Saturday, May 28, 2011

Another WELS Business Hiding Behind
Its Tax Status As a Charity.
Don Patterson and Jeff Gunn Involved.
Patterson Not a Changer?

The link is here. If you graduated from Mequon, left-click anywhere on this paragraph.


CrossTrain Ministries provides coaching services to identified Christian leaders with the stated goal of improving spiritual leadership skills amongst lay leaders, ministry professionals, and general volunteers. In conjunction with this spiritual coaching, CrossTrain also provides topical seminars on subjects with the goal of improving the quality of ministry leadership, both professional and volunteer, and ultimately providing the skills which will promote leadership of a higher capacity and excellence to involve all in ministry.

Rick Loewen (pictured above with beautiful grandaughter Rae) was a police officer for 20 years prior to serving in public ministry. As a police officer he served as a patrol officer, narcotics detective, vice detective, and homicide detective. He taught police officers in the areas of interviews and interrogation, undercover operations, and crime scene investigation. While serving as a police officer and enrolled in the staff ministry program at DMLC, he received a divine call to start the first youth and family ministry program on the White Mountain Apache Reservation AZ. He was then called by WLCFS to develop and implement family ministry programs Synod wide. He served as the director of ministries at WLCFS and oversaw their ministry support services program, family life education program, and counseling division. Rick is currently called by Crosswalk Lutheran Church. At Crosswalk, he serves for a subsidiary ministry called CrossTrain Ministries. CrossTrain Ministries is a self-supporting ministry in partnership with Wisconsin Lutheran College and Grace in Action Ministries.
CrossTrain Ministries Coaching Network Conference
May 11-14
Stillwater, MN


Effective Strategies for Developing Leaders in Your Ministry
(Pastor Don Patterson)

  • Positive communications explaining what you do and why you do it
  • Enlist their services to enjoy opportunities to handle the Word
  • Give them opportunities to see the Word work.
  • Develop strong relationships that allow you to know individual's strengths and weaknesses and apply God's Word to both
  • Integrate the Word as part of every interaction with them.
  • Value the relationship with your leaders by being grace filled and forgiving
  • Live your expectations of others by being a servant
  • Live in the shadow of the cross instead of our success and failures

Preaching
(Pastor Don Patterson)

  • Make sure you preach exactly what the Holy Spirit was preaching in that text
  • Preach to the street and not the professor
  • Use illustrations appropriately
  • Prepare your people to hear the text
  • How to prioritize the main message over the pet message
  • The use of syntax versus morphology
  • How to avoid pulpit tone, irritating habits, redundant styles, and behaviors
  • The use of natural and unnatural inflections
  • The triangle of the sermon

BIO

Don grew up in Garland Texas, one of six kids. He learned leadership skills from a national youth organization early in life. He earned a degree from East Texas State University in Commerce Texas in 1985.  Married and has 4 boys. He graduated from our seminary in 1992 and has been the pastor of Holy Word since then. He was elected to his district presidium at age 34. He has spoken on marriage, leadership, and at men's, women's and missionary conferences here and in Europe. He is the speaker on a radio broadcast "A Reason For Hope" airing in Austin, Texas and Minneapolis Minnesota. It is supported by a website of that same name.  He currently serves as the first vice president of the South Central District of the WELS. His passion is mission work and church leadership. His hobbies are exercise and anything that happens outdoors.

Small Group Leadership
(Pastor Jeff Gunn)

The means of grace are the key to people growing in their faith. One way to deliver the means of grace to the people of our congregation is via a groups system. "Growth groups" are gatherings of 12-15 people in homes of the congregation for the purpose of sharing the word of God with one another, praying and worshipping with one another, enjoying fellowship, serving in the congregation and community, and reaching out with the gospel. In this portion of our coaching network we will discuss the groups system: why it is beneficial, how it operates, how to set a groups system up and get it rolling, what the challenges to running a groups system are, how to deal with problems with groups, and how to continue to expand groups to meet the various needs and character of the congregation.

BIO

Jeff Gunn is pastor of Crosswalk Lutheran Ministries in Phoenix, Arizona.  A teenage convert to Christ, Jeff was brought into the WELS fellowship through a neighboring family, an experience that God used to develop a life-long passion for outreach with the gospel. He graduated from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 1982 and subsequently served for 14 years in the Central Africa country of Zambia.  Six of those years were spent living in the bush, pastoring multiple village congregations. In the next eight years, Jeff continued to serve congregations as a pastor, but also served as WELS field coordinator for the Zambia Mission, and as a professor at the Lutheran Bible Institute and Seminary in Lusaka.  Jeff's 14 years serving in Zambia have given him a unique perspective on the management of the ministry of the gospel.  Since returning to the U.S. in 1996, Jeff has served as religion instructor and assistant principal at Arizona Lutheran Academy for five years. In 2001, he became Director of Native American Missions for the WELS. Finally, in 2004, Jeff received the call to launch CrossWalk Church on the campus of Arizona Lutheran Academy.  Starting with about 30 people in 2004, God has blessed this ministry so that today there are two services and 500 people worshipping each Sunday at CrossWalk. CrossWalk uses a contextualized approach to worship, weekly growth groups, and ministry teams as key components to its approach to gospel ministry in a church that describes itself as a "church for unchurched people."

Spiritual Resiliency
(Mr. Rick Loewen)

Participants will identify stressors that we all deal with along with some that are more common to those who are in leadership and ministry work. The approach will start with recognition that God has designed us like a three legged stool. We have a spiritual, emotional, and physical leg. When any one of these is out of balance we become out of balance and are more prone to suffer from the effects of stress. Each participant will be given information to form a personal action plan to address each one of these issues. This action plan will be a part of the accountability and support through the monthly individual coaching sessions.

BIO

Rick Loewen was a police officer for 20 years prior to serving in public ministry. As a police officer he served as a patrol officer, narcotics detective, vice detective, and homicide detective. He taught police officers in the areas of interviews and interrogation, undercover operations, and crime scene investigation. While serving as a police officer and enrolled in the staff ministry program at DMLC, he received a divine call to start the first youth and family ministry program on the White Mountain Apache Reservation AZ. He was then called by WLCFS to develop and implement family ministry programs Synod wide. He served as the director of ministries at WLCFS and oversaw their ministry support services program, family life education program, and counseling division. Rick is currently called by Crosswalk Lutheran Church. At Crosswalk, he serves for a subsidiary ministry called CrossTrain Ministries. CrossTrain Ministries is a self-supporting ministry in partnership with Wisconsin Lutheran College and Grace in Action Ministries.
AGENDA

Wednesday, May 11

7 pm - 9 pm          Introductions, Top 3 Challenges,
                             Most Passionate in Ministry About,
                             My Goals for this Seminar Are

Thursday, May 12

8:30-8:45 am         Opening Devotion
9:00-10:00 am       Spiritual Resiliency (Rick Loewen)
10:00-10:15 am     Break
10:15-11:45 am     Spiritual Resiliency (Rick Loewen)
11:45-1:00 pm       Lunch
1:00-1:30 pm         Personal Action Plan
1:30-2:30 pm         Crossroads Consulting Ministry
                              (Elton  Stroh)
2:30-5:00 pm         Exercise Demonstrations, Pool Time, Hot
                              Tub, Hiking, etc.
5:00-6:30 pm         Dinner
6:30-8:30 pm         Preaching (Don Patterson)
8:30-? pm              Social Gathering

Friday, May 13

8:30-8:45 am         Opening Devotion
8:45-10:15 am       Leadership Introduction
                              (Don Patterson/Mark Wrightsman)       
10:15-10:30 am     Break
10:30-11:45 am     Growths Groups (Jeff Gunn)
11:45-1:00 pm       Lunch
1:00-2:30 pm         Growths Groups (Jeff Gunn)
2:30-2:45 pm         Break
2:45-3:15 pm         Professional Growth Plans
3:15-4:30 pm         Growths Groups (Jeff Gunn)
4:30-6:00 pm         Exercise
6:00-7:30 pm         Dinner
7:30-8:30 pm         Closing Devotion and Round Table Conference
                              Feedback
8:30-? pm              Social Gathering

Saturday, May 14

8:00 am                 Breakfast
9:00 am                 Departure, Shuttle to Airport, etc.
Your Costs?

  • Commitment to receive 12 months of services - including a monthly webinar and personal time with your coach
  • 3 days of your life for personal and professional training at a conference center*
  • Personal time for completing homework including self-assessments, personal inventories, specialized readings, and much more
  •  Willingness to exchange ministry strategies, Bible studies, and sermons
  • Willing to coach fellow participants
  • $1200.00 for the twelve months of services

*Services and costs for the 3 day conference subject to vary


This ministry is being partially funded by Grace in Action (GIA) and WELS Kingdom Workers.