Tag: Darrin Patrick

Tonight we had our first of three sessions on deacon training. I was moved by the number of quality of potential deacons sitting in our house. God has been so kind to Austin City Life! In preparation for training our deacons, I did the following:

• Studied the deacon passages of Scripture
• Read Alexander Strauch’s Ministers of Mercy and re-read Mark Driscoll’s A Book You’ll Actually on Church Leadership.
• Re-read Darrin Patrick’s notes on developing-elders-deacons-members.
• Read Bob Thune’s paper, Deacons: A Theological Study
• Read Tim Keller’s section on Leadership Development in the Redeemer Church Planting Manual
• Oh, I found this deacon outline after the training, which is quite good. I agree with most of it.

Then I wrote and mailed a letter of invitation to potential deacons, gave them a copy of Driscoll’s booklet, and developed a teaching outline for our three session Deacon Training. In all of this I borrowed heavily from Bob Thune and David Fairchild. Thanks guys! Here’s the list of topics we are covering each month:

October 5, 2008 1^st training meeting @ Dodson’s house

Discussion topic: A Theology of Deacons

Assignment: One Page Reflection Paper on 1 Tim 3:8-13

November 2, 2008 2^nd training meeting @ Dodson’s house

Discussion topic: The Practice of Deacons

Assignment: One Page Dream Ministry Description

December 7, 2008 3^rd training meeting @ Dodson’s house

Discussion topic: Holding to the Mystery of Faith

Next Assignment: One Page Summary of the Gospel

December 8-14, 2008 Interviews and Installation