End of an Era

Sunday afternoon marked the end of an era. The zone leaders of NCC gathered for one last annual picnic. Seven years ago, I approached Leslie Adams, Nathan Gonzales, and Brian and Kim Hill to ask if they would be willing to help me lead the small group ministry of NCC. I called them "zone leaders" and assigned them each a few small group leaders to coach, support, and care for. At that time, we had a handful of groups, a lot of passion to help people connect and grow, and very little idea of what we are doing. Over the years, we added Sarah Owen, Heather Gonzales, Chris and Lora Jarrell, John Hasler, Juliet Main, and the amazing Ryan Zempel. Those guys walked with me, grew with me, dreamed with me, challenged me, argued with me, pulled all-nighters with me, blogged with me, killed the blog with me, and preached "Be One, Make One, For One" until we couldn't stand to say it anymore. We planned seven leadership retreats together, including the precedent-setting One retreat, the controversial Forceful Advance retreat, and the best of all Greater Things retreat.

At the end of the summer, we initiated Operation Ka-Boom-- a systematic dismantling of our entire small group coaching system. Some of these people will keep coaching in the new structure, some will have re-defined portfolios in the new structure, and some will pursue new passions. It all remains to be seen. In the meantime, I'm so thankful for each of these people. Their investment has made NCC what it is today.

If you know these people, be sure to let them know how much you appreciate them.