What did you learn today?

My dad used to ask us that, EVERY DAY, and it drove me and my sister nuts (remember that Jamie?). Didn't come to dinner with something you learned today? Fine - get up and use those 1000lb encyclopedias my parents bought during the summer of 1970 and find something to learn. I HATED that, but once again, I'm FORCED to admit my parents were right. I absolutely hate admitting when I'm wrong, but it is what it is, I was wrong, we should strive to learn something new every day. I posted a blog on my corporate website today as a result of a conversation I had with one of my customers today. If I learn nothing else today, it will be patience. I've included that blog for your reading enjoyment.

Now, go learn something today!

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What did you learn today?

As delivery managers, we have a responsibility to wisely use the time and money provided by the local church to implement Fellowship One. We are called to help empower the church to more efficiently bring people to the table of the Lord.

I often view myself as an educator (amongst other things). I am here to help people understand how to use Fellowship One in their unique environment, and use the wonderful technology we posses to empower the local church. Sometimes people embrace this, other times it can be more confrontational to get people to leave the comforts of their current church management system and learn something new in the name of progress. It requires people to leave their comfort zone and make themselves vulnerable, not many people like leaving anywhere comfortable.

The delivery team at Fellowship Technologies is an evolving team. There was a day and time where we were all cowboys (and cowgirls), roaming the countryside, going from church to church, each doing our own thing as we best saw fit. Those days are long behind us, and it hasn’t been a painless road, I must confess. But I can tell you that the changes we have made have been for the best. Without a structured process and product (being the service we deliver), we would lose our departmental and corporate identity. We now produce a better, more standardized product, and hopefully a more efficient process, leaving us more time to deal with process change within the church itself. In order for this to work, people must be open to change, and if necessary, the pain that goes along with it.

I have been delivering the Fellowship One product to churches now for over 2.5 years and I have learned so much during my tenure. I have realized that, yes, I am a teacher to many, but those many are also teachers to me. EVERY church I work with teaches me something. It’s that something that everyone in my team brings to the table at regular intervals to help us produce a better, more refined product, making better and better use of the church’s time and money. Without you teaching us about you and what you do, we become stagnant and stale and the product no longer evolves. Each delivery manager learning something new puts us in a vulnerable place. We have to ask ourselves if what we did before was the best way to do things. If the answer is no, we have to admit we could have done things better and continue to work hard to discover where we fall down. We do this all in the name of helping you, the local church; more efficiently bring people to Christ.

If I don’t learn at least one thing new during the implementation with a church, I feel I have failed the church, myself, and my future clients (even if it means learning how to be patient!) I encourage all to make a conscious attempt to learn something daily that will help you tomorrow and the rest of your days. And please never stop being a teacher. We’re a team, and we NEED each other to help make the team successful.