Font Rants on Many Subjects

CRM and the Church

I think every church should have a form on their website that lets a person make contact the ministerial team. This form should get name and contact information for the person and allow them to select from a menu of potential subjects such as, "prayer request", "visitor information", "meet the ministry", "questions about activities". Also captured on this form should be some basic demographic information designed to help the minister reach out to the person.

This form should be tied into customer relationship management system (CRM system). CRM has been a big deal in the secular corporate world for some time; but I don't think churches have really tried to adapt it. Imagine if you will every prayer request, every request for hospital visit, or information request from a potential new member logged in the computer. How many people did your ministry team meet with last week? How many of those folks are turning out for church on Sunday?

Consider the following scenario: a person requests a visit from a minister. After the visit is completed they get an email asking them "how was the visit? Do you have further questions?, etc." The leader of the ministry team can look at the results and provide coaching. Rolling these stats up on a Diocesan or regional level. Evaluate the patterns of ministry. What kinds of ministry is being done? Is the minisry successful? How will successful ministries be grown; and unsuccessful ones reconsidered.

CRM would also open up new possibilities for managing donor lists, fundraising, and growing the church funds. Though I put this last because I think it's more important to think about the gathering of the flock rather than the fleece.

Water Signs....

God promised Noah that he wouldn't flood the whole world again; but the rainbow is looking a little shaky. Coastal portions of Asia, New Orleans, and California all in the last 13 months. I'm just thankful we haven't started burning witches; or gone into some kind of collective hysterics like they did in early ages.

Amidst these signs of trouble. My generation (X)is heading towards our midlife crisis and the second act of our lives. It's going to be bad I fear. We've got the over self-indulgent boomers hanging on to all the power, sending us to mini-nam in Iraq, and passing legislation to guarantee we'll be working 3 jobs just to cover their Viagra entitlements in their Medicare prescription drug coverage.

Despite our hard work; we will be passed over as their children (gen y/the echo) come of age and they hand over their cushy executive suites to their children. Watch as the tattoo, overly pierced, spoiled brat who has more self esteem than common sense; yeah that guy...He'll be running the company when he turns thirty; meanwhile you'll be 40ish and still stuck in some going nowhere middle management job.

When this day comes; you'll be thinking to yourself did it all get screwed up on September 11, or when the tsunami swallowed Phuckett, or maybe it was when NoLa drowned, or California was swept into the sea by a giant mudslide. Some where in the 00's you say things went wrong. For each of us there will be some moment we can point to as the dice fell and came up 7.

Maybe the moment is still to come; like when the real estate market crashes and we're stuck paying off million dollar interest only mortgage you took out to afford a 1 bedroom condo. By the way you probably will figure out when you are 50 living in the same 1 bedroom condo; with all your now quite dated looking Ikea furniture...you will figure out that you bought your million dollar condo from some g-d boomer. You say, "I was such a damn sucker. A million dollars for a condo." That boomer will long since be dead having drained social security and made you work to death so they wouldn't have to dip into your gen-y boss's trust fund. The trust fund enabled by your million dollar condo mortgage. If you find this future so far fetched; consider all the people already working for Paris Hilton.

At least we can look back on the 90s. Our moment of utopian sunshine. Everything was rolling along. Every gen-x-er had their own Internet startup. We were all millionaires for 15 minutes; even if we weren't famous. Then came the zeros, and it was all gone.

We are entering an age of water. Water means tears, sweat, and drowning sorrows. The first act of our lives was gilded with golden moments from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the glorious 90s. Those days are all washed away by the floods.

In this next year resolve to survive the flood, build an ark. Bind together some strong wood which can keep you afloat. Maybe it's starting your own business. Maybe it's finding an engaging hobby. For me it's writing, raising my kid, and the recognition that at least all this heavy weather will shake off some of the old gen-x ennui. I can't say what awaits us on the other side of the flood; but with all this comming rain it should be a heck of a rainbow.