A new leadership training resource for ministry leaders produces by Turning Point Communications, Inc - Franklin, TN with host Alan Corry - Owner of Living Solo Magazine.  Key interviews with national single adult leaders, such as, Harold Ivan Smith, Dennis Franck, Linda Hardin, Dianne Swaim and Kris Swiatocho.  The DVD is divided into six chapters (each lasting between  7 - 13 minutes).  The DVD package also comes with a CD-ROM with a discussion guide (PDF file) for each chapter. 

This DVD was developed to provide leadership training for churches who are interested in starting a single adult ministry or a church who already has some form of ministry for singles and they need to establish a vision or develop a mission statement.  

For best results we recommend the ministry leader preview the entire DVD and read through the discussion questions.  Invite current and potential leaders for the single adult ministry to meet for six week training session.  Encourage the participants to take notes during the video portion of the class.  The ministry leader will then facilitate a group discussion.  This resource is designed for your group to work though the process of developing a single adult ministry.  It does not tell you how other churches are doing ministry programs to be copied, but rather encourages your group to research the needs of the single adults in the community in which you serve.  Your single adult ministry mission statement will be unique to your group as it supports the vision and purpose statement of the entire church body.

In chapter one we deal with the "call" to ministry.  We introduce what it means to be "called" to minister to a particular group of people to help a person to determine if single adult ministry is were they should be serving.  Chapter two deals with "vision".  There are a lot of people who are called to a ministry and who have lots of passion, but they are working with no vision.

In the third chapter we address the importance of communicating with the pastor. The group will also be challenged to look at all the negative stereotypes about singleness.  Not only will they learn how to present new ministry ideas to the pastor to gain their support -  the single adult leaders will also work on ways to present a healthy view about the singles ministry for everyone in the church to see.

Chapter four compares the process of building a ministry with building a building.  An interview with a local architect tells how they are able to take the concept of a building from a client and develop a blueprint for everyone to work from.  The ministry leaders will develop a vision that has to be converted to a mission statement so that everyone working with the ministry will be on the same page.

We hear a lot about taking a ministry to the "next level".  Here we challenge the group to discuss exactly what is the next level?  If the "next level" is not defined, then starting something new might actually pull resources and leaders away from the existing programs and the results could actually hurt the ministry as a whole. 

The last chapter actually targets the ministry leader.  Here we discuss the importance of having a ministry team to work with.  Once the team is trained to lead, they should be empowered to lead, freeing the ministry leader to scout the rest of the time for future leaders.  Members of the original ministry team will start to rotate off after six to eighteen months for various reasons.  It is important to know who can be asked to help lead when needed.