Intentional Executive Leader Cohort

Executive leadership in the local church is uniquely complex. You don't have to navigate it alone.

The Intentional Executive Leader Cohort brings together a small group of executive leaders for a year of practical training, honest conversation, and the kind of peer community that makes the hard questions easier to carry.

I'm Interested

A tribe. A road map. A toolkit.

Executive leaders carry a weight that few people in their church fully understand. The Senior Pastor and Executive Leader relationship. Staffing decisions. Budget pressures. Culture shifts. Leading teams through change. And doing all of it while staying spiritually healthy and relationally present.

The Intentional Executive Leader Cohort was built for that reality. Not as a one-time training event, but as an ongoing community of peers who are in the same trenches, asking each other hard questions, sharing what is working, and growing together across a full year.

Many of our cohort alumni describe the peer community as one of the most valuable things they have experienced in ministry. Executive leaders regularly reach out to each other between sessions, share resources, and stay connected long after the cohort year ends.

Two cohorts.

Lap 1 — Intentional Executive Leader Cohort

Designed for executive leaders in their first five years of executive leadership, or those being developed for a future executive role.

Over the course of a year your cohort works through the 12 Disciplines of an Intentional Executive Leader, a comprehensive framework built from real-world ministry experience with practical tools you can use immediately. You will be guided by a facilitator who is a seasoned executive leader, and you will go through the year alongside eleven other leaders who understand your world because they are in it.

    • Two and a half days of in-person training to launch the cohort

    • Special group dinner

    • Monthly 90-minute Zoom calls throughout the year

    • The Intentional Executive Leader Toolkit

    • Workbook and all session materials

    • Access to a peer community that stays active between sessions

    1. The Senior Pastor and Executive Leader Relationship

    2. Building Healthy Teams

    3. Staffing and Human Resources

    4. Emotionally Healthy Self-Leadership

    5. Strategic Planning

    6. Generosity Development

    7. Operations

    8. Budgeting and Finance

    9. Volunteer and Leader Development

    10. Pastoring in This Cultural Moment

    11. Communications

    12. Leading Through Change and Crisis

Lap 2 — Deep Dive Executive Leader Cohort

Designed for executive leaders with five or more years of experience, or those who have completed Lap 1.

Lap 2 takes a different shape. Rather than a fixed curriculum, your cohort of twelve leaders co-creates the year's learning agenda together, tackling your most pressing ministry challenges with the help of subject-matter experts, two seasoned executive leader facilitators, and each other. It is modeled after a Vistage-style peer group, built for the kind of deep, lasting relationships and long-term mutual growth that only comes from doing the hard work together over time.

  • Facilitated by Melissa Sandel

    Register Here

  • Facilitated by Jim Stanley

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  • Facilitated by Melissa Sandel & Bill Brown

    Register Here

  • Facilitated by Melissa Sandel & Bill Brown

    Register Here

Upcoming Dates

Executive Leader Cohort

Investment

$3,900 per person.
Includes all cohort resources, community access, leadership development, and meals during the cohort. Travel and accommodations are not included.

Take The Next Step

Request More Details

Fill out the form to request more information about the Executive Leader Cohort. Our team will connect with you personally to discuss your goals and answer any questions you may have.

Common Questions

  • Lap 1 works through the 12 Disciplines of an Intentional Executive Leader, a structured curriculum designed for leaders who are newer to the executive role or preparing for it. Lap 2 is for more experienced leaders and takes a co-created approach where the cohort shapes the learning agenda together based on what they are actually facing. Both share the same cohort model and peer community emphasis.

  • If you are in your first five years of executive leadership, or you are being developed for an executive role, Lap 1 is your starting point. If you have five or more years of experience or have completed Lap 1, Lap 2 is built for where you are. If you are unsure, fill out the interest form and our team will help you figure it out.

  • Each cohort is kept to twelve leaders. That size is intentional — large enough for diverse perspectives and small enough for real relationship and honest conversation.

  • This is one of the things our alumni talk about most. Beyond the monthly Zoom calls and in-person time, cohort members regularly reach out to each other between sessions, sharing resources, asking questions, and processing challenges in real time. Many of these relationships continue long after the cohort year ends.

  • Lap 1 cohorts are facilitated by seasoned executive leaders with deep real-world ministry experience. Lap 2 cohorts are co-facilitated by two experienced leaders. Your facilitator is a practitioner, not a theorist — someone who has carried the weight you are carrying.

  • The Intentional Executive Leader Cohort is an Intentional Churches cohort. Lap 1 draws on some of the same frameworks used across the IC system, but it is designed specifically for the executive leader role and does not require any prior experience with IC products.

  • Fill out the interest form below and we will notify you as soon as new dates are confirmed. You can also reach out to our team directly if you want to talk through timing.

Curious about the Cohort?

Let us know and we will be in touch as soon as new dates are confirmed.

Talk to Our Team