The Core - Workshop

700-750 words for 10min

Vision & Heart S & K 10min

***Invite the folks to grab the Document titled “The Core Leadership Team” out of their bag that they received from Registration.

Welcome everybody!! We are so excited to have some time with you all to share some things that are on our heart.

Today Pastor Shawn and I are going to talk about HOW we want to EXPAND our capacity to fulfill the vision of The Grace Place.

We know if The Grace Place is going to grow to the next level we as your pastors have to grow and you as the leaders of this house will have to grow.

We are very excited about the future because we believe God is giving us a new strategic vision when it comes to HOW we develop leaders. It’s not that leadership development isn’t already happening here but we believe it is time for us to be more intentional about it.

With that we want to introduce to you something we are calling… The Core.

What is the Core? (Krista)

The Core is…

A group of key leaders God has brought together for this time and season to collectively lead in the ministry of The Grace Place.

Who is the Core? (Krista)

The Core is made up of our…

Staff, Pastors, Deacons, Ministry Directors, Volunteer Directors & their Spouses. (**fwe have also invited a few others who may have been former board members or key leaders that don’t have a director title but are still very much a part of leading at TGP)

The Core is you (Look around at the amazing people God has brought together)

We are the team that God has positioned at this time and this season to steward the ministry and vision of The Grace Place and we have been strategically placed here for such a time as this to lead our church into the next level that God is calling us to!!

Why does the Core exist? (Shawn)

The Core Leadership Team exist to fulfill two responsibilities…

First, we have a responsibility…

To BE - EQUIPPED (Heb. 13:17)

To Go where God is taking us - we all must be equipped. We’re perfectly equipped to go where he has sent us… but not for where he is sending us.

Krista and I have noticed a NEXT STEP for our leadership team and that is for us to be Laser-focused on equipping you to LEAD OTHERS WELL.

We must increase our capacity for the next season of ministry God is calling us to.

****I want you to hear me…. when I say… there is NOTHING WRONG WITH US… We are just at a growth point we have never been at and need to learn to do things differently.

Why is this a needed…

Just look at the nearly 200 volunteers at this event… people are looking to us… they are ready to grow… ready to step into the mission God has given them.

This is not about just putting them on the coffee bar team or a C-group, its about them being discipled and sent while they are under your leadership. Growing in their Christian Habits like prayer, scripture, spiritual leadership in their home, its about encouraging them to GO be missional,

If God sent us another 100 people this year… will we be able to handle it?

I would say…. at this rate WE’RE NOT READY… WHY?

Becuase The Core (Thats us in this room) are generally running at our MAX CAPACITY.

Most have no space for more… and too many of us are over focused on doing ministry rather than leading others to do the ministry.

If we every had to add another service, launch another ministry, expand our outreach, launch a campus or a church… most of you are TAPPED OUT - and we couldn’t do it.

But if we focused MORE on DEVELOPING - LEADERS that can carry the vision with us the possibilities are endless.

Here is our accountability before God as leaders… you might be surprised that it has nothing to do with how well we are serving and doing the work of the ministry, but it is about how we are LEADING.

Hebrews 13:17 ESV

Obey your LEADERS and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

We will give an account for how we lead and steward the work of God.

How are we leading the people in our span of care. Do they get a free ride on your coat tail because you do it all… or do they get their hands dirty with you in ministry?

We should all be investing in our #2 - someone to help carry the load, lead by our side, someone we are rasing up to take our spots.

Here is what Krista and I had to ask ourselves…

How Can we put people in positions of leadership, if we have not equipped them to lead?

So investing in The Core is part of the answer to this challenge.

We must… EQUIP OUR EQUIPPERS… (Thats you)

Our responsibility as a core is to BE EQUIPPED.

Krista and I intentionally get ourselves around other leaders to be equipped. Many of you do the same.

With that…

Over this next year we will be introducing different Leadership Capacities to you.

Things like…

The Capacity to Care

The Capacity to Communicate

And other things like this..

We are not going to train you for training sake…

We will be equipping the equippers so you can turn around and leak this content down to your teams and people within your span of care.

So we can work together - solve problems together, pray together, When we meet together we will ask you how its going as you are training your teams - discover who is shining, who you think is ready for leadership, get their feet wet… prepare for someone to take your job, and envision you for your next.

We have so many young leaders ready to be invested in… they are looking to us to lead them and prepare them

This leads us to the Next, responsibility… of the core…

ToEQUIP THE SAINTS (Eph. 4:11-12)

I was struck so deep back in March as we preached through Eph. 4:11-12 says

Ephesians 4:11–12 ESV

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers(Thats us, the Leadership of the Church), to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,

Train, equip, disciple, mentor or team members

When our EQUIPPERS show up on Sunday’s (Thats US)… this is our moment… our time with people to call them up.

We should be inviting people into next steps… SP - Serving etc… asking them about their passions.

Calling leadership out of people when we see it.

Inviting people to work along side us.

Too many of us get in a ministry role and just park it for years and raise up no leaders to lead with us or take our spot. By the way… We’ve taught you to do this.

I can’t wait for the next person who say’s Pastor - I worked myself out of a job again… what is next for our church that I might be able to help lead.

How will we equip you? (Krista)

We are going to implement some leadership training environments through out the year for you to learn and grow in.

We are calling these quarterly leadership gatherings...

(Equipping the Core)

Wed. Jan 6th

Wed. June 30th

Sun. Nov. 7th

***Everybody save those dates***

In these trainings we will be focused on specific capacities we need as leaders. These trainings will have practical exercises for you to do and then take and pass down to your teams to help develop them.

As we develop you, you will in turn develop your people.

What is the result?

Our hope… with this vision of equipping the equippers?

Our hope is that as we The Core begin to grow in our own leadership, we will raise up more people to become leaders to fulfill the ministry inside and outside the church.

This will mean more people to support you in carrying the load of your teams/ministries. This means more people to execute the vision God has given us.

It means more capacity for God to enlarge the vision of The Grace Place.

I believe The Grace Place is just getting started and we are barely scratching the surface for what’s in store.

Closing Segment: (Krista)

***As we have been praying and planning, We have asked the Lord to show us what are the leadership capacities or qualities that we need every core member to be an expert in? If we want be the leaders God has called us to and fulfill the vision of TGP we believe one of the most important capacities we need is “CARE”.

How can we be a church that strives to be caring people, caring for people if we don’t model that from the top down.

So, today Pastor Clay is going to come and challenge us and equip us to grow in our capacity to care...

Devotion: Equipped to Care Clay 15min

Assessment Exercise Amanda 20min