More on Saddleback’s Leadership Pathway

Today we have the continuation of yesterday’s interview with Steve Gladen on Saddleback’s Leadership Pathway.  If you’ve ever wondered how Saddleback helps people who simply sign up to host a six-week small group become a full-fledged leader…you’ll find a lot of answers here.  If you missed part one of the interview, you can read it right here.

Here’s Part Two:

Mark: So they’ve moved from the baby steps of a 6 week commitment to a decision to continue, attended a 3 hour course and now are connected with a mentoring community leader.  What happens next?

Steve: The third step along the leadership pathway is Leader Training 2.  This five-module training course is led by the H.O.S.T.’s community leader and is often held in the CL’s home. It focuses on deepening the five purposes in the lives of the leaders and showing them how to balance the purposes within their groups. These five modules can take up to two years to complete.  We don’t want H.O.S.T.s to take the next module until they are actually putting the previous one into practice.  The five modules are:

• Health—developing discipleship and helping your group and individual group members to be balanced.
• Character—deepening your heart toward worship.
• Skills—diving below the surface to understand true community.
• Empower—helping you do ministry inside your group or with other groups, believer to believer.
• P.E.A.C.E.—directing your group toward the P.E.A.C.E. Plan, which is our church’s mission arm and is done personally, locally, and globally.

Mark: It’s my understanding that in the same way your coaching structure is designed to provide a kind of customized level of care for each leader, the way Leader Training 2 plays out is different depending on the maturity of the leader.

Steve:  That’s correct.  As H.O.S.T.s enter the Leader Training 2 phase, they start the discipleship module called Health. This them the value of balancing a group in the five biblical purposes. Once they have completed LT2 Health, they proceed down one of two paths. If they are leading a new group, they will focus first on the LT2 modules of Character and Skills, which compliment the new journey they are on. If their group is more seasoned, we direct them toward LT2 Empower and P.E.A.C.E.  These modules are a bit more challenging and designed for the small group with a strong foundation in place.  Once H.O.S.T.s have completed Leader Training 2, they are official leaders.

Mark: So once they’ve completed Leader Training 2 they’ve had quite a journey.  They might’ve invested as much as a couple years in the process.  What happens next?

Steve: The fourth step along the Leadership Pathway is our Gatherings where we show our leaders how much we care about them.  These gatherings also keep them tied to the vision.  Remember, if you have multiple sites (one church in different locations), you can also use Gatherings as a way to unify the sites around the common vision.

Mark: It’s been a great privilege and an honor to have your insight on this, Steve!  Thanks so much for your willingness to contribute your wisdom and knowledge to our growth!

About Steve Gladen: I’ve said this a number of times, but I want to be sure and say this again. Steve is a couple of things. First, he’s one of the smartest GroupLife guys on the planet. He’s also one of the most helpful small group experts on the planet. Seriously. While we’re on the subject, I want to suggest again that all of you pre-purchase Steve’s upcoming book. Here is the link: Small Groups with Purpose and here’s more info about the book.