Imagine your Rock admin takes two weeks off for vacation with no handoff, no Slack notification, no "just text me if you need something" message.

What breaks first? Whatever comes to mind is your starting point for what Nassim Taleb calls the fragility list.

In this episode, Jon, Emily, and Nicole apply Taleb's concept of antifragility to church systems inside Rock. Most people think the opposite of fragile is tough, but Taleb says there's a third category for things that become stronger under stress. Glass breaks under tension but muscle grows, so should your systems.

Jon shares an update about v19 in Beta Testing, and early AI Agent capabilities in this release. After engagement from social media on church budgets and AI pricing, he explains further how churches can prepare their budgets now while AI tools are still subsidized.

Catch these updates and learn how you can apply the vacation test to your ministry in this episode. 

Rock Partners

We are thankful for our Rock Partners and their support of the Rock Community. Visit their websites through the link above to learn how they can help your ministry and confirm that those you work with are as invested in the success of Rock as you are!

Quick Links

• Read Nassim Table's Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder (Incerto).
• Learn about the major features and enhancements coming in v19 from the updates video, mobile updates video, AI Agents blog, and the release notes.
• Watch the bones and muscles video.
• Invite your leadership and local churches to Vision Day, a curated experience designed specifically for church executives and nontechnical staff who are shaping the future of digital ministry.

v19 introduces something we've been working toward for a while - the AI Agent. It's powerful, and that means we're being intentional about how we roll it out.

While you won't see these new tools in Rock immediately, we are hard at work behind the scenes preparing the way for your team.

What's to come

Think of an AI Agent as a smart, tireless team member with a specific persona and a custom set of skills and tools. Together, they connect your data to real-world actions, automating complex tasks so your team can spend more time personally investing in people.

That's a big deal, and big deals deserve careful rollouts.

Preview mode

Rock's AI Agent launches in preview mode. We're actively testing guardrails and partnering with a small number of churches to study token costs and system performance, making sure everything is sustainable and stable before a wider release. This intentional rollout helps the feature earn your trust before it reaches your entire team.

Want to test with us? Reach out at info@sparkdevnetwork.org and tell us how you're planning to put it to work.

With the release of Rock Mobile v19 Early Access coming soon, we are excited to introduce the Outreach Toolbox. This tool provides a mobile centric experience designed to help you stay connected with the people who matter most. Explore the full capabilities of this new feature in the video below.

Rock v19 Early Access is coming soon, and these videos cover all the exciting new ministry tools included in this version. We've given Connections a separate video since it's packed full of features and information you'll want to learn more about. View the release notes for additional information.

Features & Enhancements

Experience Mode is one of the powerful features in this release that will change the way you interact with Rock. This allows you to choose an Essentials interface for a focused look at Rock's primary use cases, or the Trailblazer interface for diving deep into Rock's extensibility. Watch this roundup of major updates and enhancements coming in v19.

Connections

The Connections feature has been refreshed with a polished UI and a new Connections List view. You'll learn about the Operational Snapshot block that turns raw connection data into structured data to help you understand the health of your connection requests.

In the latest Rock Cast episode, Jon, Emily, and Nicole dream about what's possible for church admins and ministries when AI does the heavy lifting. Jon shares a story that proves why writing the specs first pays off and explains the AI Coding Maturity Model.

Nicole makes the case for becoming a Rock Star. The barrier to entry is lower than most people realize, and you don't have to be technical. She shares what surprised her about the Rock Stars she's met and gives a handful of creative ways to start engaging this week.

Emily then takes James Clear's Atomic Habits and shares how you can create a powerful church system by automating three building blocks in Rock. Workflows become the engine, Step Programs act as the discipleship backbone, and AI Agents are the intelligence layer.

Watch this episode to learn how AI can help further your digital ministry and share with your leaders.

Rock Partners

We are thankful for our Rock Partners and their support of the Rock Community. Visit their websites through the link above to learn how they can help your ministry and confirm that those you work with are as invested in the success of Rock as you are!

Quick Links

• Learn how to implement James Clear's Atomic Habits in your church system.
• Missed our episode on vibe coding? Read the show notes to learn how to safely implement it in your ministry and share with your leadership.
• Start engaging in the Community today to become a Rock Star! Learn how to get involved.
• Jump into the #rock-cast Rocket Chat channel to join the conversation and hear what others are building with AI.

RX26 is a meaningful investment of your church's time and finances, but this is an event no leader in the fast-paced digital world can afford to miss. We've compiled three high-value takeaways executives will receive from Vision Day. When you're pitching RX26 to them, share this article to help steer the conversation and bridge the gap with them. 

1. The People in the Room are Digital Pioneers

RX is where the most innovative church technologists in the country connect and collaborate. Leaders will network with pastors from churches ranging in size from 80 to 80,000 who are navigating the same questions about AI, digital ministry, and stewardship.

The relationships developed at RX are ones that will last a lifetime. 

2. Stronger Cross-Departmental Alignment

The beauty of having all your ministry teams and nontechnical roles in one place together is that everyone hears the same keynote but applies the lesson to their own role creatively. Key decision makers and your entire team will walk away with inspiration and, more importantly, alignment of your ministry's shared mission and vision.

3. Clearer Prioritization and Better Resourcing

At each conference, we unveil the newest Rock features and share the direction for what’s ahead. Vision Day gives executives visibility into Rock, so they can better understand what your church truly needs to move ministry forward.

That clarity helps pastors separate mission-critical priorities, like work that directly supports ministry outcomes, staff effectiveness, and church health, from nice-to-have improvements, such as helpful, but not urgent enhancements. With clarity on what matters most, leaders can resource their team with time, budget, staffing, or training.

Why Save Your Seat at Vision Day?

Vision Day is built for those who want to grow, learn, and steward wisely in a digital world. If your church is serious about stewarding technology with purpose and building a healthier ministry foundation, Vision Day is worth the investment. Don't just take our word for it, read about the impact it had for Brent from LCBC church.

Jon and Emily are joined by a new voice on the show, Nicole Shibata, who handles marketing, fundraising, and conference planning here at Rock. 

Jon leads the team through the most consequential three months in AI since ChatGPT launched. They talk about what shipped in the industry, why the rapid pace matters, and what church leaders need to do about it now.

Emily then unpacks Will Guidara’s Unreasonable Hospitality to understand how service is different than hospitality. This is where churches have a unique opportunity to lead because Rock empowers churches with the tools they need to intentionally care for people. The real question is whether those tools are being used to create moments that are unexpected, meaningful, and unforgettable.

Nicole closes the conversation with a look at how this concept is ingrained into the Rock Community, highlighting the recent Ambassador Kickoff Meeting.

Rock Partners

We are thankful for our Rock Sponsors and their support of the Rock Community. Visit their websites through the link above to learn how they can help your ministry and confirm that those you work with are as invested in the success of Rock as you are!

Quick Links

• Join the brand-new Rock Cast Rocket Chat channel to see what others are saying about this episode!
• Read Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara to be inspired.
• Stay updated on AI by listening to Nathaniel Whittemore's AI Daily Brief podcast on Apple and Spotify.
• Subscribe to our YouTube Channel to watch Rock Cast.

We built an entire day for your church leaders to join in on the conference fun, and we need your help inviting them. We’ve gathered a compelling list of reasons for what you'll gain when your leaders are involved. 

1. Faster Buy-In for the Roadmap Ahead

Right before the conference, we're unveiling new features that will change the way you interact with Rock. Churches with Early Access will be the first to experience these features in action.

When your leadership hears the heart and vision behind these innovations as well as the Kingdom impact, they'll see exactly where each cent of their financial contribution is going.

2. A Shared Language for Data Driven Decisions

One of the most valuable outcomes of bringing your leadership is that they come home speaking the same language. RX helps develop a common vocabulary so there's one less barrier in your communication. 

Vision Day is a high-leverage moment to help them connect the dots between tools, systems, and discipleship outcomes.

3. Multiplication of Impact

When executives champion for change, it multiplies impact throughout the entire church.  Your digital ministry strategy doesn't have to rest on the shoulders of a single team but can become a church-wide initiative. Bringing your leaders to RX26 naturally opens the door for these conversations creating traction for your ideas.

Ready to Invite your Leadership?

RX26 is the best place to align strategy, build relationships and return home equipped to lead well. Our Early Bird pricing officially ends this Friday, April 10. If you're considering attending this event, now is the time to register and bring your decision makers. 

In episode 210 of Rock Cast, Jon, Emily, and Nick start with an exciting update that v19 is heading into pre-alpha. They discuss how Connections are getting a major rehaul and spend this episode diving deep into the underutilized feature, Following, that helps make Rock more than a ChMS, but a relational management system.

Following acts as a personalized digest to help you respond with care and track major life events. You can follow individuals or entire groups, creating a powerful way to ensure no one falls through the cracks. The more you use it, the more effective it becomes as a ministry presence tool.

The team then draws inspiration from Adam Grant’s book, Hidden Potential, and challenge the notion that churches lack volunteers with the reality that we simply lack the systems to develop the people before us into leaders.

This shift changes everything. It means noticing unlikely people and intentionally investing in their growth. They outline a simple framework to build a volunteer growth pathway which you can learn more about by listening to the full episode.

Rock Partners

We are thankful for our Rock Sponsors and their support of the Rock Community. Visit their websites through the link above to learn how they can help your ministry and confirm that those you work with are as invested in the success of Rock as you are!

Quick Links

• Read Adam Grant's Hidden Potential to understand the science behind finding greatness in people that others overlook.
• Get the best deal of the year with RX26 Early Bird pricing and bring your leadership to Vision Day.

• Take some time to learn about Rock's Following feature and configure it for your ministry.
• Listen to creative and powerful ways to empower your volunteers from our previous Rock Cast Episode 197.
• Sign your team up for our upcoming classes to level up their Rock skills.

In this episode of Rock Cast, Jon, Emily, and Nick describe some of the high-impact features coming to v19 and explore the challenge that every church faces. That challenge is how well-intentioned complexity creeps into systems and blocks ministry milestones.

They unpack what they call the complexity trap, the moment when tools meant to support ministry start creating friction instead. Whether it’s forms that collect unnecessary data or systems built for rare edge cases, complexity has a way of quietly growing until it overwhelms the people using it.

Jon introduces the first two steps of Elon Musk’s 5-Step Algorithm, which challenge teams to question requirements and even delete them entirely before trying to optimize or automate.

To bring the concept to life, they walk through real ministry examples, including baptism forms and children’s check-in systems, showing how removing unnecessary requirements can dramatically improve the experience for both volunteers and families.

One basic principle to keep in mind when building requirements is that every requirement needs an owner. If no one can clearly explain why something exists or what would break if it were removed, the requirement most likely shouldn’t exist at all.

Tune into this episode to learn how you can escape the trap of complexity.

Rock Partners

We are thankful for our Rock Sponsors and their support of the Rock Community. Visit their websites through the link above to learn how they can help your ministry and confirm that those you work with are as invested in the success of Rock as you are!

Quick Links

• Less than two weeks to save on RX26 before the Early Bird sale ends! Invite your leadership, local churches, and staff to experience Rock's biggest event of the year.
• Dive deep into Rock's templating language, Lava, and register for our upcoming class April 27-May 1.
• Missed our last Master Class? View the 2026 fall schedule to sign up for our upcoming classes.

Books Referenced in This Episode

• Don't Make Me Think by Steve Krug
• The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz
• Cognitive Load Theory by John Sweller