Leadership Development Part 1

So I'm pretty stoked that after  a couple of years of trial-and-error I think I've found a leadership development model that fits my context. Yes there are many out there and I like a lot of them but I'm a firm believer that each church requires a unique plan that fits their needs. I've been to conferences, seminars, lunch gatherings, websites, blogs, and had conversations about which model could work but it took time to find the sweet spot.

Now, what we at FBC do is nothing new, I didn't design this by any means but rather took ideas from here and there...so here you go:

It functions using the standard developmental leadership model with a 1:5 leader/coach ratio.

Specifically...

•  1 time per quarter (4X per year) each life group leader will have conversation with a life group coach to cultivate their relationship, chat about what God is doing in their (the leader's) life, and how the leader's group is really doing.-highly relational...relationship first, then group stuff.

• Every other month (6X per year) all life group leaders gather for a "huddle". Here I vision cast, story tell...you know all the things point leaders do at big gatherings...and end with some brief need-based content. i.e. creating covenants, dealing with problem people, how to birth a new group well, how to assimilate new members when your group is "full". After I do my thing, the leaders break up and then receive in-depth training from their coaches (the content the coaches use is prepared in advance by me). I've found that the advantage with this approach is that leaders get to hear vision, a little bit of what God is doing in our church b/c of life groups, as well as rub elbows with fellow laborers in community, and lastly they get usable-not-a-waste-of-time content.

• 1 time per year every leader/coach/apprentice is invited to a mini/full retreat that is laser-focused on a specific topic. (still in prep stage...budget etc.)

Is this plan perfect? What's perfect got to do with it? It's working in my church...that's all that matters!

What the plan for my coaches? Stay tuned and I'll be glad to share in my next post! Have a great weekend...

Until next time,
JR