As I mentioned in my last post, I am thinking a lot about ministry team productivity. I want our children's ministry team to be massively productive for the Lord.
We have a large team that is responsible for a large ministry. One of the "tools for toil" I see as potentially helpful is a collaborative project management website. I have tested several sites, and recently found one, Pelotonics, that I think will best match with the needs of our ministry team. I have yet to roll it out to the team, so the proof will be in the putting, but my initial work with the site has given me a favorable impression.
That impression was strengthened today with a customer support experience that surprised and challenged me. It was so good, and put such a stake in the ground for me in terms of productivity, that I have to share it here: I completed a technical support form on the Pelotonics website with a question I couldn't find answered on the site's forums or wiki. Within hours, I not only had an answer by email, but the company's founder, Troy Malone, recorded a video response to my question. The response answered my question, and went on to offer additional useful information related to it--information I had not yet thought to ask for, but which will help me down the road. I later discovered that Mr. Malone also streams live from his office during many points in his workday to engage with and support his product's consumers.
The reason to mention it here, other than that I was thankful and impressed, is that it presents a challenge to me to think outside of the expectable and strive to surpass it. This company has decided that customer support is central to their model. Almost every company would say that. But this company also decided to redefine what customer support means. From a business standpoint, it will be interesting to see how this scales when Pelotonics grows, but from a ministry standpoint, it is relevant because whatever challenge our team faces, we should ask God to show us the best way to meet it, and open our minds for him to show us something different and more glorious to him than the status quo. I think this is particularly relevant to ministry with children, whom many churches and parents have underestimated. Scripture memory: how about whole books of the Bible? Lessons: how about systematic theology? Sing-a-longs: how about five verses of the great hymns? I think our church and many of the families in our congregation do think big about our children, but I always want to be open for God to show me something bigger--even to redefine what I think of as big.
Lessons about how great God is come from the strangest places, don't they? Ustream?? It should not be surprising, since all of creation and history are a drama that is ultimately about Him and for Him:
Tony,
Thank you for your kind words. I am glad that you have had such a great experience with our product so far. Let me know if I can do anything further for you!
Congratulations on a great blog as well. VERY well written. I wish I had more of a knack for it!
Take care and don't be a stranger.
Troy Malone
Pelotonics
Posted by: Troy Malone | January 02, 2009 at 08:43 PM