Last week, 19 dedicated individuals from across the country gathered in Rocklin, CA, to complete their Standing Stone shepherd training. We were blessed to have participants from Florida, Kansas, Texas, Louisiana, North Carolina, Nebraska, and California. In adding these new teammates, Standing Stone is on track for a 30% growth rate this year.
We could not be more grateful!
All newly trained shepherds will join a cohort (small group), meeting twice a month. This will be a place for encouragement, coaching, and prayer as they embark on their Standing Stone journey. Cohorts are one of the primary ways we maintain a family dynamic in our growing ministry. With almost 260 teammates spread across more than thirty-five states, it’s essential that all of our shepherds have regular times to pray, share best practices, fellowship, and stay accountable to one another.
Our newest shepherds will also be invited to participate in area and regional gatherings to hone their skills and build out their shepherding toolboxes. They’ll have access to prayer support from our national and international network, participate in our monthly National Prayer Focus, and utilize the framework of our Wholeness Inventory to encourage whole-person health in ministry leaders. Some of our new shepherds have trained or will train as Standing Stone Retreat Facilitators as well. These are just some of the ways God is growing and expanding our ministry.
Please keep both our recently trained and veteran shepherds in your prayers as they guide pastors and ministry leaders into greater health and flourishing!
Weekly Encouragement
The Apostle Paul penned two letters to encourage and direct his protégé, Timothy. He urged Timothy to keep careful watch over his life and never neglect the spiritual gifts God imparted to Him. Paul concluded,
“Give your complete attention to these matters. Throw yourself into your tasks so that everyone will see your progress.“
1 Timothy 4:15, NLT
When you’ve invested time, energy, and talent helping people, watching their forward progress is thrilling. Their growth excites you almost as if it was your own building momentum. It makes you want to turn around and encourage more diligence and attention, knowing that the return can be exponential.
Paul felt this way about Timothy and we feel this way about our Standing Stone shepherds. We’re ecstatic about the growth God’s allowing our ministry to experience, adding newly trained shepherds and deepening the ministry and health of those who have been on our team for years. Like Paul did for Timothy, we exhort our team to continue throwing themselves into their tasks so that everyone will see their progress.
We hope that you can both celebrate Standing Stone’s growth with us and pray that we will stay in step with God the Holy Spirit, giving our complete attention and passionate diligence to the Kingdom tasks God’s given our ministry. We couldn’t do it without you!
