Leadership Team Meetings
The primary way to disciple a teenage boy for Christian leadership is to spend time with him. A friendship must be established before an adult leader can focus on the young man’s relationship to God.
A monthly meeting of the Battalion leadership team is an excellent way to combine informal recreation and conversation with Bible exploration, prayer, and discussion about the ministry. There are five parts to a typical Leadership Team Meeting:
Opening
These activities and experiences build a sense of unity and an ability to minister to each other. Opening activities are often games designed to help people get to know each other better and work together more easily.
Review
Discuss the needs of the young men and men in your Battalion and analyze how to meet them. Observe the growth and progress of individual teens in Battalion.
Engage
This allows for practical input from leadership sources and the Word of God. One of the teen leaders or men presents a leadership issue for the group to consider. Then, do an in-depth Bible study relating God’s Word to what’s happening in the Battalion ministry.
Reflect
Your leadership team prays together for the needs of Battalion teens and leaders. As you share your own needs, the teen leaders will learn to share their own. Then you can guide them into broadening the focus of their concern to include other young men, whether or not they are in your Battalion.
Plan
Review plans made earlier. The Captain assigns responsibilities for upcoming meetings, and those who are organizing certain activities can report on their progress. This is also an opportunity to brainstorm ideas for future events.
The Battalion Leader’s Guides provide detailed Leadership Team Meetings for each of its Interest Areas.
The benefits of Leadership Team Meetings are tremendous, but often the demands on both young men’s and men’s time make it difficult to schedule such a meeting. This dilemma can be overcome in several ways.
One practical alternative is canceling one regular Battalion meeting per month (or every other month) and using it for a leadership team meeting. Another alternative, especially helpful if Battalion activity is tied to an all-church “family night,” is having the Leadership Team Meeting after a regular Battalion meeting.
Though this may run late, it is often preferable to another night out. Don’t neglect this vital part of Battalion. The Leadership Team Meeting is where discipling teenage boys becomes a reality.