Regional Cohort GatheringsWed Sept 11, 11:00am - 2:30pm |NY/NJ CohortThu Sept 12, 11:00am - 2:30pm |New England CohortLive Videocast from New England |Mid-Atlantic Cohort

Contact & Quick Infolinks are clickable in the blog post and downloadable pdf at www.jasoncondon.comContact & Quick Infolinks are clickable in the blog post and downloadable pdf at www.jasoncondon.com

Jason R. CondonAssociate Superintendent & Director of Church Planting,East Coast Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church• jasonrcondon@gmail.com• (860) 479-2020• www.jasoncondon.com

(Cohort handouts and resources posted here)• facebook.com/jasoncondon• eastcoastconf.org• covchurch.org

Quick-Start Guide to ECConf Church Planting• "Understanding Church Planting on the East Coast

Conference" (or www.jasoncondon.com/2012/04/handout-understanding-church-planting.html) - seminar handout introducing concepts & strategy

• "What Are We Looking For in A Church Planter?" (or bit.ly/Qfbiue ) - an overview of what we value in a church planter and his or her ministry

• "Church Planter Identification Process" (or bit.ly/TfnyKr) - an overview of how we assess church planters and pursue church planting within the East Coast Conference and the Covenant

Main Topics | Cohort Discipleship Approaches + The Influencer Model©

Welcome!Purpose: “ encourage, equip, and multiply church planters for a sustaining church planting movement”

• Open in Prayer

• Super-Quick Intros: • your name

• ministry setting

• why you’re here today

• Lunch: we’ll grab lunch whenever it’s ready or convenient

Regional Cohort Gatherings | NY/NJ • Greater Boston/New England • Mid-Atlantic Sept 2013 | page 1 of 8

Examples from the FieldVarious Examples | Discipleship Strategies Amongst ECConf PlantsGathered Resources | http://goo.gl/UJW2Rx

• this online shared folder is where we’ll host various resources and materials from this Cohort “Discipleship Series”

• we’ll add to the folder as the series continues, so continue sending stuff our way!

Video Broadcast | youtu.be/y9SEgNaSI0I• Bootleg Video from our Greater Boston/New England Cohort Gathering

• Broadcast and recorded live, visit link to watch

Reference | “Normal & Natural Pathways” Worksheet• “In your church, what are Normal and Natural Pathways to Make Disciples?”• full document for Normal & Natural Pathways at: www.bit.ly/normalnaturalpathways

Presentations | Various ECConf Church PlantersNotes:

Resources QR Code

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High-Level Leadership SkillsInfluence | Leading Change Even When Change is Extremely Difficultshort url to book outline and notes: www.bit.ly/influencernotes

• “An Influencer motivates and enables others to change”• what most of us lack is not the courage to change things, but the skill to do so

Two Questions Everyone Asks Before They'll Change• 1st: “Is it worth doing?” (if not, why waste the effort?)• 2nd: “Can I do this thing?” (if not, why even try?)• Best-kept secret: over past half century a handful of behavioral science theorists and

practitioners have discovered the power to change just about anything

Six Sources of InfluenceTwo Domains: Motivation & AbilityThree Categories: Personal, Social, & Structural

• Each reflect separate and highly developed bodies of literature: psychology, sociology, and organizational theory

• Personal Motivation & Ability relate to sources of influence within an individual that determine their behavioral choices

• Social Motivation & Ability relate to how other people affect an individual’s choices and behavior

• Structural Motivation & Ability encompass the role of nonhuman factors, such as compensation, systems, space, and technology

Influencer Model | Use 6 Sources ⇆ Find Vital Behaviors ⇆ Clarify Measurable Results• simple solutions for complex problems almost never work, yet people bet on single-source

strategies all the time. Those who succeed where others routinely fail overdetermine success - they bring more than the minimum influence strategies to bear and leave nothing to chance

• A few behaviors can drive a lot of change; enormous influence comes from focusing on just a few vital behaviors. Influence geniuses focus on behaviors

• Then make sure results are clarified and measurable; if it can’t be tested, it doesn't really exist

Regional Cohort Gatherings | NY/NJ • Greater Boston/New England • Mid-Atlantic Sept 2013 | page 3 of 8

Motivation Ability

Personal1. Make the

Undesirable Desirable

2. Over-Invest in Skill Building(Surpass Your Limits)

Social 3. Harness Peer Pressure

4. Find Strengthin Numbers

Structural5. Design Rewards

and Demand Accountability

6. Change the Environment

Scripture Exercise | Discipleship-Related Excerpts from the Book of ActsActs 2:1-12, 41-43 (NIV)

• 1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

• 5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” 12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”

• 41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.

Acts 5:42 (NIV) • Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good

news that Jesus is the Messiah.

Note the Various “Sources of Influence” in these Passages:

Motivation Ability

Personal

1. Make the Undesirable Desirable 2. Over-Invest in Skill Building (Surpass Your Limits)

Social

3. Harness Peer Pressure 4. Find Strength in Numbers

Structural

5. Design Rewards and Demand Accountability 6. Change the Environment

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Six Sources Strategy MatrixCompanion Article: How to 10x Your Influence.pdf (http://goo.gl/sXbJ5q)

Source 1: PERSONAL MOTIVATIONQuestions to Ask

• In a room by themselves would employees want to engage in the behavior?

• Do they hate it or enjoy it?• Do they find meaning in it?• Does it fit into their sense of who they are or want to be?

Strategies• Identified unpleasant, noxious, or disagreeable aspects of the

change and found ways to either eliminate them or make them more pleasant

• Found ways to connect the need for change with people’s core values—for example, had people meet with the individuals who would benefit from the change

• Motivated people by creating a mission and purpose about the need for change

• Took great pains to get people’s personal buy-in rather than issue mandates

Source 2: PERSONAL ABILITYQuestions to Ask

• Do employees have the knowledge, skills, and strength to be able to do the right thing?

• Can they handle the toughest challenges they will face?

Strategies• Gave people guided practice and immediate feedback until

they were sure they could engage in the new behaviors in the toughest of circumstances

• Designed learning experiences to help people successfully manage any emotional, and interpersonal hurdles they’d face in changing their behavior

• Had people participate in real-time drills or simulations that tested whether they could perform as required under challenging circumstances

Source 3: SOCIAL MOTIVATIONQuestions to Ask

• Are other people encouraging the right behavior or discouraging the wrong behavior?

• Are people others respect modeling the right behaviors at the right time?

• Do people have good relationships with those who are trying to influence them positively?

Strategies• Enlisted the support of organizational opinion leaders to

serve as role models, teachers, and supporters of change• Had all members of management teach, model, and coach

people toward new behavior• Identified people who would be most concerned about

change, and involved them early• Made it clear to everyone that these behavioral changes were

something top management strongly supported and modeled

Source 4: SOCIAL ABILITYQuestions to Ask

• Do others provide the help, information, and resources required — particularly at critical times?

Strategies• Identified the toughest obstacles to change and made sure

people had others to support them whenever they faced these obstacles

• Used mentors or coaches to provide just-in-time assistance to overcome these obstacles

• Created “safe” ways for people to get help without feeling embarrassed

• Provided everyone with the authority, information and resources needed to step up to new behaviors as easily as possible

Source 5: STRUCTURAL MOTIVATIONQuestions to Ask

• Are there rewards–pay, promotions, performance reviews, perks?• Are there costs?• Do rewards encourage the right behaviors and costs discourage

the wrong ones?

Strategies• Adjusted formal rewards to ensure people had incentives to

adopt the new behaviors• Made sure people had “skin in the game” by tracking their use of new

behaviors & linking it to rewards & punishments they cared about• Used a “carrot and stick” approach to make sure people knew the

organization was serious about demanding change• Made sure everyone understood that even the most senior

managers would be held accountable if they failed to support these changes—there were no exceptions

Source 6: STRUCTURAL ABILITYQuestions to Ask

• Does the environment (tools, facilities, information, reports, proximity to others, policies, work processes, etc.) enable good behavior or bad behavior?

• Are there enough cues & reminders to help people stay on course?

Strategies• Reorganized workplaces to remove obstacles and make the

change convenient and easy• Provided new software, hardware, or other resources to make

the change simple and automatic• Used cues, regular communications, and metrics to keep the

need for change “top of mind” for everyone in the organization.• Created potent ways to give all levels of management feedback

about how successfully or unsuccessfully they were leading change

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Exercise | Application to Your Current Discipleship StrategySix Sources (one on each giant sheet of paper)Place Post-It Notes with brief blurb...

• . GREEN : Note what you’re doing that’s positively influencing discipleship (within that “source”)

• . BLUE : Note what you want to add to help influence better discipleship behaviors (whether you’ve already been thinking and planning, or based on today’s discussions)

• . RED : Note what you want to remove because it’s influencing the wrong behavior

Discuss

On Your Own | Map Your Church’s “Normal & Natural Pathways” for DiscipleshipMotivation Ability

Personal

1. Make the Undesirable Desirable 2. Over-Invest in Skill Building (Surpass Your Limits)

Social

3. Harness Peer Pressure 4. Find Strength in Numbers

Structural

5. Design Rewards and Demand Accountability 6. Change the Environment

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Additional Notes:

House-KeepingChurch Plant “Leadership Team” Contacts

• ECConf Office needs contact info for 2-3 additional leaders at church plant (must include some lay-people)

• for higher-level communication of reporting policies, annual review, etc.

Monthly Church Planter Reports• Review & Updates

• SAMPLE (actual Report Database is private and confidential)

• Example Report Form: bit.ly/1a29aD5• Example Database Created (Google Spreadsheet): bit.ly/1a2dgLr

ECConf 2014 Church Planter Retreat?• Can’t use Exponential 2014 because of conflict with ECConf Annual Meeting

• June 2014 in Virginia? Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Quebec?

• other (better) dates and locations?

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Mark Your CalendarComing Events | subscribe now at eastcoastconf.org/calendarOCTNO Cohort GatheringsCOMS Interviews

• Tue Oct 16 – Wed Oct 17, 2 hours in Berlin CT• Committee on Ministerial Standing (COMS) is

necessary for entering credentialing process, 3 year check-ins, final-prep for ordination

Fall Ministerial Retreat (Ashram)• All Church Planters expected to attend• Sun Oct 27 (Evening) – Wed Oct 30 (Morning)• Pilgrim Pines, Swanzey NH, pilgrimpines.org

NOVChurch Planter Cohort Gatherings:

• NY/NJ Metro CohortWed Nov 20, 11:00am-2:30pmLocation: Hope House of Metro Hope Church71 E. 119th Street, New York, NY 10035

• Greater Boston/New England CohortThu Nov 21, 11:00am-2:30pm (Location TBD

• Mid-Atlantic: Video Conference or TBD

DECNO Cohort GatheringsCoaches Training

• Tue Dec 3 – Thu Dec 5• Dallas TX

JANNO Cohort GatheringsChurch Planter Training Intensive

• Tue Jan 14, 6pm – Sun Jan 19, 12pm, New Orleans• for new Covenant Church Planters pre-Launch

Covenant Midwinter• Chicago, Jan 27-31, Mon-Fri• covchurch.org/midwinter

Full Calendar for East Coast Conference • Visit www.eastcoastconf.org/calendar,

subscribe through Google Cal, iCal, or other app• Entries labeled “Church Planting” are specifically for

church planters, rest for Covenant pastors in general

FEBChurch Planter Cohort Gatherings (Tentative):

• NY/NJ Metro CohortWed Feb 19, 11:00am-2:30pm (Location TBD)

• Greater Boston/New England CohortThu Feb 20, 11:00am-2:30pm (Location TBD

• Mid-Atlantic: Video Conference or TBD

Variation Idea: “Full Day” Cohort Gathering• perhaps just hold in Feb and take off March• scheduled blocks for those who can’t/don’t need all

MARCHMarch 1 Deadline: Spring COMS Paperwork

• Contact Alicia: office@eastcoastconf.org• (See Oct “COMS Interviews” for related details)

Assessment Center (Location TBD)• Wed March 12, 7:30pm - Sat March 15, 12pm• Invitation Only: for church planter candidates

sufficiently advancing in assessment process

Church Planter Cohort Gatherings:• NY/NJ Metro Cohort

Wed Mar 26, 11:00am-2:30pm (Location TBD)• Greater Boston/New England Cohort

Thu Mar 27, 11:00am-2:30pm (Location TBD• Mid-Atlantic: Video Conference or TBD

APRILNo Regular Gathering, Instead Special...ECConf Annual Meeting

• Wed April 30: All-Cohorts GatheringPre-Annual Mtg, at Jason’s in Columbia CT

• Thu-Sat, May 1-3: ECConf Annual Mtg Trinity Covenant Church, Manchester CT

• All Church Planters expected to attend

MAYChurch Planter Cohort Gatherings:

• NY/NJ Metro CohortWed May 21, 11:00am-2:30pm (Location TBD)

• Greater Boston/New England CohortThu May 22, 11:00am-2:30pm (Location TBD)

• Mid-Atlantic: Video Conference or TBD

DISCUSS: Retreat Options?Regional Cohort Gatherings | NY/NJ • Greater Boston/New England • Mid-Atlantic Sept 2013 | page 8 of 8