Feel free to forward this to a friend!

NEW this month!

• SERMON SERIES: STRE$$ - A Three Part Series on Stewardship
• SERMON: “The Backside of Christmas” (Mt. 2:13-23) - Great Sermon!
• SERMON: “THREE WORDS TO WIN IN ’08” - Success Message

Factoids

Change comes hard to some people. But leading a church doesn’t require you to convince every person in your church; it requires managing change in an effective way.

• CHURCH GROWTH
  Diffusion of Innovation
  This 20 percent minimum reflects the research of social scientists studying innovation and diffusion, who have found that this is the critical number of members in any group which must endorse a new idea before the majority will accept it.
  (Win Arn, How to Use Ratios to Effect Church Growth , in Wagner, C. Peter, ed. Church Growth: State of the Art. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale, 1986, ch. 8, p. 103.)

• CHURCH GROWTH
  Change Adopters
  2% of people are Innovators
  18% of people are Early Adopters
  60% of people are Middle Adopters
  18% of people are Late Adopters
  2% of people are Laggards
  (Wagner, C. Peter, ed. Church Growth: State of the Art. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale, 1986. P. 86.)

These and other Factoids can be found at ChurchGrowth Factoids

HighPower Learnings  Blog

WHAT I'M LEARNING RIGHT NOW IN THE AREAS OF MINISTRY COACHING, SIMPLE CHURCH, CHURCH GROWTH & CHURCH HEALTH

Recent Posts:

• “SMART Goals & Coaching”
• Effective Action Plans for 2008
• Leadership Development
• QUALITY COACHING WANTED!

Check out the Blog here.

Coaching - Quality Coaching Wanted!

Hi All,

Hey it is tough to develop a high-quality coaching experience on the church-wide level. It takes a lot of advance planning, excellent coordination between ministries, and a system to monitor and continuously develop existing coaches, as well as find new ones. We are making great progress in our church, but it is taking a lot of work.

Here is what we have done & are doing:
1. We received a year's worth of training in coaching from Bob Logan's coaching organization through CoachNet. This included a 3-day seminar in Hollywood, focusing on basic coaching skills, followed by a 3-day seminar in Chicago, focusing on making a movement in our organization, and developing excellence.

2. We spent one year developing our coaching curriculum. We took the things which we learned in Logan's two seminars, and then, under the supervision of one of Logan's Coachnet mentors, we developed an 8-week coaching seminar for our church.

3. Then the three of us each selected two coachees, whom we would train to be coach mentors. We signed them up on Coachnet too. We had them sign up for a two year commitment!

4. We took these trainees through our coach training small group for eight weeks.

5. Meanwhile, they each began finding two coachees, whom they would each work with for six months. These coachees were there to help our Coach Mentors have someone to practice on with their newly developing coaching skills. These Mentors in training, then signed each of their trainees up with Coachnet. (It was free for them as part of the training.)

6. We three pastors who began this process, after having received our own certification as Coach Mentors, continue to meet with each of our Mentors in training, once a month. They in turn, continue meeting with each of their two coachees once a month.

7. We three who are the current coach mentors, meet regularly to monitor the progress of our Mentors in training.

8. We are developing the final half-day seminar, called "Coaching for Excellence" (using Logan's teachings from his seminars). This we will administer this May, as an important part of the Mentors in Training experience.

9. Then each of the Mentors in Training will have to be qualified by the Coachnet organization through use of an on-line evaluation tool, which is completed by their two coachees each.

Then, and only then, we will have our first batch of Coach Mentors successfully trained!  And all of this is under the watchful eye of Logan's organization, Coachnet.

We are extremely lucky and grateful as a church to have them experimenting with the delivery of quality coaching through the local church, so we are being careful to do it right.

Look at how the numbers grow, and you will begin to see why it is difficult to keep the coaching quality up nice and high:

First, we started with 3 pastors, who all received Coaching Certification.

Second, each pastor found 2 coach mentors, who are in process of being certified.

Third, each Mentor in training, found 2 trainees to practice on.

So, we moved from 3 to 9 to 15 people going through coaching in just a matter of months.  Next year, when we have a total of 6 Coach Mentors, it is going to really start to get tricky to maintain quality.

And Maintaining Quality is the key goal here.
It is relatively easy to get a lot of people into coaching; many churches have tried it. But many have also failed as they let the movement grow faster than their ability to maintain quality. So we are being slow and methodical, and so far are pleased with the results. But we can see that we need to maintain constant communication and set standards continuously in order to continue with an excellent coaching process.

Just thought I would share our progress so far, in case your church is thinking about developing a coaching program.

In Christ, for the Kingdom of Heaven,

Dr. Bill

Software

Click on www.HighPowerResources.com/Software to download your new Demo today.

Seminars

GROWING A HEALTHY CHURCH

The Growing a Healthy Church on-site seminar is still one of the best ways around to help your people and especially your leaders figure out how they can personally be involved in fulfilling the Great Commission.

Here’s quick run-down of each of your seminar options:

• 1) Strategy Seminar -- designed for leaders, it helps you discuss as a church how you can retool and strengthen your Great Commission strategy.
• 2) Everyday Commandment - Helps your people to learn how to love their neighbors into the Kingdom of Heaven.
• 3) Everyday Commission - Helps your people to learn how to live out the Great Commission in daily life.
• 4) Implementation Seminar - for churches that have been through the Strategy Seminar, and want to learn how to actually make it happen in their church.

These are all some of the best and most practical seminars to involve your people on actually changing their lifestyles to live out their faith and fulfill the Great Commission.

Thinking your church could benefit from such a seminar?

Give me a call.

Click on www.HighPowerResources.com/Seminars to learn more.

Sermons, Dramas, Bible Studies

• Stewardship Series: “Stre$$”
  by Pastor Glen Stevens, Crossroads Church
  This is a three-part sermon series which covers the theological & practical aspects of become a faithful steward.
  3 part series
  Part 1 - Stress: Part 1 - Spending
  Part 2 - Stress: Part 2 - Over-spending
  Part 3 - Essential Tools for Your Financial Tool Belt
  Take a look here.

• “Three Words to Win”
  Proverbs 3
  This is a great message for early in the year to help people refocus their life on God’s priorities. Based on an exposition of Proverbs 3, it covers the three things that God wants to see in our lives, and the three results that will come of it. Great message!
  Take a look here.

• “The Backside of Christmas”
  Matthew 2:13-23
  Most people stop preaching Christmas messages after Dec. 25th, and also after Matthew 2:12. But there is a “backside” to every Christmas; and it is often filled with sorrow, grief, fear, and loss. What does God’s Word have to say about pain at Christmastime? This message answers that question and provides a great comfort to people in pain during the holidays.
  Take a look here.

Books

Two Great Theology Books added to our Books section

Putting Jesus in His Place, Ed Komoszewski

Putting Jesus in His Place is designed to introduce Christians to the wealth of biblical teaching on the deity of Christ and give them the confidence to share the truth about Jesus with others.

Ravi Zacharias Ravi Zacharias International Ministries : "Putting Jesus in His Place is a meticulously researched and brilliant book on a subject that continues to remain significant even after 2000 years. Robert Bowman and Ed Komoszewski have given readers a unique and unparalleled resourceoand one with life-changing implications. I commend this volume to you with much appreciation for their work."

I’ve read this book, and have a signed copy by one of the authors, Ed, who attends our church, and is currently leading a 7 week study based on his book. It is filled with solid theology for defending the deity of Jesus Christ. I’ve read the whole book and it is good and thick with Scripture.

(Available in the Theology section of the HighPower bookstore.)

Contrarians Guide to Knowing God

I've just finished this book by Larry Osborne. It is a great book because it honestly deals with spiritual growth without accepting any of the Christian platitudes about what should or shouldn’t happen in the Christian life. It is written by a pastor who has been at his church for decades and he has enough experience to question the usual Christian ‘rules’ for how to grow spiritually. A very refreshing read!

(Available in the Theology section of the HighPower bookstore.)