River Road Leadership Workshop

New Shepherds Orientation Workshop # 14

April 26-28 was the weekend of the New Shepherds Orientation Workshop for River Road. We have two elders and two deacons. They, along with their wives, and Gail and I met for twelve hours of intense work on growing as leaders of the Lord’s church.

There was something different from previous workshops. We met in the homes of our elders Friday night and Saturday. One of the guidelines is we meet away from the building. We enjoyed the comfort and intimacy of their homes and gave the elders and their wives an opportunity to practice hospitality — which they did with excellence.

Leaders don’t learn everything they need to know in a weekend New Shepherds Orientation Workshop. They don’t ever learn everything that would be good for them to know. Learning is an ongoing opportunity.

Two things we emphasized over the weekend:

• Rules. We’re the result of the rules (habits, usual ways of doing things) both individually and as a group. Group and individual rules are usually unconscious, unspoken, understood, and contradictory. We examine our present rules and suggest we think, discuss, and evaluate the way we live and lead. There’s a possibility we could do something better.

• Pain. Our hope is in our pain. We discussed what painful things we need to do to grow as leaders

I introduced a new module in this workshop and plan to use it in workshops following.

Practicing Apologizing

Many leaders are reluctant to say they’re sorry when they learn they’ve hurt someone or failed to do something. We discussed this principle of remaining blameless as leaders when we know and the Bible states we continue to sin. If admitting our shortcomings is part of excellent leadership, it’ll help to practice this skill.

I appreciate the leadership of River Road for preparing, participating, and practicing great hospitality during this weekend.