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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!

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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!

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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.

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