Pilotage · The Eighth Light

Your church is sailing into new waters. Bring a pilot aboard.

AI, modern finance operations, a crowded harbor of tools — most churches are navigating all of it without anyone who has run these waters. Pilotage is a standing advisory engagement with Donnell Wyche: strategy, vendor decisions, best practices, and working mockups from a builder who ships.

Monthly retainer · $2,500–$3,500 Three-month minimum · then month-to-month Begins with the intake below

How It Works

Three steps to a pilot on your bridge.

Chart your waters

Fill out the intake below — fifteen minutes, honestly answered. It's how the first call starts in the middle of the problem instead of at the beginning of a pitch.

The reply

Donnell reads every intake personally and replies within two business days. If the fit is real, you'll schedule a conversation about scope, the retainer ($2,500–$3,500/month, three-month minimum), and where to begin.

III

We chart the course

You get standing sessions each month plus async access — strategy, vendor selection, best practices, and build-alongside. The retainer buys the pilot on call; defined builds are scoped and priced as their own projects.

The intake isn't a formality — it's how we both take the work seriously. Donnell reads every chart himself, replies himself, and the first conversation is about your waters, not a sales script. No charge until you've talked and chosen to proceed.

Why Trust The Keeper

The counsel comes from someone who ships.

Seven products in the water

This isn't slideware advice. The fleet — CareNote, Church Vitals, Directee, Prayetic, and more — is designed, built, and operated by the same person you'd be on the phone with.

In service at scale

The flagship serves congregations from solo chaplains to a twelve-campus church of twenty thousand. The operations playbook you'd be buying is the one his own church runs on.

Paid to teach this

A working pastor who is regularly invited — and paid — to teach at the University of Michigan and to help church leaders think clearly about technology.

Step I · The Intake

Chart your waters.

Fifteen minutes. The better the chart, the better the pilotage — this is read personally before your first session.

Your name *

Your role *

Email *

Phone

Church / organization *

Website

Size *

What waters are you navigating? *

Choose everything that applies.

AI strategy & adoption Spend & finance operations Too many tools, no map Pastoral care systems Data & dashboards Staff workflows & automation Communications Something else

What have you already tried? *

Tools you've bought, committees you've formed, things that stalled.

What does a win look like in 90 days? *

When do you need to move? *

Anything else the pilot should know?

I understand Pilotage is a monthly retainer of $2,500–$3,500 with a three-month minimum, and that submitting this intake starts a conversation — not a charge.

Your answers are delivered to Donnell's inbox (via the FormSubmit relay) and read only by him.

Step II · The Reply

Chart received. The pilot reads it next.

Donnell reads every intake personally and replies within two business days to schedule a conversation — scope, fit, and where the retainer would start. No charge until you've talked and chosen to proceed.

Want to start smaller first? Field Guides — practitioner guides and advisory calls for churches heading into the AI age — is launching at fieldguidesfortheaiage.com.

Lens