10.22.13 Interview with Sam Farina

Tonight we had Sam Farina come to our class.  He is a licensed spiritual coach with the Assemblies of God.  He got involved with coaching to “be a missionary to the corporate world.” He was at a seminar and was encouraged to get involved by Jane, the vice president of IBM at one point.  He serves in the Dallas, Texas area.

WHAT IS IT?

“Coaching is pulling out of leaders and organizations the path that they feel they need to go on, the steps to get to where they need to go.  Coaching is a vehicle, a partnership, helping people getting to where they need to go, to overcome obstacles.”

LET’S TRY IT

Instead of just talking about it, we actually had our own “coaching session” here in class.  Usually coaching is an extended period of time; we only had one session to experience what it is like.  Sam said that 70% of leaders have no plan to get better, so it was good that we were able to experience this.

We started by talking about what we wanted to walk way with from this class.  Mine were:

-Practical “how-to” tips on how to be a better coach

-Ways I can apply this to my life/place of ministry

-Firm foundation on what coaching is

By the end of our session, we ended up designing the next seven weeks of class!

10/29 Definition and exploration of a disciple (biblically and today)

11/05 Discipling a Christian

11/12 Discipling a non-Christian (evangelism vs. discipleship)

11/19 Leadership models (with guest speakers coming)

11/26 (Thanksgiving week) Make-up for presentations

12/03 Discipleship model

12/10 Finals Week

OBSERVEATIONS ABOUT COACHING

            Some observations I made about coaching was that he didn’t really ever tell us what to do.  He never gave us any explicit orders at all. He basically asked questions in a way that made us be the ones who planned out our class.  He didn’t really give many ideas.  Even though it appeared that he was “stepped back” from the conversation, he was still intentionally structuring the questions he was asking us.

            Another observation is that certain people were dominating the discussion.  The coach has to make sure everyone gets heard.  We also observed that when you come up with your own ideas, there is passion for it.  If he had told us what to do, we wouldn’t have been as passionate about it.

            We also observed that people can come up with their own solutions.  Sam said that the coach has to believe this.  This class session showed us that this is true, and also that there is more knowledge in the room than just one person.

            Something that Sam kept doing was affirming what people said.  This is very important in coaching.  In the book I presented for class, Make Your Group Grow: Simple Stuff That Really Works, Josh Hunt talked about important people skills, and this was one of them.  Same also designed action for us.  He gave us clear deadlines, goals, and objectives.  He also had US recap everything we went over.

            Sam also gave us a few other pointers for coaching.  He said that we should stay away from “why” questions in coaching, because people generally become pretty defensive.  He also said to stay away from “yes” and “no” questions, as they are not really opened-ended and don’t encourage people to think deeply.

           

            I thought that having Sam in class was really good, and he gave us some very valuable information.  I think that he imparted wisdom that we will be able to use not only in the future, but even now in our relationship with people.

10.08.13 Interview with Bob Hulett

Bob Hulett

bob@bridgecommunity.tv

            Tonight we interviewed Bob Hulett.  He was a very passionate individual, who also was very intentional about what he does.  The two things that excite him are leadership and reaching people who are lost.  We started by talking about how salvation is more of a “dimmer switch” than a “light switch,” and is a journey we go on.  Bob said John 4 is one of the best Bible chapters on understanding discipleship.  Something he said that I thought was really good: “Your role in the process isn’t as important as your goal in the process.”

THE WAY TO A MAN’S HEART

            Bob admonished that our ministry won’t thrive unless we understand discipleship.  We are not in the babysitting business; we have to be taking people somewhere.  People will commit to why you do something more than to what you do.  Something interesting Bob brought up that his church doesn’t do is asking anything from businesses for big events.  They don’t ever ask for donations.  This is to break the mentality that the church just wants to take stuff.  In fact, they once bought a $50.00 gift card and put the company on their website, listed them as a sponsor on the website, and told the owner that they just wanted to help his business!

He has found that this approach is much more effective and breaks the negative mentality of selfish church.  He brought up the quote, “The quickest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.”  You reach lost people when you meet their needs.  I thought this was a very profound thought.

THE DISCIPLESHIP CYCLE

Bob then broke down “The Discipleship Cycle,” a way that his church connects people to Jesus and then disciples them.

1.     Bridge Event

a.     The Why:

b.     A non-threatening, positive first experience with the church for those who have no previous experience.  Big Days, Community Investments, Mailings

2.     Partnership Service

a.     To provide an opportunity to move people from pre-believer & explorers to believers and followers of Jesus.

3.     Connection | Communities

a.     To provide a biblical context for discipleship through doing life together with other believers.  This provides a place for the service, study, and social components of discipleship, “b-groups”, “b-teams”

The Discipleship Process

Bob then shared his discipleship process.  Essentially, this is getting someone from being a non-believer to being a disciple.  I found this to be incredibly valuable in understanding discipleship and outlining a clear goal in the discipleship process.

1.     Non-Believer

a.     No previous experience or knowledge of Christ, going to church, or relationship with a believer

b.     Non-attender

2.     Pre-Believer

a.     Non-attender

b.     Experience some form of organized religions, has had exposure to a Christ follower, or has a friendship with a Christ Follower

3.     Explorer

a.     Partnership Service (between Explorer and Believer)

b.     Experienced a Bridge Event, or been invited to church by a friend.  They are beginning to explore what faith in Jesus is really all about by attending church, participating in a community group of the church, or have a faith exploring relationship with a believer.

4.     Believer

a.     Discipleship

b.     A decision to begin their spiritual journey occurs.  They may not fully understand what church and Jesus are all about but they want to take the first step in following Jesus.

5.     Follower

a.     Discipleship

b.     Regularly attends church, is beginning to make life changes, serves in ministry, and is daily making living for Christ a priority.

6.     Disciple

a.     Spends consistent time reading the Bible and praying.  Serves actively in ministry, discipling others, gives regularly and sacrificially, intentionally makes friends with non-believers in hopes of sharing Jesus with them, and is using their time, talents, and treasure to show Jesus to the world.

7.     Leader

8.     Hiring People

DO LESS AND LEAD MORE

            Bob talked about leadership, and how that differs from doing things.  He said that 80% of ministry is leading, and 20% is ministry.  “If you can’t lead, you won’t last…or you’ll last in a little church.”  You can’t always be doing everything; you have to be leading people to do it.  I thought that this was really powerful in understanding my role in a church.

            He also talked about developing a culture of leadership.  He said that he has done well because he has stayed in his “sweet spot” in ministry, and worked within his strengths.  When he didn’t stay in his strengths, he ended up doing more and leading less.  He admonished us to “do less and lead more.”  Another great quote of his was, “If you want to grow as a leader, you have to become a learner.”

            Bob talked about how every good leader learns this about themselves and their teams:

            -Strengths

            -Personality

            -Passions

            -Life Seasons

            -Life Experience

            A person’s strengths are broken up into 5 areas: Executing, Influencing, Relationship Building, and Strategy.  Bob talked about how there is no one who is truly well rounded; there are simply some things you’ll never be good at.  He isn’t afraid of his weaknesses, and finds others who are good at it.  Just like he stays in his “sweet spot,” your leaders need to stay in theirs as well.  Stay in your passion.

            I really thought Bob Hulett was great to have in class.  He was very passionate, and sometimes was a little overboard…but I thought his insight was incredible and valuable.  I have actually memorized his discipleship process, and hope that I can begin to sharpen my mind and become as intentional as he is.

People he listens to:

Andy Stanley leadership podcast

Perry Noble

Stephen Furtick

Jonathan Martin

“Greater” by Stephen Furtick

Book Review | Make Your Group Grow: Simple Stuff That Really Works by Josh Hunt

I really appreciated this book!  The subtitle of this book was very appropriate: simple stuff that really works.  Josh Hunt breaks it down to simple, practical things that anyone can do.  This book is great for anyone looking to make his or her group grow.  The book is broken down into four parts:

1. What Makes Groups Grow – A Bit

2. What Makes Groups Grow – A Lot

3. What Makes Groups Grow the Most

4. Make Your Group Grow!

What’s really great about this book is that it’s also backed up by research.  Josh Hunt talks about ideas that he thought worked, that he later found out through his research weren’t really that effective, and vice versa.  This book lays out easy but effective ways to have meaningful relationships and help to intentionally make a small group grow.  He ends the book with a 10-Step Strategy to help your group grow, based off of what he talked about throughout the book.

One of the most practical things I took away was his chapter on people skills.  Josh talked about a number of easy – and almost obvious – things we can do that will improve our people skills, and in turn help our groups grow.  Even if I wasn’t interested in making my group grow, learning these people skills are a valuable life skill to have.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking to make their group grow!

10.01.13 Interview with Vince Donnachie

October 1, 2013

Vince Donnachie

vince@readingcitychurch.com

Church planting in Reading, PA

            Vince is a church planter in Reading, PA.  He started off by saying that he always felt like he’d plant a church, but he never really saw himself in a city like Reading, especially being from New Jersey.  Although it’s a smaller city, it’s still a city.  As of the 2010 census, it was the poorest city in the United States (below Detroit, Camden, etc.).  He half-heartedly prayed for the city, but as he would go there, he developed a real burden for it.  He loved talking to the people, picking up trash, etc.  After having a young adults ministry part of Hopewell Christian Fellowship, it became a meeting place of 55 people in his basement, and eventually launched into his church plant in October 2010 with the church’s blessing.

GETTING INTO MINISTRY

            We next shifted the conversation to life in the ministry.  His brother was a pastor by the time he became a Christian, and from seeing what his brother had to deal with, he didn’t want to “subject himself” to that type of stuff.  He started a cleaning business with six employees that went well, and did many ministries (children’s ministry, college, etc.).  He did ministry, but it was on “his time” and purposely didn’t want to become a pastor.

            People had told him that he was called, but didn’t want to be.  The day after his pastor offered him a full-time position, he lost two huge investments which was a huge blow to his company which had been running for around four years.  This is what he described as God “hitting me over the head by a two-by-four.”

IN CHRIST ALONE

            We next talked about being a pastor and husband.  Vince said that going into ministry is a great way to have pride about yourself in the church, especially as a young person.  But this is unhealthy, and Vince stated that the church “became my mistress.”  He ended up throwing himself fully into church, and wasn’t thinking about being a husband.  Eventually, he had a series of events that began to “break him.”  He realized that his identity and sense of self-importance couldn’t come from his success in ministry.  “My identity has to be in Christ alone.”  All ideas, passions, love, etc. has to come from Christ alone.

            Vince defined discipleship as learning from Jesus how to live as members of God’s Kingdom here and now.  He stated that there was a big difference about being ambitious for the Kingdom of God as His Spirit leads us, and human ambition.  A lot of what we call “ministry” today is really human ambition, and is trying to gratify self rather than glorify God.

            Vince said that his most productive times of ministry comes from being in God’s presence for hours doing nothing else.  When you’re at a bad place, reading a book is not the answer.  Coming to God is what we should do.

WHAT’S DIFFERENT

            They still do worship at his church, but stated that musical worship is weird to the unchurched.  They don’t pass offering plates, but have an offering box in the back that they emphasize every week.  They believe it as a private expression of worship before God, and will help make new people feel comfortable.  This also makes people more intentional with their giving, and perhaps will help it happen faster for them rather than if they simply passed the offering plate.

They do things with excellence, but not with “polish” or “showmanship.”  They want to be as authentic as they can.  He said that people want real, thought out, Biblical reasons for what we believe, so they have this in their preaching.  They don’t want to just sell them something in the preaching.  They meet in an IMAX theater (which is not what he wanted to do originally), but it has been working out great.  They have an amazing deal with the theater.

They have done very little advertising at all, including when they launched.  Even for the church, he doesn’t “sell” events by talking them up on social media or Sunday announcements.  Basically, he is against the heart of “self-promoting,” which is really a strong part of what he does. He says that a healthy church led by God will see success!

MY THOUGHTS

            Overall, I thought that Vince had a very high view of God and a deep dependence on Him.  He constantly would come back to God as the reason for everything they do at church.  He talked about how our opinions don’t influence the Kingdom of God, which is why he isn’t very active on social media.  He made it so clear that having a strong connection with Jesus is central to everything!  I thought it was great having him come in and hearing him talk about these issues.