1. Cornerstone Church Network Master’s Group Session 1
August 7, 2018
Cornerstone Church Network Master’s Group Session 1
You can have this slide on the screen as people arrive for the day. Greet the individuals as they arrive and introduce them to each other. Let them know where the coffee and food is. For the first session you may want to provide name tags depending on the size of the group. The important thing is to make people feel welcome.
It’s important to start on time since you want to be sensitive to the value of everyone’s time.
Have the room set up ahead of time with enough tables and chairs to make it a comfortable setting for interaction and note taking. A circle is ideal but if the group is too big for one round table you may want to put two banquet tables together with the long sides touching so the group can sit around the outside.
Masters Groups | Cornerstone Church Network

2. Agenda Masters Groups | Cornerstone Church Network
8:45 Arrival, breakfast and fellowship 9:00 Introductions 9:45 “Hand of the Lord Time” (Koinonia Connection) 10:00 Goals and Expectations 10:15 Covenant 10:30 Personal Leadership Exercise 11:00 Personal Vision Work 12:00 Working lunch… get lunch and be back for-- Introduction of GPS process 12:30 GPS 2:15 Wrap up / Debrief the day / Admin stuff 2:30 Adjournment 10 min. breaks about on the hour (+-):30
Masters Groups | Cornerstone Church Network

3. Self Introduction Masters Groups | Cornerstone Church Network
August 7, 2018
Self Introduction
Use this slide to quickly let the group know that over the months ahead we’ll get to know each other very well but today we want to start by just getting to know some basic facts about each other. Say something like, “I’ll start so you get the idea of the kinds of things we want to get to know about each other today.”
Masters Groups | Cornerstone Church Network

4. Warren Schuh Born in New Jersey 30 years local church
August 7, 2018
Warren Schuh
Born in New Jersey 30 years local church
One older sister Love-Wood working
Father-German? Dislike-Discourteous Drivers
Mother-German/English Food-Seafood
Married-Connie Sport-Fishing/Hunting
Live-Thousand Oaks Vehicle- Chevy Silverado
1 Daughter; 2 Sons 1 Grandchild
Wheaton College 14 years XP
Gordon-Conwell 4 years LN PK
Please modify this page to substitute your personal information. This is meant to be an initial personal introduction for all the group members so you’ll spend a significant amount of time on this during Session#1. Feel free to modify the content of this slide any way you want. There’s nothing magic about the content listed but you do want to stay at a fairly factual level for this first Session. You’re just helping the participants get to know each other’s basic information. You should take the lead on talking through your answers and then leave the slide up so they can all talk through their own answers to the same information items. This is usually a really fun time so feel free to make it pretty light hearted.
Masters Groups | Cornerstone Church Network

5. Koinonia Connection X Information + Feelings Information Only
August 7, 2018
Koinonia Connection X
Information + Feelings
Information Only
PAST Here is something about my past that would help you know me better
DEFINING A difficult life experience MOMENT which helped me grow as a person was..
VALUES Here’s what I stand for…
This Koinonia Connection slide will be included in almost every Session’s presentation. For Session #1 you can use it simply to describe Koinonia as one of our goals as a group. The process of introduction we just went through (previous slide) stayed pretty much at an ‘Information Only’ level. That is totally appropriate for the start of our group. We need to know some facts about each other to begin establishing our relationships. But it’s our intention over the months ahead to move beyond just facts to deeper levels of understanding. We’ll learn to share information plus feelings along with increasing ability to ask the right kinds of questions of each other. The better we know each other the more likely it will be that we will approach true Koinonia as a group. We’ll take our time to do this but it’s important to know that we will be intentional about deepening our relationships over time. The ‘values, defining moments and past’ categories are examples of the kinds of sharing that will help us develop understanding and appreciation for each other.
Masters Groups | Cornerstone Church Network

6. Hand of the Lord Masters Groups | Cornerstone Church Network
August 7, 2018
Hand of the Lord
‘Hand of the Lord’ time is meant to help the participants focus on God’s specific involvement in their ministries and/or personal lives. Hearing each other’s stories of God’s practical intervention is an encouraging reminder that we are not alone in ministry and our God is a powerful God.
For this section of Session #1, ask each participant to respond to this question: “What’s one specific way you’ve seen God at work in your church this past month?”
Masters Groups | Cornerstone Church Network

7. Discuss Possible Goals and Expectations for our Master’s Group
August 7, 2018
Discuss Possible Goals and Expectations for our Master’s Group
Since this is the first time the group is meeting, it will be helpful to allow the group to verbalize the expectations they are coming with and some possible goals they envision for the group. This often is a reiteration of the way you’ve described your expectations as you have recruited the people into the group. However, there are always some variations on the theme and it is extremely helpful for you as group leader to understand where the group members are coming from in terms of expectation.
You should at least take notes as people talk through their expectations but it’s even better to write the ideas on a white board or flip chart. It will be helpful if you out this list to the group members after the session.
Masters Groups | Cornerstone Church Network

8. August 7, 2018
Covenant
This is our group and as such, it will be essential that we establish a “behavior covenant.” What are some of the behavioral expectations that could be a part of this covenant?
Explain that there’s value in agreeing together on some practical commitments to keep the value of the group high. We don’t have a predetermined covenant for Master’s Groups but ask each group to work through their own set of agreements. These covenants often include things like ‘consistent attendance’, ‘confidentiality’, ‘consistent prayer for one another’ etc but it’s best if we agree together on our particular set of agreements. Let’s just take a few minutes on this today and we’ll revisit this over our first three gatherings to get it nailed down.
The chair should take notes or write on white board/flip chart during the discussion and the list out to the group after the session along with the goals/expectations from the previous slide.
Masters Groups | Cornerstone Church Network

9. Personal Leadership Exercise
August 7, 2018
Personal Leadership Exercise
Overview of where we’ll be going
Starting a “Philosophy of Leadership”
“Overview of where we’ll be going”
Explain that each time we meet we will dig into some very practical content that we intend to be immediately applicable to our lives and ministry settings. The content we address should always have some aspect that is transferable. That is, we want you to be able to use what we do here to make measurable steps forward in your leadership skill and use some of what we do here to assist your team to do the same. One of the reasons that we have designed Master’s Groups with a monthly gathering component is that we all need some 30,000 foot view space. Our time together should always allow you the chance to get out of the daily rat race and ‘see the maze’ from above.
“Starting a ‘Philosophy of Leadership’”
Today we are going to begin a process that we’ll follow up on in our individual coaching sessions. It’s not at all uncommon for ministry people to launch out of school right into a job and never really consider what their philosophy of leadership is. The result is often a reactionary style that gets yanked around by everyone else’s expectations. Today we’re going to revisit the foundational building blocks of your philosophy of leadership through a few exercises. So let’s go…
Masters Groups | Cornerstone Church Network

10. Masters Groups | Cornerstone Church Network
August 7, 2018
Each group member will need a copy of this page. The instructions are in the left hand column. Walk the group through the page one step at a time. After they circle their most important values, ask them to pick out what they would consider their top five. Then take a few minutes to have each person read their top five (no explanation needed). Then have them list their top three mentors/models/heroes and the key qualities of those people that put them in that category for you. Explain that these values and the qualities identified form the bedrock of their philosophy of leadership.
Masters Groups | Cornerstone Church Network

11. Masters Groups | Cornerstone Church Network
August 7, 2018
Each group member will need a copy of this page as well. This Personal Worksheet is one that we will work our way through over time. It will help you clarify your most important leadership tasks and relationships so you can prioritize your effort in the direction of the most significant outcome areas. Today we are only going to deal with the bottom row. From the previous worksheet, transfer the names of the three Key models/mentors/heroes to the bottom left box on this page. Then take some time to let each person think through the values and qualities they have identified as deeply important to them and write a sentence or two that describes their resultant Leadership Philosophy in the ‘My Leadership Philosophy’ box.
Next, ask each individual to write a short statement in the ‘My Message’ box in the lower right corner. The object here is to capture the essence of the impact you would like to leave as a legacy with the people you lead. It is what you would like them all to think of immediately if asked to write an epitaph for your tombstone. The group members should be thinking as they write…’This is what I want all the people I work with to learn about leadership.’
When people are finished, ask each to read what they’ve written. Remind them that they can keep working on this on their own after today and that it is well worth some quiet think time. What we have established on the bottom row of this Personal Worksheet is the foundation from which they will build a highly intentional leadership process.
Masters Groups | Cornerstone Church Network

12. Personal Vision Complete “personal introspective” questions
August 7, 2018
Personal Vision
Complete “personal introspective” questions
We’re going to spend a few minutes in this first session taking a ‘snap shot’ of how we are doing personally at this time. Doing this will help us have a base line to compare to later on. It’s our desire that participation in a Master’s Group will help us each develop greater clarity about personal and ministry vision so having a benchmark will help us later to have a beginning measuring point.
To start, there are a few ‘personal introspective questions I’d like you to take a few minutes to answer. We won’t be sharing these responses with the group so respond as honestly as you can for your personal benefit. There are quite a few questions on these handouts and you can take time to answer them all at a later time but for now just answer numbers__________________.
Masters Groups | Cornerstone Church Network

13. Masters Groups | Cornerstone Church Network
August 7, 2018
Hand out these sheets and give about fifteen minutes for the group to work quietly answering the specific questions you identified as appropriate for use today. I would suggest using questions #
Masters Groups | Cornerstone Church Network

14. Personal Vision Complete “Personal Introspective” Questions
August 7, 2018
Personal Vision
Complete “Personal Introspective” Questions
Complete “Balance Wheel” exercise
Hand out the balance wheel sheet and see next slide for instructions.
Masters Groups | Cornerstone Church Network

15. Masters Groups | Cornerstone Church Network
August 7, 2018
This balance wheel lists seven aspects of our lives. At any given time we may feel like we’re doing really well in some and not so well in others. This exercise is a ‘snapshot’ of how these areas are doing from your perspective at this time. Take a few minutes and circle the number that identifies that current reality in each area. A ‘1’ means ‘terrible’ and a ‘10’ means ‘exceptional’.
When everyone is finished with this exercise, you may want to have a short discussion with them about the reasons life balance is difficult, especially for pastors. List some things that get in the way of balance. Remind the group that these road blocks are not to become excuses for imbalance but it is really helpful to name them and recognize that we have to figure out how to work with those issues.
Now hand out the ‘Free Writing Exercise’ sheets.
Masters Groups | Cornerstone Church Network

16. Personal Vision Complete “Personal Introspective” Questions
August 7, 2018
Personal Vision
Complete “Personal Introspective” Questions
Complete “Balance Wheel” exercise
Free Writing Exercise
See the next slide for instructions on the Free Writing Exercise.
Masters Groups | Cornerstone Church Network

17. Master's Group | Cornerstone Church Network
August 7, 2018
The idea of the ‘Free Writing Exercise’ is to help the group members write as much as they can in a defined period of time on a particular topic. Make sure each person has a copy of the form in front of them. Explain that you are going to ask them to write for five minutes solid in answer to the question that you will pose. They are to keep writing for the full five minutes ‘without taking their pen off the paper’. In other words, don’t sit there and think about your answer, just write down everything that comes to mind. Tell them today’s question is:
“Ideally, what would you like your life to look like three years from now?”
Tell them, ‘Go’ and then time them for five minutes and say, ‘Stop’
Then have them go back and circle any words or phases the identify things that will require change between now and three years from now if they are to become reality.
When they have finished this, tell them that they have just established the essence of their life goals for the coming three years. They will have to spend some time with this on their own to determine strategies, tactics and goals…but they now have a pretty clear description of the things they’ll need to work on over the coming three years.
If you have time, you may want to allow group members to share some of the change areas they identified in this process. This should be a voluntary sharing but if you have time, it will help them get to know each other even better.
Tell them that based on these three exercises (Personal Introspective Questions, Balance Wheel, and Free Writing) they now have a ‘snapshot’ of their current personal position and desires for the 36 months ahead. Let them know you’ll be looking at these things with them in your individual coaching time ahead.
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18. Growing Past Stress Masters Groups | Cornerstone Church Network
August 7, 2018
Growing Past Stress
See the “Growing Past Stress Instructions” document for a step by step description of how this process works.
Masters Groups | Cornerstone Church Network

19. GPS Worksheet Masters Groups | Cornerstone Church Network
August 7, 2018
GPS Worksheet
Describe the stress producing situation. 
What effect is this having on the organization and on you personally? 
What clear, identifiable evidence is there? 
What consequences might result in your life/ministry if this issue is left unaddressed? 
What might be the long term (3 to 5 years) implications of this issue? 
What have you done about it so far? 
What seems to be the key sticking point? 
What would be the benefit of getting this taken care of? 
What could be the benefit of dealing with this issue? 
Summarize the situation in a short paragraph.
Masters Groups | Cornerstone Church Network

20. Masters Groups | Cornerstone Church Network
August 7, 2018
Masters Groups | Cornerstone Church Network

21. Masters Groups | Cornerstone Church Network
August 7, 2018
Masters Groups | Cornerstone Church Network