Church Connections

God Will Determine Our Steps

/ Marcy Carrico / Leave a comment

One of my favorite verses is this —

In their hearts humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps. – Proverbs 16:9

Here’s what’s hard about this.

Sometimes those steps aren’t easy. Sometimes God will give you gifts you don’t want to use and call you to ministry you don’t really want to be in.

I’m an introverted people person.

It sounds weird, but I’ll explain.

Way WAY back at the beginning of this Christian journey, I was working for a creative marketing company.

Personal friends invited me to church. I went.

I thought it might be good to get involved so I grabbed a connect card and checked any and all appropriate boxes.

And I never got the call.

Classes, events, and Bible studies happened and I never got invited.

Church became the loneliest place.

As a new Christian, I was digging into the word and studying the Bible.

I did this on my own, but there are lot of good books and resources — and I was still attending church on Sunday morning and hearing sermons.

And I realized that the actions — or inactions of not responding to a connect card – of people weren’t indicative of the character of God.

This is important and I’m glad I learned this lesson early (and hear it often).

God’s character does not change based on our circumstances.

But my desire to make sure no one ever felt lonely in church led to a leadership role in connections, first impressions, and assimilation.

I loved helping our first time guests connect to the right ministry or small group.

I’m mostly introverted, but even introverts need a few close friends, and I loved having this purpose.

Gradually my focused shifted to primarily first impressions, and I remember the exact moment I was called to communications. God had been stirring my heart in communications and when that moment happened, He was unmistakably clear. (I’ll share in another post.)

So my life behind the screen began. As an introvert, this suited me. But as someone who doesn’t like to do life alone, this was hard.

Remember I had a background in creative marketing. I knew my way around graphic design software, databases, and email marketing platforms.

But life behind the screens can get lonely. I’ve heard the same sentiments from people in other ministries. To a musician, life behind the instrument or from the stage, can be lonely. From a photographer, it’s life behind the lens. There are even books about the painful side of leadership.

From website updates, graphic design, to post service video editing, the world of church communications, can be isolating — this is especially true if you’re serving in a small church.

Many things in communications are time sensitive. (The podcast has to drop by a certain time which means audio needs editing, and the audio is generated from the video…) Meeting time sensitive deadlines means not participating in other activities and for people serving smaller churches or on smaller teams, this can be particularly isolating.

But the rewards are great — especially in this digital age (as I write this in April 2023).

Not long ago I shared a short “reel” video on our church social media pages.

According to the metrics, I reached over 300 people not otherwise connected to our church.

I am always in awe of God but I was particularly amazed. There I was – in that particular moment struggling with feelings of loneliness and feeling disconnected — and God used me to help reach more people with a one minute video than most churches reach on a Sunday morning.

I realized in a small way, I am connected to those people and I am helping them connect to a church (albeit a church social media account) and ultimately — I hope and pray — to Him.

And as I read comments and interactions to our social media posts, I realize those posts — and the platforms — are providing a source of connection to some people.

My plan was for people to feel connected.

My plan was for people to know Jesus.

God has determined the steps.

God — who is the same. Yesterday, today, and forever.

Is it still a struggle? Some days. Not always. Not even usually or mostly, but some. A few.

But God has determined these steps.

I Jumped

/ Marcy Carrico / 1 Comment

I’m looking at the perspective of this picture. Someone has climbed – presumably a long way up. It may be hot, it may be dry. To find relief from those conditions, the option is to jump. Jump into cool, refreshing water.

Would you do it? People do all the time. I’ve watched cliff divers when I’ve been on vacation. I don’t know if I could do it. What’s below the surface? Jagged rocks? Nope. I’m not that brave.

But a few weeks ago, I did it.

I jumped.

Not literally.

Figuratively.

And the next day I was filled with fear. Terror. Gut-wrenching pain.

I cried. I sobbed. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t form words.

Had a made the biggest mistake of my life?

Maybe.

Until…

God said, “I got this.”

And He did.

I used to stress over composing weekly emails to over 1,000 people.

Now I’m copying and pasting HTML code for emails that reach over 7,000.

I ran social media pages that reached into the low thousands, with connected groups made up of hundreds of people.

I open my social media feeds now and see over 20,000 people in a group and many thousands following our page.

I used to get excited over social media notifications. Now I’ve turned them off. There are so many, I can’t do my job.

My written or simple Google Doc to-do list has become a collaborative task list in Asana, where I’m learning how to do a kanban board. (Can I edit an existing project or tasks and move them to a board or do I need to start over? Help!)

I dreamed of ways to impact a small geographical area. Now I realize I’m impacting the world.

I wished for a window office. Yesterday I spent all day working outside.

God instructs us to stay faithful in the small things and He will bless that. He keeps His promises.

I remind myself to stay humble. It’s not about me. It’s about Jesus. Getting people to a relationship with Him is the most important thing I will ever do. Ever.

It’s taken sacrifice. I’ve given up comfort and security and I’ve invested both my own time and money.

People have graciously allowed margin for error. I’ve surrounded myself with people who give grace and forgiveness, and who believe in me. When I fail, I’m going to fail fast, fail up, and fail cheap.

I’ve owned my mistakes. I’ve apologized. I won’t make the same mistake twice.

I’m staying connected to my local church and will serve her in whichever way best serves the leadership. She’s the bride of Christ. I need these people in my life.

I’ve learned this: every time God calls us TO something, He also calls us to leave something. It happens every day. You leave your house to go to work. You leave work to go home. You leave. You go.

Are you ready to jump?

You CAN do it…but will you?

It begins by trusting. And saying yes.

Not Hanging On A Cross

/ Marcy Carrico / Leave a comment

dried flowers.jpg

“You’re not hanging on a cross.” I have a friend who says that to me any time I decide to whine or complain. She reminds me that I’m not hanging on a cross and that somebody did hang on a cross. For me.

I’ve used her exact words with other people. Life sucks sometimes. Get over it. You’re not hanging on a cross.

Earlier this week, I called a friend of mine who lives in another state. It had been way too long since our last phone conversation. She reminded me of a lesson she and her husband (an Executive Pastor) learned several years ago: there’s a difference between being called to ministry and working for a ministry.

Today was a day I was grateful for these friends. And my family.

Ministry isn’t easy.

You’ll lose sleep, cry more than you thought possible, and sacrifice times with your family. Times like nights, weekends, holidays, major holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, sporting events, and Sunday afternoons.

You’ll have minor wins – like finding a way for your church to get some free custom printed mugs.

You’ll have setbacks – like forgetting to save three hours worth of work on a major graphic design project. (Ask me how I know?)

You’ll make mistakes. And you’ll realize that there are some people  who equate the church with Jesus in such a way that when the church makes a mistake they think Jesus makes mistakes.

Then you’ll lose more sleep, cry more, and find something else to sacrifice – all because Jesus is perfect. And your goal is to be more like Him.

I have a great job. I have an awesome boss. I get to be a part of helping people find and follow Jesus and I get paid to do it.

My workload is heavy right now and I’ve got stuff [still] on my to-do list from last week last month four months ago. Take my neurotic obsession with our church management software and website content and development, combine it with my goal of perfection, and the result is my current to-do list. Make that an ‘overdue’ list.

And, yet, Sunday comes.

Every. Single. Week.

And as much as I try to get ahead, I find myself printing bulletins later in the week.

So there I was today – bulletins not printed, trying to pull information and correct image sizes for some other communications assets – and I get a call. A sick kid. My cell phone rang. My daughter’s voice on the other end, “Mom…” A. Sick. Kid.

Give me credit. I didn’t cry. I didn’t scream. I didn’t throw anything. I did read Exodus 20:13.

I did email my boss.

People over process.

People. Over. Process.

We’ve been talking a lot this week about processes and what needs to change to meet the needs of a growing church.

I wrote: we need to work on changing some processes because I don’t ever – ever – want to have to choose between a sick kid and printing bulletins.

I called my husband, who fortunately had enough margin and flexibility in his schedule to work from home.

In ministry you’ll lose sleep, cry, and make sacrifices.

But you’ll also realize how blessed you are to have a family and friends.

And at the end of a difficult day week four months, you’ll be thankful that you’re not hanging on a cross, and that you’ve been called to ministry to help people know the one who already did: Jesus.

It’s not fine.

/ Marcy Carrico / Leave a comment

broken glass

“It’s fine.”

I say that often.

Most people around me have learned that by vocal inflection, that phrase can mean different things.

It really is fine.

It’s not fine, but we’ll deal with it [later].

It’s not that great, but good enough.

And I also remind people that God is working, even when we are not.

Nowhere in the Bible are we instructed to have a fully functioning web site or award-winning social media. If a ministry doesn’t get promoted, God will still continue to work in and through that ministry.

But the Bible does instruct us to share His story, to tell others of His greatness, to do our work with excellence – as if working for Him, and to use the gifts, talents, and abilities He gave us to serve,  honor, glorify, and point others to Him. (That was one sentence, folks!)

So at the end of the day, even when it isn’t really fine, it is fine. Because we serve a God that is greater than anything that’s not fine.

But what about when it isn’t fine?

Last week, I edited a response form.

I realized after a few edits that it really needed to be archived and I needed to create a new form.

Because of my knowledge of   love for   neurotic obsession with our church management software, our web site, and other communication channels, creating a form is no small task.

What’s the header image?

What are the automations?

Is it connected to a group or event?

Who gets notifications?

Who are the form managers?

Is this promoted anywhere?

Is it connected to a button on the web site?

Do we need a url redirect?

Is the information correct on announcement slides? In the bulletin?

So, after the form was created, checked, double checked, and linked to our web site, I sent the final product to one of our Elders.

He asked for one update to the web site and said the form was good to go.

Good. To. Go.

On Sundays I get to serve at our “What’s Next” desk. (Your church may call it “Next Steps.”) It’s a place where our guests can register for upcoming events, connect with a small group or ministry team leader, or find out more information about something they saw or read about.

We have three tablets which display quick links to our current response and sign up forms.

The Elder who I had worked with this week walked over and began scrolling through the forms.

It wasn’t there.

A simple setting in Church Community Builder: the box next to ‘display on list of forms’ had not been checked.

I apologized. I could not believe that I had overlooked that last step.

And he looked at me and said, “it’s fine.”

No. It’s not fine.

I asked him to send a text or email to remind me to make the correction.

I decided then and there to stop saying, “it’s fine” when it really isn’t.

It’s time to tackle issues, address problems, fix things that are broken, and work better, smarter, and harder today than we did yesterday.

The next time you hear me say, “it’s fine,” it really will be.

Making Someone Else Famous

/ Marcy Carrico / Leave a comment

stage tech

This week I got to help our Lead Pastor with something.

He’s also my boss, so I hope I’ve helped him with many things this week.

But this particular thing  was pretty darn cool and he was happy with the process.

I’m being purposely cryptic because there are a few other people I hope get credit for the final product.

There are a few books that sit near the top of my all-time favorites:

Who’s Holding Your Ladder

How To Lead When You’re Not In Charge

Leading From The Second Chair

Do you detect a theme?

God’s given me a few gifts. Over the years, he’s put people in my life to help me find the place where ability, affinity, and affirmation all meet together.

Every day, He’s providing opportunities to help me become more like His son, Jesus.

In using my gifts, talents, and abilities to serve others, I get to help make other people famous.

How do you feel when someone else gets credit for something you did?

If you’re honest, you probably get a twinge of jealousy.

For me, it’s the exact opposite.

God knows what I do.

I have a small circle of trustworthy people who speak into my life and know what I do.

But I hope a majority of people never know.

God has called me to use my gifts and talents to make someone else famous: Him.

Discomfort

/ Marcy Carrico / Leave a comment

man on crutches

Yesterday I was talking with a friend. Her church had recently implemented a First Time Guest tent – outside the building. At their church, it’s a place where first time guests go, receive a gift, and meet someone who can answer questions and take them to another destination – the worship center, children’s check-in, etc.

They moved their Next Steps desk inside the building to a corner that’s quiet – which lends itself to easier conversation.

The changes they made are nothing new. Many churches across the country have similar designs.

However, her executive team gave her an argument, “we want our volunteers to be comfortable.”

I gave her a counter argument: was Jesus comfortable when he was hanging on a cross?

What we really want to do is equip our volunteers to do the job they’ve been called to do.

So, let’s take a step back and look at volunteer recruitment and WHY we volunteer.

I love our church. I’m grateful to be where I am. Most aspects of my job I get paid to do. There are other things I willingly do as a volunteer. Among my counterparts at other churches, this is common.

I volunteer in these areas out of obedience to God. I don’t do it out of guilt, or to fill a void. I do it because God has called me to do it. God has never promised His calling will be easy. He did promise it would be worth it.

If I were to volunteer in any other area, that area would suffer. (Ask me sometime about my brief stint in pre-school and children’s ministry.)

As part of serving God, there have been sacrifices and discomfort. I’ve sacrificed financially, I’ve sacrificed time with my family, I’ve been cold, hot, hungry, wet, and uncaffeinated.

But I’ve never been hanging on a cross.

 

Define Passion

/ Marcy Carrico / Leave a comment

Worship Jesus

Last night I got to watch my son play guitar in a band that was leading worship for about 1,000 people – mostly teenagers.

But what struck me the most wasn’t his talent. And it wasn’t the deafening roar of the crowd responding to the band. It also was not the fact that teenage girls were asking for his autograph.

What struck me the most were the times he pulled back. The times when he stepped up to the mic, sang a few words of a line, and backed up as the lead singers continued. The times he took his hands off his guitar and raised them in worship.

My son’s been playing guitar for about 7 years. He started playing in his church’s worship band around 5 years ago. Recently he’s assumed the role of Worship Leader for the youth group.

Just after high school, someone asked him what he wanted to do. He said he wants to be a worship leader. Someone said, “you already are a worship leader. You just want to get paid for it; have it be your job.”

This summer he’s part of the band leading worship at a beach camp operated by our state’s Baptist convention. The Baptist convention also organizes the band, and the drama teams. Over the years, I have heard people say they don’t like “denominational politics.” I am not even sure I have enough knowledge of the subject of denominational politics to form an opinion. But what I saw this weekend – all operated by our state’s denomination – was well-organized and pointed to Jesus.

My son loves to play (with) his guitar. He’s loved music since he was a baby and from the first time he had a guitar in his hands, he couldn’t keep his hands off of it. When he wasn’t learning how to play, he was fiddling with the strings or just tapping it.

Over the years, we’ve heard noise from that guitar at inappropriate times.

“Be quiet. We’re trying to sleep.” Guitar.

The Pastor is praying. Guitar.

The Pastor is preaching. Guitar.

The sound booth asks all musicians to be silent while they check the mic of a singer. Guitar.

The worship leader actually asked him to stop once. I don’t think he did.

He strummed unconsciously. And even strummed air guitar when his guitar wasn’t in his hands.

So last night, I saw him consciously and deliberately pull back and worship. And I saw growth. I saw a teachable spirit. And I saw someone willing to give up – even for a brief moment – what he loves – for Jesus.

And later that evening, one of the people serving with him said, “I love serving with your son. Matt has defined passion for me.”

Defined passion.

What does this have to do about progress? And processes?

Tomorrow morning people will walk into your church for the first time. Some will have preconceived notions of what church is – organized religion, denominational politics.

What will you do to show them that you’re different?

How will you teach them? How will you tell your story? And His story?

How will you move them from the “I want,” to the “you are?”

What will you give up – even for a brief second –  to help someone see  Jesus?

Define passion.

Rewind: A Recap

/ Marcy Carrico / Leave a comment

repeat remote rewind

A few weeks ago, I had the chance to lead Digital Bootcamp for my friend, Tom Pounder. Tom decided to have me revisit an article I wrote over a year ago for another friend of ours, Kenny Jahng.

I talked about using all of our digital assets to get people connected to, and assimilated into, the life of our church . But not just to church – we’re getting them connected to Jesus.

Here’s a recap:

Make sure your digital first impressions match what people will experience at church. If your church is fun and high energy, reflect that on your social media and your web site. If your church is a little more traditional, reflect that. Make sure you listen to each sermon and let your Lead Pastor set the tone for what you’re doing.

Use all of your digital assets available. We recently launched a texting service that allows us to connect with guests from the moment they walk in the door. We launched an online community group, and we have live chat available on our web site.

Make sure your internal communications (ie, workflows) are in order so that what you share externally is accurate. For example, if you share on social media that it’s time to sign up for an event and share a link, make sure that link is live and active.

Equip your volunteers. You’ve worked hard all week to make sure your web site and response/RSVP forms are live and active. You’ve created social media posts to promote events. Make sure you give all of your volunteers the information they need to answer guests questions on-site on Sunday. Avoid the “I Don’t Know” factor.

And finally – remember it’s about people. And getting them connected to Jesus. Stay on top of trends and listen to your guests’ stories. A few months ago, a printing error resulted in the ’email’ line being omitted from our response cards one week. No one caught it until after service on Sunday and I was moderately stressed. But just last week, a guest brought me a card with the email line blank. When I asked her for her email she said, “I don’t check my email, can you text me?”

In this fast-paced world, we have to be willing to adapt accordingly.

Our Pastor preached an amazing sermon this morning about what our church will do reach people. One of the things he said was, “we will leverage everything within our reach to help people find and follow Jesus.”

“we will leverage everything within our reach to help people find and follow Jesus.”

I’m grateful for a church that embraces technology, change, and people.

 

 

It Only Takes A Spark

/ Marcy Carrico / Leave a comment

sparkler

It only takes a spark to start a whole blaze.

That’s not an original thought. I stole that line from song lyrics in this song.

This blog post is going to stray a little bit from just talking about church management software to talking about the overall theme of the blog: the process of progress.

A few years ago, a leader at the church our family was attending told me about a Facebook group: Church Communications.

At the time, I was just beginning to see how the database could be used as a tool in our overall communications and connections strategies.

To remind you, I began this journey with a focus on connections. It also began with a lot of spreadsheets, documents, and emails, before I realized that a database could do a lot of the work for me as the church grew.

As I got more involved in our overall communications and connections strategies, my responsibilities grew to include some graphics, web site design and content, and social media.

One morning this week, I purposely took my time getting to the office. I’d been serving a lot of volunteer (ie, unpaid) hours at the church and my kids needed some attention. We had the morning news on t.v. and the reporters were talking about IHOP (The International House of Pancakes), temporarily changing it’s name to IHOB to promote the fact that they also serve burgers.

That’s a lot of talk over one letter. It was trending on all of the morning news shows and all over social media.

Our church is fun. Really fun. Our Lead Pastor often interjects humor into his Sunday morning messages and we try to convey that in our communications. We also try to keep up with what’s happening in the world around us.

Remember Yanny vs. Laurel? I created a social media post that referenced that subject and our social media audience liked it.

What could I do with IHOB?

The spark.

I created a social media post using a stock photo image and a free on-line program. I didn’t overthink it. My daughter was with me at the kitchen table. She shook her head and chuckled.

Should I do it?

Yeah, mom, go ahead.

I shared it on our church’s Facebook page and Instagram account. I didn’t think it would go too far.

As I was waiting at the bus stop with my youngest son, I shared the same graphic with the Church Communications group on Facebook.

I got to work and showed our Executive Pastor. He liked it and even made a comment on the post.

I joked: the good news is that our Lead Pastor can’t fire me because he’s on a plane right now. I have my job for at least another two hours.

But something happened.

Not only did our social media audience respond positively to it, by the end of the day it had roughly 800 likes in the Church Communications group.

We even got a shout out from Fishhook. (Check out Fishhook’s Instagram.)

The whole blaze.

I never imagined that outcome.

But I am grateful. I’m grateful for our Lead Pastor who has set a tone – not just in the office, but also church-wide – that’s easy to follow and helps us relate to the community around us. I’m grateful for the gifts and talents God has given me and I’m grateful for the place where I get to use them. And I’m grateful for the friends I’ve made through the Church Communications network.

I think sometimes, as we’re looking at our communications, and helping people connect with our churches, it’s easy to establish systems, processes, marketing calendars, and social media post schedules. Routine is comfortable. Boundaries and schedules are safe.

But, be open to the times that you feel a prompting – a spark – to break the routine and step outside the boundary. The spark can lead to a whole blaze.

 

 

Let’s Reconnect

/ Marcy Carrico / Leave a comment

busy blurry shopping mall

It’s been awhile since I last blogged. I’ve been busy. Like this picture, life’s been full and a bit blurry.

I’ve worked for an accountant during tax season. I’ve worked for an orthodontist on a school holiday. But I’ve never been as busy as I am now – working for a large church and trying to be a relatively decent wife and mother.

And – let’s face it – what I do with church management software isn’t that interesting to most people. I could blog about it every day. Most people probably wouldn’t read it that often.

So, grab some coffee and let’s catch up.

First: the CCB People Reimagined update. Do you love it or hate it? I love it. I’m learning a few new things about it every day. The rest of the staff was divided at first. I think I’ve helped tip the scales, but the first day one of my co-workers sent me a text that said, “What happened to CCB?”

We’re using some new technology  – some that integrates with CCB. We were looking for a texting option (ie, someone could text a keyword to a number and we would have the option of setting up an automated response). We went with a company that we could link to CCB. Because of that integration, we now have the option of connecting all of that to a process queue.

I’m finally at a stage where all form responses are linked to events and also feeding process queues. It means a little extra work for anyone (um… me) setting up forms and events, but the end result will be more accurate report data.

And we’ve got almost all of our volunteer positions updated – including gifts, talents, passions, ability, personality style, etc.

Of course, there’s technology we use that is outside of the church management software.

We’ve installed a chat feature on our web site. It’s not connected to our church management software, but it is all a part of ‘communications’ and ‘assimilation.’ Two of my favorite words.

And I introduced our staff to Church Metrics. We can get most of our metrics data from CCB, but having a secondary platform will help us find any holes in the first platform.

Our Lead Pastor has allowed me to design a few new pieces of literature – all aimed at getting people connected – and further connected. He also didn’t fire me when I used the word ‘poop’ in a social media post.

I think we’re caught up for now. Comment and let me know how you feel about the CCB changes.