to provide two months worth of meals! There's encouragement and connection on Facebook, but we do not see the level of personal care and action that's happening on the Table.

Glean more wisdom from Kem Meyer and Granger's launch: Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 4

Permanent link for this entry

Case Study: Granger Community Church Part 2

Granger Community Church (GCC) is a leading congregation in Northern Indiana that launched the Table in the fall of 2011. Granger often draws national attention and helps other churches through their Wired Churches network of training and resources. With an average attendance close to 5,000, Granger put a lot of planning and effort into their launch, which was led by Communications Director Kem Meyer, author of Less Clutter. Less Noise.

We've been talking with Kem about their efforts with the Table. Part one of our interview covered why they needed something like the Table. For part two we dive into how the Table has been received:

What kind of response has the Table received at Granger?

Kem Meyer: Overwhelming. People are excited and thanking us for the Table. They're enthusiastic. They're connecting. Groups are communicating. Prayers are being offered. Praises are being shared. The church is helping each other. The church is serving others outside of themselves.

It's amazing to see people praying for each other, encouraging one another, helping one another and responding to needs on their own. No promotions required. We've even seen increased responses to several serving opportunities posted on the Table that had little to no response when they were listed on our website, bulletin or pre-service slides.

I'll let the stats and the stories speak further.

Some stats...

Before launch weekend:

• 146 members
• 40 prayer requests

Two weeks after launch:

• Over 1,200 members
• 281 prayer requests
• 4,616 prayers prayed

Two months after launch:

• More than 1,700 members (approx. 37% of our weekend attendance)
• 611 prayers and praises
• 10,826 prayers prayed
• 1,312 prayer comments
• 186 volunteer opportunities
• 367 volunteer sign-ups
• 23 items loaned
• 94 items given away
• 132 discussion topics

Some stories...

• Every year we try to coordinate the partnering of people in our church who have no means to provide "Christmas" for their families with people in our church who want to bless those very people. In the past, we've had trouble making the matches. This year, exclusively through the Table, all 13 GCC families were adopted and we even had a few "extra" host families we were able to partner up with Hope Ministries to help them with their needs.
• A few weeks ago, someone called into the church with a need for blankets and sheets for the beds in a household. Our care coordinator posted the need to the Table and the response was amazing. People not only brought in gently used items, but went over and above to bless this family with new beds!
• One night after service, a couple approached one of our pastors and shared "Wow, right after the Experiencing God unit concerning how God uses the church... it was powerful that the Table was introduced, reminding us that God uses all the church—not just the pastors and staff."
• 16 praises in the past month alone specifically expressing gratefulness for the impact the Table is having on our church and their lives.

What's your favorite feature of the Table so far?

Kem: The Table released ministry that had become traffic-jammed as a result of our growth. Overall, this has been the most rewarding benefit—watching institutional barriers decrease so the church can increase. The Table has centralized our church story and decentralized ownership—that's a good thing!

If you're looking for some specifics:

• The Table blog: It's been a treasure chest of support, ideas and communication resources.
• Prayer Wall: I love that the prayers and praises are archived and searchable. We can look back, connect stories to parts of our mission and vision and see what God has done. Plus, the prayer wall wins the award for most on-going encouraging feature—for the people praying and the people being prayed for.
• Serve App: It empowers people; they're taking action.
• Integration with F1: People are able to update their contact information without going through us. That's been a win.

Glean more wisdom from Kem Meyer and Granger's launch: Part 1 / Part 3 / Part 4

Permanent link for this entry

Case Study: Granger Community Church Part 1

Granger Community Church (GCC) is a leading congregation in Northern Indiana that launched the Table in the fall of 2011. Granger often draws national attention and helps other churches through their Wired Churches network of training and resources. With an average attendance close to 5,000, Granger put a lot of planning and effort into their launch, which was led by Communications Director Kem Meyer, author of Less Clutter. Less Noise.

We talked to Kem about their efforts, and her answers were so helpful and detailed that we're going to share them in a three part series. Here's part one:

Why did you feel that Granger needed its own private social network?

Kem Meyer: Actually, we didn't. As a matter of fact, we've always had a hard time justifying why we would want a "church version" of Facebook or Twitter. Why wouldn't we just use the networks where the "social" conversation is already flowing rather than try to create a separate track?

However, the growing gap between two extremes—all or nothing—couldn't be ignored. For quite some time, the people of GCC had been asking for a central tool to help them search for, share with and pray for people in their family of faith without going through a middleman. There was a growing connection gap between ALL life and CHURCH life and communication gap between CORPORATE-driven activity and MEMBER-driven activity.

That's the question we were looking for an answer to, the problem we were looking for help solving.

What made you pick the Table for Granger?

Kem: We created a working framework as a filter and evaluated several strong tools on the market (e.g., The Table, SoChurch, The Common, The City, Cobblestone, etc.) against that framework. At the end of the day (actually, we took six months investigating various options), The Table was the absolute best fit for our needs. Here's an overview of that framework:

Fill a void.
We need a 24/7, mobile space that isn't so much our front porch (that's what GCCwired.com is for) but more like our church living room where people live church together. Our primary goal is to create opportunities to enhance community—not to create another broadcast tool for "corporate" communication. And, to meet an un-met need—not to create our own version of something that already exists. We need an online hub that doesn't re-create the wheel, but provides a secure space for people to live out the important aspects of faith that aren't available with our current online environments (e.g., safe place to post things on the calendar, to pray and be prayed for, share resources, etc.)

It's a growing family.
It's hard enough to stay connected beyond a brief hello after a service. It gets even more problematic with six services across two campuses. Something that allows us to search and find each other by name, life stage, interests, etc., can help us stay connected as one church family even if we never go to the same service or campus. People who have been part of GCC for years, as well as people who are new to the congregation, should be able to access the same hub to connect and share opportunities with each other on their own—no bottleneck.

Freedom within a framework.
Anytime you give people the ability to add, edit and respond to content there will be some necessary coaching and course correction along the way. The win isn't a perfectly controlled environment where the staff team chooses what "users" can and can't see, but a real organic environment the staff team can nurture. We'll need guardrails to help free people to be themselves, personalize their own flow and connect with others authentically. At the same time, we'll need simple controls to minimize the potential for destructive rogue usage.

Stay agile.
As people start using this new tool, they'll use it in ways we hadn't imagined. Our implementation approach will be flexible so we can adapt as we gain insight from our people—not only about the features and functionality, but also about the language people are using around their experience. It will help shape our on-going communication and care plans.

Controlled chaos.
Just because we can doesn't mean we should. A strong temptation with technology is to use everything too fast all at once. We'll be strategic about what this is and isn't—who it's for and who it's not for—what it does and doesn't do. While this is a new space to interact, we won't make people create a new username, password or profile. The hub needs to integrate and share data with tools our people are already using (Facebook or Twitter and Fellowship One).

How did you go about getting leadership buy-in?

Kem: We have a mission and vision at Granger—it is what shapes our culture and drives our day-to-day. That mission and vision is something we all already buy in to; leadership, staff and volunteer teams alike. As a member of the GCC team, it's my job to help find ways to move our vision forward. As communications director, The Table was part of the answer to specific problems I was charged with solving.

I think people run into difficulty getting buy-in when they try to sell something new versus supporting something that's already in motion.

Glean more wisdom from Kem Meyer and Granger's launch: Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4

Permanent link for this entry

Case Study: Redeemer Church

Redeemer Church is a newly planted church in Round Rock, Texas, that's officially launching Jan. 15, 2012. For the past year the church's core team has been growing, led by Pastor Josh Reeves. They'll have about 60 people when they launch. Josh is the lead pastor and the primary champion for the Table.

Why did you decide you needed a tool like the Table?

Josh Reeves: We had a similar tool we had used at our sending church and it really helped organize and streamline communication. We liked that particular tool but didn't have the extra funds to spend during our first few months. The Table had a polished professional look and the price was certainly right.

When did you launch and how did that process go?

Josh: We launched the Table as soon as we got our invite. At that point we only had 10-12 people so it was fairly straightforward getting them signed up. As we met new people we simply invited them to sign up.

Does having the Table ingrained in your culture before your church even launches make it easier for new people to jump on board and assimilate into the life of your church?

Josh: I think it helps quite a bit. Instead of having 200 people trying to get on board with the Table at one time, we have two to three every couple weeks. They see that everyone else is bought in and in most cases request to be added before we can get them on there. It is definitely an important part of assimilating people into our community. Once they are on the Table they have a community group and also have access to everything that is going on church wide. So if they are looking to get connected they're now able to see when one of the moms posts about a play date or the guys are playing football in the park.

What has your church's reaction been to the Table? How much are they using it?

Josh: I think there will always be a small percentage of technology rebels who refuse to do more than sign into their email (if that). Other than those few people, most people are using it fairly regularly. We plan all our community group meals through the Table so that forces people to get on. I think the iPhone app has helped.

Can you share a story or two of how people are using the Table and being impacted?

Josh: We had several people on our core team who were able to keep up with the new people we met through the Table. As we posted various prayer requests it was a great way to connect our people waiting to move here to the people already here in Round Rock.

We have had several times where we needed our people to pray specifically for a situation in the church. Just a few weeks ago one of our families had a newborn baby and there was a health issue that kept the baby in the hospital longer than normal. It was great to be able to put up a prayer request and then give updates all in one place. There is something really encouraging about seeing that people are actually praying for you. The newborn ended up going home completely healthy a few days later and I know the prayers seen through the Table meant a ton to the family.

What advice do you have for other churches considering the Table?

Josh: As a church plant we had no prior expectations in place, so implementing the Table quickly was easy. I think if other pastors are considering implementing the Table they need to phase it in. You need to think through the way that you are going to use it and commit to sticking with it even if people don't get it for a while. It takes time for people to see the value in it. Many people think it is some kind of Facebook alternative and therefore they see it as just another social media site to log in to. I think with solid training and well thought out use of the Table they will catch on at some point. Find a small segment of people who are making it work and let them help you bring others into it.

As a church plant, how has the Table been uniquely helpful for your situation?

Josh: People are sometimes wary of church plants early on. For us the Table (along with our website) brought some early credibility. It is also a great way to connect with all the new people we meet. Email was typically the first thing we sent to visitors, and after a few visits most people would ask to be added to the Table. When people asked to be added on the Table it gave us an idea of their initial commitment to the church plant.

What's your favorite feature of the Table?

Josh: My favorite feature is the prayer app. It is a great way to put specific needs out to the church and see people committing to pray together. When we pray for each other we often neglect to share that and the app allows people to be aware of the people praying for their need. It also helps that the prayer app is integrated into the Table's iPhone app allowing you to use it from anywhere.

Thanks for sharing Josh!

Permanent link for this entry

Case Study: Zion Lutheran Church

Zion Lutheran Church, just west of the Twin Cities in Buffalo, Minn., launched the Table in the fall of 2011. We talked with Table champion Angela Bengtson about their experience. Angela has worked at Zion for 10 years and currently handles communications. The church has around 600 attending on an average Sunday.

Why did you think your church needed a social network like the Table?

Angela Bengtson: I didn't really get that we needed it until after we got started. It didn't take long in our trial to see the the potential for new and deeper connections between members.

Why did you choose the Table?

Angela: Honestly, the biggest factor was that I didn't have to worry about budget.

How did you get your church's leadership on board with the Table?

Angela: Got key staff involved early on in the trial. I was extremely lucky that the timing happened to fit in nicely with a vision process that includes a 'Connecting with Care' initiative.

When did you launch the Table and how did it go?

Angela: October 2, the same day the worship services/sermon was based on the 'Connecting with Care' initiative. The Table was mentioned in the sermon, and we timed an email blast so that most people would receive it while they were at worship. We had not huge but steady sign ups for a week or two, but that's dropped off now and we need to come up with something to widen the circle.

Did you do anything else besides the sermon mention and an email blast for your launch Sunday?

Angela:

• "I [Heart] Table" and "Got Table?" stickers on those who were already signed up on launch day.
• An info table in the narthex throughout October on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights with a volunteer or two available to help, intro video playing nearby. T-shirts on the volunteers.
• Postcards that were handed out in a few places like choirs, Wednesday supper, etc.
• The two-month vision sermon series included an extra weekly bulletin insert each week featuring a member testimony and sermon related resources. Table info was included as a major item on launch Sunday and a small item maybe two other weeks.

Did you run into any roadblocks as you launched? How did you deal with them?

Angela: I'm a little disappointed with the sign-up rate post-launch. We had about 100 users pre-launch from test groups, and six weeks after launch we only have just over 200 users. I had expected more growth following the launch.

I think one of the problems is people seeing the Table as 'like Facebook'. Some of this is our own fault for using the familiar Facebook to help describe what a social network is. Unfortunately we seem to have many members who are perfectly happy with Facebook, and a lot more members who want nothing to do with Facebook or, by extension, any other social network. I'm thinking we need to find a way to not even describe the Table as a 'social network'. Maybe focus on it as more a 'member portal' or something. I'm thinking a sort of re-launch/renewed sign up focus is in order for January (it is just too busy with everything else at this time of year).

With slower adoption than you expected, why is it worth it to keep pushing the Table?

Angela: The Table has been a wonderful tool for those who have chosen to jump in. Our challenge is to find ways to communicate that to the rest of the congregation who have a pre-conceived notion of what a social network is.

What are some ways you've encouraged people to use the Table?

Angela:

• I did a demo between services (there were six attendees, all age 60+, who had already signed up but had questions).
• We tried the Christmas photo suggestion with limited response.
• One pastor started to blog and we are promoting the Table as the place to find that using the RSS app (although he has not been consistent with posting yet).

Can you share some stories of how the Table is being used?

Angela: Lots of prayer. Limited use of the Serve App so far, but where it has been used we have had people sign up for volunteer positions they otherwise hadn't or wouldn't have gotten involved with. One member needed 20 people to take a survey for a class she was in and had 10 commit within a few hours of posting her request.

What's one thing about the Table that's surprised you?

Angela: How quickly prayer requests are responded to.

Can you tell us more about your experience with the Prayer Wall?

Angela: We've had anything from one to two requests a week to one to three requests a day for several consecutive days. Most requests have had 15-20 people praying and one or more comments. One user in particular (who wouldn't know many of the others personally) often takes the time for an eloquent prayer in the comments. One prayer I noticed had 30 different people praying (the count was higher with some duplicates, but that is counting pics on the response page). If 30 of 200 users are clicking the 'Pray Now' button (and maybe another 30 are receiving a notification and joining in prayer without clicking the button), that in itself makes the Table worthwhile.

What advice do you have for other churches considering launching the Table?

Angela: Use all the great resources available: read the blog, watch the videos, frequent the Get Satisfaction forum. Really know where the 'edges' of your community will be as far as inactive members—we're wrestling with some of that already.

What's your favorite feature of the Table?

Angela: The Prayer Wall for sure. Support via Get Satisfaction is awesome.

How do you see the Table changing things at your church?

Angela: I see people who are using the Prayer Wall being more connected to each other.

I see some Serve opportunities being filled by people we wouldn't necessarily expect, or maybe wouldn't even think to ask if we were asking for help in another way.

From one user: "I, too, feel more connected to my Zion family as a result of our sharing together and praying together, here at The Table."

Thanks for sharing Angela!

Permanent link for this entry

Case Study: Calvary Baptist Church

Calvary Baptist Church in West Lafayette, Ind., launched the Table in September. The church averages 325 people on Sunday and only two months after launch they have over half those people on the Table.

Larry Baxter volunteers at Calvary and wears a lot of hats. He's the small groups coordinator and also does volunteer ministry and IT support. He served as Table champion and co-led the launch efforts along with the church's communications director.

Why did you decide that your church needed something like the Table?

Larry Baxter: My ministry areas have involved small groups and recruitment of volunteers, and I love technology and social networking, so I had been looking for quality tools that might help our people connect. When our communications director asked me for ideas on how to improve communications within the church family, I started to look in earnest. Our church website promotes things well to the outside community, but as a mid-sized church our ability to stay connected was not keeping up with growth.

And why did you pick the Table?

Larry: It seemed to address the key needs of our church. It provided the ability to let groups connect, let ministry teams and leaders communicate together in a secure way, let people discuss things of interest and find people with similar interests, share news about the church family, pray for one another, provide a calendar, and import custom content as well. Also, we really liked that it doesn't compete with or replace our website or Facebook. And to be honest, the price was right! I looked carefully at other platforms and they really couldn't beat the feature set or ease of use of the Table. If that wasn't enough, the fact that it integrated with Fellowship One sealed the deal—now our people can keep their own contact info up to date.

How did you get your church's leadership on board?

Larry: Support of church leadership seemed critical, so we sought that up front. We gave a demo and discussed it with the whole staff and our senior pastor thought it was a great idea. The other key for us was following the very helpful advice your website gave on how to launch well. We did a phased approach, about one month apart: Table leadership team, staff and key leaders, then all the rest of the small group leaders and ministry leaders. We had a very high percentage of these key folks sign up by doing it this way.

What kind of roadblocks did you run into as you launched the Table? How did you deal with them?

Larry: There were two minor stumbling blocks. The first was an unexpected downtime of the Table's datacenter on the day of launch [Editor's note: That downtime prompted our recent move to a new datacenter. Since then we've been faster than ever.]. That didn't throw us off too bad because we had sent out emails describing what was coming beforehand, had a sign up emphasis already planned for the following Sunday, and had decided on graphics rather than a live demo on launch day (phew!).

The second was that one target group didn't respond to invite emails as expected. We dealt with that with personal invites and clarifying the benefit to their ministry.

Can you share some stories of how the Table is being used?

Larry: It's found some great uses already. A church member who became a missionary in the Pacific can now keep in touch with the church and share photos and prayer requests privately. Women who shared vulnerable prayer requests on the Prayer Wall have connected with other ladies who have gone through similar struggles. We've seen gear shared like a printer for a college ministry, and an old laptop given to a woman who had no email access. We've connected people who love to cook with our hospitality ministry. And we're now sharing our sermon audio and Wednesday night Bible teaching via the Table.

What's one thing about the Table that's surprised you?

Larry: I've been super impressed with the quality of support shown by the Table Project developers. The webinars and emails were great, and made the scary process of launching go pretty smooth. Usually 'free' means you're on your own, but I've gotten help quickly and seen bugs reported fixed very quickly.

What advice do you have for other churches considering launching the Table?

Larry: Read through the launch guide, watch the webinars, and use a staged approach as they suggest. Launch big and make sure your senior pastor is completely on board. Having some custom content only available on the Table was a big help (for us that was sermon audio).

What's your favorite feature of the Table?

Larry: I love the iPhone app! But that's just me. The church's favorite and most used feature is definitely the Prayer Wall.

Permanent link for this entry

How They Did It: Substance Church Case Study

Substance Church in Minneapolis was one of our early test churches and launched the Table back in 2010. This multisite church started seven years ago and currently offers seven services across four locations. Approximately 70% of the congregation is under 30 years old and half never attended any church before coming to Substance.

We sat down with senior pastor and Table project board member Peter Haas during our recent Round Table webinar to talk about what the Table brings to Substance. Much of the conversation covers the big picture vision for why to use the Table that a senior pastor has, as opposed to the specific, how-to details that a Table champion could offer (you can find that perspective in our webinar with Bethlehem Baptist).

Watch: Interview with Peter Haas (32:46)

Highlights from the video (click links to see short clips):

• Numbers: Over 1,500 members on the Table, 2,500 prayer requests (not including groups) prayed for 37,000 times.
• Why the Table?: As a church with a decentralized identity, Substance wanted something to enhance church in between the church services. More than metrics that church management software can offer, they wanted community.
• We Need Community: Today's generation is the most socially isolated generation in U.S. history. Typical sources of community (family, neighborhood, etc.) have fallen away and the church needs to fill the gap. Instead of focusing on church services, churches need to focus on building community. The Table is software that allows Substance to do that.
• The intimacy of a church has nothing to do with size. It's about what you value. Substance realized that as it grew bigger, it had to grow smaller. Substance needed a technology that encouraged connection outside of church.
• Friends Matter: The number one indicator of church satisfaction is friendships developed in the church. Even if people don't like a church service, they'll stick around for friends. The Table is a way to develop those friendships that keep people at church.
• The Table Loves Small Groups: Substance saw 116% small group attendance last quarter. That means more people attended their small groups than attended their church. "It's technology like the Table that's enabled our small groups to thrive."
• A senior pastor needs to constantly cast vision for the Table.
• It's Ministry, Not Just Technology: "It's not just software, it's a ministry." You need to treat the Table like launching a new ministry. It's going to take a lot of work and a lot of effort. It takes time for people to adapt to new technologies. But once people get it, once the momentum begins to build, amazing things can happen.
• Examples of prayer and service happening at Substance.

Permanent link for this entry