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Frank Chiapperino is the Senior Pastor at Hope Summit Christian Church and founder of Small Group Help.

Tag >> training

Finding and Launching New Leaders - Dave Treat

Workshop Goal - Learn to use a leadership assessment tool that will identify the readiness of each potential leader in your ministry and will clarify different training paths to help them move toward leadership.

Define - What do we want to reproduce?
- The reproducible life. "Follow me." I Corinthians 11:1
- What is the role of the Small Group Leader? What do we want to see happen in our groups?
- Leading vs. facilitating. A leader facilitates in a direction to take the group somewhere.
- Exercise: Skill or Maturity?
Has a servant's heart? Maturity
Has personal integrity? Maturity
Can plan a meeting? Skill
Has spiritual passion? Maturity
Can guide a discussion? Skill
Social intelligence? Skill

Spot - How do you spot your best candidates?
- Reproducible traits are observable. "We have heard." "We have seen."
- Harvest "low-hanging fruit". Men and women who are "ready" to lead. Look for traits you want to reproduce (maturity, skills). Pizza principle - see who leads naturally.
- Nurture your saplings. People with potential. FAT people - faithful, available, teachable.
- Create opportunities to spot potential leaders. Announcements. Strategic events. Ask.
- Land Mines:
- Those who think they're leaders.
- Those with personal agendas.
- Those who can lead elsewhere but are spiritually immature.
- Those who are unknown. (Are they currently in a small group?)
- HARVEST: Who do I know who might be a small group leader?
- NURTURE: Who do I know who with some help could be a small group leader?

Assess - What do they need to lead?
- Leadership Assessment/Training Matrix (hopefully I can post a diagram of this later)

Equip - Mature/Skilled: Vision
- The preferred future: changed lives. Potential leaders should be passionate about changed lives.
- Use resources.
- Make sure your goals agree.
- Do they get it?
Equip - Growing/Unskilled: Apprentice
- 80% of candidates.
- OTJ (on the job training): Apprentice learns by leading.
- Mentor: spiritual maturity; group skills.
- Take your time, but don't overtrain.
Equip - Growing/Skilled: Disciple
- Short-term, intensive maturity building
- Planned and targeted spiritual growth
- Spiritual passion, servant hood, integrity
- Take your time: You can't microwave maturity.
Equip - Mature/Unskilled: Turbo
- Short-term, intensive skill training
- A small group of apprentices
- Take your time: Learn community in community
- Leaders train each other. Have leaders lead the group for each other. Have other leaders give HONEST feedback. This is healthy.
- Turbo Training:
- Weeks 1 and 2: Knowing each other (60 min.); Lecture/Q&A - Basic META (60 min.); find out their story (light a candle and have them talk until the candle goes out).
- Weeks 3+: Leader of the day (rotate) (45 min.); debrief (15 min.); lecture/Q&A (60 min.); read Leading Life-Changing Small Groups.

Launch
- Take your time.
- Preparation vs. control
- Strategy depends on coaching resources
- You are not the Donald.

Terms:
- Apprentice - one who is learning to lead by leading.
- Turbo - a small group made entirely of apprentices.
- Coach - a leader of small group leaders.

 


Removing and Restoring Leaders - Rex Minor

Okay this looks like a "positive" subject. Rex Minor is the presenter:

- Resources when approaching this subject: Boundaries, Face to Face; Emotional Intelligence; The Peace Maker; Silos, Politics and Turf Wars; Unleashing the Power of Rubber Bands.

- There are many reasons for removing leaders: poor fit, incompatibility of vision, sin/moral failure, break of confidentiality, divisive behaviour, theological differences, health (mental/physical) issues, improper relationship with group members, lack of dedication.

- What is the one thing God wants from us in these passages (John 17:20-23, Phil. 2:1-4, 1 John 2:1-9)? UNITY! We want to be unified to God and to each other.

- One of the greatest enemies of unity is unresolved conflict - people don't know how to get along.

- Confrontation - (latin) "to turn your face towards" Confrontation works best when it serves love.

- We have to have the right mindset first. Restoration must be our goal, not just removal. Realize that we are commanded to do this as a lover of God's kingdom (Hebrews 10:24, 25, Proverbs 27:17). Spur - (greek Paracosmos) - "to come alongside and sharpen, stimulate, encourage, provoke others"

- Self Deception - There is a gap between who we are and who we think we are.

- Am I more loving this year than last year?

- We are all to be change agents for each other (I Thessalonians 5:11).

- Realize we are inviting another to come into the light so we all can live in peace, grace, and freedom (I John 1:5-7).

- Ezekial 3:18,19

- Humility, humility, humility! We need a tone of grace, not a tone of the law.

- When we approach a leader with a concern, there tends to be two types of responses: driven by fear, driven by curiosity. Fear is the enemy of love - perfect love casts of fear.

- "We change when the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of changing."

- Proverbs 28:13

- Leanne has been a change agent in my life - see no TV for a month challenge. This was ultimately a positive experience.

- In order to be good at leading anyone, you cannot give away what you do not posess.

- When we approach a leader we should confront (Matthew 18:15-17):
- Step 1: Engage in dialogue along with the person (vs. 15). Prepare your heart. Ask God to show you your heart in the matter before you dialogue. Pray diligently before the conversation. Be present and be aware of your presence - your body language, tone of voice, inflexion. Be gracious. Use kind words - practice them. Use notes if necessary. Be clear and specific about the offense. Stay on task - avoid deflection. Use I statements - I feel >>>> when you <<<<. Listen well. Listen very well. You may not have the answer. You may be wrong. Avoid oughts and shoulds. Explain how their behavior impacts the group. Do it face to face - not over e-mail (or other electronic means). Be willing to be uncomfortable. Proverbs 20:5. Be a person of understanding today. Be aware that you may have to admit fault. Go ahead and do it - admit you're wrong. Give up your right to right. Matthew 7:5.
- Step 2: Go with 1 or 2 witnesses (vs. 16). Only 1 or 2, not 3 or 4 or more.
- Step 3: Tell it to the church (vs. 17). Church leadership not church. Plead with them to change.
- Step 4: Removal. We need to help them realize the seriousness of their sin. We need to make sure they don't destroy community. We want to equip and protect the community. If you do Steps 1-3 properly, then Step 4 won't happen that often.

- We should be doing this with each other all the time. God's expects this kind of interaction all the time.

- Ordering Your Private World and A Resilient Life - book recommendations by Gordon MacDonald.

- It's best to restore leaders in stages. Make sure they are mentored along the way. Get counseling. Look for teachable moments. Move towards the leader and not away from them. Don't let them move into the darkness. Have a point person to help them navigate through the restoration process. When you've restored them, have a party to celebrate - like the Prodigal Son.

Okay this looks like a "positive" subject. Rex Minor is the presenter:

- Resources when approaching this subject: Boundaries, Face to Face; Emotional Intelligence; The Peace Maker; Silos, Politics and Turf Wars; Unleashing the Power of Rubber Bands.

- There are many reasons for removing leaders: poor fit, incompatibility of vision, sin/moral failure, break of confidentiality, divisive behaviour, theological differences, health (mental/physical) issues, improper relationship with group members, lack of dedication.

- What is the one thing God wants from us in these passages (John 17:20-23, Phil. 2:1-4, 1 John 2:1-9)? UNITY! We want to be unified to God and to each other.

- One of the greatest enemies of unity is unresolved conflict - people don't know how to get along.

- Confrontation - (latin) "to turn your face towards" Confrontation works best when it serves love.

- We have to have the right mindset first. Restoration must be our goal, not just removal. Realize that we are commanded to do this as a lover of God's kingdom (Hebrews 10:24, 25, Proverbs 27:17). Spur - (greek Paracosmos) - "to come alongside and sharpen, stimulate, encourage, provoke others"

- Self Deception - There is a gap between who we are and who we think we are.

- Am I more loving this year than last year?

- We are all to be change agents for each other (I Thessalonians 5:11).

- Realize we are inviting another to come into the light so we all can live in peace, grace, and freedom (I John 1:5-7).

- Ezekial 3:18,19

- Humility, humility, humility! We need a tone of grace, not a tone of the law.

- When we approach a leader with a concern, there tends to be two types of responses: driven by fear, driven by curiosity. Fear is the enemy of love - perfect love casts of fear.

- "We change when the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of changing."

- Proverbs 28:13

- Leanne has been a change agent in my life - see no TV for a month challenge. This was ultimately a positive experience.

- In order to be good at leading anyone, you cannot give away what you do not posess.

- When we approach a leader we should confront (Matthew 18:15-17):
- Step 1: Engage in dialogue along with the person (vs. 15). Prepare your heart. Ask God to show you your heart in the matter before you dialogue. Pray diligently before the conversation. Be present and be aware of your presence - your body language, tone of voice, inflexion. Be gracious. Use kind words - practice them. Use notes if necessary. Be clear and specific about the offense. Stay on task - avoid deflection. Use I statements - I feel >>>> when you <<<<. Listen well. Listen very well. You may not have the answer. You may be wrong. Avoid oughts and shoulds. Explain how their behavior impacts the group. Do it face to face - not over e-mail (or other electronic means). Be willing to be uncomfortable. Proverbs 20:5. Be a person of understanding today. Be aware that you may have to admit fault. Go ahead and do it - admit you're wrong. Give up your right to right. Matthew 7:5.
- Step 2: Go with 1 or 2 witnesses (vs. 16). Only 1 or 2, not 3 or 4 or more.
- Step 3: Tell it to the church (vs. 17). Church leadership not church. Plead with them to change.
- Step 4: Removal. We need to help them realize the seriousness of their sin. We need to make sure they don't destroy community. We want to equip and protect the community. If you do Steps 1-3 properly, then Step 4 won't happen that often.

- We should be doing this with each other all the time. God's expects this kind of interaction all the time.

- Ordering Your Private World and A Resilient Life - book recommendations by Gordon MacDonald.

- It's best to restore leaders in stages. Make sure they are mentored along the way. Get counseling. Look for teachable moments. Move towards the leader and not away from them. Don't let them move into the darkness. Have a point person to help them navigate through the restoration process. When you've restored them, have a party to celebrate - like the Prodigal Son.

 


Leveraging Technology to Support Community

My buddy Jon Stolpe blogged through this breakout by led by Cynthia Ware:

  

 

 

 

 

- Technology is normative.
- The next generation is thinking about communication differently than my generation.
- http://thedigitalsanctuary.org
- Views every church as multi-site: bricks and mortar - clicks on the web.
- Many churches are starting Internet campuses.
- Every one of us has a sphere of influence surrounding our lives. Those spheres are migrating on-line.
- Communication is changing (Radio, Film, Newspapers, and TV) from single/few options to many, many options. From few to many to many to many.
- New communication is a circle. We want conversation. People want to converse; they don't want to be lectured. People want to be part of a conversation. Back and forth communication is expected and necessary to move discipleship forward.
- Communication is changing: interactive, participatory, mobile, viral, wireless, transparent, viral, user generated, many to many, digital, free...
- Culture is changing: flattening economies, global, transparent, wisdom of crowds, mobile, crowd sourcing, in sourcing, viral, digital, post-modern, connected...
- Community is changing: relationship economy, glocal, in common, viral, mutual respect, micro-community, shared trust, shared values, electronic, Internet mediated, interest based, unboundaried, participatory, virtual...
- Christianity is spread virally.
- Digital communication (back and forth) allows people to feel connected not only to each other but to leadership.
- Church is changing: socially committed, missional, multi-ethnic, multi-site, iCampus, cell-driven, authentic community, transparent leadership, eco-aware...
- I could be an iPastor. (Whoa!)
- Not using technology is missing an opportunity.
- As stewards of Christ, we have a responsibility to redeem technology by getting involved on things like mySpace, etc.
- We are going to be buying "green" everything in the next 10 years. Why do we produce the church bulletin? Because we haven't put it on line and because we haven't stopped producing it (on paper).
- We need to be active aggressive learners.
- Not a lot of true discipleship can take place in a large crowd listening to a speaker.
- Leadership is changing: decentralized, interactive, participatory, life streaming, flattening, responsive, fluid, transparent, listening, engaging...
- Cells are changing: Or are they?
- I want to develop a more missional mindset to my spheres of influence. We are called to go and make disciples.
- I Chronicles 12:32 - "The men from Issachar understood what was going on at that time. They knew what Israel should do."
- We should use an Exodus 18 model. Exodus 18:17-24. Ministry to a person is not based on facts; it's based on truth.
- We've migrated. Many of us spend time online daily. The reality is that the sooner we adopt and adapt, the sooner we can be the influencers.
- If you start an online group for something you are passionate...you will be starting community.
- The point of all this communication is to create intimacy and connection with people.
- Check out: Kindle (online prayer), YouVersion (online Bible), Unifyer (online Community Hub).

- Some people to look up on the subject: Dave Anthold, Greg Atkinson, DJ Chuang, Tony Steward, Gene Wyrrick, The WareHouse.
- Look into reading Tribe.


I had a great discussion this morning with Bill Search (author of Simple Small Groups) and Chad Allen (from Baker Books). We talked about a variety of issues around community and group life.

How open should groups be? We landed around empowering leaders to make decisions for our groups. Intimacy can be disrupted in group life and the timing of a new addition can have a big impact on spiritual growth. However, certain groups lend themselves to new additions. For example, Bill shared how his couples group can handle a new family at any moment. Intimacy is there but guys and gals don't share their deepest darkest secrets as quickly in a environment with the opposite sex.

Click here to buy the book


Mark Batterson and Heather Zemple - Where Community Grow Best

I was lucky enough to connect with Heather on a panel we shared at the pre-conference session on community and social media. She is really as bright at Mark shared in the beginning of the talk.

Here are some points from their discussion:

- Don't confuse the outcome with the method

- There are a number of different ways to accomplish community

- EVERYTHING is an experiment (core value of National Community Church)

- We have to keep dreaming as leaders

- Use right brain imagination and left brain logic together

- Every small group should be viewed as a discipleship experiment (that gives you freedom to fail and not be afraid to try new things)

Ideas they tried at NCC:

- They use a tri-semester system 3 semesters for 8-12 weeks

- Have flexibility with your system so you can let other leaders who are resistent

- check out http://www.zonegathering.com/

- NCC's leadership small group blog - Mark Batterson's Blog - http://www.evotional.com/

- Shout out to twitter: Here is mine - www.twitter.com/chiapperino

- Bad experiment: Rock Band video game fundraiser - check the lyrics!!!

Maturity Does Not Equal Conformity

- Here is Heather's Blog on this one, I am not even going to attempt to explain what she does best. Click here to read her post.

- empower your leaders to lead, maturity does not mean conformity, let people try new things!!!

- Think about small groups as a free market system, expect your leaders to get a vision from God and GO FOR IT!

- Oswald Chambers: Let God be as original with others, as he was with you. Expect the Unexpected

- When a routine becomes routine, CHANGE IT

- Change of place = change of pace = change of perspective

- Jesus consistently change it up on his disciples. Heals on the sabbath, walks on water, throws down in the temple. A good leader has a good curve ball. Jesus had good curve balls.

- Unexpectedly appreciate your leaders by surprising them

We Need A Culture of Grace and Truth

- Truth: People want to hear it like it is

- Grace: love people when they least expect it and when they don't deserve it

- People need grace and truth

I gotta visit NCC at some point.


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