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The Ultimate Bishopric Organization Hub
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The Ultimate Bishopric Organization Hub

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The Ultimate Bishopric Organization Hub

How to track meetings, callings, assignments, and interviews - all in one place.
Bob Hales
|
Justin Hales
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This doc is a template - feel free to make a copy and customize it for your bishopric. If you have questions, you can contact me at
bobhales83@gmail.com
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Serving in a Bishopric is an amazing experience, but it obviously comes with many challenges. One of the most common challenges is staying organized. With hundreds of people on the ward roster, weekly meetings, and a constant stream of callings, staying organized is a must.
However, you’re only as organized as your tools allow you to be. The Church has improved a lot of their internal tooling in the last few years, but there are still gaps that bishoprics have to fill. For example, how do you track potential callings before they’re entered into LCR? Or how do you know which member of the bishopric will attend priesthood ordinations?
Most turn to Google docs and sheets to fill those gaps, which works at first. But over time, as the number of docs expands and people forget to update the data, things end up messy. Luckily, I discovered Coda, which I use as an all-in-one doc for keeping my bishopric running smoothly (well, for the most part 😁).
Here are the 3 most common organization problems bishoprics face, along with a page in this doc to solve the problem. Do any of them sound familiar to your bishopric?

Problem #1: Multiple handoffs with interviews and callings

A large portion of a bishopric’s time is spent managing interviews and callings. From callings and temple recommends to youth interviews and priesthood ordinations, it seems like there are constantly dozens of interviews and callings to manage. Depending on the type of interview or calling, handoffs and coordination is required between the executive secretary, members of the bishopric, and families.
What’s more, with each calling extended there are domino effects of releases and additional callings needed to fill holes. Keeping track of all the moving parts and people involved can feel like herding cats.
Solution:
Calling Pipeline
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and
Interview Pipeline
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.

Problem #2: Forgotten assignments

Over the years I’ve participated in amazing and spiritually uplifting bishopric meetings, to then just forgot about my list of assignments as soon as the meeting is over. My intentions were good, but I lacked a process.
For example, each member of the bishopric often keeps track of action items in his own siloed tools. The executive secretary might write them in a Google doc, the first counselor jots down a few tasks in a notebook, and the bishop scribbles the rest on a sticky note.
Without a single source to track assignments, it becomes nearly impossible to see what’s been done and follow up on incomplete tasks.
Solution:
Tasks
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,
My Action Items
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, and
Bishopric Responsibilities
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.

Problem #3: Scattered meetings

Meetings are a core part of keeping a ward running smoothly. Not only do bishoprics meet each week, but the bishop and his counselors participate in (and often conduct) lots of
meetings
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across the church ー sacrament meetings, ward councils, ward youth councils, etc.
With all of those meetings, it’s easy to feel scattered and disorganized. Important discussion topics can get lost in text threads and last minute changes to the agenda often feel like a fire drill.
Solution:
Bishopric Meeting
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,
Important Links
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, and
Sacrament Meeting Agenda
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.

A single hub to track meetings, assignments, callings and interviews

Enter this doc ー a single hub to track meetings, assignments, callings, and interviews. It’s a template that you can copy and customize for your own bishopric’s needs. Consider it your bishopric’s “online hub” — feel free to copy and use as much or as little of the doc as you need.

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You can get started in 3 easy steps:
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Copy this doc
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Customize the doc for your bishopric (add/delete pages, customize or create tables, etc.)
Share your copy of the doc with the members of your bishopric (click share in the upper right of the doc).

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Note that anyone who has access to this doc can see all the contents of every page. So only share the doc with people who you feel comfortable seeing everything (like your bishopric!).
Many wards end up creating several different copies of this template and modifying for different organizations — ward council, relief society, elders quorum, etc — and then sharing each doc with the relevant people.

FAQ

I’m new to Coda — how do I learn how to use this tool?

Here’s a great doc to learn the basics of Coda:
https://coda.io/learn
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I also love Coda’s YouTube videos. They’re fun and easy to watch. Here’s one on filtering tables that might come in handy as you use this doc:
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Finally, if you’re stuck you can always chat with a Coda expert for free help by clicking the question mark in the bottom right of the screen. I’ve found their support team to be super friendly and helpful!

How do I share this with the rest of my bishopric?

Click Share in the top right of this page, then enter each bishopric member’s email. Once you share the doc with someone, they’ll automatically appear in the “assign to” columns of the
Tasks
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and
Calling Pipeline
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tables.

Where does this information get saved or backed up? I’ll be storing a lot of private content on here, would hate to lose it and/or have it fall into the wrong hands.

Sharing in Coda works like a Google doc — everything is saved in the cloud and only accessible to people the doc is shared with.
So to ensure privacy, only share the doc with people you want to see the contents of the doc, like your counselors or the bishopric. More on how sharing in Coda works here:
https://help.coda.io/en/articles/1137949-share-your-doc
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Can I use this for the ward council as well?

Yes! Here’s a template for that:
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coda.io
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Can I add my own pages to this doc?

Yes! Once you copy this doc, it’s 100% yours and meant to be customized for your bishopric. Feel free to add pages, build tables, or take notes. Coda is a flexible doc that you can shape however you’d like.
For example, maybe you want a place to jot down notes — create a page for it! Or maybe you want to track all young men priesthood ordinations every January. You could create a new page and add a table to keep track of who is assigned to ordain each young man.

Oops! I messed something up, how can I fix it?

Because Coda is a flexible doc, you might accidentally delete a table or change a setting. If this happens, not to worry! Here’s how you can fix it:
Type Cmnd + Z on a Mac, or Ctrl + Z on a PC to undo.
If that doesn’t work, type /version history to copy from a previous version of your doc. Note that on Coda’s free tier you can only go back 7 days.
If you’re still stuck, reach out to the Coda support team! Just click the question mark on the bottom right of the screen. Coda’s support team is awesome and can help you fix your doc.

Should I use this doc on my laptop, tablet, or mobile phone?

This doc works on any device (including mobile phones and tablets), but it’s best used on a laptop. When I use it on my phone, it’s usually to pull up information or quickly change a calling status on the go. I also like to read
Sacrament Meeting Agenda
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from my phone at the pulpit.
To use this doc on your phone, just open it in your browser or download the Coda app from the app store.

Do I have to pay for Coda to use this bishopric hub?

No! Coda has a generous free version that should give you plenty of space to manage your bishopric. If you get a warning that your doc is over the free tier limits, try deleting any unused pages.

Should I export member information from LCR into this doc?

Exporting the member list from LCR is challenging and not necessary to use this doc. The
Calling Pipeline
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table in this doc is not designed to be synced with LCR. Just add people and callings to the
Calling Pipeline
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table as they come up, then ask the ward clerk to manually sync callings with LCR.

How does
Calling Pipeline
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work with LCR?

Currently, there’s a gap in the LCR tool set. In LCR you can record callings, releasings, and setting aparts once they are official. But there’s a lot that happens before a calling or release is official. The bishopric has to discuss, pray about, and extend the calling or release to the member. Then keep track of who was sustained or thanked over the pulpit. What’s more, there are often dozens of these assignments to manage simultaneously.
This doc fills in the gap in the LCR tool set by tracking each assignment from start to finish in the
Calling Pipeline
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. The end goal of the
Calling Pipeline
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is to update LCR with the official assignments.

Can I connect
Interview Pipeline
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with Google Calendar?

Yes, if you’d like, you can use Coda Packs to pull the date and time from a Google Calendar event right into the interview pipeline. Here’s how you would do it:
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Note: this is not an official tool of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but has helped our bishopric run much more smoothly. We’re sharing it in hopes that it helps you as well 😁

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