Creating a Collaborative Sermon Workflow With Trello

Creating a Collaborative Sermon Workflow With Trello

Have you ever wished you had a single place to develop a sermon workflow with your team? Imagine how easy it would be to have your worship leader, other pastors, key volunteers and anyone else necessary having access to key sermon information. Not to mention, the ability to work ahead on sermons in a directed pathway.

I use Trello.com to do just this!

All this week I am blogging on using Trello in ministry. This is the 2nd post in the series. Here are the other links

  1. Productive Pastor 46 | Organizing Ministry with Trello
  2. Why You Need To Build a Trello Reading List (and how to do it). 
  3. Streamlining Church Assimilation with Trello. 

First, I use Trello as a team based tool alongside another amazing piece of software. Evernote is my digital brain, and what I love is how I can link the two pieces of software together. I use Trello to work alongside everyone teaching at my church, our worship leader and our kids ministry team (they develop Sunday morning curriculum that runs alongside our main Sunday worship).

This used to be handed through a string of emails. The only problem was that led to more questions, having to go deeper in a text message and other confusion points. I am also a HUGE fan of preparing sermons and series in advance. I talk about that on this episode of Productive Pastor.

Creating Your Sermon Workflow

You know your community and churches needs better than anyone. Our workflow went through a few different versions before we settled onto something that works best.

1. Start a Board for every sermon series (or if you are lectionary-based, for each month). 
When you start the board, add your team from the menu. This here is important. Your team needs to have a Trello account before you invite them. To take full advantage of Trello, create a link from https://trello.com/recommend. This will give you an easy way to invite and onboard team members as well as give you a month of Trello gold for each signup. Trello Gold opens up more options and abilities.

2. Create a Communication Key.
This is the sweet sauce. After several revisions and asking questions about best practices, we stumbled upon this short key to base our sermon workflow off of.

Preacher
Title
Scripture
Big Idea (I tend to call these Monday Moments)
Guiding Question
Intended Response
Outline

Every one of these items is given it’s own card in the first stack on the board. This key is then used forward for every sermon in a separate card stack.

Here is a board we are currently using. Because of the flooding here in the spring of 2016, we canceled a Sunday (so it appears we are missing a week).

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We have 2 of us that preach regularly at Foundry. We have frequently added others into the mix as well. No matter who is speaking, this sermon workflow is given to them and we try to move stuff into it as frequently as possible. It also streamlines sermon preparation because you get into a routine of asking specific communication focused questions.

Here is a board of an upcoming series for you to see when and how we normally work on these items.
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I hope this use case is helpful. I use it for team-specific preparation, but others might love to do this on their own…even if they don’t need the communication angle. If you are looking for a way to use Trello to handle ALL of your sermon preparation, Rev. Nathan Hale has developed a great resource. You can purchase this super affordable template for Trello use right here.

 

Streamlining Church Assimilation with Trello

Streamlining Church Assimilation with Trello

Do you struggle with developing and managing an assimilation system for your church? Trello.com is the perfect solution for church assimilation management. I believe we have to be intentional about assimilating people into the local church. Every person is worth everything. When folks visit your church, the way we reach out and connect speaks to how we believe Jesus reaches out to everyone of us. So developing an intentional strategy helps us love folks and Jesus loves us.

All this week I am blogging on using Trello in ministry. This is the 2nd post in the series. Here are all the posts and links

Productive Pastor 46 | Organizing Ministry with Trello

Why You Need To Build a Trello Reading List (and how to do it).
Streamlining Church Assimilation with Trello.
Creating a Collaborative Sermon Workflow with Trello

Streamlining Church Assimilation With Trello

First, let’s remember the strengths of Trello. I shared these in episode 46 of PP.

  • Trello is fantastic for teams
  • You can link multiple documents (from a variety of places) inside one card
  • You have the ability to drop notes in cards
  • Checklists (repeatable)
  • You can move cards to different stacks

This makes Trello the perfect place to run a team based, highly adaptable system of any sorts. When Foundry developed it’s 1st time contact system, we knew we wanted multiple people as part of it. This mean needing the ability for us all to work on the project simultaneously as well as provide instant feedback as to what has been done. Here are the steps to take to build your own church assimilation system in Trello.

This is going to take intentionality

If you don’t already have a strategy for following up with visitors, what your church’s pathway of involvement and discipleship process looks like, you are going to have to start developing one. But this is a necessary part of leading a strategically focused church.

The first step is to develop a 1st time visitor system and a 2nd time visitor system. It’s all about follow up and connection. Here is ours. This is all put into place on Sunday afternoon/Monday Morning. We’ve developed this system over the last couple of months and I think it works well.

  1. Allison enters the person/family into Trello on their own card underneath 1st time visitors. A date is added for the visit. When a card is entered, the movements below are entered as a checklist. Remember, once you create this once, you can reapply it to any card.
  2. Pastoral staff sends FB friend request
  3. Chad writes and sends hand written note
  4. Allison sends a FB message.
  5. Both of us add the person into our FB Foundry friend list. (more on that process and strategy here)
  6. Molly (another staff person) sends our Priority Mail welcome box. This is a new addition starting on Easter Sunday. I am really excited about it.
  7. The visitor is entered into our email system. We have a follow-up email series attached to this action.

This means after a 1st time visit, anyone or any family receives 4 points of contact after they visit.

Here is the top of our Trello church assimilation system. It’s just the stacks and cards are entered below here.

Screen Shot 2016-03-23 at 9.54.20 AM

 

 

When the person comes for a 2nd time visit, there are a few more actions attached. The first is to move the card from the 1st time column to the 2nd time column. An additional checklist is placed underneath their name then. This is what it involves.

  1. Chad texts and makes contact. I thank them, give them my number and let them know I am praying for them.
  2. Another team member sends a handwritten note to connect.

After the 1st and 2nd guests columns you see a few more columns. Since Foundry is a portable church spread out across an 80 mile grid, we view serving and leading on Sunday as part of our intentional assimilation and discipleship process. Usually folks can exist on this for 2 more weeks of attendance before we make contact with them regarding serving. By this time, they are aware of the different opportunities for leadership and serving. We send information on these opportunities in our Priority Mail box.

Here is how we manage assimilation on Trello. Do you have any suggestions, questions or ideas?

 

Why you need to build a Trello Reading List (and how to do it)

Why you need to build a Trello Reading List (and how to do it)

Do you read a lot? Do you struggle with keeping up with a list of books to read and books you are currently reading? Setting up a Trello reading list saves so much time.

I’m writing about using Trello.com in ministry this week. Here are all the resources.

Productive Pastor 46 | Organizing Ministry with Trello

Why You Need To Build a Trello Reading List (and how to do it).
Streamlining Church Assimilation with Trello.
Creating a Collaborative Sermon Workflow with Trello

I use Trello for TONS of different pieces of information. I spent ages trying to find a visual based project management software that can be used by a shared team. While I’ve been a hardcore Evernote user for years, Trello has provided an essential link in my digital toolbox. I shared a few beginning points on Trello on episode 46 of The Productive Pastor (you can stream the episode below).

I shared some pictures of my personal Trello boards this past week and a friend asked me to share my reading list board. This is a pretty recent addition to my workflow, so it isn’t that thick yet. I’m expecting my Trello reading list to change my reading in both rhythm and retention.

I did Jon Acuff’s Empty Shelf project a few years ago and I read TONS. Part of the inspiration was the stack of books I had in anticipation of reading. I wanted to emulate that digitally with Trello. The reason I went with Trello over Evernote was the checklist function. It would also allow me to catalog the books I’ve read AND link to the Evernote database I build of reading notes. No matter if it is a Kindle book OR physical, it will work as part of my reading strategy. You can check out my larger reading (and cataloging) strategy in episode 26: How To Read For Maximum Effectiveness

Setting Up Your Trello Reading List

Basic Format

I started out with building different card stacks for the type of reading I typically do. These categories don’t need to be complex. It’s really just about a type of book for my own long-term reference. Each card-stack gets a color and I make sure the books underneath them get the corresponding color. This is for after I finish them and they go into the “Finished” card stack and I can quickly look at what I’ve read via category.

Reading Checklist

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Once I enter each book into it’s card, via an individual card, I make sure to attach my reading checklist to the card. This allows me to keep track of how many open books I have. Like many other people I am pretty bad about having 15 different books I’m reading at any given time. I’m trying to minimize the problem.

I created a checklist specifically for my reading list. With Trello, I have the ability to attach the same checklist into every single book. I have it set up like this;

[ ] Purchased

[ ] Started Reading

[ ] Finished Reading

[ ] Notes Entered

This way, I can at a glance see what I’m reading and how far along I am with each book.

 

 

Linking Evernote and Kindle

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Lastly, when I finish a book, I enter my notes/thoughts into a specific Evernote file. I simply then link to the shared file link exported out of Evernote into a note in the books card in Trello. I then can move the book to the “finished” stack.

If I read the book on my Kindle, I just attach the linked highlights to the Trello card (here’s how to find the link).

I hope this helps you understand a different use case for Trello.

Wrestling a Bear: Taking Control of an Angry Schedule

Wrestling a Bear: Taking Control of an Angry Schedule

 

Ministry is a tough job. There isn’t another career with the complexity of scheduling AND management. How many secular organizations can instantly thrust people into leadership over dozens, hundreds or thousands? Angry schedules are those with the potential to derail our ministry. They can be personal or organizational schedules.

Here are 4 episodes of The Productive Pastor that will help you wrestle down the angry schedule.

 

Episode 8: When Things Go Crazy: Navigating the Time Bomb

Part of ministry is responding to crisis. As much as we can plan and strategically organize our schedule, something can and will come up that necessitates us going off schedule for a few hours or days. The secret to navigating this well is to have a proper on and off ramp. This episode will show you exactly how to do that.

 

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Episode 14: The Power of a Time Audit

If you are struggling with time management, the first step to wrestling it to the ground is doing a time audit. You can’t improve what you don’t know! Regular time audits can be extremely helpful.

time audit

Episode 3: Priority Based Schedule

What is the most important thing this week? The ability to answer that question provides an extreme amount of clarity and purpose. Outlining priorities and planning around them assists in effectiveness and stewardship of time.

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Episode 34: Keeping Important Goals at the Front of the Pack

Have you ever hit a personal or organizational rut? They are easy to get into if you aren’t paying attention to goals and project management. This episode is all about staying focused on the forward momentum you have identified as the most important.

productive pastor

My Favorite Productivity Tools

My Favorite Productivity Tools

There are plenty of great productivity tools out there. I find myself flirting with tons of them. Over the last year I have been able to condense what I use and better predict what will work great for me. These are the items that make my daily carry.

Lamy Safari Fountain Pen
I like to use paper. There is something about it. I have also grown into really liking a good pen, but not wanting to spend to much money on it. I use lamy blue/black ink in my main pen.

Muji Notebooks
I read about Ira Glass using these and I decided to give them a try. When I initally began carrying a daybook, I used smaller cardboard books like these. I shifted for years to moleskines, other hardback notebooks, spiral books…and everything in between. I wanted to go back to a smaller, softback notebook and these totally fit the bill.

Emergent Task Planner Sticky Pad
I love worksheets. I make many myself. Over the last few months I have gravitated away from my usual day sheet and have begun using David Seah’s Emergent Task Planner again. I love the smaller sticky backed pad. I write up the next days tasks and schedule the night before and slap it on the front of my notebook.

Post-It Pop Up Page Markers
I’ve developed a tagging system for my reading that helps me make quick notes and then go back to catalog them. I talk about this process in episode 26 of The Productive Pastor, How To Read for Maximum Effectiveness. These are the tabs I use. I normally order them in increments of 5-7 to make sure I never run out.

Evernote
I am suspicious of many productivity apps. I have tried many of them-and I quit using them. Mostly because I can take care of it all in evernote and I would rather everything live in there. I use it to keep reading notes, send articles to file, project management, draft writing, keep shownotes…everything. If you need help understanding evernote-I recommend Brent Kelly’s “Evernote Essentials” ebook.

Trello
I haven’t ever found a project management app I enjoy. Because of church responsibilities, I have had to bite the bullet and find a collaboration tool. Trello is totally awesome. It works enough like my analog tools to be pretty similar and the share feature is great.

What I’ve Read in 2015

What I’ve Read in 2015

Last year I challenged myself to catalog my reading (and become more intentional about my reading). I was able to read more and read for more purpose. Here is my 2014 reading.

In 2015, I decided to chart out much of my reading. I have a few places I wanted to develop my personal life and leadership. You can read about that process here.

I will use this post to catalog my 2015 reading. Feel free to ask any question in the comments. The link will take you to an Amazon purchase link if you are interested in the book.

My 2015 Reading

1. Simplify: Ten Practices to Unclutter your Soul by Bill Hybels.
Over Christmas my Dad gave me a couple of books he was reading and using for some sermon preparation. This was one of them. It scratched my productivity itch as well as spoke to my soul. This is a great book. For anyone who might raise an eyebrow at Hybels-this is the perfect entry book. I highly recommend it.

2. Strange Leadership: 40 Ways to Lead an Innovative Organization by Greg Atkinson
I first heard about this book from my friend Rich Birch over at the Unseminary podcast. Rich interviewed Greg and I immediately bought this book. Think of it as a modern Biblical theology of innovative leadership. It highly challenged me not to lead better (well actually it did)…but more so to fight for Jesus in my heart and to focus on following Jesus better.