Enter to Win Saddleback’s New Small Group Leadership Training Kit

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I spent some time this week with the Small Group Leadership Training Kit, a great new comprehensive resource from Steve Gladen and the Saddleback Small Group Team.

The Small Group Leadership Training Kit includes everything (and I mean everything) you need to engage, equip, empower, and energize your small group leaders “to do life with purpose.” Regardless of the small group ministry model you’re using, there is some serious help in this kit!

Find out how to win your copy of Saddleback’s New Small Group Leadership Training Kit below!

There is a lot packed into this kit! One of the things I love about it is that the content can really be used two ways (and even a blend of the two). With its modular approach, it’s possible to put it to use it as is, right out of the box. Gather your leaders for an on-campus meeting or pull them together in huddles in living rooms across your area and just watch the included videos.  Even better though, the modules can be used as an example allowing you to easily create your own version, featuring you and your team. And you can see too, that you could easily blend the two options (use some out of the box now and develop your own as you go).

You should know too, this is a comprehensive training and development resource. The kit includes training and encouragement videos for New Host Training (for brand new leaders), as well as Leader Training 1 and 2 (for developing leaders) that can be used in conjunction with learners’ guides, leaders’ guides, powerpoint decks (making it easy to provide periodic centralized gatherings. The content can also be used by your coaches in off-site huddles (onsite gatherings and offsite huddles can both be leveraged to complete the training).

As much as I appreciated the large collection of new host and leader development videos, I was equally impressed with the included email templates (to communicate effectively with new hosts and developing leaders), completion certificates, leader application, and graphics helps. This will be a real time saver for small group ministries just getting started implementing a leader training pathway.

And last but not least, the Small Group Leadership Training Kit includes their Spiritual Health Assessment and Planner module ($40 value by itself!).

Honestly, there’s too much in this kit to describe here! You can check out the full scope and contents right here.

Bottom line? Whether you end up using it off-the-shelf or create your own training modules using the template of the kit, this is a fantastic resource! I highly recommend it.

Want to win a free copy? Here’s how to enter.

Win a Free Copy of the Small Group Leadership Training Kit

In order to win, you must do TWO (2) things.  And you have to do BOTH to win.

  1. Use the comment section to tell me why you’d like to win.  Be sure and use your first and last name (that’s how I find your Facebook post).  You can comment right here.
  2. Tweet or Facebook the following line: “RT @MarkCHowell: Enter to Win Saddleback’s Small Group Leadership Training Kit, a $200 value http://bit.ly/2wK2ri1 @smallgrpnetwork“

The contest ends on Monday, September 10th, at 9:00 p.m. (PT).  Thanks for playing!

18 Comments

  1. Brandon Leitnaker on September 7, 2017 at 6:27 am

    My team and I are always looking for resources to help with all the areas that you mentioned regarding leadership development. We realize that our groups have become our primary form of discipleship in our church and so we have made it our passion to pour into those leaders, so that in turn they can pour into their groups. We could most definitely benefit from a resource like this.



  2. Ronnie Hopkins on September 7, 2017 at 7:25 am

    Ronnie Hopkins
    Last spring we began gathering in small groups with a few house gatherings. These were informal gatherings trying to re-connect our members and to get to know our new minister. They were a huge success! The format was simple- just tell alittle about yourself and share one life lesson you have learned. What was amazing was that everyone learned something new about each person who was there.
    From that positive experience, we have decided to move forward with creating a small group ministry. Since our church has never done this before we are searching for resources and training aides. Our Leadership Team is planning to begin training our our new group leaders starting in October. They, the new group leaders, are excited and nervous, but anxious to begin- and are full of questions. It looks like this Small Group Leadership Training Kit is exactly what we need to not only begin, but continue and grow our small group ministry. What an exciting time for our church!



  3. Jim Rapp on September 7, 2017 at 8:28 am

    I am the Small Group Pastor and coach for the 9 groups we have meeting at our church now. I have been using the VERY helpful advise from your posts for a couple of years now. Any training where people can hear sound teaching on small group subjects that has someone else saying a lot of the same things I have said/stole from leaders like you goes a long way. Winning this resource would be awesome! Jim Rapp –



  4. Crystal on September 7, 2017 at 9:15 am

    God has done so much to grow our small groups in the last year at our church plant. Our church is beginning to catch our vision for why and how we do small groups. I’d love to be able to pour in to our small group leaders to better equip and engage them in this vision as pastors of those God calls to their group. And anything Saddleback puts out always seems to be an awesome system to gain from! I’d love to learn from them and apply their tried and true methods! Your review of this product has certainly made me all the more interested! Thanks, Mark!



  5. Chris Kindle on September 7, 2017 at 10:55 am

    I have begun volunteering at the church my family attends as the small groups coordinator. I have used Saddleback material before and have found it helpful. This training kit could be valuable to me as I begin thsi next stage of ministry.



  6. Helen Grode on September 8, 2017 at 10:43 am

    I’ve been coordinating christian education for over 20 years now and it’s still my passion! Would love to win a copy of this new leadership training kit!!



  7. Ralph Cann on September 8, 2017 at 10:46 am

    Would love to win this. We are always looking for quality training material. Each year hold two main training events. One of them includes small group leaders from other churches in the area.



  8. Kurt Saban on September 8, 2017 at 10:46 am

    I would like to receive a free copy of the Small Group Leadership training kit. I would use it to train my students in the Evangelical Theological College of the Philippines in the Manila area. Most of these students come from impoverished communities. They need training on how to help people grow in Christ in community. After teaching the Evangelism classes we went out and saw 230+ people come to Christ in 2 days! The main event was for a church plant. I need to train up the students to be small group leaders for all the people who got saved!



  9. Robert Johnson on September 8, 2017 at 11:09 am

    Robert Johnson – our small groups are just beginning to gain the traction they need. I think we are positioned to see significant growth and impact through our small groups. But, I think the missing link is training for hosts and small group leaders. With the proper training I think we can see exponential growth. This may well be the key I have been praying for!



  10. Johnny Beaver on September 8, 2017 at 11:09 am

    I first heard about small groups through Saddleback before Hurricane Katrina hit the church I was pastoring and my home, then I saw them in action when small groups from Saddleback started contacting me wanting to assist people in my church. I knew then this was something that I needed in my church. Presently we have four small groups but they are not as healthy as I would love for them to be. This training would be great to have and to share with them as we reach rural TN. Yep, that is right. I’m no longer on the coast but I’m in TN trying to make the name of Jesus great!



  11. dottenmiller on September 8, 2017 at 12:19 pm

    As a small group leader, I feel I wear many hats. Some of which I am gifted at, some not so much. The email templates facet of this training was the first thing that caught my eye….I can’t even say how much I need that lol. The other pieces look amazing as well. Looking forward to the 10th!
    Thanks Mark



  12. Nate Kellogg on September 8, 2017 at 6:21 pm

    My name is Nate Kellogg I am a small groups pastor. I would love to win this leader kit, over the last two years I’ve tried to go to some groups conferences and they have either been too expensive or have been cancelled (2 of them I was registered for were cancelled). This would be a great tool for me to use from the office, especially since traveling is hard because I have 2 boys who are 2.75 yrs old and 4 months old.

    Thanks!
    Nate Kellogg



  13. Prince C. Nnaji on September 9, 2017 at 6:41 am

    Hi Mark, my name is Prince Nnaji. I am the Small Groups Pastor in my church. Within 6months, we started 18 thriving small groups. Our attendance hit 94(with 20 attendees not being members of our church-which I think its fantastic because we are reaching outsiders and combining fellowship with growing from ‘outside-in’).

    After I attended PDC in July(I came from Atlanta GA), we immediately launched 6new groups.

    Having listening to DONT LEAD ALONE, we are working at making the groups healthy using the PD Model of Champions for the 5purposes of the church.

    Most of SG Hosts and Coordinators now own a copy of LEADING HEALTHY SMALL GROUPS and 250 Ideas. And we are looking forwards to Steve Gladen’s Small Group Curriculum due for release in 2018.

    Interestingly, this SMALL GROUP LEADERSHIP KIT is the only resource I couldn’t purchase when I attended the PDC Conference in July. #Price 🙁

    The main reason why i want this is because we are looking at launching a 40days of purpose/small group campaign but we cant achieve that if there is no structured plan like the SG Host Development Pathway which this resource provides. Steve talked about it alot in the LAB sessions.

    I will be so happy to win!

    Thank you, Mark.



  14. Kimberly Oppelt on September 9, 2017 at 10:55 am

    I want to educate myself and others on how to effectively help others find ways to care about others, lift others in prayer, study the Bible in a way that effects their own walk with God, and facilitates a manageable way to live out a mission life style. I know what I want to see happen in a small group, now I need a resource to help me put it into place.

    Kimberly Oppelt



  15. Frank on September 10, 2017 at 11:42 am

    I am a point person for small groups in a church in Poland, south of the country. About 3 years ago, being inspired by S. Gladen’s book, we started the process of rebuilding the church structure to small groups. Today, about 60% of the congregation is in small groups (about 90 people). The book has been translated in Polish and this is the only book of this king translated into Polish.
    We need such materials like this, training leaders is an area which is the most challenging and yet the most critical if we want to keep the momentum going. I follow your site and this is an awesome opportunity for us to maybe win this kit and adopt it to our realities. We have also started to organize huddles to inspire other churches in the region, so far there were 2 huddle meetings, a third one is coming by end of the month.



  16. Frank Kozub on September 10, 2017 at 11:44 am

    Sorry, I did not include my last name to the post.It’s Frank Kozub



  17. Richel Onda on December 14, 2017 at 2:36 am

    We are a startup church in Dubai with no backing from any other church. The first members were me and my wife and has grown to 70 weekly attendees in just 1 year. All of us in the church have a day-jobs and serves as volunteer. I am the Lead Pastor and being a homegrown pastor with no classroom training, I need a ready made model for church and group health. That is where I came to know about Purpose Driven Church and Purpose Driven Groups. For us these models are a great fit. But I find it really difficult to translate the nutrients found in the book into reality. And we need constant continuing education here. It would be helpful if we will have this training kit. Honestly, we want to purchase the training kit. But our church cannot afford it this time. We hope our church wins. It would be a great tool for all of us in a place where practice of faith is not that easy and comfortable.



  18. Mark Howell on December 14, 2017 at 5:13 am

    Sorry, Richel. This was a contest I ran in September. Keep watching. There will be others.