Session Descriptions
Prime track Friday and Saturday – if you have never been to a Saddleback small group conference, or want a refresher.
This is a highly interactive track taught by Saddleback’s small group pastor Steve Gladen. You’ll learn the principles that God has used to create one of the most successful small group ministries in the nation at Saddleback Church, one that has been successfully used in churches around the world of all sizes and virtually all denominations. In six sessions over two days you will go through how your church can start and grow a healthy small group ministry, can’t-miss principles, and how to connect your community and your church for spiritual health. These core sessions have been previous taught as Discovering Your Essentials for Healthy Groups and Determining Your Purpose – Measuring the Health of Your Small Groups, but are now combined into this Prime Track.
Advanced Planning Track Friday and Saturday – if you have been to a Saddleback small group conference, and are implementing the model, but you’d like to develop a 12-18 month small group strategic action plan for your church.
This two-day track taught by working pastors will take you and your leadership team through a facilitated planning exercise that ends up with a 12-18 month action plan for your ministry, tailored to your church and ready to implement. You’ll be coached in doing some initial work before attending, and we encourage you to bring any other members of your team, staff or non-paid, who need to be invested in the ministry plan. There will be plenty of process and debrief time for you and your team to address critical issues that are integral for a successful plan for your church. Embedded in this planning process are the 50 key area learnings at Saddleback that played into the successful model that now has over more people in weekly small groups than in weekend services.
Advanced Breakthrough Track Friday and Saturday – if you have been to a Saddleback small group conference, are implementing the model, have a successful strategic plan year after year, but you’d like to work on some key roadblocks with other working small group point leaders who may have already solved them.
This two-day track is a peer-processing learning environment where you will chew on the thorniest issues facing your ministry with others who are deep in the trenches. If you have basic questions, like how do I get my senior pastor on board, or how do I launch lots of groups – this is NOT the track for you. You’ll want to go to the Prime Track. The Advanced Breakthrough Track will tackle challenges like keeping a campaign strategy going year after year, training innovations for leaders, retention of small group leaders and groups, health of small groups and small group leaders, and what the future of small group ministry looks like.