My best 3 decisions so far
I'm just a noob at this whole church planting thing but I think I've made some amazing decisions so far. If I hadn't made these decisions there's a good possibility that I would be far weaker as a person than I am right now. What I decided to do was surround myself with people that could hold me accountable, that had been where I am and that know more about leadership and church planting than I do.
#1 - Accountability. This has proven to be a very beneficial time for me. If nothing else, it lets me get stuff off my chest that shouldn't be on it in the first place. At times it's a confessional. At others it's an encouragement session. My buddy Dave and I meet every Second Saturday at Timmy Ho's for an hour and a half just to talk. Some people like to have questions that they run through but I've never been very good at the formalities. We just let the conversation go where it needs to go and trust each other to be open and honest with the other. Wouldn't trade this for anything. Half the time we have nothing in particular we need to talk about but just the fact that there is someone there walking with you is a huge encouragement.
#2 - Mentoring. I've been meeting with my mentor for about 5 months I think. We meet once a month and it's the same thing, we just let the conversation go where it needs to. Usually I'm updating him on what's going on and I'm sure that as things start to get hot and heavy with the church that I'll be asking him for tons of advice. This guys name is also Dave and the funny thing is that he was my first principal. Our families parted ways for around 12 years as their family moved away but now we are back and living in the same city again. I think the key for a mentor is that they need to have been where you are now. I don't see a whole lot of value having someone speak into your life that hasn't been there. It's like a computer tech telling a farmer how to farm. Doesn't really make sense. But he's been there. He hasn't planted a church but he's been in one for 12 years where he was the primary leader and had to make a lot of tough decisions. We think alot alike, which I'm not sure is a positive or a negative but so far it's working out great.
#3 - Coaching. This could be quite similar to mentoring for some. I guess it depends on the caliber of your mentor. Now I'm not downplaying my mentors wisdom and what he says about stuff, but he's not trained as a coach. He's more of a sounding board and speaking from experience kind of guy. My coach is a trained professional. At times it seems like more of a professional relationship rather than a personal, laid back conversation but the payoff has been huge. The main way it's benefited me is he has helped me organize my thoughts and develop strategy for seeing processes started. He doesn't tell me how to do, he guides me to the point of me coming up with the solution and him validating it. It's hard at times cause my brain doesn't totally think like this. For instance, I'm just in the dreaming phase of starting up small groups in January and I have no clue where to start. I know what to do but there are so many stinking options of how to do them that it's really hard to know what's right for us. He guided me through the whole process and now I've got a clear understanding of what I need to do and the step that will help me launch these on time. I think coaching is generally quite expensive. I wouldn't know right now because I'm being given this as a gift for right now. We'll see what happens in the new year.
As far as I'm concerned, the first two are absolutely vital. Try walking alone and the sad thing is that we'll probably be watching you fall flat on your face. We aren't meant to walk alone. We aren't designed to know it all. We aren't expected to be strong enough to make it one our own. Surrounding myself with people that are cheering me on to becoming the person that I was originally intended to be could be the best decision that I've ever decided to make.
#1 - Accountability. This has proven to be a very beneficial time for me. If nothing else, it lets me get stuff off my chest that shouldn't be on it in the first place. At times it's a confessional. At others it's an encouragement session. My buddy Dave and I meet every Second Saturday at Timmy Ho's for an hour and a half just to talk. Some people like to have questions that they run through but I've never been very good at the formalities. We just let the conversation go where it needs to go and trust each other to be open and honest with the other. Wouldn't trade this for anything. Half the time we have nothing in particular we need to talk about but just the fact that there is someone there walking with you is a huge encouragement.
#2 - Mentoring. I've been meeting with my mentor for about 5 months I think. We meet once a month and it's the same thing, we just let the conversation go where it needs to. Usually I'm updating him on what's going on and I'm sure that as things start to get hot and heavy with the church that I'll be asking him for tons of advice. This guys name is also Dave and the funny thing is that he was my first principal. Our families parted ways for around 12 years as their family moved away but now we are back and living in the same city again. I think the key for a mentor is that they need to have been where you are now. I don't see a whole lot of value having someone speak into your life that hasn't been there. It's like a computer tech telling a farmer how to farm. Doesn't really make sense. But he's been there. He hasn't planted a church but he's been in one for 12 years where he was the primary leader and had to make a lot of tough decisions. We think alot alike, which I'm not sure is a positive or a negative but so far it's working out great.
#3 - Coaching. This could be quite similar to mentoring for some. I guess it depends on the caliber of your mentor. Now I'm not downplaying my mentors wisdom and what he says about stuff, but he's not trained as a coach. He's more of a sounding board and speaking from experience kind of guy. My coach is a trained professional. At times it seems like more of a professional relationship rather than a personal, laid back conversation but the payoff has been huge. The main way it's benefited me is he has helped me organize my thoughts and develop strategy for seeing processes started. He doesn't tell me how to do, he guides me to the point of me coming up with the solution and him validating it. It's hard at times cause my brain doesn't totally think like this. For instance, I'm just in the dreaming phase of starting up small groups in January and I have no clue where to start. I know what to do but there are so many stinking options of how to do them that it's really hard to know what's right for us. He guided me through the whole process and now I've got a clear understanding of what I need to do and the step that will help me launch these on time. I think coaching is generally quite expensive. I wouldn't know right now because I'm being given this as a gift for right now. We'll see what happens in the new year.
As far as I'm concerned, the first two are absolutely vital. Try walking alone and the sad thing is that we'll probably be watching you fall flat on your face. We aren't meant to walk alone. We aren't designed to know it all. We aren't expected to be strong enough to make it one our own. Surrounding myself with people that are cheering me on to becoming the person that I was originally intended to be could be the best decision that I've ever decided to make.
can you define "noob"? is that short for nob or boob and what is the correllary? just need some mentoring bro... hee hee!
Posted by
brandermcdonald |
8:54 AM
Noob = Newbie = Green = Inexeperiened = Rookie
Posted by
Dan Richardson |
3:52 PM