It’s fun to ride the carousel, even as an adult, especially if you have a child with you.
Late June and early July always feels to me like a carousel coming to a stop to drop off and pick up riders; the end the ride, and the beginning of other. Most of our customers’ annual conferences are over, and we’re helping them with Journal reports and other “wrap up” type of database activities for the previous church program year. I also receive a number of calls from customers who are moving into a planning process for a the new program year, and have a new ministry emphasis, or an existing program that is undergoing a few changes, and they want to know what our software can do to help them manage this new ministry.
This year, though, the carousel doesn’t feel like the right metaphor. It feels like many of our customers are striving to move forward rather than to ride that carousel around again. The metaphor that has come to mind a few times during this past month has been that of a turnstile rather than a carousel. When I go through a turnstile it is because I am going somewhere. Whether it’s to board the “L” to Wrigley field to see the Cubs, or to go through teh security checkpoint to board a plane, the turnstile is a passageway to someplace else.
It feels like many of our customers, perhaps most, or even all, are walking through that turnstile this year, rather than getting back on the carousel. There are new ministries, and plans to improve upon current ministries. The United Methodist Church is moving forward. I invite you to contact me to chat about what we can do from the software side of the table to support you as you begin a new journey.
In Partnership,
Al Fifhause
President, Great Spirit Systems
