Becky Ykema talks about considerations every senior leader must consider when adding female leaders for the first time to their team. And Dave Miller discovers how bad he is at some of this.

We were thrilled to sit with Rick Riddering, the Residency Director of Faith Church in Dyer, Indiana, and talk about how they launched a residency at this multi-site church.

It’s that time of year…spring-ish…heading towards Easter and their internship or leadership residency is coming to a close in just a few months. It’s time to make an offer for full-time ministry for them to join your team. Is this a finish line or a starting line? It’s both! And we should honor both of those milestones in this new leader's life.

Leadership Pathway has helped prepare me for full-time ministry in the best way. I don’t think there’s ever been a moment where it felt impossible. 

At the end of a leadership pathway is not a nirvana where young twenty-somethings “finally get it right.” We should think of a leadership pathway more like a two-way street of influence where the student may at times becomes the teacher.

While we get asked to do summer-long or year-long engagements, we have chosen to let those go and focus on two years. We get asked by churches as well as candidates about the two-year thing.

“I chose Leadership Pathway to help me on this journey because it was the only organization I knew that helps people start in ministry with a residency…”

When he was a high school sophomore at a student retreat, he experienced a calling on his life while praying for another student, who was struggling. He felt the Holy Spirit’s leading, ‘This is what I want you to do.’

Juan Salas is a Student Ministry Resident at Connections Christian Church in Johnstown, CO. Prior to applying to Leadership Pathway for the opportunity at Connections, I had served on staff at a church in Kentucky as the Student Ministry Associate.

“I can’t do it. I can’t keep up. Will this ever slow down? Maybe ministry isn’t for me,” began a coaching conversation I recently had. I’ve had a version of this conversation many times as a coach. And I admit I’ve had it many times in my head with myself, too!

A new year brings new hopes and dreams for your organization, and new realizations that you need new leaders to help your team realize those hopes and dreams.

Where will they come from? How do we find them?

Continual feedback loops rooted in relationships are the best source of feedback. But we still need the official review and here’s why.

The number one question we get at Leadership Pathway from those seeking to launch a church residency leadership program is how do we find better candidates?

In fact, this is THE QUESTION we also get from the largest churches in America that’ve been doing a residency for over a decade+.

I serve as an Associate Resident of Prescott Valley’s campus at my home church, QuadCity Christian Church in Prescott, AZ. I actually had applied for a pastoral role upon graduating from Crown College in Minnesota and doing a semester-long internship at a church nearby. I did not receive the role, though, due to a lack of ministry experience. Our Executive Pastor mentioned…

The pieces of the frame that holds leadership development together are Mental Wellness, Developmental Conversations, Ownership and Best Practices, are just as important. What do we mean?

One of the harder things of residency has been having a plan of what I’d like to have happen or think should happen, while others may have different plans altogether. I’ve had to lean into other possibilities and submit to those in authority over me, and I’ve grown as a result.

I thought of aspirations I had early in life about being a pastor, aspirations I struck down because I thought that I couldn’t possibly be “good enough” to minister God’s Word.

There are several factors that make launching a church residency program difficult. One question we get often from those who are launching their first residency goes something like:

Help! Suddenly everyone on our staff wants a resident…who should get the first one?

If you are a church leader looking to grow or replace staff, the hits just keep coming. Man…this is fatiguing. Our team feels your pain. I feel your pain.

It’s that time of year…summer…heading towards fall and their internship or leadership residency is coming to a close and it’s time to make an offer for full-time ministry on to your team. Is this a finish line or a starting line? It’s both! And we should honor both of those milestones in this new leader's life. Congratulations! They did it. You did it. What are the questions to ask to avoid the pitfalls of making a great situation potentially bad?