Leadership Community at River

Terry recasts the vision for the reality that our Beliefs shape our values which in turn inform our behaviors. He gave us an overview of group life and then the staff led the time through the different components of group life: Meetings, Mission, Member Care, and Mentoring.

Terry talked about the meaning of being well-differentiated as a leader and took the leaders through some exercises to help people think about the importance of being well-differentiated. The well-differentiated leader is someone who cares and is connected but it not controlled by the drama and emotions of others.

Jim, Brenda, and Rodney talk with group leaders about mentoring threats and opportunities.

Aaron Lewis presented a theology on How People Change.

Terry talking about the importance of seeing people as whole persons. We are spiritual / physical hybrids. A group leader’s responsibility is in seeing people with the whole person in mind. The physical, spiritual, mental and relational are all facets of a persons life.

Terry spoke about Spiritual Leadership using stories from personal experience and instruction from Hebrews 10.

As a church we just finished going through the book of 2 Timothy. Terry took a few minutes to highlight a few key lesson from group life from our time in 2 Timothy.

  First Saturday in February, 7:45 in the morning…I had left home about 5 to drive to Topeka. I wasn't feeling exceptionally encouraged…I wasn't feeling much of anything except tired. The person running the meeting looked at me and asked, “Chaplain, have anything for us?” I looked around the room of about 30 people…wearing masks…hard to discern what was on their minds. My mind quickly scrolled through some thoughts: -First of course… I'm tired and don't really feel like saying...

Terry discusses the importance of viewing member care in group life as a spectrum. The spectrum goes from Necessary  to Nice. Necessary are those physical, emotional, spiritual or relational needs in member’s lives where the need exceeds current capacity. Everyone is called to carry their own load so we can’t eliminate every burden, nor should we but at times people need help when the burden is to heavy to carry alone. At the nice end of the spectrum are those...

Rodney talks about Mission being the forgotten M of group life. Meetings are on the calendar and member care faces us at every meeting, but mission can be forgotten. Our role as leaders is to equip our people and to remind our members to engage in mission. Trace shared about how he is working in Christian Challenge to keep Mission on the forefront. Possible Mission Goals for Your Group Pray regularly for the lost in group Gospel conversation scoreboard Memorize...

Brenda encourages group leaders to remember the importance of member care in group but to not fall into the trap that member care is one size fits all. Individuals in your group feel love and cared for in different ways. Member care can look differently from group to group. Possible Member Care Goals for Group Get to know one another better – families, concerns, praises, etc. Serve one another in times of need. (Life events – babies, weddings, death, job...

Jim encourages leaders to think about the different components of their meetings. Meetings are important. They are the squeaky wheel of group life which means they get lots of attention and rightfully so because if you don’t meet you don’t have a group. The tension that is important is learning to get meetings the appropriate attention but not let them dominate group life. Possible Goals for Meetings Manage Time (Start / End & Pray / Share) Delegate responsibility Get members...

Brenda introduced a model for mentoring called the grow model. It is an acrostic that can help direct in a mentoring relationship or direct a leader as they are seeking to grow in a certain area. G.R.O.W. What is your FOCUS? Goal: Where do you want to go? What do you want to achieve? Why is it important? Reality (Current Reality): Where are you now? Obstacles/Options: What prevents moving towards goal? How can you move through or past the obstacle?...

Terry shares about the purpose and vision of group life and reminds leaders to pursue faithfulness to their calling to lead their groups.

Terry shared several thoughts about leading people through the transitions ahead.

Terry talks about leading through times of crisis.

Terry talks about leading through times of crisis and the importance of being well-differentiated. Hand – Out Related to the teaching.  

[audio src=https://riverleaders.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/2019-Leadership-Kick-Off.mp3] Terry introduced a Roadmap for Group Life and for Leadership Community at River. After the introduction he discussed 5 questions related to a leaders essential responsibility to mentor potential leaders.

Terry talks about small groups as a strategy for dealing with despair.

[audio src=https://www.rivercc.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Leadership-Community-2-10.mp3] At this Leadership Community, Terry Talked about the Value of Small Groups.

[audio src=https://www.rivercc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Having-Appropriate-Boundaries.mp3] Terry talks about the importance of boundaries in life and ministry and how to pursue appropriate boundaries.

Terry talks about the importance of boundaries in life and ministry and how to pursue appropriate boundaries.

Terry talks about the shaping values of River called the Heart Attitudes and the importance of leaders practicing these values in our church.

[audio src="https://www.rivercc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Leadership-Community-3_4_18.mp3"] Terry talks briefly about spiritual warfare and Rodney talks about developing people as followers of Jesus.

Terry talks briefly about spiritual warfare and Rodney talks about developing people as followers of Jesus.

[audio src="https://www.rivercc.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Developing-a-Missional-Lifestyle.mp3"] At Leadership Community we re-visited the practices in Evangelism that we introduced last year. We focused on our role in being faithful and trusting God.

At Leadership Community we re-visited the practices in Evangelism that we introduced last year. We focused on our role in being faithful and trusting God.

[audio src=https://www.rivercc.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Facilitating-Change.mp3] Risa instructed leaders again on Motivational Interviewing and Stages of Change to help group leaders gain skill in helping others close the gap in their lives.

Risa instructed leaders again on Motivational Interviewing and Stages of Change to help group leaders gain skill in helping others close the gap in their lives.

[audio src=https://www.rivercc.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Leadership-Your-Gift-and-Responsibility.mp3] Terry spoke at the Leader's retreat from 1 Peter 4:8-10. Calling leaders to see their opportunity to lead as both a gift and a responsibility.

Terry spoke at the Leader's retreat from 1 Peter 4:8-10. Calling leaders to see their opportunity to lead as both a gift and a responsibility.

[audio src=https://www.rivercc.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Leadership-Community-4-30-17.mp3] Terry discussed how to talk about and help people handle issues of Marriage, Remarriage and Divorce in your groups from a biblical perspective.

Terry discusses Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage. We also had a discussion regarding best practice in accountability

Rodney talks about the small group framework at River.

[audio src=https://www.rivercc.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/LC-11-6-16-Helping-People-False-Cause.mp3] At Leadership Community, Terry talked about a way to help people. You as a leader can help them by helping them see "False Causes" of the difficulties in their lives.

[audio src="https://www.rivercc.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/LC-11-06-16-What-to-Do-with-OT.mp3"] At this Leadership Community, Terry discusses how to understand the Theology of the OT to help group members in their understanding of the Bible and how the Bible applies to their lives.

Terry gave some instruction on helping people in small groups especially related to identifying false cause and the importance of self-control

[audio src=https://www.rivercc.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/92516-leadership-community.mp3] Rodney discusses principles that our groups and group members can be faithful too if we want to be more faithful in Outreach.

[audio src="https://www.rivercc.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/LC-2016-08-27stages-of-change.mp3"] Risa Rehmert talks about the Stages of Change that people progress through when they are trying to "add" a new behavior and "remove" an old behavior from their lives.

[audio src=https://www.rivercc.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/basics-of-counseling.mp3] James Smith discusses the Basics of Counseling of at River Small Group Leaders Retreat August 27th, 2016