Renovation Church: Rock Conference and Community Published Apr 8, 2016 Renovation Church of Simpsonville, South Carolina, was faced with a unique situation two years ago – creating a completely new organization with more than 800 members already on board. With so many details manage and communicate, the staff needed a feature-rich ChMS right away. Care Pastor Robbie Funderburk depends on using information to connect with people and knew they couldn't settle for a just a database. "I am probably the person who most benefits from a relationship management system. I love the fact that I can catch up with a member of our congregation that I may not know well when called to the hospital for an emergency. I can access all of the information I need to be able to minister to the patient AND family." This is just one of the reason Robbieʼs interest was peaked when he found out about Rock through a former college friend, Trey Hendon of Kingdom First Solutions. Together with Renovationʼs IT Director / Videographer, Matthew Meekins, Robbie began to pursue Rock from the very early stages of the project. Astonishingly, they went live on Rock v2.0 almost as soon as they installed it on their server in October 2014. As a completely new organization, they migrated what data they had on attendance and contribution records from CCB in a smooth transition. "We all love the relational aspect of Rock that CCB just did not offer," says Robbie. Matthew adds, "Having everything integrated in one box, one program, makes both the administrative side and the ministry side completely happy and working together in harmony to serve the flock God has given us." The team is currently putting the finishing touches on their Rock-powered website. Although neither Robbie nor Matthew would consider themselves developers, they have plugged in to the Rock community and discovered a shared knowledge base and interactivity that has propelled their administration forward. Robbie is quick to point out how important community is in the Rock project. "Going to RX2015 helped us network with the folks that really know what they are doing, as well as with the newbies that we could better relate with." Seeing how others were using the tools helped the Renovation team map out how they would use Rock in their ministry, and their relationships have extended well past the conference. "Don’t be scared of it. Matthew and I have learned what we know about code, servers, hosting, financial gateways, etc. from this project. We had no special training, just a will to learn and people in the Rock community willing to teach." " With that kind of dedication and connection, the Renovation team will no doubt find themselves successfully mentoring other new organizations in the future. In the meantime, you may want to connect with Robbie and Matthew on the Rock Slack channel and at RX2016 to trade best practices. Top Tip: "Jesus saves and so should you. Backups are important."