Crossroads was really hopping tonight! There was so much going on. My area of responsibility was for the Church Community Builder training for our small group leaders and several of our ministry leaders. We offered two training sessions this evening. Our first session lasted for one hour, from 7 PM until 8 PM, and focused on an overview of the entire database program. Our second session, from 8:15 PM until 9:15 PM, zeroed in on the specific ways to use the group functions of the software. About 50 people came to the training.
Rachael from CCB conducted both sessions remotely via Skype. We could see what she was doing on her computer on our two large screens and hear her voice over our speaker system. Rachael did a GREAT job - extremely clear in her presentation as well as engaging our audience. They clapped enthusiastically for her at the end of the training.
This is a big step for us and our database program. We began the process of moving our database to CCB back in August. Up until now our users have been limited to our staff members. After tonight, we'll add another 50 users. We have another session, identical to this evening, scheduled for December 5th. And we have additional training sessions planned for our staff. By the end of the year my expectation is that we'll have well over a hundred people actively using the system before our congregation launch date of January 1. By then our leaders will have been on the system and talking it up with those with whom they share ministry. And by the beginning of next year we hope to have pictures up for at least 500 of our members.
One other note for anyone considering CCB and the initial training phases: I would highly recommend the virtual, remote training options. They are much more cost effective and, in my opinion, learning effective as well. With professional trainers like Rachael, it's hard to go wrong!
