The other day I went out to coffee with one of our long time volunteers. He has been a life group leader in HSM for the last 7 years and the guy is so good at it. When we were talking I was just listening to him thinking, “This guy knows so much. I’m learning a so much right now.” Then he mentioned that he wished he could pass along what he knows to the younger, newer leaders. As I was sitting there (as a younger guy learning a ton) I asked him if he would be interested in hanging out with some of our newer small group leaders just to start a relationship with them and sort of mentorship with them. His eyes lit up and said he would jump on that in a second. So when I got back to my office, I sent out an email with him and 4 of our newer, younger leaders and they are setting up times to hang out with man who I would consider a pro.

I love this. Giving our veterans a chance to coach our rookies and start some great relationships within our ministry is a win/win situation. Here are some random thoughts on why I want to do this more intentionally:

  • It’s free training for our younger guys. Great reason.
  • Because we are de-centralized in small groups (small groups meet in homes all over) it starts relationships with leaders who other than our few trainings would never get together and hang out.
  • It empowers our veterans to help them invest even more into a ministry they have been serving whole-heartedly for years.
  • It gives key volunteers a sense of value and position.
  • It gives our younger/newer leaders a chance to ask questions and seek advice from another person.
  • It shows our younger/newer volunteers that we care for them and want to see them grow more in leadership and care for their groups.
  • Both groups of students will benefit from the interactions between the leaders as they learn from each other.
  • Leader care and accountability goes way up.

I’m sure there is a ton more that go along with this as well. As I am sitting here and reading our email thread I just see all the benefits of connecting our older leaders with our younger ones and I know we will be seeing some great things come out of that.

Do you have a system in which you get leaders together to share ideas or train each other? What do you do? Have you thought about it? Let us know in the comments below!