About LWFC

Living Word is a non-traditional contemporary church based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Living Word can be found online at: www.lwfc.org

Operational Planning

Living Word Family Church started out using Smartsheet in the Operations Division using it for annual planning. Yearly objectives are entered into Smartsheet as well as all milestones and tactics which support those objectives. “It’s a great way for us to ensure that each individual’s assignments are covered,” said Jen Chappell, Admin/Project Coordinator at LWFC. “With Smartsheet, we can maintain a master rollup of tactics and each person is able to maintain their own individual list, while still having visibility into the overall goals. That is important for us, as we need everyone to be on the same page with the pastor’s mandates.” When the Creative Division was formed, Smartsheet naturally became part of this division as well.

Google Docs and Basecamp Too Limited

Before finding Smartsheet, LWFC used a mixed bag of tools to keep track of projects. These included spreadsheets, word documents and e-mail. Eventually they tried a variety of online tools to help them. Google Docs was fine for posting shared documents, but it didn’t work for tracking individual’s assignments which were often associated with those documents. “Google docs didn't have enough bells and whistles for what we needed,” said Chappell. “I was tired of going to five different places to find all the information I needed. We also tried a forum, wiki-type page but it wasn’t easy to get information in and out. I needed a better way to get things done and track due dates as the forum became more about discussions and brainstorming.”

Chappell also tried using 37 Signal’s Basecamp for online project management. That didn’t work because Basecamp was set up in a calendar view and appeared very busy when it came to viewing many projects. “We don’t run just one or two large projects at a time. We are smaller project-based and have numerous projects going at one time."

Easy project management

After struggling to learn a trial of Microsoft Project, Chappell needed to find an a user friendly alternative. “I knew I needed an alternative to Microsoft Project because it was just too difficult to learn in such a short time. Smartsheet was easy to sign up for and easy to learn – not only for me, but for my team as well.”

The creative division of LWFC uses Smartsheet to timeline all of their programs, including videos, promotional campaigns, series collateral and all other marketing and promotion material. Chappell’s team uses Smartsheet to set up specific timelines for each project to ensure deadlines are met and action items are followed up on. “It’s great because I can assign different tasks to different people and pull quick reports to see where things stand. Every week I sit down with my department head and go through the top items we are working on,” said Chappell.

The timelines are laid out in three separate phases; the concepts, execution and a follow up phase. Chappell also creates a yearly overview that prompts her with reminders when it’s time to create her next timeline. This is also used by the operations division for a quick overview of the year.

Share files and assignments online

LWFC works with many outside volunteers as well as Marketing Ministries, a Christian advertising agency that works with churches and other ministries on their marketing programs. “It’s really nice to have a quick way to share information with people outside our organization,” says Chappell. “I can decide what level of permissions to give them and feel confident they will be able to access the files or assignments that they need.”

The Business of Ministry

The goal of LWFC is really to create an atmosphere that helps connect people to the church. “We run our operations like a business,” says Chappell. “We plan our entire year in advance, develop our key objectives and do the best we can to execute those objectives. This type of approach helps to ensure we stay connected to the vision while reaching our goals.”

With Smartsheet, the operations and creative divisions of LWFC have seamlessly transitioned during an enormous growth period. And by using Smartsheet to manage programs, the creative department has doubled the output of production material. “The details of day-to-day operations have tripled and Smartsheet is the reason we can keep up with what has to get done. It’s been a huge asset for us,” says Chappell.