Using AI and Tech Tools to Connect and Serve in Church with Randalin Ward Ep3.9

Randalin Ward [00:00:00]:

One of the big things that we keep in mind when we're making decisions about any technology, but specifically around AI is technology. AI. Can't replace what our team is doing. It can only supplement the goal of any tool that we utilize. Is. How can this help free up time to meet one on one with members or do group trainings? We want to free up our time so that we can actually build that connection with you.

Jeanette Yates [00:00:36]:

Hello, and welcome to the Tech in Church podcast, where we talk to everyday church communications who use simple tech tools to go from frazzled to focused. I'm your host, Jeanette Yates, and while my co host, Nina Hampton is out on maternity leave, we still both believe that you should be spending less time worrying about technology and more time doing what you love in your ministry and in your personal life. And in today's special edition of the podcast, I'm joined by Randalin Ward, member support manager at Text In Church, and she is a genius problem solver and innovator. Welcome, Randalin.

Randalin Ward [00:01:08]:

Thank you. What a marvelous introduction. Thanks so much.

Jeanette Yates [00:01:13]:

I was going to mention how you're such a great problem solver because we were in that escape room ish type of thing when I was up there with you a couple of weeks ago. But I am still recovering from the bruise I have on my leg.

Randalin Ward [00:01:28]:

So I was like, well, same here.

Jeanette Yates [00:01:29]:

But no, I mentioned it anyway. Oh, well, but you did a great job there, too. So not only for work do you problem solve and innovate, but also when we're dealing with escape rooms and whatnot when we're hanging out. All right, Randalin, you and I today are going to discuss your favorite tech tools because you have quite the tech stack that you use to get through your job day in day own. We have tools that we use collaboratively, but then we all kind of have our own tech going on. But I want you to share a little bit about that, and then we're going to talk about everyone's favorite buzzword these days in the communications space, AI. We're going to talk about how us humans can use AI to help us build genuine connections. So that's what I'm really excited about today.

Jeanette Yates [00:02:20]:

Our goal today, for those of you watching and listening, is to help you feel less frazzled and more focused when it comes to using new technology so that you can be confident in your church communications. Randolyn, how's it going?

Randalin Ward [00:02:33]:

It goes so well.

Jeanette Yates [00:02:34]:

It goes so well. All right, so let's go ahead and dive in. Like I mentioned, we all use a lot of tech for our jobs. We are a tech company, and so I would love for you to just share. We've done this type of episode before where we share our favorite tech tools as tech and church team members. So I would love to hear what are some of the tools that you use day in and day out for your job.

Randalin Ward [00:03:02]:

Yeah. Big. Number one is Palm Focus. So the Pomodoro technique for time blocking, if I can set a little timer for 25 minutes and focus in on work, I'm less likely to get distracted. And then it also reminds me to take a quick little five minute brain or body break, because you got to keep that balance, especially working from home. Some days it's hard to tear myself away from work and kind of take care of myself. So, yeah, Palm Focus is a big one that I use daily.

Jeanette Yates [00:03:37]:

For those of you who don't know what that is, she's talking about the Pomodoro method, which you probably have heard, but we'll put a link in the show notes to the specific app that you use because you showed it to us one day, and we were all like, oh, my gosh, this is so cool. Tell them just the fun fact about the Pomodoro method, about how it was made.

Randalin Ward [00:03:56]:

So Pomodoro in Italian is tomato, and it comes from the guy who innovated this. He was setting a kitchen timer, which was the little tomato timer that was in his kitchen and was setting it for 25 minutes and working and then taking a break. So everything's in that red tomato theme, or there's dark mode, if you're into dark mode, like, I am everything.

Jeanette Yates [00:04:21]:

I love that because everybody knows what you're talking about when you say that red timer, like, that red tomato timer, like, your grandmother had it. Somebody had one of those at some point in your life. So that's really good. Okay, go on. What other tech do you use during your day?

Randalin Ward [00:04:34]:

Yeah, I use Evernote a lot. The big thing I do with Evernote is I have this note that I call this notebook in there called Idea Parking Lot. And in the middle of the day, if I have a random thought about work, life, my hobbies, anything, but it's not related to what I'm actively working on. I pull up Evernote on my phone or my laptop, type it into the Idea Parking Lot, and then once a week, I go through and I check off things that, oh, I already did that, or I schedule things that I'm like, oh, I do need to get that done. I have time to make that happen. Or I archive it. If it's like, a really silly idea of, like, that's not going to work, or that's not relevant anymore, I just discard it. But, yeah, my to do list in my Idea Parking Lot is 100 plus tasks.

Randalin Ward [00:05:28]:

So wow. Combined with that weekly check in review, keeping my goals there too, and then Palm Focus, I can crush out some of those ideas as I have them without getting distracted.

Jeanette Yates [00:05:43]:

I love that idea because I am one of those people that gets fantastic ideas all the time. I think they're fantastic, and I very easily will squirrel rabbit hole if I'm not, I need to do something like that. So that is an excellent tip. And I know that a lot of people that work in the communication space work in churches. We do have a lot of ideas. We do have a lot going on. And so having somewhere that you can just drop that information and then, you know, it's there for later, you can stay focused, because that's really the the hard thing, especially for those of us in church communications that work. In social or we are responsible for the text in church, inbox right or whatever.

Jeanette Yates [00:06:26]:

We're always getting notifications and reminders and that can easily distract us. So it's great to have a way to set up parameters and guidelines so that you can focus. And so I love that idea. Any other that you want to share before we go to the next thing?

Randalin Ward [00:06:41]:

Yeah. There's a tool called Loom, and our team uses this, but we use it a lot for internal communications, too, not just communicating with our members when we walk them through how to do something. And what's really great about this is if I have to tech someone how to do something, I'll record a Loom about it instead of trying to schedule a meeting, because then we don't have to both have the same availability. I might be working in one time zone, I can help my team member in another time zone get on the same page about a new process. But then also what's great about Loom is they have these transcripts, and you can just copy that transcript and then throw it into a Google Doc and build out your documentation so that you can share it with other team members as you bring on new volunteers or that kind of thing. I think Gloom is super handy. I think I'm a visual learner. I want to see it happen, but I also want to read the instructions.

Randalin Ward [00:07:42]:

If I'm putting together Ikea furniture, I have the book. I'm confused, but I'm going to follow it step by step.

Jeanette Yates [00:07:50]:

Another thing that I really like about Loom is if you're doing a zoom call, if you remember to hit record, it records. But I hardly ever do that. And so I love that if you're recording something on loop and it's actually recorded. So once you've taught that to, let's say you teach me something, then the next person that needs it, you're like, oh, here, you can just watch this loop that I've already done. You don't necessarily have to do it again. So I do really like that. I also love that our team does have the AI meeting recordings that we do now. So there's the Fathom notetaker, and there's a couple other ones that people on our team use.

Jeanette Yates [00:08:29]:

That's really helpful too, because I would schedule meetings with our members and we would have like the masterminds and the big things and I would be like, you can get the recording if you can't make it. And then I'd be halfway through and be like, oh, I forgot to hit record. So our bosses at Text In Church were like, okay Jeanette, we're going to just set this up.

Randalin Ward [00:08:46]:

So automation, yes, yes, automation. Save me some brain.

Jeanette Yates [00:08:52]:

Yes, yes. So speaking of automation and doing things, getting a little bit of help and assistance with technology, I did mention in the intro that AI is a big buzzword. I mean, we are hearing it in all the spaces. Church communications, I mean, there's a group for AI for Church communications. I mean, Church communications businesses all over the place, commercials are using it, all the things. How are you utilizing AI as part of your work life?

Randalin Ward [00:09:21]:

Absolutely, yeah, I'm using it pretty frequently. Before this, I was actually using it. One of the big ways I use it is for data, actually. So if I have a big spreadsheet of data, I'll ask Chat GPT my question of I want to understand how many members are being affected by X, Y and Z. And I have this in a table and it'll teach me different Google Excel formulas that I can use to get the data or the report that I need. Sometimes I use SQL data Queries and I've actually learned a lot through asking Chat GPT an AI tool, how do I find a list of people or processes. So it's been really helpful in that I also use it to revise articles that I may have written. So I have a template of how the article should be set up and laid out and the tone of voice it should use and the formatting kind of details.

Randalin Ward [00:10:33]:

And then I can record a loom of me doing the process. Take that transcript, put it in Chat GPT, ask it to turn this transcript to match my template, and then once I take that document, revise it further from there. But it saves me so much time in the drafting stage. It's been really helpful.

Jeanette Yates [00:10:57]:

What I love about the examples that you're sharing is, well, first of all, the first example is really interesting to me because of course I'm a words person, not a numbers person, not a spreadsheet person.

Randalin Ward [00:11:08]:

Okay, same here.

Jeanette Yates [00:11:09]:

And so when I think of using Chat GPT, I think of it more like you were talking about the second way where it's like revising or helping you come up with some ideas or something. But that first way. Now you don't want to rely on Chat GPT to give you data because it's going to just make up some stuff.

Randalin Ward [00:11:28]:

Probably.

Jeanette Yates [00:11:29]:

That's not what she's talking about. You all she's talking about saying, I need to know the formula to plug into the Excel spreadsheet to give me what I want, or something like that. And that it can give you the correct information on that. And so I think that's a way that I don't often think about using Chat GBD, which I probably should, since I'm not if the formula isn't like sum equals blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I don't know.

Randalin Ward [00:11:55]:

Oh, yeah, I don't know it. Yeah, I've got a little document saved of all the little formulas I've learned not only from Chat GPT, but Jack, our chief marketing officer, he knows quite a few Excel Google Sheets.

Jeanette Yates [00:12:10]:

I'm writing his name down. I'm going to ask him to know he needs to be on here, too. He could blow our minds.

Randalin Ward [00:12:17]:

Definitely.

Jeanette Yates [00:12:18]:

And I also love, of course, the second thing I love about what you said and what I tend to use Chat GBT specifically, but there's also jasper is a good one, too, but is the revising and refining, or maybe I need something consolidated or something like that. But what I love about that is you're not using AI to replace you. You're still writing something. You're still doing the training, you're still recording the loom. You're doing all that. That's you that's the human randolin. And then you're just asking Chat TV to turn this into a blog post or turn this into a bullet points or whatever, or take this blog post that I've already written and make sure it follows our brand guidelines and things like that, which is really important. And so I think that's a lesson that we can all learn when thinking about using AI tools is like, yes, you could use it.

Jeanette Yates [00:13:22]:

There are people out there using it in all kinds of weird ways. That's not what just like any tool, it can be used in ways that can help you and help you further your mission, your purpose, your goals, or it can be used to just make a mess. Right. Social media is that way, all those things. All right. Okay. Now I want to kind of go into you work with our members all the time as part of the manager of the member Support Team. So you are interacting with our members a lot.

Jeanette Yates [00:13:57]:

And so I want you for those people. So a lot of people listening, they are our Text In church members. We have people that aren't anyway. And one of our core values that we talk about often on the Text In Church team is that we prioritize people, but we also love technology. So AI, we want to use that to be more efficient. But also AI to a lot of people is like, well, how can we prioritize people and also use AI? Can you talk a little bit about how our team decides when to use AI and how to use it so that we can still help our people feel that known, noticed, and loved? That is part of our values.

Randalin Ward [00:14:40]:

Absolutely. So one of the big things that we keep in mind when we're making decisions about any technology, but specifically around AI is technology. AI can't replace what our team is doing it can only supplement what we're doing. The goal of any tool that we utilize is, how can this help free up time so that I can take more zoom meetings with members, so that I don't have to be in a meeting on training. I can record a 15 minutes loom, and then I have an extra hour block available to meet one on one with members or do group trainings. We want to free up our time so that we can actually build that connection with you. And then also, to be 100% transparent, we can't 24/7 staff. So if you're burning the midnight oil and you've got a question, which a lot of church communicators are yeah, you're there at the midnight hour, and you're trying to get something set up and you've got a question, we utilize an AI chat bot that it's powered by our Help Center.

Randalin Ward [00:15:54]:

So the articles that our team has taken the time and love and care to research and write, to teach you how to do the thing, whatever it might be, this chat bot knows only that it only knows text in church, talk in church, and you can ask it a question. And if it knows the answer, it'll bring you there. And if it doesn't, it'll say, sorry, you'll have to wait for the team, but they'll connect with you in the morning. So I think that's a really great thing is we prioritize not replacing anything that we're doing. We're just trying to efficiently so that we can spend more one on one time with members building relationships.

Jeanette Yates [00:16:35]:

Well, yeah. And Finn also does the job of, like, so they could go to the Help Center. I love our help center. I love that you can search in it, but sometimes you don't know the right word. Like, you don't even know what you need. You're just like, I need something. I don't know what it is. So maybe the Help Center, it doesn't give you the information you need, but Finn can go through those things, so it helps save time for the person that's trying to find that answer.

Jeanette Yates [00:17:02]:

And then, of course, I always tell everybody, sometimes you can ask Finn, and it'll give you the answer, and then sometimes you're like, no, I would like to speak to a person on the team. And Finn's not offended because it's just a chat bot.

Randalin Ward [00:17:16]:

Exactly.

Jeanette Yates [00:17:17]:

You can always just say, I'll wait for a team member or talk to.

Randalin Ward [00:17:22]:

The team, and then your request comes right to our queue, and we'll process through it and get those questions answered. Yeah. We never want to make our team unaccessible. We want to connect with you about your questions. And this fin chat bot isn't designed to replace anyone on our team. We've actually hired two more people for our team, so we just want to supplement what we're doing with different AI tools and things so that we can serve as many members as possible in the ways that they want to be served. So if you need answers in the middle of the night, finn's there for you. And if you need answers at 09:00 a.m.

Randalin Ward [00:18:06]:

Central Monday through Friday, we got you back too.

Jeanette Yates [00:18:10]:

Yeah, that's right. I love all the different ways that the Member Experience Team does use technology. Because not only can you just talk to them through the chat thing inside the chat feature, which you are actually chatting back and forth with members, but they can also get a loom video from you, they can also set up a zoom call with you, things like that. And of course, I love it when our members come to the live trainings on Thursdays. We have a blast. One of our members today was like, Jeanette, you promised confetti and so I've got to remember to get confetti for next week. So we have fun over there, too. So we are building relationships with our members and we do love getting together.

Jeanette Yates [00:18:53]:

But AI is, like you said, not a replacement, but just something that we use and something that churches can use too. Again, to her point, she said AI tools or any tech tool is not meant to replace whether it's AI or not, is not meant to replace you as a church leader. Right? It's not meant to replace any of us as humans. That's one of the things that we talk about with texting all the time, too, is texting is not in and of itself the quote answer. What is really going to bring people back to your church or keep people connected is the connections you make. And texting is one of the best ways to connect with people, which is why it works. I love that. That is the focus.

Jeanette Yates [00:19:39]:

Now, I do want to let's talk a little bit more about all kinds of tech, tools, technology, especially since the event of this generative AI, all of these chat GBTS and things like that. Tech seems to be like coming out new technology more rapidly than even it has been. So it's already pretty fast. But now it seems to be things are iterating and changing quite often. I'm wondering if you have any advice as a tech. I don't want to say guru. What's the word? You're an expert. You're an expert in technology.

Jeanette Yates [00:20:25]:

Expert. That's the right word. As a tech expert, what would you say to churches? Every time they open their email or open up anything or hang out in their city, they're hearing about a new technology that's out there. How can church decide what to lean into, what to learn more about and what to say? No, that's not for us. How can they kind of either lean in or let go?

Randalin Ward [00:20:52]:

Yeah, absolutely. I think the best thing you can do is keep your priorities in line and your priorities are usually centered around people. So some sort of people outcome of we want to engage more volunteers this year. That's a people oriented goal, not a tech tool. So you keep your goals for the year, the quarter, however you want to roll with it, the month aligned on people and then find tools that will supplement whatever goal you're trying to achieve. And you don't have to do something just because everyone else is doing it. And you definitely shouldn't do something just because, oh, well, the church across the street is doing XYZ, we need to do that too. It's like, well, does that really fit with our people? Is that how they currently want to communicate with us? So think about the people that are actually in your community, the people that you want to engage with that you're trying to reach.

Randalin Ward [00:21:58]:

Where are they? What tools can I use to engage with them? So if you keep your priorities on people, then look at the tools that will supplement that goal. And yeah, that's huge book I finished up this past quarter was People Before Things. And it's mainly written for technology officers, like big corporations and how they make those decisions. That's one of the things that successful people in technology leaders, how they make decisions, is they prioritize the people that they're trying to serve, the people that they're trying to work for, rather than the things, the processes, the tools, the technology. And so if you center back around people, you'll know when to lean in and when to let go if something isn't serving you well.

Jeanette Yates [00:22:53]:

And something that we've learned before, one of our engaged speakers, our engaged conference speakers several years ago, michael Hyatt, he talked about the experimental mindset. And I think that's something that we also have to remember too, is you can try something for a set amount of time. You can say like, we are going to try this for this quarter, and if it doesn't work, if it doesn't help us engage more volunteers, if it doesn't help us become more connected with our members or whatever that priority is that you have set, then you can get rid of it. It's okay. So having that experimental mindset and trying new things once you've gone through the first prioritization, does this help us with our priorities? Then you can say, okay, but there's still a lot to learn. I think it's okay to try something, have an experimental mindset and then a growth mindset to know that you can learn new things. I think a lot of times, too, we feel like I even admit I have said that recently, like, I don't know if I can learn another social media channel, but the truth is, yes, I can if it's what is needed to meet our goals of prioritizing people, right, and making impact. So anyway, I feel your pain.

Randalin Ward [00:24:23]:

Yeah, I had an extra thought. I always believe that technology can smell like if you go in afraid, you're not going to be as confident in the decisions you're making. So I keep this Winnie the Pooh quote tucked away. You're braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, smarter than you think, and just keep that on repeat. And I think with your goals, with the empowerment of like, no, this may be hard, but I'm smart, I can do this, I can figure this out. And also the mindset that you don't have to reinvent the wheel, you don't have to overturn everything in once. When you renovate a house, you don't just take down everything and then put up everything all at once. It happens gradually, it happens incrementally.

Randalin Ward [00:25:19]:

So set yourself up for success and make small little changes. You don't have to totally overhaul everything. That's going to feel really overwhelming and stressful.

Jeanette Yates [00:25:29]:

Right. And of course, if text in church or talk in church is what you're trying to learn, we've got a whole team to help you learn it as well. So you don't have to do it alone.

Randalin Ward [00:25:37]:

Never.

Jeanette Yates [00:25:38]:

All right, so we have two more questions for you today. One of the things, and we may have already kind of touched base on this, but I just want to ask this one more time, just in case there's anything else you can think of. If a church leader is listening, they're like, okay, I think I'm ready, but I'm still not sure. Technology is still something that makes them nervous. What encouragement do you have any extra encouragement or any encouragement for church leaders as they think about communications or technology?

Randalin Ward [00:26:11]:

Yeah, I think about when you're checking out a new technology and you're deciding if you want to go with it or not, look at their support offerings. If you learn best in a group training or one on one with someone coaching you directly, make sure that that tool has that for you. Don't try to go with a tool that provides you a one page checklist and no other Ikea pictures.

Jeanette Yates [00:26:47]:

Yeah.

Randalin Ward [00:26:47]:

Unless you love puzzles like that. Like me. Yeah. Otherwise, avoid that. So understand the ways that you learn best. And when you're looking for tools, a great company, a great technology is going to have a multitude of learning opportunities, whether it's recorded videos, whether it's one on one calls, a support line, a chat. They're going to have options for you to find exactly the kind of training that you need, and they're going to have real people who you can connect with. So I always don't be afraid to reach out to the maker of the tool and also the communities that are around that tool.

Randalin Ward [00:27:30]:

So if you're looking at different churchcon tools, find the Facebook communities. Ask the questions. There are no bad questions. Likely somebody has already gone through what you're trying to understand or learn and can say, actually, we did this and it was super easy, and I'd love to talk with you about it. And if you are on the other side of this and you have the knowledge, you've done that and you're in those communities engage back, share that knowledge and encourage others because that's how we grow. That's how we make bigger impact than just what's happening in our own communities. It's a bigger picture.

Jeanette Yates [00:28:15]:

I love that encouragement, you know that I do because I spend a lot of time in our community on Facebook and so I'm like, did she say that just for, you know, I really think that is the key to learning anything is yes, there's the people know work as part of the support teams. You and I are both part of that for the company. But it's the members, it's the other people using the tool that are going to share those stories that really matter. Which is why we do this podcast, really, is to get those members talking, sharing on the mic how they're using the tech tools they use and how they're making a difference in their ministry. Because that's the bottom line, is all of the tech tools are to support and further your mission and your purpose. It's funny that you mentioned like check out what the learning offerings are because I was thinking about I had an issue with Google and Google of course, is the most ginormous company, right?

Randalin Ward [00:29:18]:

Yeah.

Jeanette Yates [00:29:19]:

Well, I want you to know they called me on my phone and walked me through what I needed to do. Now that is some service, right? Yeah, I was like either and also that shows you how bad I am. That all the other ways they were trying to teach me how to do this. They were like, fine, we'll just call you from halfway across the world. But it worked and I learned how to do the thing. But that's the way I learn is somebody walking me step by step. So anyway, that is so true that to find the best way that know how, you learn best and find ways to do that. And then of course, I was listening to a podcast today that was talking about why stories are so important.

Jeanette Yates [00:30:05]:

And so you were talking about going into the community and reading how other people are using a tool. And that is because our brain thinks in images. I think the person was saying, if I say big red balloon, what you're thinking about in your head is a big red balloon. Not B-I-G-R-E-D-B-L-A-L-L-O-O-N. Right. You don't spell it out. You think of a big red balloon. And so I think when we hear stories about how a tech tool or how several tech tools work together to bring a community together, serve a community in a time of need, support the mission field, things like that, I think that gives us the picture in our head of what might be possible with our community as well.

Jeanette Yates [00:30:56]:

Oh wow, we could go on forever.

Randalin Ward [00:30:59]:

We.

Jeanette Yates [00:30:59]:

Could and keep talking tech tools. But it is time to wrap it up. And I know that you need to get back to your work and your tech, so I will let you go. Is there anything else you wanted to say before we hop off today?

Randalin Ward [00:31:16]:

Just a bit of encouragement to all the church leaders out there. Don't forget to take care of yourself too. You're important. Self care is important. And I know many of you all wear many hats, maybe all of the hats. So don't forget that one of those hats is also yourself. And thank you for what you do. What you do matters for your church, your community, kingdom.

Randalin Ward [00:31:40]:

Thank you. Thank you. And reach out if you have questions about Text In church talking.

Jeanette Yates [00:31:44]:

That's right, my team.

Randalin Ward [00:31:46]:

We got you. We got you.

Jeanette Yates [00:31:47]:

That's right. Thank you so much, Randolph. And thank you for watching and listening. That's a wrap on today's show and we would love to hear from you. Like Randolph said, head to the comments to this video to share your tips or ask questions. We will be sure to engage with you. And if you want to learn more about how to use tech tools in your church communications, so that you can spend less time worrying about technology and more time actually doing what you love in your ministry and in your personal life, make sure to subscribe wherever you're listening or watching this episode so you won't miss our future episodes. Thanks a lot.