ConneXions College Program Impact
“What I learned… has become part of my life, not just head knowledge.”
One of our partner church networks runs a training program for emerging leaders who have just graduated from college. Recently, LeaderSource trained 20 young leaders from this church network in a rigorous ConneXions prototype program. Two of them, Timothy* and John, then completely redesigned the college program using the ConneXions Model, and went on to lead it.
This case study details how they personally were transformed during the ConneXions prototype program and how training under the LeaderSource team enabled them to design a highly successful and transformational training framework for their college program.
The particular church network that we worked with is known for being very rigid in structure, doctrine, and training methods. Their teaching and practices have also had huge influence in many Asian country church networks. When he came to us, the top leader of the network told us that their leader development efforts had failed. He said, “We have lost an entire generation of leaders,” and asked for our help in completely reframing how they do training.
Part of our plan to assist them was to train a number of their emerging leaders in an intensive f our-month ConneXions prototype program. Timothy and John were chosen by their top leaders to attend this program. Both of them were deeply affected by their time there. Their leaders were especially impressed by how deeply they grew in union with Christ. John’s leader, Michael, who had recommended him for the program, never thought that John had that much potential, but was impressed by John’s transformation through the program. John is now a brilliant thinker, designer, and builder. He is a healthy leader and takes his work and the ConneXions Model very seriously.
During the program, John would reach out to his leaders and co-workers often with what he was learning. Through his participation, his entire church has been affected. After graduation, he was immediately promoted within his church and conducted a series of trainings based on the ConneXions Model designed to build the young people in his church. He continued to interact with our team regarding the ConneXions Model and how to design well. Through his training in his church, he brought about a mighty shift in their church culture. People in the church became very active, serving in ministry and growing in their personal and spiritual lives. John quickly had a large group of young people interested in actively serving the church.
Before being recommended for the ConneXions prototype program, Timothy was in full-time ministry as part of a campus ministry team. The leader of the program was unsure of how Timothy would do in it. He didn’t seem especially intelligent and wasn’t able to answer questions in a straightforward fashion. Initially, we thought that if we ended up with too many applicants we would probably say no to Timothy first. He also wasn’t an “important” leader in his campus ministry – he just worked in the office. But he came highly recommended by his leaders back home so we trusted that God had him with us for a reason. We quickly realized that God had big plans for this young man. He was totally transformed through the program, both spiritually and physically. Even his leader commented on how much even his physical appearance had changed.
During a week focused on deliverance and prayer, we discovered that Timothy had gone through very dark and broken experiences in his teenage years. It was difficult for him to share his past, but we had been constantly assuring the participants that anything they told us would be held in confidence and that we just wanted to love and serve them through prayer. Eventually, he trusted us enough to open up to the group about his past. When Timothy shared so transparently the group was shocked and prayed for him together, and two of our teachers prayed with him and led him through deliverance. This was the week that strongholds were broken down in his life!
Previous to this week, Timothy’s mind would seem muddled. We felt that he couldn’t understand the underlying point of things we would say to him. We began to see during the deliverance week that he had been damaged emotionally and mentally during his teenage years. During the following weeks, as he shared and the cohort prayed for him, his communication dramatically improved. It was as if a veil had been lifted off of his mind. He was totally set free from fear and shame.
Timothy is a bright, sophisticated young man with a passion for athletics. He has been able to truly experience his full potential after going through the ConneXions prototype program. He has found his calling from God to lead outdoor ministry. He participated in a leader development wilderness experience and discovered a passion for building leaders through outdoor ministry. He is a great athlete and has even started leading wilderness experiences and sports ministries on his own. Timothy has a great passion for building young people one-on-one, and an equal drive to expand what he has been doing in the campus programs across the country.
Both Timothy and John immediately went to work after graduating from the ConneXions prototype program. The campus program they were involved in had been going on for two years already, but they decided to completely redesign it based on the ConneXions Model. The two worked as a team; John did most of the design and Timothy led the program. They also invited their cohort from the Prototype Program to come in and teach at different times during the three months. Overall, they trained thirty-one participants. The cohort met five days during the week for training and went out to do practical ministry experiences the other two days of the week. Timothy and John assigned them to different local churches on weekends to assist them with ministry.
Participants in this campus program came from all over the country and were given an extensive relational web. They each had a host home with a church, pastoral coach, intercessor, and ministry coach, along with constant interaction with the top leaders of the hosting church. Each week, these top leaders came to the program and helped with the teaching and shared from their rich life experience. Each week, Timothy and John designed for three days of teaching and two days of practical application, with the weekend devoted to serving in the churches.
The following are excerpts from an interview we conducted with both Timothy and John and give great insight into how they led the program and how their own lives have been changed by leading this program.
What is your general evaluation of the campus program?
John: Through the lens of the 4Ds, this year’s program was different than the past years. I wanted to especially emphasize the relational aspect this year. All of the participants sincerely invested in relationships as a community and devoted themselves to it. They not only opened themselves up to share their hearts with one another, but they were also willing to allow brokenness into the environment of their small groups. Several weeks before the completion of the training, all of them (on their own!) began to design ways to keep their relationships strong as a community. We could tell from this how much they valued their relationships with one another.
As far as the spiritual dynamic is concerned, they had deeper experiences in prayer, depending on God, and looking to God. They spent quality time in devotion and prayer, and they were even able to finish reading the entire New Testament in eighteen hours! This went along with a teaching on loving and longing for God’s Word. As a result, their love and passion for God’s Word has deepened.
When it came to the instructional dynamic, we broke off the traditional “spoon-feeding” teaching pattern. Instead, there were more interactions and discussions. All of the trainings went so well and we got great feedback from the participants. What is most important is that the brothers and sisters in the program experienced breakthroughs and transformation in their lives from the teaching.
For the experiential dynamic, different members of the cohort were asked to bear the responsibility of leading the group and challenging the status quo of the cohort in a positive way.
Timothy: I am satisfied that the curriculum was well-designed and the participants have been enriched and holistically built in the 5Cs. Their enthusiasm for study has increased so much that nineteen out of the thirty-one want to pursue more studies in the Bible, two have decided to become full-time ministry workers, and twelve of them have made the decision to become members of our new design team. This shows that the training has stirred up the participants’ hunger for God and interest in the ConneXions Model. Also, through this training, their relationships have become stronger and stronger.
Through leading this program, what kind of new knowledge and understanding have you gained about training and the ConneXions Model?
Timothy: Trainings do not rely on the instructional dynamic alone. We need to keep a balance between all four dynamics. The ConneXions Model is so different from the traditional approach that emphasizes or focuses on teaching alone. This is a holistic model that Jesus used to train and build His disciples. It is a blessing to have had training in the ConneXions Model. I have seen the effects of the model in my own life as well as the participants in this program. Many of our graduates have experienced changes to their mindsets and they have become so much healthier.
John: This was the first training I have led that was so intensive! It is totally different than the camps or trainings I have done in the past that lasted only for a short time. This provided me with the opportunity to put into practice everything I learned in the ConneXions prototype program last year. Through leading this program, I have personally experienced tremendous growth. What I learned last year has now really become part of my life, not just head knowledge.
I have experienced the ConneXions Model in a deeper way and see how good the model is for developing young and emerging leaders. Young people need to be affirmed and trusted, they need to be charged with responsibilities, and encouraged. When such a healthy culture for learning is established in a community, we find that each member begins to connect with others and functions as a body. The abilities of both the individual and the team are fully exerted. Wherever people are of one mind, there will be power and the team will prove to be full of life, living, and powerful!
What is your vision for this campus program?
John: The vision for the program is this: to pass on the ministry of developing emerging leaders more effectively and to develop people who will be able to build others. We want to build leaders and designers who will be able to be the leaders of young people in the church so that they can minister to young people on campuses, in churches, and in Sunday schools.
Timothy: My vision is to build the design team – to increase their thinking abilities and to help them apply design in a real sense so as to bring about life transformation. My next plan is to organize another campus program in a different city. I will recruit thirty participants and ten co-workers to serve the ministry. I would like to see more campus leaders receive the ConneXions training and be able to develop healthy campus leaders all over our country.
One of the other participants, Adam, had many responsibilities in his church back home. The general rule in the program was that participants couldn’t ask for days off. Adam asked for days off several times during the program to go to his church and fulfill some of his pressing ministry duties. He got more persistent with each request and, finally, Timothy and John told him he could take the days off, but that they wouldn’t allow him back into the program if he decided to go. They wanted him to be able to take a season of his life and work on building his relationship with Christ and give him a solid foundation, but Adam chose to leave. Adam left the program for a couple of days but was soon back, begging desperately, “As long as you allow me to stay, I will take any consequence you will give!” Adam’s team leaders struggled with making the decision to let Adam back in.
Each week in the program, Timothy and John selected a cohort leader from among the participants, and during this week the cohort leader was a young man named Caleb. He and the other cohort participants approached Timothy about letting Adam back in the program. Timothy was hesitant to allow him back because of the precedent it would set. He had just refused to let four other participants take time off for very important ministry duties and if he let Adam back in it would seem there was no discipline in the program. Finally, after thinking and praying about it, Timothy told Caleb that he had to take responsibility for Adam as a leader under him, and that as a consequence, Caleb would be required to run 10,000 meters on Adam’s behalf!
When Caleb heard this, he responded that he was willing to run the 10,000 meters for Adam’s sake. His voice was choked with tears – either because the 10,000 meters was hard for him to run or from the weight of taking blame for others and loving and laying himself down for the leaders in his care. The next morning, the entire cohort went out to the track with Caleb and ran the 10,000 meters with him! Timothy and John were speechless. The entire cohort evaluated the experience and concluded that a good man is bold to take responsibility and a good leader is one who is willing to take blame for his followers.
All of the participants in the program learned and grew, transforming in their walks with God in numerous ways. Following are several testimonies from participants, in their own words:
“Personally, I have had a big breakthrough in community and relationship with others. In the beginning, I was not willing to open up to others and didn’t like group activities. My speech was very negative. As my relationship with God has gotten better and better and I saw the other participants opening up to each other, I began to initiate some activities and started to build my relationship with the group. After three months, I have built such a good relationship with the cohort and I am so sad to leave!”
“When I was in college, I participated in some ministry work in the campus fellowship. Things happened that caused deep hurt in my life and I didn’t want to serve God anymore. After graduation I was very busy at work and opened myself up to negative outside influences. My life became more and more worldly and I knew I had to change. I needed to spend time building my life. At the time I didn’t know what this program’s specific mission was and I thought it would just help me get back on track with God. The first night was the opening ceremony. I realized this was a program for building healthy leaders and I regretted joining! I had never thought of myself as a leader before and I was not willing to serve others. But one of the participants really encouraged me to stay, so I did. I received so much love and acceptance from this group that I hadn’t experienced in ministry back in college. During my time of being the cohort leader for a week it was so challenging. I had to take initiative, face reality, and solve problems. I began to face God with more sincerity. In the past, I had always thought a Christian said and did certain things and many times my prayers did not come from deep inside but were shallow. But now I can face God and be real about my weaknesses. I pour my heart out to Him and I experience nearness to Him in many different ways. Now I have a real relationship with Him.”
“I have learned how to love people sincerely and how to interact with different people. I have improved so much in communicating with people and treat people well now.”
“For me, what changed the most was my love for the Word of God. We had a week of teaching on Devotion to the Word of God and on one Saturday spent 18 hours reading the entire New Testament. In the past, it was very boring for me to read the Bible and I read at most three chapters a day. Now, I can read one entire book in the New Testament per day and it still feels very alive and interesting.”
“In the past, I was confused about God’s will and I didn’t know how to discern it. When I heard the teaching on God’s calling I always thought that was the preacher’s understanding on God’s will, not mine. How could I discern His will? Gradually I learned to communicate with God during this program and I learned to hunger for God and understand His meaning. I know that He is leading my life. I discovered the importance of praying early in the morning. Every morning I ask myself, “What path will I choose?” I know I need God to strengthen me and I tell myself that I will take the path of the cross. That is a path to glorify God and without Him there is no salvation or future.”
“I still remember the week we went on a wilderness trek for three days. I was in a team with another five participants. From the very beginning to the end, our team members were always walking together in the mountains. None of us showed off our physical strength and went ahead of the others. We were always together. When a team member was walking slowly, others would encourage him and slow down to walk with him. When one team member would burn out, we would offer our hand to help him. When a team member felt helpless we would share encouraging stories from our lives. What a picture of supporting each other, encouraging each other, and committing to each other! It made me so blessed to see a team that was full of love. In this team, no one looked to their own interests, but to the interests of others. In this time for the church, it is not a time of fighting alone but a time of teamwork. I was very grateful for the team. It really proved the proverb that: One person can go fast, but a team can go further.”
After the program ended Timothy and John chose twelve key leaders from that group to form the Design Team for future campus program years and for the more than 1000 campus ministries this church network is involved in across this country in Asia. They will be the core Design Team for this entire campus ministry, youth ministry, and children’s ministry.
In this huge church network, the vision to train healthy young leaders with the ConneXions Model has already exponentially increased!
*All names have been changed for security purposes.
