Lay Leadership Development In The Context Of Church Planting In California Southern Baptist Churches

Abstract

LAY LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT IN THE CONTEXT OF CHURCH PLANTING IN CALIFORNIA SOUTHERN BAPTIST CHURCHES Darren Duran Hulbert Readers: Jerry C. Wofford and John W. Reed The California Southern Baptist Convention equips church planters to reduce the unbelieving population. The flagship training process is Basic Training for Church Planters. This project focuses on measuring the leadership development successes of Basic Training graduates. The hypothesis of this dissertation is less than 25 percent of Basic Training graduates have trained lay leaders to become disciplemakers. This project includes presentation of previous literature on leadership development in church planting situations. Two types of churches are identified with several categories in each type. Examples of leadership development processes are cited for each category. A detailed explanation of Basic Training for Church Planters is presented. Beyond surveying leadership development processes this project evaluates the fruit being produced by Basic Training graduates, namely lay leaders developed in new churches. Are the lay leaders in church plants winning, equipping, and commissioning disciples of Jesus? The procedure used to obtain evaluative data from lay leaders trained by Basic Training graduates is presented. Data gained during this project demonstrates that 20 percent of Basic Training graduates have produced one or more disciplemakers in church planting contexts. Conclusions and recommendations are presented in the final chapter that are designed to magnify the application processes of Basic Training and thereby to increase the quality and quantity of disciplemakers nurtured in new California Southern Baptist Churches.