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The second of three planned courses in the SBTC’s Z-Leader curriculum is ready for pastors and churches interested in a biblically guided approach to church growth.
Begun as a part of the SBTC’s Ezekiel Project for plateaued or declining churches, Z-Leader has transitioned into a stand-alone program for all pastors, said Kenneth Priest, SBTC Church Ministries associate.
The first session was 12 units and was based on the book “Breaking the Missional Code” by Ed Stetzer and David Putnam. This second course is based on Ken Hemphill’s book “The Bonsai Theory of Church Growth.”
Priest said the Z-Leader program has been well-received and involves the study and the option of a trained, personal coach to walk a pastor or church leaders through the course as they evaluate such things as whether or not their facilities, ministry philosophy, spiritual climate, and prayer lives are conducive to growing their church’s influence.
Included in the second course is a “vital facilities tour” to evaluate the church’s growth capacity given its physical size and use, Priest said.
“Facilities and philosophy of ministry are the foci of addressing things that comes out of the Bonzai Theory,” Priest added. “Is the size of the campus or the things we do assuring that we keep the church the size that it is?”
In addition, there is the “soil factor”: is the spiritual soil of the church enriched or is it dry and parched with only the appearance of spirituality?
A third course is being prepared and will be ready later this year or early next year based on Darrell Robinson’s “Total Church Life” book to help congregations develop an outreach and evangelistic strategy for reaching their community.
The objectve of the Ezekiel Project and the Z-Leader curriculum is “to be used to bring about a reversal to the decline of the evangelical Christian community throughout the state of Texas and extending throughout America and throughout the world,” according to the SBTC website.
If interested in learning more about the Z-Leader courses or the Ezekiel Project, call or e-mail Kenneth Priest toll-free at 877-953-7282 (SBTC) or kpriest@sbtexas.com, or visit sbtexas.com/ep and request login information.
