Phil Strout recently wrote:Ā “We are in a season as a Movement where leadership multiplication is on everyone’s minds… Weāre talking about multiplying Christlike leaders for a world in need.”
Philās challenge resonates with what Iāve learned over the years as a pastor. The $100 dollar question is how do you create a culture that allows the cream to rise to the surface?
Creating A Culture For Developing Leaders
Admittedly, Iām not a leadership guru. Itās only by Godās grace that Iāve survived 21 years as a Vineyard pastor. My wife, Jane and I planted a Vineyard church out of our living room 21 years ago in Canon City, CO and we didnāt have a clue what we were doing ā seriously! Eleven years ago we were called to Grand Junction, CO to assume the helm of Canyon View Vineyard Church. Somehow weāve uncovered a few nuggets of gold along the way about growing leaders.
In all honesty my life as a leader resembles the saying, āEven a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in a while.ā In the very beginning of our church plant in Canon City we had a couple that came from a different stream that held a very high view of leadership. They continually raised the bar so high, I donāt think Jesus would have qualified to lead anything. Needless to say they didnāt hang out very long with us.
The Kirk And Jane Show
It was during that season a pastor friend visited our church one Sunday. Afterwards I asked him what he thought. He said he was concerned for us because we didnāt have any leaders. In other words, it was the Kirk and Jane show, and that wasnāt cutting it. Needless to say I began to pray for leaders. Praying in leaders… novel ideal, huh?
The second thing I discovered was you have to create a culture in your church that allows the diamonds in the rough to become uncovered. Over the past few years we have found a wonderful tool that not only allows everyone to play but has helped us to identify, train and deploy leaders effectively. Through our relationship with friends of Project Amazon (PAZ) from Brazil, they helped us to incorporate their ācell groupā ministry into our church.
What We Watch For
In our pilot cell group, I hand picked some people to come and help us learn how to do a cell group. One of the characteristics of a cell group is the leader is just a facilitator and different people sign up to lead the different steps of the meeting each week. This actually allowed us to discover a couple of things about the members of our group.
First we began to notice that a couple of people were very willing to step up and volunteer like leading the group discussion from the Sermon on Sunday. So after they signed up I would chat with them and tell them to just do it the way Jane and I showed them (modeling). I would answer their questions and encourage them.
The second thing weād watch for is if they would actually show up the next week and be prepared. Afterwards Iād give them feedback on how they did and gave them a little pointer of what they could do to make it even better next time. This revealed if they were eager to learn and grow.
Faithful, Available, And Teachable (FAT)
This process allowed us to see who the FAT people were; faithful, available and teachable. As these individuals consistently showed their true character over time, I then asked if theyād be willing to meet with me weekly for one on one discipleship.
During that time we went through our discipleship manual from PAZ (with PAZās permission). This assured that we were on the same page theologically. During discipleship I also began to talk to them about the possibility of leading a cell group when our cell group grew to 16 people and multiplied.
By Godās grace we have multiplied our cell group six times over the past four years and our church now has 56 cell groups that are lead by these diamonds in the rough. Ā
Multiplying Leaders Through Cell Groups
Cell groups have helped us to lower the bar and give individuals a safe, nurturing environment to learn and grow as young leaders. Now weāre watching those that are growing their cell groups, raising up new leaders and multiplying.
Could God be uncovering the ones that are called to a larger footprint of leadership through this process? I am amazed at how impactful these cell leaders have become.
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To learn more about the Canyon View Vineyard in Grand Junction, CO, visit their website here.
