What is Senior Pastor Boot Camp?
Ministry is Hard. It Doesn't Have to be Painful.
What are the most common pain points for senior pastors?
Sermon Development
Sunday comes every seven days - like it or not. Intentional, well-thought out sermon planning is one of the best ways to disciple people and shape your church's culture. And it will do wonders for your stress level.
Leading People
As pastors we are called to equip people for ministry. Yet working with volunteers and team members can be frustrating and slow - and it's not always their fault. Learn how to unleash the potential within your people.
Talking About Finances
Becoming comfortable teaching on stewardship and generosity will open new doors for ministry. To do so effectively will require us to face our own insecurity when it comes to the topic of money.
Self-Care
No one goes into ministry with the goal of simply surviving. We want to thrive. But when it comes to self-care and mental health, very few pastors seem to be thriving. Some aren't even surviving. Let our community help.
I love the local church and have the scars to prove it.
It's easy to be a Senior Pastor and feel all alone.
While I was fortunate to have a few ministry friends that I could meet for lunch, what I didn't have was a community of support.
I was a solo pastor working for a small church in a big city. I didn’t know how to create a preaching calendar or raise money. I was inexperienced at handling conflict. I had never heard about leadership pipelines or volunteer systems. No one told me about healthy boundaries. And it’s only by the grace of God that I’m here today!
What If ...
- you had a community of senior pastors surrounding you
- you had access to focused collaboration labs
- you had a safe place to ask your questions
- you had the benefit of a ministry coach
- you had a thriving ministry without sacrificing your family
Is the Senior Pastor Boot Camp Right For You?
The Internet is filled with great resources. YouTube videos, podcasts, blogs, books, and more. We didn’t design Senior Pastor Boot Camp to compete with the ministry experts. We designed it to be a COMMUNITY OF COLLEAGUES – a place where pastors who are often overlooked will find resources, ideas, encouragement, and accountability.
We are focused on serving these pastors:
First-Timers
Even when you’ve been a youth pastor or associate pastor, there is something different about sitting in the senior chair. There’s a greater weight of responsibility.
Flying Solo
Being a solo pastor might be the most challenging role you’ll ever fill – but it doesn’t have to be your last role! Learn how to set yourself up for the long haul.
Normal Pastors
Who are normal pastors? They are pastors who lead normal churches. The majority of churches are under 500 people in attendance.
On the Plateau
Often the difference between stuck and growing is an idea and the ability to execute it. This is where the power of our community shines.
I’m all for listening to great podcasts …
But what is often missing is what I needed the most as a Senior Pastor – community. I needed to be around other Senior Pastors. I needed to learn from them. To be honest, I needed somewhere I could ask questions, test ideas, and be told, “Hey, you’re not crazy!”
This is why I created Senior Pastor Boot Camp ... because it's not about platform building or personal branding. It's about getting better.
Joining Our Community Will Help You:
Develop a focused, intentional approach to preaching
Preaching is one of your best tools to start conversations, mobilize your mission, and equip your people. Yet many preachers don't have a well-thought out plan for how to use their preaching for maximum impact. When we first got started, we kind of made it up as we went. Our labs focus on the craft of preaching, how to do sermon planning and scheduling, and how to use preaching to cast vision and form spiritually healthy disciples.
- Discover why planning is your new best friend
- Create a preaching calendar that moves people in the direction of your mission and vision
- See how to foster greater creativity through series and sermon overviews
Become a better leader of people and culture
The mission of the church is accomplished through people. As a senior pastor, we work with a wide-variety of people - volunteers, paid staff, elder boards, and our critics. Many of us were never trained on how to create a healthy team culture or how to best find, hire, and onboard new team members (as well as how to best part ways when needed). Our labs will equip you with the systems and structures to develop people around you.
- Take your team to the next level by developing a coaching culture
- Learn how to embed core values into conversations, meetings, and your physical environment
- Get an inside peak at the best way to structure your regular staff meetings
Connect stewardship and generosity to your vision
Once you see the benefits of having a generous church culture, you will look for every opportunity to teach people about good stewardship. You'll learn how to be more confident when teaching on money and when asking for money. You'll discover the power of "dripping" stewardship principles into your preaching throughout the year. Inside our labs, we discuss how to motivate people to give for the first time and to become regular givers.
- Learn how to reposition the conversation about money
- Discover the principles that encourage generosity
- Follow proven steps to move people from tippers to tithers (and beyond)
Avoid being burned out and worn out
This section of the Senior Pastor Boot Camp may just save your marriage! And I'm not kidding. It took me nearly twenty years of being in full-time ministry before I discovered the self-care principles and practices that we share in our community. These are patterns of healthy living that enable us to be at our best and we avoid them to our own detriment. Learn from other Senior Pastors what has worked for them - as well as mistakes to avoid. Our labs will give you concrete, actionable ideas that can be implemented immediately.
- Diagnose the symptoms of burn out before it’s too late
- Develop healthy boundaries that are sustainable
- Find the accountability you need to develop better habits and practices
Alright, who is the guy behind this Senior Pastor Boot Camp?
Well, the guy on the right – his name is Dr. Henry Cloud. That’s a picture of Henry and myself when we traveled to Guatemala together with Compassion International. I had just finished sharing with him why he needed to buy a pair of Hoka’s (those are running shoes). But I digress. As great as Henry is, he’s not the guy behind Senior Pastor Boot Camp.
I am and my name is Ken Hensley. In 1991, I entered vocational ministry and have served as a senior pastor, church planter, and ministry coach. Starting out as a 21-year-old senior pastor, I’ve served churches ranging in size from 75 to 1,200 in great places such as Atlanta, San Diego, San Francisco, and Denver.
My background also includes a few forays into the tech world. In 2000, I joined the early team at Christianity.com, in the “dot-com” days when the donuts were free and you could take unlimited ping pong breaks.
I love the local church and I love being with pastors. Most of all, I enjoy helping other pastors reach their full potential.
ALL BOOT CAMPERS GET:
Instant access to all of our training archives, courses, and content
A community of peers who understand what it's like to be the senior leader
An invitation to monthly co-working labs and our question and answer sessions
