Your next leaders are already in your church.
When Ken Nabi talks with our Great Lakes pastors, one frustration comes up again and again: "Where are the leaders?" On a recent Zoom In Leadership call, Pastor Randy Deal gave an answer that's both hopeful and practical. The leaders are already there. What most churches are missing is a pathway to develop them.
Randy is the Executive Director of Leadership Development, Church Planting, and Support Ministries at Rock Point Church in Arizona. He helped plant Rock Point 25 years ago with five families meeting in a community clubhouse. He's also a pharmacist of 41 years, and that healthcare background shapes everything he teaches. In pharmacy, you don't just learn the content. You do a residency until you can actually practice. Randy wants the church to build pastors and leaders the same way.
Watch the full conversation on Vimeo (about 63 minutes) Here's a look at what he shared.
Forming people, not filling positions
"Most churches don't have a leadership problem," Randy said. "They just have a leadership development problem." The fix is a shift from filling open positions to forming people, which means always asking, "Who are you becoming?"
His foundation is 2 Timothy 2:2: entrust what you've learned to faithful people who can teach others. Jesus modeled it too. In Randy's words, he "built a pipeline, not a platform."
Rock Point learned this the hard way. They had an internship program, a youth seminary and a school of theology, but each one ran on its own. "We have a bunch of pipes," Randy said, "but they were not connected." Once they linked them into one pathway, everything changed. In 2023 they set a 10-year goal to plant 20 churches and deploy at least 100 leaders. They've planted eight so far, with a ninth about to launch.
Four steps: define, discover, develop, deploy
Randy's whole approach runs on four steps, the same pattern Jesus followed with the Twelve.
Define what a leader is in your context. Rock Point's definition centers on four Cs: calling, character, commitment, and competency.
Discover potential leaders on purpose. Rock Point looks everywhere, from staff who need to level up to second and third graders who greet new families in kids ministry.
Develop them through a clear pathway. Programs are tools, Randy said, not the pipeline itself. The real pipeline is a set of growing questions: Can you lead yourself? A project? Others? Leaders? A department, a church, a movement?
Deploy them wherever God calls, whether that's your staff, a church plant or another congregation. "We're not trying to keep 'em," Randy said. "We want that culture of send, send, send."
Development follows an apprenticeship model: I do, then we do, then you do. Randy also stressed character alongside skill. Borrowing a phrase from Kairos University, a Converge partner, he talked about forming leaders in "content, character, and craft."
His measure of success may surprise you. It isn't attendance, or even how many people are in the pipeline. It's how many leaders get sent out.
"We're too small for this" is a myth
Randy knows Rock Point's size can feel out of reach, so he spoke straight to smaller churches. Small churches, he said, are actually perfect for pipelines. Relationships are closer, development happens faster, real opportunities come sooner, and there's less red tape.
"You don't need a program," he said. "You just need a process." Then he gave three simple steps anyone can start this month:
Identify one potential leader. Who comes to mind right now?
Set up a first meeting. Grab coffee and tell them, "We see something in you."
Start a resource together. Read a leadership book yourself, then walk that one person through it.
He also named the most common mistakes: overcomplicating it, waiting for the perfect curriculum, and holding on to leaders God is calling elsewhere. Rock Point's vision is a long game. They want today's one to become tomorrow's 10 and, someday, 100.
From the Q&A: what pastors asked
"Everyone's already so busy. How do we ask for more?" Randy's answer was to make a commitment and build it into the job. Rock Point rewrote every pastor's and leader's job description so that coaching and apprenticing leaders is part of the role. If you're starting small, commit one hour a month to one potential leader and grow from there. "Why not just wait for seminaries to train leaders?" Content matters, Randy said, but many seminaries don't prepare people to actually practice ministry. The next generation also wants to serve now, not sit in a classroom for years and graduate with debt. That's why Rock Point uses competency-based training through Kairos University, where students show what they can do instead of just writing papers. "How do I mobilize an older, comfortable congregation?" A pastor of a 70-person church asked this, and Randy's answer was warm and direct. Honor the saints and keep caring for them. Then cast vision for legacy: "Our story's not done." Share how many people within five miles still don't know Jesus. Start with one or two people who catch the vision.
Ken summed it up in one word: intentional. Leadership development can't be haphazard or accidental. Sometimes that means keeping a "stop doing" list so you have room to start the things that matter most.
Start with your one
At Converge Great Lakes, we like to say that healthy churches reproduce disciples, leaders and congregations. Randy's talk is a practical picture of the middle piece, and it starts with just one person.
Resources Randy recommended:
The Multiplication Effect by Mac Lake, plus his workbook series that starts with Leading Yourself (multiplygroup.org)
Kairos University, a Converge partner offering competency-based theological education
Randy's slides and assessment list, which he offered to share with anyone. Reach out to us and we'll connect you.
Watch the full conversation with Pastor Randy Deal here, and consider watching it with your staff or elders. Then ask yourself Randy's closing question: who's your one?
