The Rewards of Leadership

At Entrust, we realize people often volunteer to lead — even in the right position — but do so for the wrong reasons.

God often uses our character flaws to motivate us. Peter’s motive to lead led him to become a bold spokesman for and leader of the brand-new church, but he had to be refined by his humbling denial in

the face of Christ’s crucifixion. The apostle Paul’s motive to persecute Christians positioned him to become the prominent leader for the early church, but it also meant having to go through a humiliating episode of blindness and several years of retraining for his new calling.

Pure motives are rare this side of heaven. I set out to be a pastor for some very good reasons mixed with some that ranged from poor to embarrassing. God takes us, as potential leaders, to school and soon we are forced to face the fact that we need a complete overhaul and that, in reality, we have nothing God can’t get some other place.

The apostle Paul recounted a second humbling when he was given an unspecified “thorn in the flesh” that would keep him from getting conceited; in other words, to keep his motives in line.

It may not sound like it, but the greatest reward of leadership is being forced to frequently confront and admit your own shortcomings, constantly growing even as you are the catalyst for others to grow.

Our Savior modeled this before he was seated at the honored right hand of the father. Jesus told his ambitious disciples, who were pushing for prominence, “many who are first will be last,” but held out a righteous motive when he added, “and the last (shall be) first.” (Mark 10:31)

The best, most rewarding, reason to volunteer as a servant leader is that nothing serves your own best interests like relinquishing your self-interest in serving others.

© David G. Goodman

I found missing pieces for my group leadership puzzle

Some experiences defy explanation. This was one of those.

To understand how it transformed my approach to teaching, you would have to journey back to 1970. The average cost of a new house was a little over $23,000. Naomi Campbell and Tina Fey were newborns.

At that time, most churches would not even consider launching a small group program. Common wisdom was that such groups would see people wandering leaderless into all sorts of doctrinal error and congregational unrest. In some cases, those fears proved true. In other cases, small groups failed for lack of good models or skilled leadership.

In my own attempts at leading small groups, I had struggled. It was hit and miss. Sometimes my questions would lead to an exciting interchange but were just as likely to produce an awkward silence. I got better at coming up with successful questions, but I wasn’t certain why some questions worked and others did not.

That was when I stumbled into a seminar that changed my entire perspective on learning. As a pastoral intern who did just about anything the pastor asked me to do — youth ministry, teach adult Sunday School, even, in an emergency, direct the choir — I probably went because a friend was excited about it. All I knew was that the creator of Serendipity and a pioneer in small group leader training named Lyman Coleman was leading. So I went.

For two hours, I was transfixed. Lyman Coleman did not waste time explaining the dynamics of small groups. Instead he gave us a life-changing experience of them. Dividing the 50 participants into groups of six or eight, he led us through participative learning exercises. I found myself totally engaged, fascinated by how the scriptures came alive as I glimpsed the Spirit of God speaking to me through others in the group.

Never again would I be satisfied to lecture youth or adults without utilizing interactive methods. Coleman produced highly creative small group Bible study materials that I devoured as I experimented with the church youth group I led.

Later, I found innovative curriculum from Gospel Light for the adult classes I was assigned to teach. And I began to see that adults would come alive when they were engaged in “discovery learning.”

As I spent less time talking and more time facilitating learning activities, group members seemed to learn better and enjoy it more.

Not only was my teaching impacted, but also my preaching. Apt questions, the common element

between leading small groups and interactive teaching, proved applicable to preaching. Unless I could engage a congregation with questions they felt mattered, their minds naturally wandered to subjects more important to them. As I studied a scripture portion, I was constantly asking, “Why did God include this in scripture and how might it change my life and the lives of the congregation?” I found that coming to an understanding of that not only brought conviction and excitement to me as a preacher or teacher, but it also shaped my sermon introductions, leading me to raise questions that motivated the listeners to hear those life-changing answers for themselves.

At one point, as a senior pastor, I was asked to lead a sack lunch Bible study in the Chicago loop. This stimulating group of businesspeople was already motivated to hear an exposition of the scriptures, but the group became supercharged when one of them was able to make an apt interpretation or application of scriptural truth individually. It all came down to me asking questions that could focus their observation, interpretation and application of scripture.

By this time, small group theory was an integral part of American culture, yet most Bible study materials still focused on observing facts about the text which often were so obvious they were an insult to the group’s intelligence. It was not easy to emulate the discussion questions that really worked in the Serendipity materials and other creative curricula I had found.

Then I came to Entrust. They told me I had to take a course on small group leader training. Not wanting to appear arrogant, I went along with it, knowing it would be good for me to experience what everyone else did. To my surprise, I found a number of missing pieces in my own small group leadership puzzle.

I came to understand more clearly the educational theory behind group dynamics. I learned the skills of managing group interaction without domineering, I learned how to construct a lesson plan for scripture, books or visual media, how to deal with overly dominant or overly quiet participants, but most of all I learned how to craft the sort of questions that make a group come alive and allow God’s Spirit to move in a life-changing manner.

Lyman Coleman’s seminar in 1970 convinced me that life-on-life participative learning should be an essential part of the church’s transformational strategy. Yes, churches should continue preaching and teaching classes, but the small group, executed skillfully, is an essential component for transformation. There is a reason that when Jesus came to establish his church on earth, the majority of his leadership training utilized a small group process.

Entrust’s Facilitating Relational Learning is a unique mix of theory and practice. Whether you are a neophyte or experienced practitioner, by the end of this immersive week-long experience you will emerge a much-improved facilitator. I experienced the necessary failure and success that shaped all my subsequent facilitation. Building on many hours of advance preparation, the training itself includes both expert modeling of facilitation and learners practicing facilitation in a supportive environment. The group grapples with best practices and the reasoning behind them.

Now one of my favorite things to do is co-facilitate Entrust’s FRL modules. I love seeing beginning facilitators discover success and experienced leaders being surprised at how much they grow. Few things are more rewarding than seeing people equipped to train others in transformative, life-on-life facilitation.

by David Goodman, Entrust CEO

Questions for thought and discussion

• What aspect of this story most resonates with you, and why? 
• Why might it be that adults learn well through discussion? 
• What do you sense as a possible missing piece in your own leadership of small groups, or of group discussions? 
• Who could you consult for helpful input about your small group leadership skills?

Peace in the Storm

My Storm

In this boat

waves

crashing

water

filling

bailing …

not fast enough

can’t see

6 feet

let alone

the shore. 

Others in my boat

look

at me

like I know

what to do! 

Is he asleep?

I think

I should wake him

with my prayer …

desperate, I cry—

find him not at all

startled … not surprised.

His word calms

my storm, even while bailing,

his promises

ease my fears, even while searching

for the shore. 

“As I have done,

each time before,

I will take you,” he reminds me

“and all those

in this same boat

safely, lovingly

home.”

So … here I am

again

I think

seeking to awaken him

and all this while

only my faith was sleeping.

     ~ David Goodman, 2020 Pandemic

Navigating the Pandemic

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee … Isa. 26:3 

Personal Updates

We have peace, gratitude and things are well with our souls. Staying-at-home at least through April has us praying forward, still trusting in God’s timing. We pray for those struggling with deaths in their families, those with the virus, out of work, in financial crisis and we seek the Lord for our role in serving others near and far. A great opportunity for spiritual growth in us and through us and ministry we had not anticipated. We can become better people and a better Church.

Thank you all for your prayers for David! He is well, fully recovered and we wait patiently for the second kidney procedure because our surgeon says, “knowing what we know, no hurry.” Likely in the fall sometime.

Ministry Updates

Staff overseas trips were falling like dominos as one country after another closing their borders. In a few short weeks, it became every country and we were scrambling to get staff into the appropriate locations to ride out this period. Some Entrust staff are self-quarantined in highly contagious environments.

We also have a number of staff working in restricted-access countries that we do not name. We need to pray for these believers and church leaders who put themselves at risk for the cause of Christ.

Africa has us quite concerned! Dr. Fauci, in the president’s commission, mentioned the possibility of COVID-19 spreading aggressively in the lower hemisphere as it enters into winter. That could be tragic, with medical capabilities lagging way behind other regions. Dutch staff member Johan Boekhout writes:

“Since cyclone Idaï last year, our team of Africans have been working on a course Resillience: God’s Church Responding and Preparing Communities for Disaster. This is Africans writing for Africans. For them, the world is ‘capricious’ and many have turned from worshiping the spirit world to seeking protection from God. A church in action is very relevant to make our Lord visible!”

Our weekly office staff meeting is now completely online. Our morning prayer time (usually done standing in the office with approx. 10 people) now completely online, has grown, even doubled and many have “connected” from Hungary, Serbia, Spain, Austria, Netherlands, Canada as well as various USA locations. We pray through our staff and board list, covering all individuals over the course of two weeks of prayer. It is a powerful 10-15 minutes of very meaningful prayers.

In contrast to all the disruption, our online trainings continue with their wonderful “normalcy” of training and weekly spiritual support, just as they always were, “on screens.”

This pandemic will change our lives and organizations for many years and the world, your church, even your neighbors will not be the same after this. All the more reason to ask God to help us find kingdom opportunities in this time.

Ironically, the same technologies that have enabled the church to “go” and raise up church leaders around the world are also the vehicles that so quickly spread this virus. In a fallen world, perhaps, there is nothing completely good. But we must, with the Spirit’s power, utilize everything at our disposal for kingdom good.

Thanks for your partnership! 

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Mail checks to: 

PO Box 25520, Colorado Springs, CO 80936-5520

Memo line: "David & Nancy Goodman, M125"

DavidG@Entrust4.org * NancyG@Entrust4.org