Process Description

A Comprehensive Process

2ND WIND is a comprehensive process in church redevelopment that combines spiritual renewal and strategic initiative to equip a church leadership team to guide a church toward health, growth and multiplication. This 16-month process includes training, coaching and assessing to empower churches to move from where they are to where they are called to be. A “cluster” of churches works through the process together, encouraging each other and benefiting from the synergy of leaders training together that desire to maximize their ministry effectiveness. To catch a 2ND WIND, leaders discover that spiritual and strategic strength within the church comes as the church intentionally focuses its ministry on outreach and evangelism as mandated by the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.

The 16-Month Timeline

Start/First 30 Days: 2ND WIND begins with Cluster Session 1 - the Pastors Session. During this one-day session pastors receive an orientation to the process, learn about the role of the pastor in leading the process, and are given instruction in getting the process started in their churches. They leave this session with P3 - The Pastor Preparation Packet.

During the first 30 days, the pastor works through P3, a self-guided study that fully prepares the pastor to lead 2ND WIND. P3 combines a printed manual and a power point file with audio CDs to give the pastor the background information and workshops needed to prepare for what will follow. Completion of P3 requires approximately 12-15 hours. One of the final requirements of P3 is to work with the church’s session to select a Vision Team, the team that will bear primary responsibility for leading the church in catching a 2ND WIND.

At Month 1: With the Vision Team selected, the pastor leads the team through P2 — The Vision Team Preparation Packet. P2 is nearly identical to P3 except for the omission of pastor-specific material. The Vision Team meets several times during this month with the pastor, as team leader, facilitating the completion of assignments, listening to the CDs from P3, viewing the power point file, and engaging the workshops. This reinforces the pastor’s understanding and introduces the Vision Team to the information and workshops to be completed in preparation for training to follow. Completion of P2 requires approximately 8-12 hours.

At Month 2: Next, the Vision Team leads the church through P1 — the Assessment Packet, to help the church discover where it is on the church lifecycle and to help the church understand how it got there. Assessment materials include three tools designed by United Front Ministries: 1. Getting the Facts — a Statistical Analysis,
2. Getting the Story — a Historical Analysis, and 3. Getting the Pulse — a Spiritual Condition Analysis. An optional fourth tool is available called Getting the Picture — a Congregational Questionnaire.

At Month 3: With assessment materials completed and turned in, these materials are processed. These will be returned to the Vision Teams at the next cluster session.

At Month 4: At this point, the pastor is prepared, the Vision Team is prepared and the assessment materials are completed. So it’s time for Cluster Session 2 — the Training Intensive. This is a two-day session that brings together all pastors and all Vision Teams for two days of intense training that covers the A-Z of church redevelopment. Following the outline of the Phases of ReDevelopment, training in all areas is conducted, equipping Vision Teams for executing the planning and implementation needed to launch church redevelopment. The Phases are as follows:

• Phase 1: Assessment — Where are we and how did we get here?
• Phase 2: ReVision — What is God’s vision for our church?
• Phase 3: Align Strategy — What strategies will move the vision forward?
• Phase 4: Align Structure — How do we support the vision and strategies?
• Phase 5: Align People — How do we get people involved?

Months 5-15: During these months, Vision Teams actively process and apply all that was covered in the Training Intensive. They are guided by COACHWORKS!, a printed implementation guide that takes the guesswork out of implementation. In addition, pastors have unlimited access to a redevelopment coach via phone and email, and receive direct coaching via quarterly coaching phone appointments.

At Month 16: The training is completed with the final session, Cluster Session 3 — the Multiplication Intensive. By this time, all planning is complete and many if not all of the original strategies are on the field and are operational. All pastors and Vision Teams come together for a final one-day session that takes a look at progress made, answers questions, solves problems and generally trouble shoots. In this sense, it wraps up the 16-month process. But also during this session, training is conducted that equips churches for continued redevelopment well beyond 2ND WIND. Redevelopment should become a habitual practice in the church, fostering health, growth and multiplication throughout a church’s future. Redevelopment should not simply be a one-time experience or a tool for crisis intervention, but should become a lifestyle. But future redevelopment will not require a coach or a trainer, as the pastor and team are equipped with the tools and the skills to redevelopment again and again.