Church Marketing Solutions

Discussion points:

• CCS Coaching and technology
• Converge
• Connecting coaches from CCS website
• Video conferencing opportunities
• Coaching continuing education
• Other information

Notes:

Converge (Pat Furgerson)

• It will become the premiere coaching tool in the future (possibly even with video conferencing). Converge is basically about project managements-ranging from setting up staff meetings to measuring progress on a church planting project.
• Each individual coach for example will be able to have his own project. For example, each church planter will have his own organization system. This would make it possible to send messages out to go across the entire organizational network within the website which would open up converge tools to that network.
• They are working on "wigets" for useful things (like project deadlines, calendars, and such).
• Other Converge tools:
  • You can store various agendas and carry them over from one meeting to the next. You can take notes that others in your network are able to see. Then you can openly talk about and discuss goals, purposes, and results.
  • Part of the tool is set up a lot like a Word document with easy access and usability.
  • Training materials will be available for view or search by keyword (so you can type in "Fundraising" for example). Then all the materials for your search available by converge will come up. This will provide all of the materials for specific areas of ministry with quick easy access.
  • When you use the system, meetings can be set up and automatically sent via email.
  • Other project management tools
• CCS will soon be moving from CoachNet to Converge for our online tool system. Sometime next year is the tentative date and January 2008 is the earliest projected date to switch over from CoachNet to Converge. They are trying to integrate Skype (as an external application at least) without recreating what's already out there.
• We will contact our coaches sometime next year about the technology that we will be using. Video conference calls will be possible. And things like a Jim Putman webinar, for example, will also be possible. The training and coaching opportunities really open up with Converge.

CCS Coaching (Ted Cornelius):

• It's very important to be coached by others and resource other materials. Even though Ted has been coached for a long time, he still finds value in continuing to grow in coaching.
• We want to continue with that equipping process. So we want to talk about how we can continue together after the 9-month certification process. So right now we are looking at what the important and supportive pieces are.
• Options we've been talking about:
  • Throughout the year, we may have each of you meet with a coach mentor (a couple times a year) to continue to touch base. This will help develop the different areas in which you are trying to improve.
  • We might make the recommendation that you would resource books to keep fresh with skills and grow. There are other resources our there other than Coaching 101 that we want our coaches to be exposed to.
  • We want to dialogue with our coaches about this. If you have ideas about this, please send in your ideas to us.
  • One idea is a "team huddle" concept.