Training Day

I spent most of today in Lakeland, FL. It was a "training day" of sorts for me and several others. An elder at Trinity Pres named Tim is on the board of I See Jesus (the study is called The Person of Jesus ) and trains leaders to more fully master the craft of leading these discussions. Our community group had been going through this study but have since taken a break.

The format was fairly loose. Five people presented and led us through a study of 5 different lessons. Each of these sessions took 45 minutes to an hour. Afterwards we all helped in evaluating the discussion, with Tim (all 6 foot 9 of him) of course taking the lead.

At first I felt a little nervous for those leading the discussions. Second, I thought, "I'm glad I'm not leading one of these babies." I hadn't really been in one of these group evaluation things since preaching Lab (where people critique your sermons and take notes while you're preaching!). However the group was extremely loving, quick to commend, and yet still offered some constructive feedback.

Tim mentioned that there is very little evaluation that ever goes on within the church body. And he was not talking about people critiquing sermons. I think that he had a strong point. Very few people seek input on how they can do something better. Very few people even listen to input without getting defensive.

But the other day, Amy gave me some constructive criticism on how to ask questions in youth group. Its not too hard (its always a little hard because of that pesky pride problem we all have) to hear that kind of stuff from her, because I know she loves me and respects me.

I can't read minds or hearts (I leave that to Jesus-and you should too), but it seemed like the discussion leaders actually welcomed the constructive feedback. No one was defensive at all. It was beautiful. It was loving. Not self-protecting, and not enabling (both of which pass for love these days), but actually loving.

Everyone in there definitely respected each other's commitment to ministry and to Jesus. And over time, I really got to like the folks. When those two components collide, evaluation is much easier.