Handout from the 11-20|21-2013 Regional Cohort Gatherings for church planters on the East Coast Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church.

1. Regional Cohort Gatherings
Wed Nov 20, 11:00am - 2:30pm | NY/NJ Cohort
Thu Nov 21, 11:00am - 2:30pm | New England Cohort
visiting the NY/NJ Metro Cohort | Mid-Atlantic Cohort
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 Topic | Debrief of Two Discipleship-Related Conferences
Bonus Topics | “Blue Ocean Strategy” + Special Guest: Rob Hall
Welcome!
Our Purpose:
“
ncourage,
e
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
November 2013 | page 1 of 8

2. Gathered Resources & Experiences
Debrief & Discuss | Sentralized & City Collective Conferences
Gathered Resources | http://goo.gl/UJW2Rx
• this online shared folder is where we’ll host various resources and materials from this
Cohort “Discipleship Series” and remain as a permanent link
• we’ll add to the folder as the series continues, so continue sending stuff our way!
• latest additions: Jason’s notes & audio from Sentralized Conference & City Collective
Resources QR Code
Presentations | Various ECConf Church Planters Debriefing Discipleship Conferences
Notes:
Regional Cohort Gatherings | NY/NJ • Greater Boston/New England • Mid-Atlantic
November 2013 | page 2 of 8

3. Special Guest & Covenant Resource Person
Rob Hall | Facilities as a Tool for Discipleship
Contact Info
• Rob Hall, National Covenant Properties, Vice President - Real Estate Services
• 8303 W Higgins Rd, Chicago, IL 60631-2941
• Email: rob.hall@covchurch.org
• Direct: 773-907-3341 • Cell: 773-655-6687
• Fax:773-409-9145
Role & Reason
• “Every new generation of church planters has a fresh outlook on ministry and how to plant a
healthy missional church congregation. Our role in the denomination is to coach on real estate matters and
therefore, we'd like to enter into a discussion to see how best to aid you as church planters in the
facility side of the ministry question.”
Key Questions
1. What does your congregation need most from a facility?
2. What kind of facility are you in currently? What are the advantages and disadvantages?
3. What facility needs do you see in the next five years?
4. In five years, what kind of facility would be your ideal for your ministry vision?
Would it be better to be in a one day a week use, seven day a week leased, or owned facility? Why?
Additional Notes:
Regional Cohort Gatherings | NY/NJ • Greater Boston/New England • Mid-Atlantic
November 2013 | page 3 of 8

4. High-Level Leadership Skills
Blue Ocean | Creating Uncontested Market Space
short url to Jason’s book outline and notes: bit.ly/blueoceannotes
• related website: blueoceanstrategy.com
• this is a great companion to the Influencer materials from our last Cohort:
• www.jasoncondon.com/2013/09/cohort-09-11-2013.html
• bit.ly/influencernotes
Red Ocean/Blue Ocean | Conceptual Distinction
RED OCEAN STRATEGY
• Compete in existing market space
• Beat the competition
• Focus on existing customers
• Exploit existing demand
• Make the value-cost trade-off
(create greater value to customers at a higher cost
OR create reasonable value at a lower cost)
• Align the whole system of a firm’s activities with its
strategic choice of differentiation or low cost
BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY
• Create uncontested market space
• Make the competition irrelevant
• Focus on non-customers
• Create and capture new demand
• Break the value-cost trade-off
(Seek greater value to customers and low cost
simultaneously)
• Align the whole system of a firm’s activities in
pursuit of differentiation and low cost.
Strategy Canvas | www.blueoceanstrategy.com/visualizer
Framework
• The strategy canvas is the central diagnostic
and action framework for building a
compelling blue ocean strategy. The
horizontal axis captures the range of factors
that the industry competes on and invests in,
and the vertical axis captures the offering
level that buyers receive across all these key
competing factors
The Strategy Canvas Serves Two Purposes:
• captures the current state of play in the
known market space. This allows you to
understand where the competition is currently investing and the factors that the industry competes on
• propels you to action by reorienting your focus from competitors to alternatives and from customers to
non-customers of the industry
• The value curve is the basic component of the strategy canvas. It is a graphic depiction of a company's
relative performance across its industry's factors of competition
• As you can see on the diagram, what makes a good value curve is focus, divergence (as well as a
compelling tagline)
Regional Cohort Gatherings | NY/NJ • Greater Boston/New England • Mid-Atlantic
November 2013 | page 4 of 8

5. Four Actions Framework | Create a Blue Ocean Strategy in Four Steps
1. Eliminate factors that the industry takes for granted but adds no perceived value to customers
2. Reduce factors well below the industry’s standard to avoid the mistake of over delivering in order to beat
the competition
3. Raise factors well above the industry’s standard so your customer won’t have to make compromises
4. Create new sources of value that the industry has never offered
The Eliminate-Reduce-Raise-Create Grid (ERRC)
• Complementary with the four
actions framework. It pushes
Eliminate
Raise
companies not only to ask all four
questions in the four actions framework
Which factors can
Which factors should
but also to act on all four to create a new
you eliminate that
be raised well above
value curve, essential for unlocking a new
your industry has
the industry’s
blue ocean
long competed on?`
standard?
• By driving companies to fill in the grid
with the actions of eliminating and
reducing as well as raising and creating,
Reduce
Create
the grid gives companies four
immediate benefits:
Which factors should
Which factors should
• It pushes them to simultaneously
be reduced well
be created that the
pursue differentiation and low cost to
below the industry’s
industry has never
break the value-cost trade off
standard?
offered?
• It immediately flags companies that
are focused only on raising and
creating and thereby lifting the cost
structure and often over-engineering products and services - a common plight in many companies
• It is easily understood by managers at any level, creating a high level of engagement in its application.
• Because completing the grid is a challenging task, it drives companies to robustly scrutinize every factor
the industry competes on, making them discover the range of implicit assumptions the make
unconsciously in competing
Blue Ocean Tools & Resources | www.blueoceanstrategy.com/concepts
foundational frameworks of blue ocean strategy:
• iPad App: https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/blue-ocean-strategy-visualizer/id645511279
• Value Innovation
• Six Paths
• Strategy Canvas
• 4 Actions Framework
• Sequence of BOS
• Tipping Point Leadership
• ERRC Grid
• PMS Map
• BEC/BUM
• 3 Tiers of Non-customers
• 4 Hurdles to Execution
• Fair Process
Regional Cohort Gatherings | NY/NJ • Greater Boston/New England • Mid-Atlantic
November 2013 | page 5 of 8

6. Exercises | Application to Your Current Discipleship Strategy
Scripture Exercise | Discipleship-Related Concepts & Passages
• Early Church Shifts: What shifts happened in the communities of Jesus-followers and birth of the Early Church
that might map onto the Eliminate-Reduce-Raise-Create Grid (ERRC)?
• Issues: circumcision, baptism, dietary laws, worship services, communion, people groups, gender
other examples you can think of ?:
• Scriptures: “You have heard it said”, Great Commission, Great Commandment, Luke 9, Luke 10, Acts 6, Acts 15
other examples you can think of ?:
Strategy Canvas & ERRC | Refining Your Discipleship “Normal & Natural Pathways”
Open Discussion & Conversation:
• What applications and adjustments do you already imaging?
•
•
On Your Own
• Run current discipleship approach through ERRC (use other tools as helpful: Strategic Canvas, etc.)
• Also see bit.ly/normalnaturalpathways
Regional Cohort Gatherings | NY/NJ • Greater Boston/New England • Mid-Atlantic
November 2013 | page 6 of 8

7. Additional Notes:
House-Keeping
Church Plant “Leadership Team” Contacts
• Thanks everyone for getting these in! These are very helpful for higher-level communications with your church
• You can update at anytime using the original email that was sent (or request link again, since it’s not public)
Schedule Dec Coaching Calls (if you haven’t already)
• use link in emails (not a public link)
• respond quickly when you receive the emails
Monthly Church Planter Reports | Update for ChurchMetrics.com
• Coming: Individual Church Accounts with Full Admin control
• we’ll export from current “campuses” to upload to your new church account
• include an ECConf “admin login” for shared access during Covenant Agreement
• SAMPLE (actual Report Database is private and confidential)
• Example Report Form: bit.ly/1a29aD5
• Example Database Created (Google Spreadsheet): bit.ly/1a2dgLr
Regional Cohort Gatherings | NY/NJ • Greater Boston/New England • Mid-Atlantic
November 2013 | page 7 of 8

8. Mark Your Calendar
Coming Events | subscribe now at eastcoastconf.org/calendar
DEC
APRIL
NO Cohort Gatherings
NO Regular Cohort Gatherings
Schedule Coaching Calls (instructions in emails)
MAY
JAN
NO Regular Cohort Gatherings
NO Cohort Gatherings
ECConf Annual Meeting
Assessment Center (Long Beach, CA)
• Thu Jan 9, 12pm – Sat Jan 11, 12pm
• Pray for the process and candidates for the ECConf !
Covenant Midwinter
• Chicago, Jan 27-31, Mon-Fri
• covchurch.org/midwinter
FEB
SPECIAL: “Full Day” Cohort Gatherings, 10a-4p:
• NY/NJ Metro Cohort
Wed Feb 19, 10:00am-4:00pm
Location: Promised Land Church
673 E. 137th Street, Bronx, NY 10460
• Greater Boston/New England Cohort
Thu Feb 20, 11:00am-2:30pm
Location: Cambridge Community Fellowship
234 Franklin Street, Cambridge, MA 02139
• Mid-Atlantic: Joining in-person both days!
MARCH
NO Cohort Gatherings
March 1 Deadline: Spring COMS Paperwork
• Contact Alicia: office@eastcoastconf.org
• Committee on Ministerial Standing (COMS) is
necessary for entering credentialing process, 3 year
check-ins, and final-prep for ordination
Church Planter Training Intensive
• Tue March 11, 6:00pm – Sun March 16, 12:00pm
• Location: TBD
• for new Covenant Church Planters
(“Recommended”, still pre-Launch Stage)
COMS Interviews
• Tue March 18 – Wed Mar 19, 2 hours in Berlin CT
(only attend for small time block on 1 day)
• Committee on Ministerial Standing (COMS) is
necessary for entering credentialing process, 3 year
check-ins, final-prep for ordination
• Thu-Sat, May 1-3: ECConf Annual Mtg
• Trinity Covenant Church, Manchester CT
• All Church Planters expected to attend
Assessment Center (Hartford, CT)
• Thu May 15, 12pm – Sat May 17, 12pm
• Invitation Only: for church planter candidates
sufficiently advancing in assessment process
2014 All-Church Planter Retreat [Finalize!]:
• “Programmed” Retreat Time (flexible):
• Tue Lunch, May 20 – Fri Lunch, May 23
• this is the priority time to be fully present (covers
originally reserved Cohort Dates)
• Location: Wyndham Bentley Brook Resort, a “Gold
Crown” Resort in the Berkshire Mountains
• Cost: approx. $300-400 per pastor
• Covers lodging, on-site meals, snacks, materials
• Spouses: free option, likely at end of the week
• Sabbath & Recreation Options (Highly Rec’d):
• Come early, Stay Late! We'll have all the units
Sun May 18, 4:00pm – Sun May 25, 10:30am
(Memorial Day Weekend)
• as in the past, highly recommend coming early
and staying late for sabbath and recreation
JUNE
NO Cohort Gatherings
Covenant Annual Meeting (Chicago)
• Thu June 26 – Sun June 29
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
Regional Cohort Gatherings | NY/NJ • Greater Boston/New England • Mid-Atlantic
November 2013 | page 8 of 8