Navigate Conference: Susquehanna Conference UMC, August 22-24, 2019

Navigate 2019 is an equipping event offered by the Susquehanna Conference (UMC in Central Pennsylvania) and the congregational developers of the Northeastern Jurisdiction of the UMC to help current and future leaders impact their congregations and communities for Jesus Christ. I taught 4 workshops.

Busting Through Growth Barriers: Hitting an attendance and participation ceiling?  Bust through the barrier by creating adaptive ministries and leadership.  Learn how to right-size your congregation’s structures and its expectations for the role of pastor.

• Church Size Chart B/W (11x17 PDF)

• Church Size Chart in Color (11x17 PDF)

• Coaching Questions (PDF)

• 2016 blog post from Taylor Burton Edwards, “Three P’s and Church Size in Worship” from Discipleship Ministries

Second Chair Leadership: Calling all second chair leaders: Associate Pastors, Ministry Directors, Executive Pastors, and Administrators (and senior pastors working with associates for the first time)!  Strong second chair leadership can bring fruitfulness and missional impact into a ministry or congregation, and effective second chair leadership requires enormous skill and acumen.

Reclaiming the Role of Lay Leadership: While the early church and the Methodist movement were primarily lay-led, our modern church leadership models have emphasized the role of clergy and have devalued the ministry of the laity. This workshop offers practical and proven plans to help clergy and laity partner together again to spread the Gospel in a new day and age!  Learn how intentionality in relationships, discipleship, missions, and leadership formation will enable your congregation to make a God-sized IMPACT in your community mission field! 

• Link to free IMPACT! book resources and downloads

Aligning Leadership for Growth: Staffing…  Governance… Strategic Leadership… Leading in today’s church requires clarity of purpose and alignment of people, plans, and processes.  Alignment is stewardship! 

• Link to Roger Schwarz’s Harvard Business Review Article on designing question-based team agendas

2018 LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE AT THE CHURCH OF THE RESURRECTION

Pre-Institute Session: Small Church, Big Impact

Most congregations in the nation have a weekly worship attendance under 150.  This workshop will assist you in adapting the BIG experience of the Church of the Resurrection and the Leadership Institute to your smaller context.  In this Pre-Institute session, author and mission strategist Dr. Blake Bradford will join leaders of smaller churches in rethinking and right-sizing their ministry to make a God-sized impact in their communities. He will share models and practical steps for smaller congregations to simplify their decision-making, rethink community engagement, be intentional about discipleship formation, empower laity, and strategically utilize pastoral leadership. 

Institute Workshop: IMPACT!: Reclaiming the Calling of Lay Ministry

While the early church and the Methodist movement were primarily lay-led, our modern church leadership models have emphasized the role of clergy and have devalued the ministry of the laity. In this workshop, Dr. Blake Bradford, co-author of IMPACT! with Kay Kotan, offers practical and proven plans to help clergy and laity partner together again to spread the Gospel in a new day and age!  Learn how intentionality in relationships, discipleship, missions, and leadership formation will enable your congregation to make a God-sized IMPACT in your community mission field! 

ADAPTING COR LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLES FOR THE SMALL CHURCH

2017 LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE AT THE CHURCH OF THE RESURRECTION

SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

Blake facilitated a gathering to assist leaders of smaller churches (Average Worship Attendance under 100) in adapting what they experienced at COR for their local church context.

The Center for Vitality also holds follow-up Team Action Planning sessions for attendees to the Leadership Institute.  Download the Fall Team Planning Workbook at this link.

2016 GBHEM Quadrennial BOM Training:

BOM LEADERSHIP IN THE ANNUAL CONFERENCE: RECRUITING, DEVELOPING, AND CREDENTIALING THE LEADERS YOU NEED

QUADRENNIAL TRAINING FOR BOARDS OF ORDAINED MINISTRY

OCTOBER 5, 2016, IN CHICAGO

I led a Plenary Session of teaching and coaching at the GBHEM's Quadrennial Training for Boards of Ordained Ministry.  I divided the three hour session into three parts: Purpose, Partners, and Mission Field Impact, and each section included extended times for conference BOM teams to discuss focus questions (see distributed Handout below).

• Slideshow Presentation

• Distributed Handout

• Presentation Text (25 page PDF, unpublished and unedited transcript/manuscript)

BOM Residency Process in the Arkansas Conference

RESIDENCY IN MINISTRY PROCESS

BOARD OF ORDAINED MINISTRY

In 2009, I created a Residency In Ministry Process on behalf of the Arkansas Conference BOM, and this process became the focus on my research in pastoral formation for my doctoral project at SMU.  I have also presented my research with fellow members of the GBHEM's Advisory Group on the Provisional Residency Process.

 It is clear from studies about clergy life that early patterns and attitudes become basic for a person’s self-confidence and view of his/her ministry. A new clergyperson's way of understanding her vocation as a United Methodist Minister is created during this time, and research shows that it will last during the whole of her ministry. This is the time that that clergy set habits, styles, and inclinations for a lifetime of ministry. Through the Residency Committee, clergy mentors, and residency peer groups, the Board of Ordained Ministry (BOM) and Center for Vitality offer provisional ministers a curriculum that supports the practice and work of their ministry as servant leaders, to contemplate the grounding of ordained ministry, and understand the covenant ministry in the life of the Arkansas Conference of the UMC.

• Recent RIM Handbook

• 2014 Perkins School of Theology Doctoral Project: "Passing the Mantle"

• Residency Peer Group Meeting Planner

• Ministry Chart "3 Streams": Education, Credentialing, Appointment

• Residency Process Training Video 1: SPRC Introduction to RIM

• Residency Process Training Video 2: SPRC RIM Evaluation Process