A practical, year-round curriculum designed to address the foundational challenges of group leadership.
Aligning group vision directly with your Lead Pastor's heart.
Structuring key roles for sustainable, long-term group care.
Identifying potential leaders and cultivating an active pipeline.
Inspiring leaders with the foundational "why" behind what they do.
Creating seamless entry points across all church channels.
Designing diverse group formats to reach every generation.
Using local service projects as a front door to community.
Engaging your entire congregation beyond Sunday morning.
Simplifying church structure to prioritize group community.
Clarifying the next right step for every believer's journey.
Gathering relational insight to shepherd with intention.
Building an actionable long-term plan for your ministry.
Real practitioners who have navigated your current challenges. Mentors with hands-on experience at every church scale.
I am passionate about developing leaders, discipleship in small groups, and guiding organizations through strategic change for long-term growth.
My coaching approach is relational and practical—helping leaders gain clarity, discover their next steps, and turn what they learn into action.
What gets you here will not get you there. I love investing in leaders by helping them recognize how God is moving and uncovering how God could move.
I have served as a pastor for many years, including state convention leadership networking over 700 churches. I currently help churches navigate strategic revitalization.
Jess is passionate about helping people grow in their relationship with Jesus. With 20+ years of ministry leadership, she invests in developing healthy communities.
Eddie brings 25+ years of experience within multi-site churches. An author and speaker, Eddie combines strategic vision with a contagious heart for discipleship.
I am driven by connection, progress, and developing people. I love to empower teams to reach their full potential by consistently focusing on strategic priorities.
Combining 32 years of corporate leadership with deep ministry experience, I believe life change happens best in community.
Get paired with seasoned practitioners who have been where you are to help you scale, shepherd, and strengthen your church community.
Bob Pittenger believes the Bible is God’s compass, faithfully pointing people to Jesus and guiding them into a lifelong relationship with Him that transforms every area of life. His passion is helping people discover the joy of knowing Christ, learning from Him, and becoming like Him. Whether coaching pastors, writing discipleship resources, speaking, or serving in his local church, Bob loves walking alongside people as they discover Jesus for themselves, deepen their relationship with Him, and experience the joy of becoming more like Him.
With more than 30 years in vocational ministry, Bob is convinced that discipleship is far more than gaining biblical knowledge. It is an invitation to walk with Jesus each day, allowing His truth to shape our hearts, our relationships, and the way we live. He believes lasting transformation happens as people encounter Jesus through God’s Word, become known and valued in authentic community, and discover the unique purpose God created them to fulfill.
Helping pastors and church leaders guide people into a lifelong journey of following Jesus, becoming more like Him, and faithfully representing Him wherever He has placed them brings Bob his greatest joy. Bob serves as Senior Director of Connections at BattleCreek Church in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, where he has the privilege of pursuing that mission every day.are looking for a mentor who understands both the operational realities of leadership and the relational heartbeat of the local church, you are in great hands.
Get started by connecting with a coach. We begin by connecting with a free 20 minute “chemistry” call determine coach fit and discuss your needs and goals. There is no cost until a coaching plan is agreed upon.
What coaching looks like:
Get paired with seasoned practitioners who have been where you are to help you scale, shepherd, and strengthen your church community.
Reach your ministry goals with personal, 1-on-1 coaching from the only trained and certified coaches trusted by the Small Group Network.
Peter Englert has served on staff at Browncroft Community Church since 2014 and currently serves as the Adult Ministries Director, overseeing small groups. Browncroft has more than 80 small groups, with over 700 people participating on a regular basis. Since 2019, the church has also utilized ROOTED, an experience designed to help individuals on-ramp into small groups, with more than 900 individuals participating to date.
Peter is married to Robyn Englert, a mental health therapist, and together they have two daughters, Hayley (8) and Lucy (5). Outside of ministry and family life, Peter is a devoted sports fan who loves the New York Yankees, Brooklyn Nets, New York Jets, and the Buffalo Sabres.
Eddie serves as the Assimilation Minister at The Church at Nolensville, a Brentwood Baptist Church campus, where he strives to connect visitors and new members into small groups. He brings more than 25 years of experience in groups ministry within multi-site churches, along with previous service as a Church Consultant for LifeWay Church Resources. With a strategic mind and a pastor’s heart, Eddie provides direction for assimilation into church life by combining clear vision with a contagious passion for seeing people experience true life transformation.
He is a sought-after speaker, having presented at Baptist State Conventions, LifeWay Conferences, Purpose Driven Small Groups gatherings, and various small group and discipleship conferences nationwide. His writing and teaching are known for their practical wisdom, humor, and stories drawn from everyday life.
Eddie’s ministry focuses on being a “Practical Practitioner” to equip pastors and leaders to build effective Small Group systems that foster spiritual growth, create authentic community, and positively impact the surrounding neighborhoods and cities.
He is the author of:
• Connecting in Communities (NavPress)
• Creating a Sending Culture (SmallGroups.com)
• Casting a Vision for Small Groups (SmallGroups.com)
• How to Conduct a Sunday Survey (LifeWay)
• Get a Grip on Teaching (LifeWay)
Kelly is an ordained pastor with the Christian & Missionary Alliance and holds a Master of Science in Nursing and a Master’s Degree in Ministry Leadership and Christian Studies. Kelly brings diversity of leadership experience and a strong spiritual foundation to her work. She is passionate about developing leaders, building authentic community, and guiding organizations through strategic change for long-term growth.
Kelly serves as the Adult Ministry Pastor at Fairhaven Church in Dayton, OH. Fairhaven Church is a multi-site church with four campuses. Kelly is a central leader providing strategic leadership to Group Life, Pastoral Care and Guest Services. Fairhaven Church has over 3000 adults in small groups.
• Spearheaded a successful vision shift to become a church of small groups, resulting in exponential growth and stronger relational discipleship
• Experienced conference speaker and groups consultant known for equipping leaders and inspiring transformational change in churches and organizations
• Brings over 20 years of experience in management and leadership development, with a strong focus on team health, coaching, and strategic execution
Carolyn helps people move from where they are to where they would like to be. She uses her 30+ years of combined leadership experience as a coach certified by the International Coaching Federation, pastor, executive director, attorney, and mother to create safe spaces for wrestling with deeply personal questions, evoking self-awareness, developing practical skills, and empowering people to become more fully who God has created them to be.
Carolyn specializes in leadership development at various levels, navigating personal and professional transitions, growing in communication skills, and cultivating healthy organizational culture.
In addition, as a Korean American who immigrated to New York at seven years old without knowing a word of English, she especially enjoys working with those who may feel like they don’t belong. Whether they are women in leadership, people of color in predominantly white organizations, younger leaders, or adult children of immigrants, she helps people grow in leading authentically and confidently for their good and the good of those they serve.
Most recently, Carolyn worked as a Small Groups Pastor on the executive team of Calvary Community Church in Westlake Village, California. For seventeen years, she led all aspects of small groups ministry for this church of 5000+ people while aligning ministry goals with the church’s vision, shaping assimilation strategies, training and recruiting hundreds of volunteers, supervising teams, coaching staff, assisting capital campaigns, planning worship services, providing collateral resources for teaching series, and producing video curricula.
She is thrilled to have been part of the core leadership team of the Small Group Network since its creation in 2007 and an SGN podcast host – Here to There / Group Talk. She has written many articles related to groups ministry for Christianity Today’s Smallgroups.com and Lifeway Christian Resources. She enjoys teaching, speaking at conferences, facilitating workshops, and leading online cohorts.
She holds a certification in Advanced Transformational Coaching from Western Seminary and earned her law degree from Berkeley Law at the University of California, Berkeley. She has been married since 1994 and loves hanging out with her two young adult daughters.
Links:
Bill Donahue has dedicated his career to developing high performance teams and uncovering practices that produce transformational leaders.
Having authored over a dozen books and resources, including the best-selling Leading Life-Changing Small Groups, and co-authored Coaching Life-Changing Leaders with Greg Bowman. Bill Donahue is a popular conference speaker and leadership consultant.
Bill’s research and writing focuses on helping leaders like you to become transformational leaders, build great teams, and launch life-changing groups. He co-leads the Doctor of Ministry program at Trinity International University, teaching courses in leadership, team-building, organizational communication, and group dynamics.
Bill Donahue is the Founder and President of the LeaderSync Group.
Philip Byers currently serves as the Executive Pastor of Ministries at North Coast Church located in Southern California. He joined North Coast in 2019 and previously served as a Life Group Pastor and Pastor of Life Group Operations.
Prior to joining North Coast, he served as an Executive Pastor at an urban church plant in Dallas, Texas, and Groups Pastor and Campus Pastor at a large multi-site church in Frisco, Texas. Philip is passionate about small groups after having his life changed in a small group ministry after college. Since 2012, he has been helping churches large and small navigate discipleship pathways using small groups. Philip lives in Vista, CA with his wife Kelly, and their two boys Brady & Deacon.
Connections Director
423-534-9321
daniel@smallgroupnetwork.com
Daniel serves as Executive Pastor at Community Church of Mountain City, TN. Daniel and his family are on a mission to establish roots within their community, fight for peace and serve well. He serves as our Connections Director in laying the groundwork for Circles. He loves great coffee and traveling with his wife Tia and two children, Deklan and Aden
Pricing:
Individual Registration – $209.00
Team of 2 Registration (price per person) – $199.00
Team of 3 or more Registration (price per person) – $189.00
*Registration ends on Nov 8th, 2021. Walk-in registrations are not available.
