Course Overview
Update (November 25, 2025): Please reach out to Rabbi Patrick Beaulier in Slack before beginning this course.
The purpose of this course is to introduce you to the tools you need to be clergy-entrepreneurs (aka ‘clergypreneur’). This course is both big picture and laser focused, meaning you will learn the meta ideas that drive WHY you use these tools, as well as WHAT the tools are and HOW to use them.
An unusual feature of this course is that you can take the lessons in any order that you would like. I recommend the introduction and “I, Inc.” to get you started, but you are welcome to bounce around from there. The learning is very modular, so learn what you feel you need to learn first.
Take your time with this course. This is a lot more labor intensive than other units, but I think you will enjoy the fruits of your labor tremendously.
Required Reading
Business concepts will be laid out in Exploring Business. Some will find it easier to download and print the chapters in PDF. Others may read it from their screen of choice. The textbook is broken into subunits, so I believe printing is more conducive to a good learning experience.
In addition to a series of PDFs and chapters from the business text book, you will need to purchase The Purpose Driven Church and The Rebbe’s Army. You may be asking why these books, as we are not evangelical Christians or Lubavitchers. It is because this course will focus on learning outside our traditional boundaries, seeing how others operate, and what we can glean from their wisdom in spite of potential cultural and theological differences.
A feature of this course is that it does not use quizzes. You will instead be posting assignments to Slack. Please use the #PRS Slack channel.
You will not be formally tested on the Purpose Driven Church and Rebbe’s Army readings. However, I will be commenting on your work that you post with references to the reading materials. I will ask that you please comment back and have a brief Slack conversation with me about how the materials you read related to the work you did. In summary, do the reading, because I’ll ask you questions about it publicly :-)
Course Objectives
By the end of this unit, you should have some grasp of:
- A day in the life of clergypreneurs, as well as various models for being a clergy entrepreneur and model building
- Converting the meta (purpose, models, etc.) into something tangible
- Understanding how to build a simple, effective website, focused on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and conversion funnels
- Automating social media
- Using survey and marketing tools and technology
- Creating a budget, using spreadsheets and formulas
- “Business Homiletics” and the power of communication
- A basic overview of legal, human resources, management and fundraising
By the end of this course, you will have completed the following for you organization:
- Made a YouTube channel as well as two other social media accounts, ran through your choice of social media manager
- Created a text study to highlight your organization’s values and mission
- Filled out (and filed if you want!) the legal paperwork to start your organization
- Developed a system using Google Forms and Mailchimp for surveying potential customers/users/congregants
- Created a budget and budget narrative for your organization
- Built a simple, one page website with master-level SEO skills
- Written and presented your first ever fundraising/sales “pitch” for your organization
