subsequent to their appointment to the office. Additionally, on behalf of the existing elders, I invited the church’s resident interns during staff meeting and email
correspondence. The existing elders also identified 3 other individuals whom we observed have many elder–like qualities but have not yet been identified to take on the role of elder. For the purposes of this project, these men are considered “future elder candidates.” I called these men by telephone and invited them to participate in the course, and subsequent details were communicated via email. Each of them accepted the
invitation, and an initial class of 13 men was established.
design reader, I enlisted my faculty supervisor, who holds a Ph.D. in Leadership with an emphasis in curriculum design of higher education and also serves as a Senior
Instructional Designer for a major publisher in the curriculum publishing industry.
Through personal conversations and email communication, it was determined that Sunday afternoons immediately following our worship service would be the best time for the course participants. I discovered that a number of the course participants would be participating in a mission trip during the time of weeks 9 through 15 of the project and would have to miss one of the course meetings. In an attempt to
accommodate all the course participants, I consulted with the existing elders, and we determined it would be best if we lengthened the class meetings from two to three hours to create the additional instructional time to cover six sessions in five class meetings.
Additionally, I scheduled a short orientation meeting two weeks before the beginning of the course during the regular class meeting time of Sunday at 12:30 p.m. so I could issue the pre–course questionnaire and review the course syllabus with the participants.
In designing a pastoral leadership course for current and future elder
candidates, I began with an instructional design matrix, which was described in chapter 3 as a tool to help an instructional designer build an effective course to accomplish the desired outcomes of the course. The training objectives were utilized as the course objectives. I then gathered all the resources that I could which related to the objectives.
Throughout the process of instructional design, these resources were continuously at hand. Additionally, I kept some of the most practical resources from my research on educational principles in chapter 3 and regularly consulted them.
Based on the course objectives, I determined a central topic for each of the six classes. The content of the class sessions progressed from general to particular. The first topic was “The Elders and the Church,” in which the course participants were equipped with a robust Baptist ecclesiology. The final three lessons very practically concluded the course by training the course participants with practical responsibilities of the role of elder in the context of Crosspoint Church.
Before the course could be designed, I had to determine a reasonable time–on–
task requirement for class participants outside of class. Considering the existing work, ministry, and family responsibilities of the elder candidates, I set the anticipated time–
on–task for all outside of class assignments within the time frame of five hours. This limitation placed significant restraint on the amount of homework that could be given and forced me to carefully focus each assignment towards the learning objectives.
Over weeks 4 through 7, each of the 6 class sessions was designed. For each session, I divided the topic into subtopics that were necessary to adequately cover the topic. The number of subtopics under each topic ranged from 4 to 6. Each subtopic was crafted in such a manner that it supported one or more of the course objectives. I then determined how much in–class time–on–task could be appropriated for each subtopic.
Then, key Scripture passages for each topic and subtopic were chosen and listed. For each subtopic, I considered possible student misconceptions and collected learning resources that may be useful for the course. After evaluating many books on the topics of pastoral leadership and elders, I developed the students’ course reading and kept note of other books that would be useful supplemental reading. Additionally, I noted which portions of the assigned books were most pertinent to supplement the subtopics and
planned the reading assignments in the syllabus accordingly. At the request of the elder candidates who worked full–time jobs outside of the church, I gave the course
participants the titles of the first two reading assignments in week 5 to allow them to get a start on their reading in advance of the class.
For each subtopic, I developed a detailed outline over the content that I wanted to cover in each class. Then, I integrated learning resources such as quotes, article
excerpts, diagrams, and tables within. I then reviewed the course design through the lens of the educational principles studied in chapter 3 and ensured each session was
pedagogically sound and included instructional tools such as active learning techniques.
Next, I further subdivided each lesson with time–on–task allotments for each key segment or activity.
Along the way, I saved any articles or supplemental church documents that I came across that could be valuable in the course. Based on the course objectives and unfolding of the curriculum, some of these resources were inserted in part or in whole for in class reading or reference, others were put in an appendix, and others were excluded from the course.
In week 8, I edited and reviewed all lessons and organized many remaining resourceful articles and church documents in appendices. I developed a course syllabus and produced a course notebook for each member of my expert panel containing the course design (see appendix 5) as well as other resources that would be helpful to new elders to Crosspoint Church.5 These additional resources included a current church
5The syllabus is contained in the first five pages of the pastoral leadership course in appendix 5.
membership directory, book reviews I wrote on several books related to elder leadership, and selected other resources and articles. Additionally, I scheduled a meeting for the following week with two members of my expert panel who live in my community. I communicated this meeting to the third member of my expert panel who is out of state by inviting him to a video conference call with us.
In week 9, I met with two members of my expert panel and provided them with a course notebook and a hard copy of the curriculum evaluation rubric (see appendix 2). I surveyed the curriculum evaluation rubric with them before walking them through the syllabus. After this, we examined the course design together, interacting around the concepts, instructional methods, and formatting of each lesson. Following a ninety–
minute meeting, I reminded them of their instructions for the curriculum evaluation rubric and asked that they return it within three days. The curriculum reader on my expert panel was unable to video conference call with us, so at his request, I emailed him the course design in his preferred format along with an electronic copy of the curriculum evaluation rubric for his review.
Each member of the expert panel responded by the end of week 9 with his feedback using the curriculum evaluation rubric. The results were compiled and
suggestions for improvement were taken into account in a final revision (see appendix 8).
With the assistance of Crosspoint Church’s Administrative Coordinator, I then printed and assembled course notebooks for the course participants.
Additionally in week 9, I gathered the course participants together for a course orientation. In an effort to develop a learning community, each course participant
introduced himself, shared briefly about what brought him to participate in the course, and shared what distractions he faced to successfully engage with and complete the course. Following this time of introduction, I administered the pre–course questionnaire, reviewed the course syllabus with the students, and answered questions about the class.
Course participants were also paired with a supervising mentor with whom they were expected to meet three times over the duration of the course for personal shepherding, supervised ministry experience, and leadership development. Course participants were asked to keep a reflective journal for this course. At least one entry was required each week in which participants reflected on shepherding experiences, mentor meetings, ministry involvement, and personal growth. Additionally, students were asked to read A Display of God’s Glory by Mark Dever and the Crosspoint Church Constitution prior to the first class session.