4 Points Church: Endless Possibilities

"There isn't one day that I have ever said, 'Man, I wish we would have stayed with F1.'" 4 Points Church Executive Pastor Austin Barnett looks back on all the work that went into moving to Rock without regret.

While searching for options to their then-current church management system, Austin stumbled upon Rock. A church of about 320 situated in Greer, South Carolina, 4 Points was ready for something new, and unfazed by the challenge of data migration.

Beginning in December of 2014, the tech team double-entered everything for two months as they worked through their transition. "It was rough for awhile but definitely worth the trouble to switch to Rock. We haven't looked back," says Austin.

Using the Excavator program, which was specifically built to help move data from F1 to Rock, could have been daunting, but Austin has some great advice. "Don't let Excavator intimidate you. You can figure it out or someone in your church is probably already working with SQL in their daily job. Ask around; they'll be happy to help."

What else made their launch successful? Lots of planning. Austinʼs advice for other churches working toward implementation is this:

Read the user guides – I can tell that lots of time and energy went into making them and they are awesome resources. Attend the Rock conference – it will be worth every penny you spend to get there. Bookmark rockrms.com – you'll visit the link more than you think.

Now that 4 Points has had some time to get adjusted to life with Rock, Austin has gotten comfortable with his favorite feature – being able to customize just about anything. "The possibilities are endless! If the pastor wants to see a certain block on his homepage, we can make that happen."

They also appreciate how smoothly new families can be entered when walking up to kids check-in for the first time. Most of the 4 Points volunteers figure it out with just a few examples. "The check-in app works great. In fact, all the apps I use work great!"

The integration with Twilio for texting out communications is another beneficial feature for 4 Points. "We are learning more and more that people are not reading emails. In fact, we have almost decided that most communication needs to be through texting." Coincidentally, the ability to have two-way mass texting conversations that appear personal and individual is exactly what their team was looking for.

They are finding such value in Rock that they have decided to generously donate toward the continued product development, knowing that Rock is run by a non-profit and relies on contributions like theirs. With enthusiastic supporters like Austin and the staff at 4 Points in the Rock community, the possibilities really are endless.

Top Tip: Stick with one provider for all your financial processing. Having different providers for texting, kiosk, and online giving only makes headaches for the finance people. We are very excited about the new integration with SecureGive and that is who we use.