Introduction
First Baptist Dallas, a historic and thriving church in the heart of Texas, has served its community for over a century. With a large congregation and diverse ministries, maintaining deep connections and fostering meaningful and personal engagement across their membership is no small feat. In spring 2023, the church transitioned to TouchPoint to help them achieve their goals of enhanced connections and streamlined ministry operations.
In this case study, we explore how Justin Krieg, Director of IT, and his team, utilized TouchPoint to improve First Baptist Dallas’s engagement, empower lay leaders, and drive discipleship efforts.
The Challenge: Managing Engagement In A Large Church
After reaching the limits of their previous church management system, First Baptist Dallas decided to upgrade to TouchPoint. This required careful planning and adaptation. The size and complexity of First Baptist Dallas posed unique challenges, but the leadership team quickly recognized TouchPoint’s potential to streamline operations and elevate member engagement. While initial hurdles were natural, the church’s commitment to embracing the new platform set the stage for long-term success. They brought Justin on initially as the Engagement and Analytics Associate to help achieve transitional success.
The Solution: Leveraging TouchPoint To It’s Full Potential
Change can be difficult, but the responsiveness from TouchPoint when any speedbumps arose showed that they could be counted on. Justin reflected on his thankfulness for their partnership with TouchPoint:
“The work that was put in, learning the system and working with TouchPoint’s Consulting Team to get good processes in place, deserves a ton of credit because they’ve invested a lot in spending time with First Dallas to get trained up and get our system in a good spot.”
1. Building a Culture of Adoption
Recognizing the importance of widespread adoption, Justin’s early efforts focused on showcasing the value of TouchPoint to ministry departments. By demonstrating how the platform could enhance their workflows and engagement efforts, Justin and his team successfully fostered a culture of enthusiasm around the new system. Whether it was training on email communication features or utilizing their Powered By Text integration, they were able to get their congregants to engage with them and deepen discipleship efforts.
“We’ve been able to shift mindsets and win over ministry departments that weren’t initially trained very well on TouchPoint. Learning TouchPoint and implementing improved processes has yielded a lot of fruit.”
2. Engagement Score: A Tool for Meaningful Discipleship
A feature that Justin emphasized was TouchPoint’s Engagement Score. God put on his heart Hebrews 10:24 as the driving factor behind the engagement score. He shared how this tool allowed their team to track and analyze member involvement effectively:
“We’re accomplishing exactly this verse with the engagement score by knowing how our people are engaged in the spiritual disciplines that we’re called to do. By knowing that, we can, in fact, encourage them on towards love and good deeds.”
Justin saw Engagement Scores as a way to measure how members were participating in spiritual disciplines and discipleship opportunities. By generating monthly reports for their Executive Pastor, they could pinpoint individuals whose engagement had significantly increased or decreased. This data empowered their ministry leaders to:
- Celebrate individuals growing in their faith.
- Reach out to those who were disengaging.
- Tailor discipleship efforts to meet the needs of their congregation.
3. Empowering Lay Leaders
First Baptist Dallas took a unique approach to engagement by extending TouchPoint access to their Sunday school care group leaders. Each Sunday school class is divided into care groups of 10-15 people, with lay leaders tasked with monitoring attendance, reaching out to absent members, and logging interactions in TouchPoint.
Justin explained the importance of this system:
“If you’re deemed as a leader in our Sunday school class, then we allow you to have access to TouchPoint. Primarily for the purpose of outreach and logging notes. That’s our accountability system to make sure that people are getting reached out to.”
By equipping lay leaders with the needed tools, the church created a structure that made discipleship efforts more personal and effective, allowing deeper connections to flourish. This has kept people engaged and the church staff aware of what’s happening in their ministries on a personal level.
Results: Engagement In Action
Since implementing TouchPoint, First Baptist Dallas has seen meaningful improvements in their engagement efforts. Outcomes include:
- Enhanced Member Tracking: Monthly reports on Engagement Scores have enabled targeted outreach, ensuring that individuals are not overlooked during critical times. For example, a drop in engagement score may prompt a check-in conversation, revealing underlying struggles, unexpected illnesses, or personal challenges.
- Lay Leader Empowerment: Care group leaders now have the tools to monitor attendance, follow up with members, and log interactions, creating a transparent accountability system to aid in ministry.
- Streamlined Ministry Processes: Departments across the church have embraced TouchPoint, leading to more efficient operations and better communication between staff and lay leaders. The Tasks & Notes feature has been able to keep all necessary staff and lay leaders in the know for intentional discipleship.
Key Takeaways For Other Churches
First Baptist Dallas’s experience offers valuable lessons for other churches:
- Prioritize Training and Adoption: Overcoming initial resistance to change requires clear communication of the tool’s value and ongoing training for staff and lay leaders alike.
- Utilize Tools that Measure Engagement: The Engagement Score is a powerful way to track spiritual growth and identify members who may need additional support.
- Empower Lay Leaders: Extending access to tools like TouchPoint can amplify outreach efforts and ensure deeper connections across the congregation.
Conclusion
Through their partnership with TouchPoint, First Baptist Dallas has transformed the way they engage with their congregation. By leveraging data-driven tools and empowering lay leaders, they have created a culture of intentional discipleship and meaningful connection. Their story serves as a testament to the impact that innovative tools and a committed team can have on a church’s ministry.
