SG² Steve Gladen on Small Groups

Steve Gladen, Global Small Groups Pastor at Saddleback Church, pulls from his 20+ years of small group ministry experience to encourage and equip listeners to lead healthier, growing and more effective small group ministries. In this episode, Steve is joined by co-host Derek and special guest Christina Dawson to talk about 7 ways CRM can Improve Discipleship. In this episode we break down the following: 

• High Level Perspective
• Personalized Service
• Central Repository of Information, accessible and sharable
• Data Insights
• Time is Our Most Precious Commodity
• Continual Improvement – adapt or die
• Soul Food – nurturing relationships that foster growth and positive impact

SHOW NOTES:

1. High Level Perspective:

 - We're all in sales - it's just a question of "what's the product?"

  - Clear vision & benefit statement - don't make people guess

  - Concise, positive, fun, high energy, memorable

Everyone's favorite subject: Themselves!! The more you know about them, the more impactful & engaging you will be.

•  God's tool to move them beyond themselves-Small Groups (our product) - to fill the spiritual void they have from a broken relationship with God. Small Groups bring back (read Acts 2:42-47) community, Biblical knowledge, personal development (Discipleship), serving, evangelism and worship

2. Personalized Service

•   Our world demands real time interaction with deep personalization
•   Personalization = You Care / You Understand Me = Credibility
•   Credibility is critical in a noisy, misguided world

3. Central Repository of Information, accessible and sharable

•   A good memory is great but it isn't transferable or scalable (institutional Knowledge)
•   One source of information for all team members to access
•   Requires thoughtfulness on the required fields vs. optional fields
• Start small, think in terms of the bare essentials or Minimum Viable Product
• Too Much Information or Layout / Architecture = can drown the initiative
• Shared information shows competence, increases confidence & greatly improves customer experiences

4. Data Insights

• Ability to spot trends - very powerful in driving outcomes
• Move from reactive to proactive - address issues earlier 
• Cohorts & Patterns - ability to compare outcomes & experiences over time
• Increase personalization and value to customers / people
• Competitive advantage - data can bring knowledge & knowledge is gold

5. Time is Our Most Precious Commodity

•  Use it wisely & maximize impact
•  Don't waste other people's time - they will reward you through avoidance
•  Learn through data analysis how to improve time management - adjust regularly
•  Serve people with the method they prefer, it's not about what you want or like
•  Focus on building the perfect day & week (activities done every day / week)
   Don't let things slip - if a day is subpar, make it up the following day

6. Continual Improvement - adapt or die

•  Static approaches die no matter how great they are
•  The world is changing, people are changing and the approach has to stay current Data analysis will spot trends, help reveal required adjustments and highlight areas of application (who or where I need to apply the adjustments)

7. Soul Food - nurturing relationships that foster growth and positive impact

•  People are attracted to ideas & other people that have a positive impact on them
•  Align the interaction to provide value / positive impact with every touch
•  Feedback is essential and needs to be regular from a diverse group
•  Try to score or grade user experience or engagement - If you don't measure it, it's very difficult to monitor performance and spot changes (good or bad)

Listen is as we go back to February 2021 and the 3 Areas for Your Groups to Shine in Today’s Culture. We still find that this will be relevant in your group's setting today!

7 Civilities 

1. Listen with your eyes (don’t roll your eyes) acknowledge their view
2. Sleep and hungry—know the right time
3. Social media news vs. Good news
4. Neither side may trivialize or dismiss the concerns of the other.
5. Neither side should define the “other” according to one single characteristic or identity marker.
6. Both sides should aim to help each other understand their own experience and perspective using a type of speech (words and tone) that can be heard by the other.
7. Both sides should accept the fundamental ground rule of life in a free society: the essence of liberty is the right to be different and to act wrongly in the eyes of others—you will need to agree to disagree.

Listen in as Pastor Rick Warren talks about the coming trends in small group ministries. This was from our Lobby 2019 Gathering and is still relevant today! Part 2 next week!

Goal: To know how to set and be comfortable having coffee/follow ups with Small Group leaders.
Why: We want you to be totally comfortable contacting and meeting with small group leaders.
It is important to remember that these folks are just like you. They have goals, fears, hurts, insecurities, families, family problems, health concerns and everything else you can imagine.

Be confident - Biblical basics:

• God owns everything, and I am His manager. (Ps. 24:1, Matt. 25:14-30)
• You are their pastor.
• You are responsible for their health (2 Cor 5:10)

Know the landscape:

These are financial, spiritual and emotional issues.

• Isolation, spiritual void
• Materialism, 1/3 of those earning over $250k per year live paycheck to paycheck.
• Business, environment setting their priorities

Prepare Yourself:

Am I living out biblical health in my own life? Do you buy what you sell?

• 5 purposes
• Active in my group balancing the purposes
• Have YOUR own story ready to share.

Where do you start:

1. Review your group list:
   1. You may already know some of your SGL as they are very involved as volunteers, but you may have had no idea who they are. Many of these folks are not well connected, don’t attend a lot of events and may not even be on your radar.
   2. Start small and grow into the list
   3. How many engagements can you do?
2. Pick some names to begin and learn as much as you can before you meet:
   1. Check HC and know family names, ministries, time at Saddleback
   2. Zillow their address for where and how they live
   3. Google them and their company
   4. Check LinkedIn, Facebook, IG etc.
3. Make the invitation:
   1. If you know them, simply call, text, or email that you would love to grab a cup of coffee when it is convenient for them. If they ask what you want, simply say I just want to spend time with you and get to know you better. Another line I use is, I like to invest my time with the folks who are investing in our church.

      If you don’t know them, we have found that having an assistant set up the meeting works very well. They can call and simply say the Pastor Dave would like to see if you would get together with him for a cup of coffee. Are you available on the 23rd? They almost always ask, what does he want or why does he want to meet with us? The simplest answer is usually the best. Pastor Dave loves to meet with our members, and he gives me a list to contact, and you are on that list. This seems to take the edge off and I have never had a no.

   2. Pick a place close to them, not you. They may suggest it, or you can, based on their home/work geography. Pick a time most convenient for them.
   3. While I meet mostly with men, very often they ask to bring their wives which is perfect. Obviously if you are just meeting with a woman, you need to bring someone else with you such as your 101 or worship pastor, someone mature in their faith as well and comfortable in this environment.
   4. I often send a text confirming the time and place
   5. Meet them and be on time!! (Early is even better)
   6. Relax and enjoy the conversation: Don’t be intimidated, pretend you’ve been in the end zone
      before!
   7. They want to be treated like regular people and have a lot of the same problems and issues,
      plus some that others don’t have. There is no need to make it awkward, in fact, start with
      their story.
   8. Share the vision for the church, Groups and your excitement and enthusiasm will be
      contagious.
   9. We do not need to ask for anything! We just need to Pastor people.
4. Initiating Conversations, Discipling is relational, be their Pastor.
   1. Here are some easy open-ended questions:
      1. Tell me your story.
      2. How did you come to Saddleback?
      3. Tell me about your family?
      4. Tell me about your work/company?
      5. What are your passions, hobbies, dreams?
      6. How is God growing and stretching you?
      7. Which areas of your life are easiest to put God first, and which are hardest?
      8. What do you think God is working on in your life?
   2. Wrap up questions:
      1. Is there anything we can be doing better at Saddleback to support you and your
         family?
      2. How can I be praying for you?
5. Offer to pay – but 9 out of 10 times, the member will treat you.
6. Always send a follow up text or note thanking them for their time and for treating you to coffee/breakfast and telling them that you will be praying for what ever they asked for prayers for.
7. Thank them for making an earthly and eternal difference.
8. A couple Don’ts:
   1. If they are group leaders with means, never ask for anything for yourself. 
   2. Don’t forget to follow up on anything they mentioned. Something you said you would send them or someone you promised to introduce them to.
   3. Don’t make a commitment that you may not be able to keep such as get Andy to attend
      their kid’s 1st birthday party.
   4. Don’t start on your agenda (hard data) but their agenda (soft data)

In this episode, Steve Gladen breaks down 5 areas where ministry leaders can re-imagine how they do coaching for their groups ministry. The following is what will specifically be covered in this show:

History of Coaching

• Staff or volunteers
• Serve in one Help in another
• Saddleback’s history—building upon, keeping best of…
  • 1.0 version (1998)
    • 1:5—I could recruit faster than our growth
  • 2.0 version (2005)—why it changed, it was broken
    • 1:25 paid
    • Introduced not equal care, but strategic care
    • 4 Buckets and Reactive/pro active
    • Name changed from Coaches to CL’s because of paradigm shift
    • Care 70% Administration, training, connecting 30%,
    • Get in for right reason, but get out for right reason
    • CL Retreats
  • 3.0 Version (2009)—why it changed, it couldn’t scale financially
    • 1:25 volunteered, above same
    • Introduced any span of care a CL could do
  • 4.0 Version (2014) why it changed, they weren’t sure what to do
    • Introduced the “Starbuck’s” green apron more developmental
    • FRIEND
    • LEADER
    • COACH
    • Hard and Soft data collection
    • Skip Level, Trust but Verify
  • 5.0 Version (2017) why it changed, we discovered other factors not giving maximum alignment
    • Introduced the Village concept
    • Alignment
  • 6.0 Version (2021) why it changed, discovered different types of CL’s
    • HOST to Leader to CL to Minister
    • CL Course
    • Training Modules
    • Track training (next gen beyond Starbuck’s green apron)

 5 Areas to Reimagine Coaching

•  The Ethos (the environment the CL lives in)
  • the family system (w/o parents it is risky)
  • How’s the family (you, coaches and Group leaders)
  • Do you know what you are producing—the end in mind
• The Reason (for the CL)
  • Directive Disciple MAKING—management and guidance, Space flight PSGWP page 201
  • Tom Landry quote
  • Baseline, Know the health metrics HA & GHA
  • How will you give course corrections (ideas, curriculum, encouragement, etc.)
• The Process (finding CL’s)
  • The Group Leader pathway HOST to Leader to CL (P3) to Minister
  • Competency and Capacity
  • Retreats
  • Introductory Course
• The Pathway (growing the CL)
  • The Coach engagement pathway to the HOST; FRIEND—LEADER—COACH
  • The Coach’s pathway of growth for them
    • SGP guidance
    • Modules Training
    • Course(s)
    • Retreats
• The Influences (that help the CL)…what I call the Village
  • Share the Village, who’s in helping? Who surrounds the Small Group speaking health?
  • People (primary)
    • Small Group Point Person
    • CL or Coach
    • Senior Pastor
• Processes (secondary)
  • Training Pathway for the leader
  • Tools (HA and GHA)
  • Training Pathway for the CL
  • Newsletter
  • Small Group Weekend Table connection
  • Small Group Website home page
  • Weekend services
  • Leader Retreats and SGH
  • Streaming content (curriculum and training)
  • Social Media
  • Testimonies
  • FAQ’s

Shownotes:

smallgroupnetwork.com/smallgroup

https://sb-web.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/saddleback.com/connect/smallgroups/9958-SmallGroupsCL-Booklet_Interior_Interactive_092101.pdf

From the Lobby Gathering in 2019, Pastor Rick Warren shares his heart on Small Groups and what is to come.

Steve Gladen, Global Small Groups Pastor at Saddleback Church, pulls from his 20+ years of small group ministry experience to encourage and equip listeners to lead healthier, growing and more effective small group ministries. In this episode, Steve is joined by co-host Derek and special guest Christina Dawson (Life Groups Director at the Woodlands Church in Texas to talk about 7 ways data can help you and your small group ministry. In this episode we discuss:

• How accurate data is critical
• How the number one rule with data is use it yourself 
• How do diligence with data isn’t enough
• Sales commission structure & how it works
• How setting achievable exceptions is a must
• How group health & corporate training are essential
• What to do before you meet your people

Christina Dawson Bio:

Christina loves to serve people and has been doing so professionally for 19 years. After
graduating from high school she took on numerous sales roles in both restaurant and
retail settings. It was here that she learned the necessities of user experience and
customer engagement.
In 2012, while working in a furniture store, one of her customers, who happened to be
the CEO of a Canadian manufacturing company, was so impressed with her service, he
hired her as as his Executive Assistant. While taking on numerous roles within the
company, Christina discovered a strong passion for workforce development.
In the spring of 2014, she was selected to manage and develop a two-year pilot
workforce program by the Bowling Green Kentucky Area Chamber of Commerce.
After completing her contract, she continued her mission for economic development by
starting her own workforce communications and marketing firm, Southern Kentucky Jobs.
Worldly success in entrepreneurship left her exhausted and disappointed.
In early 2020, the Lord miraculously gave Christina the opportunity to serve overseas.
She sold everything she had and traveled across the globe where she would contribute
to the growth and development of a children's hospital. After living, working, and sharing
Jesus with orphans in rural Africa, Christina has new eyes and a grateful heart.
A Kentucky native, Christina currently resides in Houston, Texas, where she is serving the
Life Groups Team at Woodlands Church. She continues to work as a company culture
consultant in the manufacturing industry.

CRM & UX Outline

Steve Gladen and James Browning look at the history of the small group network and what things that are currently happening that could make a big difference for you or your ministry.