Leadership Team Retreat 2022

Loving Others Well

We had a lovely time at our Leadership Team Retreat. Twelve women joined us including Traci Martin who came as a guest from Atlanta, GA. SEE OPENING POWERPOINT HERE.

From beginning to end, the retreat was set in the book of Philippians 1-4 -- Becky and June led us in several worship times where we listened to the reading of passages of Philippians in different versions. The overarching theme was centered on loving others well, which Paul says requires that we have the mindset of Jesus, "in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus...who made himself nothing..humbled himself and became obedient to death, even on a cross!" (Phil 2) We had church together Sunday morning and a wonderful message from Philippians where we were challenged to have the mindset of Christ to the extent that people see us being humble and experience it for themselves. The call of God is for his followers to have Jesus’ kind of humility so we can love one another well. 

We talked about the amazing ways we've seen God at work in our ministry and some new opportunities that he has opened that we are thrilled about. The Lord has opened doors for Luann to make connections with several people leading organizations including National Association of Evangelicals, WOW!, Just Between Us magazine editors, Fuller’s Center for Spiritual Formation and Fresh Perspectives Ministries. Luann is participating in a national cohort focused on spiritual formation for 25 evangelical leaders co-hosted by Fuller Seminary and NAE. These new relationships are opening doors for advancing our three multi-year goals: creating safe spaces, broadening engagement/increasing participation, and intentional inclusion.

Answering Core Questions

Luann talked about what it means to be "evangelical" and who qualifies as being “a woman in ministry.” Read more.

Becoming Aware of Cultural Differences: How to Love and Welcome Others Well

Training with Steve Wong, MDiv, PhD

Pastor Steve Wong (MDiv in Theology, Biola; PhD Psychology, lead pastor Grace Community Covenant) trained us (via zoom) on principles for how we can better welcome women from various cultures (Christian women from different ethnicities, geographical regions, ages) who come to our ministries and serve on teams with us. We asked him to help us know what we don’t know.

He asked us, What cultural differences do you notice in your small groups?

There may be obvious ethnic, age, denominational, and class differences. However, culture, we learned, has other dimensions that are invisible. We also see culture in ways that are more hidden, in our actions, preferences, and how we engage in a group. We learned that culture incorporates the beliefs, values and attitudes under the surface that helps to explain why people may feel as they do, lead as they do, or experience being excluded when others are trying to welcome them in.

We talked about preferences around direct or indirect communication (talked about how Jesus' use of parables was his use of indirect communication). We talked about how some of us view ourselves as individuals and others come from cultures that share a group identity, how different cultures have different ways of showing hospitality (using the example from Acts 6 where Christians from Hebraic and Hellenistic backgrounds were not all being cared for well in the early church). We also talked about cultural differences included in Sarah Lanier’s book, Foreign to Familiar: Relationship Versus Task Orientation, Inclusion Versus Privacy, Different Concepts of Hospitality, High-Context Versus Low-Context Cultures, and Different Concepts of Time and Planning.

Steve concluded by giving us very practical suggestions for how we can grow in our personal awareness that we live among people with different cultural backgrounds:

• Recognizing we are in a multicultural setting

• Becoming curious about the experiences of others

• Reading books or watching movies together that are set in a cultural context different from our own

• Taking our friends out to lunch and learning about their family’s traditions

These practical steps will help us love and serve all women well.

One woman expressed confusion over how training in intercultural differences supported NEWIM’s ministry goals and was worried that the training was not biblical. Another woman wrote on her evaluation form:

“The information presented was excellent and helpful in understanding the cultural differences that are easily misunderstood. I would like to learn more about making initial connections with women in other cultures. The energy each team had was contagious.”

So we didn’t all agree on the value of becoming culturally aware which isn’t surprising as NEWIM serves a broad spectrum of Christian women. Luann Budd felt that Pastor Steve brought the richness of his theological training, missiology, and psychology to his 3-hour presentation and the training was helpful in giving all of us insight into how we can grow in our awareness of cultural differences even among Christian women, and be humble as we lead and serve in NEWIM.

Goal Teams Shared Their Work

The three goal teams (creating safe spaces, becoming intentionally inclusive, and broadening participation/increasing engagement) shared the work they’ve done this year with the whole group. We then worked in teams and talked about how to incorporate the work of the other teams into our work. We could see how all of our work was contributing to the whole. Each team set goals for 2023.

We also came back to talk about Core Questions and share some of the answers we’ve come up with.

What Do Young Women in Ministry Need?

Luann also shared what she learned when she and Anne Barbour took a group of young women on retreat for a 24-hour focus group. Luann and Anne wanted to hear from them what they felt they needed to flourish in ministry and what NEWIM could offer them, to strengthen them as they serve. What they said, basically, was surprising and aligned with our mission: they want retreats just like The Springs, and mentors—women who will initiate friendship with them and encourage them as they lead. We asked them why they didn’t come to the Springs. They said, they would have if they knew about it. We realized that we need to advertise where the younger women will see our advertisements, including on college campuses. SEE POWERPOINT HERE.

After Luann shared what she learned in the focus group, the Leadership Team was encouraged. We felt energized. We can initiate friendships with younger women and loves and affirm them as they lead in ministry. That’s what NEWIM has always done.

Leadership Team Retreat 2021

Joshua 1 — Imagine a New Day

Sarah Budd facilitated our Leadership Team weekend retreat, October 1-3, 2021, in Oceanside, California. We used Joshua 1:1-18 as our Scripture. Each shared a devotional thought, or lead in prayer, reflection or worship. Women who couldn’t attend were praying for us throughout the weekend. Our five worship times kept Jesus at the center of our retreat.

NEWIM is structured as a "team of teams.” It was hoped that this weekend would deepen friendships and set the strategic direction for the next 3 years. NEWIM’s mission, vision and values are not changing. The Board had two outcomes: we wanted lots of time to interact with each other and an actionable plan for advancing NEWIM’s mission by Sunday.

Before the retreat, the Board of Directors set three broad goals that would benefit all of the ministries: 1) Enhance engagement/broaden participation 2) Be intentionally Inclusive 3) Deepen connections. Using World Cafe as a model, Sarah helped us to brainstorm what “core question, if explored, could make the most difference to the next three years.” We came up with at least 100 core questions that were consolidated into six categories: Audience, Connecting, Context, Strengths, Safety, and Infrastructure. These questions informed the rest of our conversations.

In small group conversations we imagined what else could be possible within our mission, values and goals. We talked about what we didn’t know…and there was a lot. Then we spent time discussing what it would look like if we were advancing our goals well. We shared what we were passionate about. Every 20 minutes or so we changed groups, bringing the insight from our first group to our next group.

As we reported back to the larger group the energy in the room soared.

By Saturday afternoon we were forming teams around the Board’s three goals and setting plans for how we were going to advance our areas. The process seemed confusing at times and ambiguous, and then we’d get together with 3-4 others, have a conversation, and suddenly we’d have clarity. The World Cafe model worked well. By Sunday we had an actionable plan. During the weekend we had many opportunities for meaningful conversations with each other.

Summing up the Retreat in a Word or Phrase

Some comments:

“The best part of this retreat was connections with the Leadership Team and Board.”

“The best part of the retreat was having someone (Sarah) lead us through the process.”

“What was the best part of this weekend? (1) Connection with everyone in a relaxed atmosphere with a purpose, (2) I loved the process of asking questions together before we tried to come up with a plan, (3) I thought Sarah’s leading us through the process was interesting, thought-provoking and exciting. I loved the accommodations and value the friendships. I’m surprised we actually came up with a three-year actionable plan.”

What an energizing weekend with 15 amazing women!

Leadership Team Retreat 2019

THEME: “Becoming A Team of Teams”

Sarah Budd and Cheri Dale co-facilitated our Leadership Team weekend retreat in March. Twenty-two of us attended. The weekend focused on building a cohesive leadership team. We spent time developing a common understanding of best practices for leading teams and the ideal characteristics required for team members using insight from Patrick Lencioni’s books: Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Ideal Team Player, and Advantage.

NEWIM’s Teams

NEWIM is a Team of Teams, bound together by our shared mission. Women on the teams are empowered to run their ministries to meet the needs of the women they serve. The teams have a shared vision, are seeking to create a common culture and live our core values. The teams share their goals and projects with the whole organization. There’s a free flow of information across the teams as women form relationships and work together. Often women serve on more than one team, given how the Lord has called and gifted them.

Benefits of a “Team of Teams” structure

• Easier to keep up with change. Easier to launch new ministries. Easier to adapt our current ministries to remain relevant.

• Silos are replaced with connection. Women feel comfortable sharing ideas across teams and thinking together about how to best accomplish the mission we share.

• Teams set their own annual goals, not the Board.

• If someone on the team can’t complete her responsibilities, other team members will. Women come alongside each other across teams; there’s support from the whole leadership team to help.

• Women can move from serving on one team to another team without disrupting relationships. Succession planning happens within the team.

• Our organizational structure is truly a network. Our structure is aligned with our mission.

Building Healthy Teams

What We Took home

“This weekend I learned that: 1) Leadership requires vulnerability of a leader as a human being with faults. 2) When making a decision, we need to write out the decisions, distribute them to everyone and ask if anything needs clarifying. 3) Healthy conflict: go hard on the issue and soft on the person. “

Leadership Retreat - 2017

Women on NEWIM's leadership team were invited to take the Gallup StrengthsFinders Assessment and then participate in a weekend of professional development with Sarah Budd facilitating. Two retreats were held: one in Oakdale and one in Orange County. We wanted to understand this information and learn how to apply it in our interactions with others. We wanted to learn how to strengthen the gifts God has given to us, as well as gain an increased awareness of the talents of the others on the team. We also hoped that our friendships would be deepened and that we would more fully recognize the gift that God has given to us in each woman who serves on this team.

Time during the Retreat for Personal Reflection, Worship and Prayer

We used Romans 12:1-9 as our text for the retreat. It is so interesting that after 11 chapters of theology, articulating the wonders of the grace of the gospel, Paul urges us to respond to God's mercy by offering ourselves wholeheartedly in sacrificial service using our unique blend of gifts.

We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a woman's gift is prophesying, let her use it in proportion to her faith. If it is serving, let her serve; if it is teaching, let her teach; if it is encouraging, let her encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let her give generously; if it is leadership, let her govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let her do it cheerfully. Love must be sincere.

Uncovering our unique, natural, innate ways of thinking, feeling and behaving helps us to discover how we are "fearfully and wonderfully" made. We want to step into being who God created us to be in order that we may enthusiastically live our lives to please Him rather than hold back because we fear that we are doing it all wrong. Often we don't value our talents because we don't recognize them as strengths. Often we don't understand why others approach a task so differently from us. This retreat helped all of us to better understand our talents and how we need each other for our team to excel.

What we Learned

Workshop Sessions

The retreat schedule included 7 workshop sessions led by Sarah. We developed a shared understanding of Gallup's 34 strength "themes" and reviewed our top five talents and our individualized Insight Guides. We discussed what aspects of the Guide resonated with us, and what aspects we didn't recognize in ourselves. We also came to understand that our talent themes are neutral. There isn't a hierarchy that shows that some talents are actually better than others. We want to see our strengths as our toolbox, and just like a carpenter we want to know when to use each one of them and how they complement the strengths others have. When we invest in our strengths, we get the most return from our investment.

Balconies and Basements

We don't always use our talents well. Sometime we can be annoying and each talent has a dark side that we need to be aware of. It's really valuable to have someone help us to see how we might be in the "basement" with one of our strengths so we can open ourselves to the Holy Spirit's work in our inner life. "Do not be conformed any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." (Rom. 12:2)

Requirements for Success

The group brainstormed what we felt were essential elements for us to be a successful leadership team: Results, Collaboration, Trust, Shared Values, Action, Common Goals and Purpose are what we want for our team as we move forward. We recognize our interdependence.

I am at My Best When...

Each of us took time to reflect on when we are at our best, when we are at our worst, what we will bring to the team and what we'd love to receive from the others on the team. Common themes emerged: We are at our best when there is plenty of grace, when there is safety as we learn and make mistakes, when we are listened to and when we have the opportunity to be out in nature connecting with the Lord. This was a powerful time of sharing our hearts: we spoke vulnerably about when we feel we are at our best, what shuts us down, what we are committing to each other and how we will work collaboratively as part of the Leadership Team.

Next Steps

Professional Coaching

Coming to recognize our unique blend of talents and how important it is that we fully invest in developing them into areas of strength, we left the retreat more deeply valuing the role we play, and that others play, on the team. And we were each convinced that we need to keep investing in our knowledge, skills and abilities so we continue to grow our talents into true assets for the team. The northern gals scheduled a follow-up phone call with Sarah where she could coach us in our personal professional development plan. The southern gals are also scheduling a coaching call with Sarah so we take the insight from the retreat and put it into action.

Participant's Response to the Weekend

"As a woman, I found it particularly empowering to focus on developing my strengths rather than fixing my weaknesses. I hope to learn ways to 'manage' my weaknesses and increase my strengths by going deeper into the Strengths Finders resources."

"I feel like Sarah has awakened my dead brain. I was actually thinking that I might have early Alzheimer's but now I'm just wondering if parts of me have just started shutting down to cope with my job. What we did this weekend has given me hope that with some thought and focus and being intentional about building on my talents and strengths, I will be able to get back to a fulfilling and happy life."

"I found this to be not only insightful, but very freeing. It has opened up brand new understandings about how and why I live and work the way I do."

"If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen. (I Peter 4:11)