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October 23, 2026

Keep the keys with your staff

Best practices for using AI in your ChMS safely, plus RX in Phoenix Nov 3-5.

Brad ErbOctober 23, 2026
A 3D illustration of a gold key on a dark navy background.

Hey there,

Our son turned 3 this weekend, so naturally we threw him a David and Goliath party. The kids got Pin the Rock on Goliath's Head and real slingshots (the parents' faces said it all).

Brad's X profile photoBrad@bradcerb

My boy is 3! 馃馃悜

We celebrated this weekend with a King David party: lion cake, sheep cupcakes, and a very full house.

Grateful for this little dude and everyone who came to celebrate him.

Happy birthday, buddy!

Brad's son holding a cowboy doll next to a scarecrow, his face covered with a smiley emojiA pyramid of paper cups decorated with sheep faces in front of a stone fireplaceA silver number 3 balloon in front of a Happy Birthday banner and blue and white balloonsA lion face cake with orange frosting and a swirled brown frosting mane
4:23 PM 路 Oct 20, 2026View on X

Speaking of things that make people nervous, plenty of churches are handing AI to their ChMS right now. The recording of my Church IT Network talk, AI and Your ChMS: Safe Usage, is up on my site. It walks through six choices Rock made to do that safely, and the same questions apply to any ChMS. An agent takes actions in your system, so when it gets something wrong, someone on your team has to clean it up.

Here are three things from the talk you can try this week:

  1. The AI runs as you. In Rock, an agent only sees what the person using it could already see. Pick one staff member, look at what their security role can view, and ask whether you'd be comfortable with an agent seeing the same thing. If the answer is no, a permissions cleanup might be your first AI project.
  2. Let it draft, keep send for people. Every action is its own tool, so you can turn on drafting for your whole staff and leave sending and deleting off. Pick one repeatable task, like a follow-up email, and start there.
  3. Put your AI rules on one page. Take five tasks your staff does in your ChMS and sort them into green, yellow, and red. If you're arguing with yourself about green or yellow, call it yellow and give it a couple more weeks.
A 3D illustration of a gold key.If your church is about to give AI access to your ChMSAI and Your ChMS: Safe UsageSix choices Rock made to use AI safely in a ChMS, and what to ask of any ChMS.

Which of the three is your church furthest from right now? Hit reply and tell me, I'd love to hear it.

Brad

P.S. RX is November 3-5 at the Phoenix Convention Center, and I'm excited to see the Rock community there. I'm leading a Vision Day breakout called Ministry By Design and a workshop called Seven Systems That Turn Curious Visitors Into Church Family. If you're coming, grab your spot here and come say hi!