Helping

2015 Annual Progress Report

Senior Editor: Mike Johnson Managing Editor: Kennan Buckner Graphic Designer: Sunny Hyun Photography: Mark Broadway, Shelli Fynewever, Alex Smith & Keith P. Young

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Photo by Alex Smith

A Letter from our

Executive Director Some of the ways God used Ascending Leaders to make an impact in 2015 are: • Taught over 200 people about effective discipleship through 9 DiscipleForward workshops

• Coached 15 churches on congregation-­wide discipleship • Launched a new measuring tool called Measures of DiscipleForward Readiness that church boards can use for free to see their gains and gaps in discipleship

• Supported by 130 financial partners, more than any other year • Gained two new, excellent board members: Bob Terpstra and Jim Zwiers

Mike Johnson

• Celebrated a decade of God’s faithfulness (2005-­2015) with fresh logo, sharing testimonials from previous AL study participants, anniversary gala in Houston and reception in west Michigan

In this Annual Report, you can dig into these more deeply to see the difference God is making for churches, disciples and leaders through the mission and ministry of Ascending Leaders. To Him be the glory!

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Meet the Board of Directors The Ascending Leaders Board of Directors contains members from across the United States who bring their professional expertise and servant leadership to our organization for the advancement of God’s Kingdom.

Asher Lewis

Bob Ryan

Bob Terpstra

Partner of Silver Glade Media

Area Director at Man in the Mirror

Regional Gift Officer at Calvin College

Pastor of Worship and Admin. at Faith CR Church

Jamie Boersma

Jim Zwiers

Luke Wolters

Mike Johnson

Retired CEO of Girl Scouts of Greater Iowa

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Managing Partner at Ferris, Busscher, & Zwiers P.C

Marketing POS Manager at Exxon Mobil

Ryan Faber

Executive Director of Ascending Leaders

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Photo by Mark Broadway

Photo by Shelli Fynewever

4 Ways Ascending Leaders Uniquely Coaches Churches Madison Square Church (Grand Rapids, MI) shares what makes coaching from Ascending Leaders different from other organizations 1. Presence “Mike has been coaching us for 18 months now, sometimes more intensely and often less intensely. This is so refreshing, compared to other experiences we have had with church consultants who come in high steam for six or 12 months and then declared themselves done, just when we needed them most.”

2. Consistency

“He checks in to see how we are doing. He doesn’t leave us stranded and left to ourselves. He maintains a healthy ownership of the coaching relationship and progress of the process, while not trying to micromanage us.”

3. Focus

“Mike continues to remind us of the goals that we have established and encourages us to continue to take steps toward those goals, as slow as it may feel at times to us.”

4. Patient Pace Executive Director of Ministry Ken Schripsema & Square Campus Pastor Darrell Delaney 6

“Mike doesn’t rush us to reach some timetable or push us beyond our capacity to change. The ability for a large church to change quickly is difficult. He senses a good pace and is willing to trust the process to work. He understands that we are in a marathon, not a sprint.”

- Ken Schripsema and Darrell Delaney

2015 Performance Coaching

Teaching

Churches experienced positive change and spiritual growth as a result of our coaching, which is tailored to the individual needs of each unique church.

Leaders and disciples received our teaching and training through special presentations and facilitated workshops. These are the number of churches in each denomination who were impacted through teaching.

1 Anglican Church Alpharetta, GA 16 Christ Reformed Churches Albuquerque, NM Cedar, IA Grand Rapids, MI Newton, IA Oskaloosa, IA Pella, IA Prairie City, IA Redlands, CA Sully, IA Tacoma, WA West Des Moines, IA

1 Assembly of God 1 Baptist - General 1 Baptist - Southern 1 Christian 35 Christian Reformed 1 Episcopal 4 Methodist 8 Non-Denominational 1 Non-Profit 5 Presbyterian 7 Reformed Church of America 7 Other

Resourcing Disciples, leaders, and small groups used our discipleship books to grow more in love with God. These are a few churches that purchased resources. Calvary CR Church Pella, IA Covenant Grace Church Winchester, CA Cross Church Rogers, AR Crossroads Fellowship CR Church West De Moines, IA First Baptist Church Shellman, GA New Life Prison Church Newton, IA Oakdale Park CR Church Grand Rapids, MI Parkway United Methodist Sugar Land, TX Pleasant Valley Community Church Young, AZ The Art Project Houston, TX The River CR Church Redlands, CA

Over downloads of our free discipleship books. 7

Ascending Leaders provides resources

Check out our YouTube Channel for Mike’s 6 talks on congregation-wide adult disciple-making

The following full-length discipleship books are available for free download at ascendingleaders.org. Choosing Patience

Community: Inviting Relationship Fruitful Living Fulfilling Faithfulness Giving Forgiveness Living Joy Nurturing Goodness Practicing Peace Satisfying Self-Control

Part 1: Discipleship in Scripture

Thriving Love

Part 2: Discipleship and Disciple Defined

Your Pathways: Strong Connection With God

Part 3: The Disciple-Making Continuum in Churches Today Part 4: Great Disciple-Making and Group Sizes

You can get additional free resources about discipleship such as a bibliography and leadership survey from [email protected]. 8

Part 5: Various People & Disciple Steps Part 6: DisciplePaths in a Congregation

Meredith Drive RC

Ascending Leaders’ Strengths Some strengths that we have received praise for: “Non-cookie cutter approach” “Cooperative & adaptable” “Quality staff & board” “A faithful partner” “You live what you teach” “Relational” “Broadly experienced with congregational discipleship” “Structured & clear” “Results-focused”

Adult Discipleship Assistant Tammy Gregory, Adult Discipleship Committee Chairman Ryan Fick, Lead Pastor Suzanne Vogel and Mike Johnson

I so appreciate your holistic, non-cookie cutter but structured approach to growing disciples. - Pastor Suzanne Vogel, Meredith Drive Reformed Church Des Moines, Iowa

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2015 Ministry Partners

Classis Central Plains of the Christian Reformed Church For the third year in a row, a group of churches mostly in the central Iowa area have partnered with Ascending Leaders for congregational coaching in areas such as church health, clarity of direction and growing discipleship cultures.

Classis Central Plains

We worked with

congregations through to

Des Moines

surrounding areas

Faith Formation Ministries of the Christian Reformed Church in North America This partnership provided Catalyzer help to churches in South Central U.S. and congregation-wide discipleship help to churches in other parts of the U.S. 10

We coached

CR

in

California, Michigan,

New Mexico

Washington

Photo by Keith P. Young

2016 Emerging Partnerships

Reformed Leadership Initiative The newly formed Reformed Leadership Initiative of the Reformed Church of America and the Christian Reformed Church has partnered with Ascending Leaders for Mike to co-lead with Dave Bartlett, the Central Iowa Leadership Learning Network. This network of over 10 churches will meet five times between April 2016 and April 2017 to work on leadership in participating churches.

Mike has an organized style and the ability to see in his mind a process that will flow well. - Dave Bartlett, leader at Orchard Hill Church Cedar Falls, Iowa

Mike Johnson and Dave Bartlett

ACCREDITED

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Photography by Mark Broadway

2015

A

Anniversary Year

A few highlights that commemorated 2015 were: l A Revised AL Logo l “Moving Forward” Theme l “Where Are They Now” Stories l The Anniversary Gala in April l A Supporter Social in November

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Our Ebenezer of Service: An update on our complementary* coaching Ascending Leaders is providing Zuni CR Church located in Zuni, New Mexico, with 18 months of coaching services. We are offering these services as an ebenezer-of-service memorial of our first decade anniversary. The purpose and focus of their coaching is to assist them in reaching clear direction for the coming years.

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with Zuni CR Church in New Mexico ...So these stones shall be... a memorial forever. Joshua 4:7

2015 Progress

Positive Patterns Here are a few of the positive patterns Zuni CR Church has identified through their Journey Wall process: l They have trusted God as their Provider and for being in control of all things.

April | Announcement of our partnership with Zuni CR Church

l Relationships have been vital for spiritual growth, discipleship, and church maturity.

October | Ascending Leaders facilitated 30 people through their Journey

l Outreach to the Zuni people has been part of their ministry.

June | Ascending Leaders meet with their potential team

Wall, which included 9 chapters of their life - spanning over 120 years including 17 pastors, and led their team to identify patterns throughout their journey

2016 Progress

January | Zuni CR Church’s team chose two potential directions for their next

chapter (2016-2020)

February | Ascending Leaders facilitated 18 people through listening to God

to identify the next chapter for Zuni CR Church

* Coaching provided through a partnership with Faith Formation Ministries of the Christian Reformed Church NA and the Helm Foundation.

l Significant diversity has always been part of their life.

Because of financial partners like you, Ascending Leaders is able to offer services at a rate that fits churches with smaller budgets.

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2015 Financials Our Costs of Ministry

Number of Individual & Church Supporting Partners

Program Services: Coaching, Facilitating, Speaking, Teaching 68%

140 120

Fundraising Expenses 1%

100 80

Our Funding Sources Administrative Expenses 31%

Sales of Disciple-Making Resources 1%

Individual Donors 53%

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60

Foundation Grants 7% Church Support 15%

Coaching, Speaking, and Teaching Honorariums 24%

40 20 0

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

A Legacy of Giving

R

on Bergman is a retired maintenance welder from Zeeland, Michigan. He and his wife Bonnie of 54 years have been giving to Ascending Leaders on a monthly basis for over 15 years. “I believe Ascending Leaders is part of God’s plan for my life and it can be for anyone,” says Bergman. “Our Lord works through His people to grow His church.” In 2000, Bergman was part of a Sunday morning prayer group at his church. “We had been praying for our missionaries, and I felt a need to do more,” he says. He had heard of missionary Mike Johnson and the ministry he was doing. “I have been sending a monthly check since then.” Bergman also took part in Charting Your Course in 2012. Being in his 70s during the time of the class, he felt he was able to look back on his life and see where God had led him. “There are so many missions that ask for finances, and in Ascending Leaders you feel part of growing the Church, which I pray for almost daily,” he says. “I believe what Ascending Leaders is doing is strengthening the local church, bringing praise to God.”

Ways to Give Ron and Bonnie Bergman

l Visit ascendingleaders.org and click “Donate Now.” l Mail your check or credit card information to

3927 Field Crossing Sugar Land, TX 77498.

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Meet Our Team Our multi-generational team members bring their strengths* to aid the mission and ministry of Ascending Leaders

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Helping churches, disciples, and leaders flourish through coaching, teaching, and resourcing

Belief

Achiever

Connectedness

Arranger

Focus

Futuristic

Responsibility

Maximizer

Strategic

Strategic

Dr. Mike Johnson

Cathy Richardson

Executive Director

Director of Mission Expansion

Achiever

Belief

Consistency

Empathy

Developer

Harmony

Discipline

Maximizer

Harmony

Responsibility

Teri Watson

Ellie Tow

Accounts Assistant

Executive Assistant

Planned Initiatives Achiever Belief Discipline Responsibility Strategic

Kennan Buckner Communications/Resourcing Manager

Achiever Developer Empathy Positivity Strategic

Sunny Hyun

As we prudently move forward into this expansion phase of our mission, we see a year of promise in the following ways: • Adding three highly-­skilled staff members in the areas of administrative support, mission expansion and communications/online marketing • Teaching and coaching with seven additional churches of various denominations

• Starting a new partnership with the Reformed Leadership Initiative for the Central Iowa Leadership Learning Network, a network of 10 churches • Improving and increasing interaction with our financial partners

• Hosting an online learning community around building more effective discipleship in churches • Beginning a 14-month cohort of churches on building effective discipling cultures

Graphic Designer

* From Gallup®’s StrengthsFinders

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© 2016 www.ascendingleaders.org 3947 Field Crossing Sugar Land, TX 77498