Frequently Asked Questions

EXPLORING PARTNERSHIPS FAQs

What is HomePointe?

The HomePointe strategy accomplishes two goals. First, it makes it easy for families to become intentional by providing free, one step at a time tools for every family life season. Second, it makes it more likely families will become intentional through periodic campaigns designed to inspire and equip marriage and parenting intentionality. 

What is Faith Path?

The Faith Path strategy provides birthday-driven coaching kits to inspire and equip parents as they create spiritual milestones or help children establish spiritual disciplines at the ideal age and stage of development. This strategy seeks to help parents become intentional without the extra strain required to create and attend additional training events. Faith Path brings the training home at a time that is already significant to parents-their child’s birthday. Faith Path Kits are a key part of the HomePointe tools available to partner churches.

What are Digital Family Season Tools?

We provide generic, digital versions of the key family season guides that partner churches make available on their website and via email links. The church can email every parent with a child turning three, for example, a link to the generic version of the Blessing Faith Path kit. A couple struggling with a marital challenge can discreetly access the Difficult Marriage digital pointer. Local families searching online for help with addiction can find immediate help in digital form and, in the process, discover your church.

What will it cost a church of our size?

For less than what you will spend hosting a noted guest speaker for weekend services or a marriage/parenting conference you can leverage all the HomePointe and Faith Path tools and strategies for a full year of impact. Pricing is based on the size of your church in average weekly worship attendance. Both the Full Implementation and Digital Only Implementation plans can be billed monthly or annually as listed below. Keep in mind, for Full Implementation there will be other costs beyond the license fee that vary depending on customization decisions such as the size/style of your HomePointe Center, the quality of paper used to print resources, etc.

Full Implementation

Digital Only Implementation

Monthly

Annual

Church Size

Monthly

Annual

$60$7201-499$30$360
$120$1,440500-1,499$60$720
$240$2,8801,500+$120$1,440

Is there a discount for Missional Marketing customers?

Our partner, Missional Marketing, helps churches reach local families through Google-Ad Landing Pages. If your church has purchased a Google-Ad Landing Page package from Missional Marketing you may qualify for a discount up to 20% off the annual HomePointe partnership fee. Let us know that you are a Missional Marketing customer when you sign-up for HomePointe so that we can discount your membership fee accordingly. 

Are there scholarships for churches struggling financially?

Yes.  Our annual license fees are scaled based upon the average number of weekly attendees. If the standard fees exceed one half of one percent (0.5%) of your annual budget you qualify for a cost reduction scholarship. (This also applies to international partners when the fee exceeds 0.5% of the church’s annual donation budget after conversion to US dollars.) If you would like to apply for a scholarship for your church, please fill out the form here.

Why an annual usage license vs. one-time purchase?

HomePointe Inc. is a non-profit ministry, not a curriculum publisher or product sales organization. There are, however, royalty obligations for use of the templates and content incorporated into the various resources. Annual licensing fees from partner churches cover a portion of those royalty obligations and a small part of the ongoing creativity and support provided such as training and web support. We use a model similar to Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI) that grants permission for worship leaders to use copyright protected music without purchasing individual books for every member or performance rights on each song. Just as CCLI makes it easy for churches to use best-of music for one low annual subscription fee, we make it easy for licensing churches to use best-of family content that is copyright protected.

What does the annual usage license include?

1. Full access to all the master files and customizable templates including Appraisals, Plans, Video and Audio Masters, Pointers, Idea/Recipe Cards, Campaign Initiatives, Faith Path Kits, Logos and Promotional materials including any new initiatives or resources developed each year.

2.  Full access to the digital tools including myfamilyseason.com with generic, family season and felt-need articles as well as myfaithpath.com with generic, digital Faith Path kits. You can make these available to families in your church for easy access anytime, anywhere, from any device.

3. Access to online training modules for the visionary champion and other ministry leaders and volunteers to understand the philosohy, purpose and implementation steps for successful launch and maintenance of the model.

4. As needed phone coaching sessions with a leader that has successfully implemented the model at another church.  

5. Video resources for use in worship services and the small group context to inspire family intentionality such as THE ART OF MARRIAGE series and the IT STARTS AT HOME series hosted by HomePointe founders Kurt and Olivia Bruner.

6. Member rates (25% discount) for a one-day training and/or rapid innovation session to help your church get started. Contact us for more information. 

7. Member pricing to a network of graphic design, print, and web partners to help with the customization and production of the HomePointe and Faith Path resources. 

8. Periodic samples and advance notification of new resources, updates/revisions to existing resources, as well as articles on trends impacting families. 

9. A free, behind the scenes tour of the HomePointe/Faith Path Ministry at Lake Pointe Church in Rockwall, TX or another regional church already utilizing the HomePointe/Faith Path ministry models.

 

Can the models be customized?

Absolutely! This model was specifically designed to enable each church to customize the templates and content to fit their unique personality, strategy, doctrine, traditions and size. It is also designed to make the leaders of your church the key face and voice of the ministry rather than a remote family ministry personality. See how other churches have customized the model HERE

Partner churches can customize much of the content provided to the brand and particulars of their local congregation. However, there are two exceptions to this customization allowance. (1) These tools are rooted in orthodox Christian understandings of the faith. Therefore, you may not make edits/changes that undermine orthodox Christian belief as articulated in the Apostles and Nicene Creed. (2) The tools are also rooted in a biblical theology of the home. So, we do not allow customization or edits that would imply divergence from an orthodox Christian teaching on marriage as expressed in the Manhattan Declaration. (You can find a link to this statement on the Philosophy page.)

We have only encountered a handful of other potential partner churches that decided against using our model based upon these requirements. But we raise it now to avoid misunderstanding later. If you would like to discuss any specific customization questions for your church, please contact us HERE.

Can our church download all of the content in the first year rather than renew every year?

No.  Permission to customize and use HomePointe masters is granted according to standard copyright protection guidelines. You may only duplicate and distribute the content provided while the church maintains an active license. Keep in mind, each week/year a different group of people are using life season customized tools. We do not sell finished products to each of these users but instead allow the church to provide them free of charge.  Using the example cited above, CCLI can’t allow perpetual use of worship songs after a church has discontinued membership. Neither can HomePointe Inc. grant permission for perpetual use of copyright protected family resources.

Does HomePointe provide the final printed resources?

For the most part, no.  Because we provide customizable templates each church uses its current in-house and/or printing vendors using the templates available from our download site. This process gives you maximum flexibility for customization. However, we do provide pre-printed, generic versions of the Faith Path kits for churches that do not wish to customize so that they can take advantage of a faster, less expensive implementation option.

How can my church use the content to reach local families searching for support online?

We have partnered with Missional Marketing, a company that specializes in helping churches reach local families with our content through search engine optimization support. Learn about felt-need pages by visiting them HERE.

Are the HomePointe Resources translated into Spanish or other languages?
Many of the HomePointe resources have been translated into other languages including Spanish and Chinese. Partner churches that translate additional resources may qualify for a discounted annual license fee when they make quality translations available for us to share with other churches.
Can I call or visit a church in my area that has implemented HomePointe to learn more?

Unfortunately, we do not have permission to share contact information for existing partner churches, nor would that be the best way to explore the model as various churches are in different stages of implementation. As an alternative, we would be happy to connect you with a coach who has launched the model successfully in a church of similar size. Get in touch with us for more information.  

IMPLEMENTATION FAQs

Who implements and leads the HomePointe strategy?

The strategy is typically initiated by the Executive Sponsor and led by the Visionary Champion.  Additionally, a team of volunteer Hosts can be recruited and trained to staff the HomePointe Center and maintain the ongoing operations. Finally, because these are integrated strategies they leverage the coordination and cooperation of other existing ministry leaders.

When should we launch the model?

HomePointe campaigns should be launched on a semi-annual cycle (i.e. Spring and Fall) or a trimester cycle (i.e. Jan-Apr, May-Aug, and Sep-Dec). Once you decide on your initial launch campaign date we recommend allowing 120 days to build your HomePointe Center, customize the resources, etc.

The Faith Path model is designed to run throughout the year by leveraging child birthdays to inspire and equip parents in your congregation. It can, therefore, be launched any month of the year.  We recommend allocating about 60-120 days for implementation in order to customize and print the kit tools, determine the best parent email strategy, etc. There is a Faith Path launch campaign available to member churches to help align with the overall HomePointe strategy for creating a church-wide culture of intentionality.

How is the ministry momentum maintained?

Since the HomePointe ministry model is designed to operate on a predictable, catalytic cycle, it becomes part of your routine ministry planning process and church calendar.  Two or three times per year you will coordinate a featured campaign theme (e.g. Intentional Families, Prayer@Home, Serving Together, Holiday emphasis, etc.) that can be integrated into all the ministries of the church, as well as ongoing initiatives (e.g. 120-Day Plans, HomePointe Center resources, etc.).  As soon as the team has implemented one integrated campaign it can begin making plans for the next – building momentum through catalytic experiences that drive a culture of intentional families.

The Faith Path Kits and Birthday Emails support a second catalytic cycle that is linked to a natural marker in each parent’s life – their child’s birthday. Once the birthday process is established the strategy serves to “drip feed” parental intentionality into your congregation one family at a time. We also suggest hosting a Faith Path Foundations hot-topic class on a semi-annual or trimester basis to further inspire parents that might want some extra coaching beyond what is made available in the kits.

How do I get the leadership team on board?

The first step to implementing the HomePointe and/or Faith Path model in your church is to have the full commitment and support of your leadership team. You will need to identify who on your team will fulfill two essential roles:

1. The Visionary Champion:  This person may be the senior pastor, executive pastor, board member or senior level staff member who is passionate about creating a culture of intentional families within your church.  He or she is the person most responsible for driving the vision forward.

2. The Executive Sponsor:  This is the person with enough experience and influence to effectively keep family-centered objectives on the radar screen of the senior leadership team. Additionally, this person removes any barriers, assures adequate budgeting, and sets and expectation of cooperation between the various ministries and departments within the church during the initial implementation and launch.

You will also want to identify an administrative coordinator, usually a high capacity volunteer or a skilled administrative support staff member.  This person must love managing details and be comfortable working with basic software programs such as Microsoft Word, Adobe Illustrator, basic web linking skills, etc.  They should also have access to your existing church communications team in order to leverage the existing print and web communications resources.  The initial launch period (120 days) will likely require 20-30 hours per week of this person’s time if you pursue fully customized implementation.  Ongoing operations will require about 10-15 hours per week. “Lean” implementation of mostly generic versions of the materials will require much less time.

Once you have the Visionary Champion, Executive Sponsor and Administrative Coordinator in place work with the broader leadership team to develop an integrated strategy to avoid launching yet another isolated program. The HomePointe and Faith Path models are designed to support and leverage all the existing ministries of the church. There is no one-size fits all or cookie cutter pattern to do this. Instead, each ministry area should answer three questions:

  1. How will we cast a vision of family intentionality?
  2. How will we create a culture of family intentionality?
  3. How will we make it easier for people to be intentional in their families?
Can someone coach us through implementation?
We try to provide all of the coaching you will need online in order to keep your costs as low as possible. Most succeed using this approach.
However, we do have several more personalized coaching options for partner churches ranging from phone conversations to on-site consultation. Learn more here (login required).
What is the purpose of the My HomePointe Plan resource?

The main purpose of the HomePointe strategy is to challenge folks to become more intentional at home.  That is why we invite every adult to complete an intentionality plan every 120 days. This tool is designed to be facilitated in any context (worship service, small groups, counseling sessions, individually, etc.) the goal is to create a culture of customized intentionality by making it easy for every family to assess how they’ve done the past four months and decide what small steps they can take in the next. The Appraisal serves as an anonymous, church-wide measuring device to inform leadership strategy. 

What is the purpose of Integrated Church Campaign Initiatives?

Semi-annual or trimester campaigns are designed to help you build a marriage and family emphasis into your existing ministry calendar. These campaigns may include a stand-alone sermon or special sermon series, an emphasis in your small group context, church media coordination, children’s and student ministry tools, etc. Campaigns serve as the catalytic context for inspiring family intentionality with the entire congregation. View an example of one campaign initiative HERE.

Where should our physical HomePointe Center be located?

We recommend locating your physical HomePointe Center in a high traffic area where families in your church will walk by on their way to regular worship services and programs at the church. Examples include in the main foyer of the church, in areas close to main entrances to the church, etc.

What is the purpose of the HomePointe Center?

Whether called the “HomePointe Center” or some other name, partner churches create a physical connection point for families in a high traffic location of the church. The HomePointe Center serves three main purposes. First, it provides an ongoing means of supplying customizable ideas and encouragement to church families. Second, it facilitates “self-serve” family ministry so that 100% of the people can take next steps while the staff concentrates on the 5-10% who may require in-depth attention. Third, it makes an ongoing statement to the church about the priority of faith at home. Watch a short explanation video HERE.

Will I need volunteers to host the HomePointe Center?
The HomePointe Center is designed to be hosted by trained volunteers from your congregation, although churches can make the center entirely self-serve if desired. Member churches can download a complete training manual that includes all you need to recruit and train these volunteers.
When should our HomePointe Center be open?

This varies depending on your church’s schedule and the design of your Center. If in an enclosed room, we recommend that at a minimum your HomePointe Center is open and accessible for 30 minutes before and after each worship service, major program times (e.g. Sunday School hour, mid-week events, etc.) and any special events you host.

What is the purpose of the Family Season Pointers?

With more than two dozen specific topics, Family Season Pointers enable customization by providing a biblical perspective on common family seasons and challenges along with recommended “going further” suggestions including “best of” resources, a description of ministry programs, a contact person at your church to support each situation, etc. 

What is the purpose of the Idea/Recipe Cards?

The best intentions are useless without ongoing motivation and practical ideas. Complimentary “Recipe Cards” (i.e. Date Night andFaith@Home activities) serve as a low-cost, versatile resource making it easy for couples, parents and grandparents to become more intentional. They also serve as an ideal tool for motivating seasonal intentionality on holidays such as Valentines, Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc.  

What is the purpose of the Audio Podcasts?

Complimentary audio presentations can be made available as podcasts from your church web site as another free tool to motivate family intentionality. This tool creates a “third time slot” beyond the worship service and small group gatherings because people are willing to listen while driving or on the go. 

What is the purpose of the books and other resources on display in the HomePointe Center?
“Best of” resources for each family season can be made available for sale and/or loan from the HomePointe Center in support of the “Going Further” recommendations listed in each Family Season Pointer. Since every HomePointe tool is intentionally designed for brief, “bite-sized” communication it is helpful to point people to longer, more in-depth resources to help them take a self-serve next-step. We recommend limiting titles you display to those mentioned in the specific Family Season Pointers rather than carrying a large variety of family resources like a bookstore.  Try to avoid confusing the person who needs the specific tool for a specific family season or situation with too many options.
Do you sell the books and other resources to churches?

For the most part, no.  Any books you decide to sell or loan will need to be obtained from the publisher of each title or a bookstore. To purchase the My Faith Box resource go here.

Can we include HomePointe materials on our church web site, social media, mobile app, etc.?

Yes. All of the content can be leveraged in your existing online activities including social media platforms. We also provide generic, digital versions of the key family season guides you can make available on your website and via email links. The church can email every parent with a child turning three, for example, a link to the generic version of the Blessing Faith Path kit. A couple struggling with a marital challenge can discreetly access the Difficult Marriage digital pointer. Local families searching online for help with addiction can find immediate help in digital form and, in the process, discover your church. You can provide customized versions using our templates or generic versions made accessible to your people with a password. Or you can partner with Missional Marketing on versions customized with your church look/feel and search engine optimized to help you reach busy families in your community when they search on family felt needs. Learn more about that option HERE.

What is the purpose of the Faith Path Kits?

The kits are a gift from the church at key child birthdays to inspire and equip parents to focus on the milestone or spiritual discipline most appropriate for the child’s age and stage of development.  There is one overview kit and 13 individual kits. Each kit includes the following:

  • Guide -Specific guide teaching the why and how for that specific step.  Each guide also recommends the “best of” resources for that topic.
  • Starter Ideas – Simple ideas for activities and getting started with the specific step.
  • Extras – Special extra elements for one step at a time intentionality including songs, stickers and bookmarks. (Elements are specific to step)
  • Training Video – Short video including experts/authors on the specific topic as well as other families to share their stories and give simple ideas/encouragement.   You can view highlights from several training videos below to get a feel for the elements included in these videos and a feel for how the kits target age-specific needs. These videos can be made available using the myfaithpath.com link and access password provided to partner churches.
Can our church purchase generic, pre-printed Faith Path Kits?

Yes. Generic versions of the Faith Path kits are available for partner churches to purchase. These kits are designed to be used in coordination with myfaithpath.com where your families can view the videos. Because we are able to get volume pricing, we can pass along the savings to your church. Partner churches can order the generic, printed Faith Path kits in 10-packs of each title (i.e. 10 Dedication kids, 10 Blessing kits, etc.) to provide to families. Pricing and ordering details for generic Faith Path kids are available on the Faith Path section of the Partner Dashboard. 

How do we use the children's birthdays to prompt parental intentionality?

Child birthdays can serve as a catalyst for reminding and equipping parents to embrace their privilege as the primary guide for their child’s faith formation journey.   The ideal process is to send an email or letter from the lead pastor/church/ministry offering a free gift (the age-specific Faith Path kit) to parents at key child birthday milestones. Most partner churches use their church database system to run a monthly report of all children with key birthdates that month. Then they simply merge that report with the template emails we provide to send to the parents. This allows you to send the emails each month for all of the children with key birthdays that month.

How should I distribute the Faith Path kits?

The primary means of distribution is to display the kits in your HomePointe Center or some other high traffic location where parents obtain resources and tools for family intentionality.  (Examples of how other churches display the kits are found in the implementation guide. Download a copy here.)  The email or letter sent from the pastor should invite parents to stop by to pick up their kit as a gift.  Early trends have shown that over 80% of parents prefer to pick up the physical kit.  However, the birthday email can also offer two other options.

  1. Download the print elements and watch the training video from your web site. (View a sample of one church’s Faith Path web site here. Learn about how to contract the development of your customized Faith Path web site here.)
  2. Ask the church to mail the physical kit to their home.
What is the purpose of the Faith Path Launch Campaign?

It is wise to “make a splash” when you are ready to launch the Faith Path strategy with your parents.  The easiest way to do this is to treat it like any other integrated campaign.  (Note: HomePointe strategy includes semi-annual or trimester church-wide campaigns where family intentionality is emphasized in the sermon, small groups, etc. Go here to learn about Integrated Campaigns.) The same campaign can serve churches implementing only Faith Path.  View as short explanation of the Faith Path launch campaign video below.

What type of staff will I need to manage the Faith Path strategy?

The ideal person to coordinate the Faith Path process is a high capacity volunteer or a skilled administrative support staff member. This person must love managing details and be comfortable working with basic software programs such as Word, Adobe Illustrator, basic web linking skills, etc. They should also have access to your existing church communications team in order to leverage the existing print and web communications resources. Monthly kit assembly can be handled by other volunteers under the direction of the administrative coordinator.

How does MY FAITH BOX differ from the Faith Path strategy?

MY FAITH BOX was originally created as a stand-alone resource for the church to give parents during a Parent/Child Dedication ceremony.  It can be used independent of the Faith Path strategy as a one-time emphasis at the start of the parenting process.  The age-specific recommendations in MY FAITH BOX correspond to those “spoon fed” through the Faith Path Kit strategy.  View an explanatory video about MY FAITH BOX below and go here for order information.  (Note: HomePointe partner churches receive discount pricing on MY FAITH BOX orders.)

How do you measure success for the HomePointe model?

Very few church ministry efforts can be measured.  For example, few pastors are able to measure whether people are applying the weekly sermon.  But we continue the teaching ministry because it is a clear priority for every church.  It is, however, easier to measure impact when you have a clear objective.  The HomePointe model seeks to create a culture of intentional families by…

  1. Making it more likely couples will create a life-long, thriving marriage
  2. Making it more likely parents will introduce their own young children to faith in Jesus Christ in the context of the home
  3. Making it more likely parents will coach their teens toward become devoted followers of Christ

To gauge impact of our “make it easy” and “make it more likely” efforts Lake Pointe Church invites every family to take a personal assessment of their own level of intentionality.  Once per year we collect this anonymous assessment and review the results.  After three years using the strategy we found several key changes including…

  • “God designed the family as the primary context for spiritual formation” moved from the least lived-outof our 13 core values to the 4th most lived-out value.
  • We increased from the typical 10% of parents doing something to drive faith conversations at home to over 50%.

We also receive data from the survey on what percentage of couples are praying together, how many singles feel called to remain single vs. desire to marry, whether grandparents are investing in their grandkids, etc.  So, while we don’t measure each specific campaign or resource provided, we do measure the overall movement from a culture of passivity to a culture of faith@home intentionality.

TECHNICAL QUESTIONS

What software will my team need in order to customize the HomePointe and Faith Path master files?

This depends on how much customization your church desires and what resources you plan to use. For churches requiring very little customization, the provided microsoft office and “print-ready” PDF files make it easy to implement the model effectively. For more extensive customization, fully editable design files are provided that can be changed to include your church’s logo, color scheme, etc. These files are usually provided as “.ai” files and require the software Adobe Illustrator to open and edit perfectly. There is an alternative free software called Inkscape (available here) that can open and edit these files but we cannot guarentee that they will appear completely correct and may require additional editing.

The video and audio podcast files have been produced with generic language.  However, if you wish to customize them by adding your own introduction we recommend a basic software video/audio editing program such as Adobe Premiere or iMovie.

A full list of software needed to view and edit all the provided files is below, listed in rough priority order:

  • Microsoft Word and Powerpoint (or their equivalent)
  • A PDF viewer (Adobe Reader, Preview, etc.)
  • A video player (Windows Media Player, Quicktime, etc.)
  • Adobe Illustrator (required for most design edits and many language edits)
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • A video and/or audio editing software (Adobe Premiere, iMovie, Audacity, etc.)
  • Adobe InDesign (Only a few files need this)

If you need graphic design assistance, the freelance designer we use can provide discount pricing on graphic design support for any partner church. He is familiar with all of the resources and can efficiently edit or customize at a competitive cost. Contact Keith Green at green.keith@gmail.com for a quote.

How do I change my password or other information?

To change your password, contact email, or contact name, simply visit the Update Profile page located under the Partner Dashboard dropdown menu. Here you can edit your Personal Details, which includes creating a new password.

What if I can't log in, or I forgot my username and/or password?

If you forgot your password, please use the “Lost your Password?” option on the Partner Login page. If you forgot your account email, or can’t log in for any other reason, please email our webmaster at info@DriveFaithHome.com.

Can we have multiple login accounts for each of our team members?

The way our online login system is set up, we can only have one online account per church. However, please feel free to share your login information with each of your team members. The same account can be used to log in from multiple computers simultaneously.

There is a typo/error in one of the files. How can I get this corrected?

If you need a file corrected, or just have a suggestion for an improvement, please email our webmaster at info@DriveFaithHome.com to let us know about the problem. We will do our best to update the file as soon as possible. If the file is editable, please feel free to make any necessary corrections yourself, but be sure to let us know so we can fix it for other churches!

Proven Leadership

Our team leverages decades of unparalleled experience and exceptional integrity in family ministry.

Effective Model

Our model has restored the home as the primary context for Spiritual Formation for hundreds of churches worldwide.

Customizable Tools

Our innovative tools provide churches of any size the opportunity to implement the HomePointe model successfully.