Pastors, you have an impossible job . . .

Like trying to walk a high wire without a safety net.  Under the weight of enormous expectations you can’t help but slip.  Each Sunday you are charged with equipping your congregation.  There are good reasons why, in most churches, you will fail.

Think about this.  What if someone trained paramedics utilizing the church’s educational model?  How would they know when the paramedic was ready to save lives?  How many half hour weekly paramedic "sermons" would it take?  And what if the trainee didn't bother to pick up the tapes when they were sick or on vacation? Would your volunteer led Sunday Medical School program and optional study groups pick up that slack?

You could say churches have been called to train “para-pastors.”  Jesus called them “disciples.” And while most churches offer a great many wonderful training opportunities we have no idea when we have obeyed Jesus’ Great Commission to “teach them everything I have commanded you.”  Nor does the average church even have a definition of what skills and knowledge would be required to graduate from this school of discipleship. 

No one feels this shortcoming more than you, the pastor, who is charged with “equipping the saints.”  Yet a Sunday morning sermon is analogous to addressing a medical convention composed of the entire spectrum of practitioners from parents ,who practice first aid, to nurses to technicians to surgeons to medical researchers . . . trying to say something fresh and relevant to each one without exceeding your allotted 30-40 minutes!  Add to that a responsibility to convince visitors that they too should make a commitment to the medical profession and you have a prescription for failure.

No wonder researcher George Barna's latest published research says U.S. church members have a growing frustration with their churches!  Often that frustration is directed at you, their pastor.

This is where T-NET can help.  Think of us as the "high wire" pastor’s safety net, or “Safe T-NET” at the risk of being a little too cute (but at least you'll remember it).  We will be there to catch you and help you guide your church in clarifying its mission and organize for effectiveness to prevent people from falling through the cracks.  We are "safe" in that we are not some new idea you have to sell to your church. We are as old as Jesus and we utilize His methods. 

Making disciples is a process.  Jesus took three years to do it.  We have found (not surprisingly) that churches require a similar process. You could probably teach most of the basics a disciple needs to know in a week or two of intensive courses.  However, that would never work because a disciple needs time to wrestle with the concepts and put them into practice.  Similarly, we have found taking church leaders to an informational seminar, while inspiring, is not nearly as effective as engaging those leaders in a process that over time, not only informs and inspires, but also guides them through the necessary implementation to make certain they ultimately succeed.

We are trainers who network with church leaders (hence the name T-NET) to help you ensure your church is organized for outreach and is training leaders who train other leaders.  We help you form a core group of change agents.  We will train, inspire and guide your team in strategic planning.  We will coach you, the pastor, separately, to ensure your success by troubleshooting any challenges as they arise. 

In the end of a 32-month process your church will know what a mature disciple looks like and have a process in place to produce such disciples.  And you, the pastor, will increasingly feel free to meet the most pressing needs of your flock on Sunday morning without feeling the burden to meet all the needs.