Handout from the 09-12|13-2013 Regional Cohort Gatherings for church planters on the East Coast Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church.

1. Regional Cohort Gatherings
Wed Sept 11, 11:00am - 2:30pm | NY/NJ Cohort
Thu Sept 12, 11:00am - 2:30pm | New England Cohort
Live Videocast from New England | Mid-Atlantic Cohort
Contact & Quick Info
links are clickable in the blog post and downloadable pdf at www.jasoncondon.com
Contact & Quick Info
links are clickable in the blog post and downloadable pdf at www.jasoncondon.com
Jason R. Condon
Associate Superintendent & Director of Church Planting,
East Coast Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church
• jasonrcondon@gmail.com
• (860) 479-2020
• www.jasoncondon.com
(Cohort handouts and resources posted here)
• facebook.com/jasoncondon
• eastcoastconf.org
• covchurch.org
Quick-Start Guide to ECConf Church Planting
• "Understanding Church Planting on the East Coast
Conference" (or www.jasoncondon.com/2012/04/
handout-understanding-church-planting.html) -
seminar handout introducing concepts & strategy
• "What Are We Looking For in A Church Planter?"
(or bit.ly/Qfbiue ) - an overview of what we value in a
church planter and his or her ministry
• "Church Planter Identification Process"
(or bit.ly/TfnyKr) - an overview of how we assess
church planters and pursue church planting within the
East Coast Conference and the Covenant
Main Topics | Cohort Discipleship Approaches + The Influencer Model©
Welcome!
Purpose:
“
encourage, equip, and multiply church planters
for a sustaining church planting movement”
• Open in Prayer
• Super-Quick Intros:
• your name
• ministry setting
• why you’re here today
• Lunch: we’ll grab lunch whenever it’s ready or convenient
Regional Cohort Gatherings | NY/NJ • Greater Boston/New England • Mid-Atlantic
Sept 2013 | page 1 of 8

2. Examples from the Field
Various Examples | Discipleship Strategies Amongst ECConf Plants
Gathered Resources | http://goo.gl/UJW2Rx
• this online shared folder is where we’ll host various resources and materials from this
Cohort “Discipleship Series”
• we’ll add to the folder as the series continues, so continue sending stuff our way!
Video Broadcast | youtu.be/y9SEgNaSI0I
• Bootleg Video from our Greater Boston/New England Cohort Gathering
• Broadcast and recorded live, visit link to watch
Reference | “Normal & Natural Pathways” Worksheet
• “In your church, what are Normal and Natural Pathways to Make Disciples?”
• full document for Normal & Natural Pathways at: www.bit.ly/normalnaturalpathways
Presentations | Various ECConf Church Planters
Notes:
Resources QR Code
Regional Cohort Gatherings | NY/NJ • Greater Boston/New England • Mid-Atlantic
Sept 2013 | page 2 of 8

3. High-Level Leadership Skills
Influence | Leading Change Even When Change is Extremely Difficult
short url to book outline and notes: www.bit.ly/influencernotes
• “An Influencer motivates and enables others to change”
• what most of us lack is not the courage to change things, but the skill to do so
Two Questions Everyone Asks Before They'll Change
• 1st: “Is it worth doing?” (if not, why waste the effort?)
• 2nd: “Can I do this thing?” (if not, why even try?)
• Best-kept secret: over past half century a handful of behavioral science theorists and
practitioners have discovered the power to change just about anything
Six Sources of Influence
Two Domains: Motivation & Ability
Three Categories:
Personal, Social, & Structural
• Each reflect separate and highly
developed bodies of literature:
psychology, sociology, and
organizational theory
• Personal Motivation & Ability
relate to sources of influence within
an individual that determine their
behavioral choices
• Social Motivation & Ability
relate to how other people affect an
individual’s choices and behavior
• Structural Motivation & Ability
encompass the role of nonhuman factors, such as compensation, systems, space, and technology
Influencer Model | Use 6 Sources ⇆ Find Vital Behaviors ⇆ Clarify Measurable Results
• simple solutions for complex problems almost never work, yet people bet on single-source
strategies all the time. Those who succeed where others routinely fail overdetermine success - they
bring more than the minimum influence strategies to bear and leave nothing to chance
• A few behaviors can drive
a lot of change; enormous
influence comes from focusing
on just a few vital behaviors.
Influence geniuses focus
on behaviors
• Then make sure results
are clarified and
measurable; if it can’t be
tested, it doesn't really exist
Regional Cohort Gatherings | NY/NJ • Greater Boston/New England • Mid-Atlantic
Sept 2013 | page 3 of 8
Motivation Ability
Personal
1. Make the
Undesirable
Desirable
2. Over-Invest in
Skill Building
(Surpass Your Limits)
Social
3. Harness Peer
Pressure
4. Find Strength
in Numbers
Structural
5. Design Rewards
and Demand
Accountability
6. Change the
Environment

4. Scripture Exercise | Discipleship-Related Excerpts from the Book of Acts
Acts 2:1-12, 41-43 (NIV)
• 1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a
violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be
tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and
began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
• 5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this
sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. 7 Utterly
amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our
native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and
Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and
converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”
12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”
• 41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.
Acts 5:42 (NIV)
• Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good
news that Jesus is the Messiah.
Note the Various “Sources of Influence” in these Passages:
Motivation Ability
Per
son
al
1. Make the Undesirable Desirable 2. Over-Invest in Skill Building (Surpass Your Limits)
Soc
ial
3. Harness Peer Pressure 4. Find Strength in Numbers
Str
uct
ural
5. Design Rewards and Demand Accountability 6. Change the Environment
Regional Cohort Gatherings | NY/NJ • Greater Boston/New England • Mid-Atlantic
Sept 2013 | page 4 of 8

5. Six Sources Strategy Matrix
Companion Article: How to 10x Your Influence.pdf (http://goo.gl/sXbJ5q)
Source 1: PERSONAL MOTIVATION
Questions to Ask
• In a room by themselves would employees want to engage in
the behavior?
• Do they hate it or enjoy it?
• Do they find meaning in it?
• Does it fit into their sense of who they are or want to be?
Strategies
• Identified unpleasant, noxious, or disagreeable aspects of the
change and found ways to either eliminate them or make
them more pleasant
• Found ways to connect the need for change with people’s
core values—for example, had people meet with the
individuals who would benefit from the change
• Motivated people by creating a mission and purpose about
the need for change
• Took great pains to get people’s personal buy-in rather than
issue mandates
Source 2: PERSONAL ABILITY
Questions to Ask
• Do employees have the knowledge, skills, and strength to be
able to do the right thing?
• Can they handle the toughest challenges they will face?
Strategies
• Gave people guided practice and immediate feedback until
they were sure they could engage in the new behaviors in the
toughest of circumstances
• Designed learning experiences to help people successfully
manage any emotional, and interpersonal hurdles they’d face
in changing their behavior
• Had people participate in real-time drills or simulations that
tested whether they could perform as required under
challenging circumstances
Source 3: SOCIAL MOTIVATION
Questions to Ask
• Are other people encouraging the right behavior or
discouraging the wrong behavior?
• Are people others respect modeling the right behaviors at the
right time?
• Do people have good relationships with those who are trying
to influence them positively?
Strategies
• Enlisted the support of organizational opinion leaders to
serve as role models, teachers, and supporters of change
• Had all members of management teach, model, and coach
people toward new behavior
• Identified people who would be most concerned about
change, and involved them early
• Made it clear to everyone that these behavioral changes were
something top management strongly supported and modeled
Source 4: SOCIAL ABILITY
Questions to Ask
• Do others provide the help, information, and resources
required — particularly at critical times?
Strategies
• Identified the toughest obstacles to change and made sure
people had others to support them whenever they faced
these obstacles
• Used mentors or coaches to provide just-in-time assistance to
overcome these obstacles
• Created“safe”ways for people to get help without feeling
embarrassed
• Provided everyone with the authority, information and
resources needed to step up to new behaviors as easily as
possible
Source 5: STRUCTURAL MOTIVATION
Questions to Ask
• Are there rewards–pay, promotions, performance reviews, perks?
• Are there costs?
• Do rewards encourage the right behaviors and costs discourage
the wrong ones?
Strategies
• Adjusted formal rewards to ensure people had incentives to
adopt the new behaviors
• Made sure people had“skin in the game”by tracking their use of new
behaviors & linking it to rewards & punishments they cared about
• Used a“carrot and stick”approach to make sure people knew the
organization was serious about demanding change
• Made sure everyone understood that even the most senior
managers would be held accountable if they failed to support
these changes—there were no exceptions
Source 6: STRUCTURAL ABILITY
Questions to Ask
• Does the environment (tools, facilities, information, reports,
proximity to others, policies, work processes, etc.) enable good
behavior or bad behavior?
• Are there enough cues & reminders to help people stay on course?
Strategies
• Reorganized workplaces to remove obstacles and make the
change convenient and easy
• Provided new software, hardware, or other resources to make
the change simple and automatic
• Used cues, regular communications, and metrics to keep the
need for change“top of mind”for everyone in the organization.
• Created potent ways to give all levels of management feedback
about how successfully or unsuccessfully they were leading change
Regional Cohort Gatherings | NY/NJ • Greater Boston/New England • Mid-Atlantic
Sept 2013 | page 5 of 8

6. Exercise | Application to Your Current Discipleship Strategy
Six Sources (one on each giant sheet of paper)
Place Post-It Notes with brief blurb...
• . GREEN
: Note what you’re doing that’s positively influencing discipleship (within that “source”)
• . BLUE
: Note what you want to add to help influence better discipleship behaviors
(whether you’ve already been thinking and planning, or based on today’s discussions)
• . RED
: Note what you want to remove because it’s influencing the wrong behavior
Discuss
On Your Own | Map Your Church’s “Normal & Natural Pathways” for Discipleship
Motivation Ability
Per
son
al
1. Make the Undesirable Desirable 2. Over-Invest in Skill Building (Surpass Your Limits)
Soc
ial
3. Harness Peer Pressure 4. Find Strength in Numbers
Str
uct
ural
5. Design Rewards and Demand Accountability 6. Change the Environment
Regional Cohort Gatherings | NY/NJ • Greater Boston/New England • Mid-Atlantic
Sept 2013 | page 6 of 8

7. Additional Notes:
House-Keeping
Church Plant “Leadership Team” Contacts
• ECConf Office needs contact info for 2-3 additional leaders at church plant (must include some lay-people)
• for higher-level communication of reporting policies, annual review, etc.
Monthly Church Planter Reports
• Review & Updates
• SAMPLE (actual Report Database is private and confidential)
• Example Report Form: bit.ly/1a29aD5
• Example Database Created (Google Spreadsheet): bit.ly/1a2dgLr
ECConf 2014 Church Planter Retreat?
• Can’t use Exponential 2014 because of conflict with ECConf Annual Meeting
• June 2014 in Virginia? Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Quebec?
• other (better) dates and locations?
Regional Cohort Gatherings | NY/NJ • Greater Boston/New England • Mid-Atlantic
Sept 2013 | page 7 of 8

8. Mark Your Calendar
Coming Events | subscribe now at eastcoastconf.org/calendar
OCT
NO Cohort Gatherings
COMS Interviews
• Tue Oct 16 – Wed Oct 17, 2 hours in Berlin CT
• Committee on Ministerial Standing (COMS) is
necessary for entering credentialing process, 3 year
check-ins, final-prep for ordination
Fall Ministerial Retreat (Ashram)
• All Church Planters expected to attend
• Sun Oct 27 (Evening) – Wed Oct 30 (Morning)
• Pilgrim Pines, Swanzey NH, pilgrimpines.org
NOV
Church Planter Cohort Gatherings:
• NY/NJ Metro Cohort
Wed Nov 20, 11:00am-2:30pm
Location: Hope House of Metro Hope Church
71 E. 119th Street, New York, NY 10035
• Greater Boston/New England Cohort
Thu Nov 21, 11:00am-2:30pm (Location TBD
• Mid-Atlantic: Video Conference or TBD
DEC
NO Cohort Gatherings
Coaches Training
• Tue Dec 3 – Thu Dec 5
• Dallas TX
JAN
NO Cohort Gatherings
Church Planter Training Intensive
• Tue Jan 14, 6pm – Sun Jan 19, 12pm, New Orleans
• for new Covenant Church Planters pre-Launch
Covenant Midwinter
• Chicago, Jan 27-31, Mon-Fri
• covchurch.org/midwinter
Full Calendar for East Coast Conference
• Visit www.eastcoastconf.org/calendar,
subscribe through Google Cal, iCal, or other app
• Entries labeled“Church Planting” are specifically for
church planters, rest for Covenant pastors in general
FEB
Church Planter Cohort Gatherings (Tentative):
• NY/NJ Metro Cohort
Wed Feb 19, 11:00am-2:30pm (Location TBD)
• Greater Boston/New England Cohort
Thu Feb 20, 11:00am-2:30pm (Location TBD
• Mid-Atlantic: Video Conference or TBD
Variation Idea: “Full Day” Cohort Gathering
• perhaps just hold in Feb and take off March
• scheduled blocks for those who can’t/don’t need all
MARCH
March 1 Deadline: Spring COMS Paperwork
• Contact Alicia: office@eastcoastconf.org
• (See Oct “COMS Interviews” for related details)
Assessment Center (Location TBD)
• Wed March 12, 7:30pm - Sat March 15, 12pm
• Invitation Only: for church planter candidates
sufficiently advancing in assessment process
Church Planter Cohort Gatherings:
• NY/NJ Metro Cohort
Wed Mar 26, 11:00am-2:30pm (Location TBD)
• Greater Boston/New England Cohort
Thu Mar 27, 11:00am-2:30pm (Location TBD
• Mid-Atlantic: Video Conference or TBD
APRIL
No Regular Gathering, Instead Special...
ECConf Annual Meeting
• Wed April 30: All-Cohorts Gathering
Pre-Annual Mtg, at Jason’s in Columbia CT
• Thu-Sat, May 1-3: ECConf Annual Mtg Trinity
Covenant Church, Manchester CT
• All Church Planters expected to attend
MAY
Church Planter Cohort Gatherings:
• NY/NJ Metro Cohort
Wed May 21, 11:00am-2:30pm (Location TBD)
• Greater Boston/New England Cohort
Thu May 22, 11:00am-2:30pm (Location TBD)
• Mid-Atlantic: Video Conference or TBD
DISCUSS: Retreat Options?
Regional Cohort Gatherings | NY/NJ • Greater Boston/New England • Mid-Atlantic
Sept 2013 | page 8 of 8