This specialization is granted through a partnership between the Office of Laity and Spiritual Leadership at Discipleship Ministries and the church consulting/coaching ministry of Kay Kotan and Rev. Blake Bradford. This training equips participants in understanding and leading churches to adopt the simplified, accountable structure (SAS) made permissible by the BOD ❡247.2 as an alternative to the traditional leadership structures (often described as simple/single board governance). This comprehensive equipping opportunity is based on the resources, experience, and training of Kay Kotan and Blake Bradford who have been working with local church leaders and congregations across the connection for more than a decade.

This course includes the following:

• Read Mission Possible: Structuring Your Church for Missional Effectiveness (third edition, published July 2021 – 6 hours)

• Read Winning on Purpose by Kaiser (3 hours)

• Viewing the following videos:

  • SAS overview of SAS (15 minutes)

  • Accountable Leadership Demo (40 minutes)

  • SAS Leadership Equipping (5 hours)

  • SAS Nominations Equipping (40 minutes)

  • Specialist Training Videos (9 hours)

• Projects (using current ministry context)

  • Create and submit a set of guiding principles (3 hours)

  • Create and submit  a leadership covenant (1 hour)

  • Create and submit  a SAS organizational chart (1 hours)

  • Create and submit a leadership board agenda and packet (1 hour)

  • Create and submit a Discernment Phase timeline, steps, including a communication and information-sharing plan (2 hours)

  • Record and submit a video presentation that could be used to introduce SAS to a congregation in the Discernment Phase (2 hours)

  • Interview your District Superintendent to understand her/his views, the conference’s current implementation process for SAS, and the on-going need for equipping local church leaders in the model.  Share your learnings, key advantages of the model, and common local church implementation gaps.  Record your notes and key take-aways to submit.  (2 hours)

• Answer and submit quiz questions for comprehension 

  • Twenty five short answer questions and three essay questions (1.5 hours)

• Completion Certificate