Operation Ka-Boom

As I mentioned in the previous post, we have abandoned our zone/team leader structure for coaching and caring for leaders. Blew it up. Leveled it. Destroyed it. And we are exploring how we can recruit, train, coach, and care for our leaders better.

Variables
Two things are not on the table at this point: semester system and free market model. I think it's healthy to re-examine everything you do regularly, but it didn't take us long to acknowledge that these things are not broken and work well in our given environment. They are the two best things about our small group ministry.

Everything else is pretty much up in the air-- from Leadership 101 to summits to Leadership Retreat to coaching structures to communication to reporting mechanisms. And there are key issues like leader recruiting that could probably use a little bit of work.

Transition Team
The rebuild began earlier this week. A transition team of 15 met at our house to begin to dream about the future. Mark Batterson share vision. We had presentations on coaching best practices from the world of athletics, military, marketplace, discipleship, and parenting. We placed some questions on the table and proceeded to divide and conquer. In about a month, we will return together to report on our findings.

Transition Coaching Team
In the meantime, we have a transition coaching team in place to serve in a support role to our leaders this fall. We've stripped down the position and responsibilities to place them in a posture of availability as opposed to one of active discipleship. We have asked them to 1) call their leaders twice this semester to express our gratitude for their leadership and pray for them, 2) send them an email monthly to deliver the same message, and 3) meet with them face to face at our semester summit. Ongoing training will be delivered in the form of Simple Small Groups, a book by my friend Bill Search that gives practical but potent ideas for leading groups.

Looking forward to where God takes us.