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AI got very good at surfacing security vulnerabilities fast. In this episode of Rock Cast, Jon, Emily, and Nicole share the story behind Rockʼs recent security releases. Jon explains how the team built a series of agents to scan Rockʼs code, why Rockʼs flexibility makes every fix a balancing act, and whether Rock will stay open source. The main takeaway here is that security is a two-way street. The core team is working its hardest to roll out fixes, but they only protect your church once you install them. As a Rock admin, hereʼs your 5 step action plan to make sure your church stays protected and secured: Install security releases when they land.Watch for the red banner on your homepage.Work through the field types guide and move your Lava over.Keep cleaning up predictable IDs.Report security issues through Talos. Visit the show notes to download all the resources talked about in this episode. Don't forget to join the Rock Cast Rocket Chat Channel to see what other churches are saying about this episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Rock Cast, the team talks about the next unlock for AI Agents, especially after a long 3-month period of limited progress in the industry around harnesses. Instead of working with personal agents in a private chat, imagine collaborating with your team by sharing a live agent workspace. This is the transition from single-player agents to multiplayer agents, and it will dramatically change the way your team works. Then, they pull back the curtain on a problem every Rock church experiences: duplicate records. They invite listeners to brainstorm early product thinking and daydream about a unique solution: requiring verification for phone numbers and emails when adding a record. Jon and Emily are careful not to promise any guarantees, but allow listeners a peek into the crucible process, that is, the refinement and testing of all ideas. Visit the show notes to download all the resources talked about in this episode. Don't forget to join the Rock Cast Rocket Chat Channel to see what other churches are saying about this episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You have a good idea and you've thought it through. You're ready to pitch it, but it gets shut down. In this episode, we cover the gap between having an idea and selling one. Spoiler: they're not the same skill. Speaking from lessons learned in their careers, Jon and Emily walk through 12 reasons why some ideas never get a seat at the table. They share tried-and-true strategies for what does work and what happens after the pitch actually lands. Emily and Nicole add real examples from church and organizational work, and Jon closes with a line that sums it all up: a good idea poorly communicated is a missed opportunity. A bad idea communicated well is a landmine. This isn't a talent you're born with. It's a skill you train for. Watch the latest episode to learn how to master the art of selling your ideas. Visit the show notes to download all the resources talked about in this episode. Don't forget to join the new Rock Cast Rocket Chat Channel to see what other churches are saying about this episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

AI slop isn't a writing problem; it's an effort problem that shows up when we outsource our thinking to the model. On this episode, the team walks through what AI slop actually is, how we're keeping it out of own channels, and practical tools like a viral AI Writing Policy and skills our team uses internally to help you stop the slop. Jon kicks off with version updates including v19.4 in beta with AI agents coming very soon, Rock IQ, and v20 development. He shares his hot take on AI slop framing it as a human problem rather than a technology problem. Nicole walks through the Write-Like-Me skill, which is an internal tool used to speed up drafting communications in your real voice while stripping generic AI output. It's refinable over time and we're giving it away for free. Emily brings in Extreme Ownership, applying Jocko Willink's stewardship principle to Rock admins. There are no bad teams, only bad leaders, and there is no AI slop problem, only a review process nobody is enforcing. Download the resources and listen to this episode to learn how you can apply them. Visit the show notes to download all the resources talked about in this episode. Don't forget to join the new Rock Cast Rocket Chat Channel to see what other churches are saying about this episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you're a Rock Cast listener, chances are you're already an early adopter, and that puts you right where your church needs you: a step ahead. In this episode, the team unpacks the three biggest reasons people hesitate to adopt agentic AI, and why early adopters are the force multipliers who help others cross the chasm. Jon shares a version update Rock has been building towards for years: v19.4, complete with AI agents. He teases a new onboarding layer called Spark Connect which turns services like AI on without needing to become an AI genius. Even though Sam Altman and Elon Musk claim that AI hit the point of singularity, we talk about why that milestone still doesn't buy your church a single ounce of wisdom, especially when it comes to vibe coding your church's website. Visit the show notes to find all the resources talked about in this episode. Don't forget to join the new Rock Cast Rocket Chat Channel to see what other churches are saying about this episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this special edition, Jon and Nicole sit down with Core Rock Mobile's Team Lead, Jay Nestle, to introduce the Outreach Toolbox, a new v19 Rock Mobile feature that empowers your people to care for others. Jon traces the vision of this feature to a question the team kept circling: are we building tools that operate on people, or through them? The answer became GPO, God's People Optimization, a concept that Jon introduced at RX25 which focuses on activating your people as force multipliers through ministry tools. Jay walks through the Outreach Toolbox sharing the design and intention behind private contacts, a prayer and connection cadence each person sets themselves, and daily touchpoints that turn good intentions into action. This feature is designed to be your second brain for daily rhythms of outreach. You'll get the most out of this Rock Cast episode by watching on YouTube so you can follow along. We encourage those who want their congregation to feel like ministers and not an audience, to learn more. Visit the show notes to find all the resources talked about in this episode. Don't forget to join the new Rock Cast Rocket Chat Channel to see what other churches are saying about this episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week's AI Summit drew more than 670 registrations for the Community's first look at AI Agents in Rock. On this episode of Rock Cast, special guest Daniel Hazelbaker, a member of the team who built Rockʼs AI features, debriefs the AI Summit with Jon in a rapid-fire Q&A pulled straight from the event. They kick off by answering the most-asked question of the event: what version will these features be available in? They also discuss major topics like security, model options, MCP connectors, voice agents and technical details. If you haven't watched the AI Summit, we recommend starting there first and then tuning back in for this episode. Don't forget to share this recording with your leadership to help them catch the vision for where Rock is heading. Visit the show notes to find all the resources talked about in this episode. Don't forget to join the new Rock Cast Rocket Chat Channel to see what other churches are saying about this episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're halfway through 2026, and Jon, Emily, and Nicole are treating it as a checkpoint, not a victory lap. This episode pairs a v19 walkthrough with the mid-year reset most teams will skip. In Jon's segment on v19, he covers the features your church should be paying attention to. With the most important one being AI. The AI Summit on July 7th is the Community's first look at AI Agents and the biggest event of the summer. Emily and Nicole lead a mid-year reset around three critical questions: what you accomplished so far in 2026, what needs to change, and what to learn now before fall. They revisit the Vacation Test and flag Following, NextGen Check-in, and Connections as summer priorities and underrated features. Listen to the full episode, then share it with your team to make the most of 2026. Visit the show notes to find all the resources talked about in this episode. Don't forget to join the new Rock Cast Rocket Chat Channel to see what other churches are saying about this episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Excellence isn't a feeling; it is a system built from repeatable habits and reinforced culture. On this major episode, the team covers recent AI news, a brand-new event for the Community, and the big reveal of this year's conference keynote speaker! Jon catches us up on Claude Fable 5, the ChatGPT super app shift, and the Rock AI Summit on July 7 at 10-11:30am PT. He shares a security warning for anyone evaluating AI tools for their church data. Then Emily announces the man who built the most admired service culture in the world, Horst Schulze, co-founder of The Ritz-Carlton, and RX26's keynote speaker! He turned excellence into a repeatable system and a global standard that led the Ritz-Carlton to win the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award twice. Jon introduces Ministry by Design, a framework for applying that same thinking to how a church moves someone from unknown to known, engaged, serving, and leading. Visit the show notes to find all the resources talked about in this episode. Don't forget to join the new Rock Cast Rocket Chat Channel to see what other churches are saying about this episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this Rock Cast episode, the Pope weighs into the AI conversation with a 200-page doc. We summarized his arguments for you and share more details on Opus 4.8 noting the shift of importance from models to harnesses. Then Emily unpacks why Thinking Sideways will help you avoid the danger of acting before considering all your options. By taking a lesson from the chess grandmasters, she describes the pitfall of having false confidence that we can predict exactly how complex systems will unfold. Nicole closes with an exciting conference update that you and your leaders will want to hear! Give this episode a listen to catch up on the latest news in the Community and in the tech industry. Visit the show notes to find all the resources talked about in this episode. Don't forget to join the new Rock Cast Rocket Chat Channel to see what other churches are saying about this episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Most church leaders know their staff training isn't as robust as it should be, but very few understand what it's actually costing them. In Episode 214, Jon, Emily, and Nicole bring to light three real costs: lost staff productivity, missed connections with your congregation and redundant software your church is paying for because they don't know Rock already does the job. Before diving into training, Jon walks through AI voice models coming to Rock that sound human, compute deals between major AI providers and cloud platforms, and the important distinction between chat AI and agentic AI. The episode closes with a four-question self-assessment every church leader should run this week and actionable steps to strengthen your staff's Rock training. Visit the show notes to find all the resources talked about in this episode. Don't forget to join the new Rock Cast Rocket Chat Channel to see what other churches are saying about this episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 Talebʼs concept of antifragility to church systems inside Rock. Most people think the opposite of fragile is tough, but Taleb says thereʼs 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. Visit the show notes to find all the resources talked about in this episode. Don't forget to join the new Rock Cast Rocket Chat Channel to see what other churches are saying about this episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Jon, Emily, and Nicole dream about what's possible for church admins and ministries when AI does the heavy lifting. Jon shares where AI is headed in 2026 and why writing the spec first pays off, with the Spark API Gateway story as proof. Nicole then makes the case for becoming a Rock Star. You don't have to be technical and the barrier to entry is lower than you think, you just have to start engaging now. Emily wraps up the conversation by showing how to turn James Clear's Atomic Habits into a working system inside Rock with workflows as the engine, Step Programs as the discipleship backbone, and AI Agents as the intelligence layer. Visit the show notes to find all the resources talked about in this episode. Don't forget to join the new Rock Cast Rocket Chat Channel to see what other churches are saying about this episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jon and Emily are joined by a new voice on the show, Nicole Shibata, who handles marketing, fundraising, and conference planning for Rock. In this conversation, the team covers 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 ministries 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. Visit the show notes to find all the resources talked about in this episode. Don't forget to join the new Rock Cast Rocket Chat Channel to see what other churches are saying about this episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Rock Cast, the team gives a brief update to v19 heading into pre-alpha and revisit the heart behind Rock. More than a ChMS, Rock was designed as a relational management system to steward people, not just data. The feature, Following, is one of the most underutilized tools that acts as a personalized digest to help you respond with care and track major life events. They deepen the conversation by challenging listeners to invest in volunteers and build a simple volunteer growth framework. Visit the show notes to find all the resources talked about in this episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.