Monday April 28, 2025 (9:00am - 3:00pm), Athens/Decatur, AL
@ First Baptist Church Tanner, 11590 US-31, Tanner, AL 35671
A one day workshop equipping you to lead a healthy church & leverage five helpful systems to make an immediate and eternal impact
with Edwin Jenkins and Andrew Jenkins
Imagine a church / ministry marked by the following eight characteristics
1. God-given vision
God’s Word on what we should do— insight from Heaven (the same word as “prophetic”), as opposed to just a grandiose human idea, consistently provides the "next best" ideas of WHAT to do, as well as insights as to HOW to do it.
2. Transformational leadership
Leaders serving at every level of the organization view ministry a means to build people— not people as a way to build ministry. And, they focus on life-change, not just programs and projects.
3. Meaningful membership
The ministry develops and shares a clear on-ramp to inform people about God’s vision for the church, as well as invite them to take a next step and get involved. No one wonders how to get involved or "what to do." Everyone clearly knows their next best step.
4. Passionate spirituality
Everything overflows from an ongoing experience with God as opposed to only education about God. A vigorous and energizing pursuit of God infuses every area of life, energizing ministry and more.
5. Functional strategies
There are clear processes and ways of running the organizational side of church to facilitate ministry. Everything is easy-to-understand, making ministry more efficient and effective at the same time. "Sideways" energy is minimal.
6. Loving relationships
People in the church resolve conflict quickly and see their connection with each other as an overflow of their connection with God. They don't do drama. They do unconditional love that infuses the culture of the church.
7. Sacrificial generosity
People readily give of their time, talents, and treasures… seeing each as an investment in the future, with the goal of filling Heaven. While leaders DO need to let people know about the opportunities around them, no one is begged to participate. They give cheerfully (and freely).
8. Kingdom orientation
Everyone involved LOVES their local expression of the body of Christ, but also recognizes they play just a small part. They want the Kingdom to grow more than just their church. They readily partner with other ministries and churches, expanding everyone's impact together.
You can do it. We want to help!
Everyone agrees, "That would be great!"
Yet, these eight are the CONSEQUENCES of a healthy ministry-- not the CAUSES of them. Though this is where we want to "go," it's not where we begin. We must go back to the beginning...
When we pursue "health" instead of growth, a few things occur...
✅ The ministry "right sizes" and reaches a mass it can maintain while ALSO getting stronger
✅ The burden of trying to "look just like" or "be just like" another ministry disappears
✅ We experience joy AND reignite the reason we pursued the call in the first place
✅ The eight fruits begin to emerge NATURALLY-- without striving and stressing to create them
(Healthy Church & Healthy Systems show you how.)
We want to encourage, equip, & empower you...
... to lead a healthy church and leverage five helpful systems, so you can make an IMMEDIATE AND ETERNAL impact!
Step 1 | Attend the workshop
In just one day, you'll receive a clear and concise overview of BOTH the Healthy Church training and the Healthy Systems training. You'll also interact with like-minded leaders in your area.
Step 2 | Apply the principles
You'll walk away with an actionable plan you can implement immediately. The day will spark creativity, inspiration, and more. You'll see your ministry's "health quotient" rise.
Step 3 | Access God's Kingdom power & provision...
Reap the "healthy fruits" of healthy roots. With ongoing encouragement and interaction, extending beyond the workshop,
The workshop is just the beginning!
Where "Healthy Church" came from
A brief overview of how we got here...
Edwin Jenkins has been in ministry for over 50 years. He's served as a youth pastor, a senior pastor, a senior adult pastor, a transitional pastor, and more...
He loves the church, because Christ loves the church and the people who comprise it.
(Not only is the church God's primary means of reaching the world, the church will exist throughout eternity!)
In 1997 he went to work for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, where he launched the newly-formed Office of Leadership and Church Growth.
A few years into the endeavor, the editor of The Alabama Baptist weekly newspaper invited him to write a series of articles on church health. Those articles were later packaged into a small 50-page booklet, The Biblical Design of a Healthy Church, which was well received across the state. It ran through multiple printings (the red book here is one of the originals).
The book provided Edwin with the opportunity to share gleanings from Scripture and his experience with leaders throughout the State.
The short book was repurposed into workshops, training seminars, certifications, and more. The goal was to help church leaders pursue "church health" and kingdom impact moreso than just "church growth."
During this chapter of life, Edwin is seeking to pull together his "core" messages and essential topics-- to leave them as a legacy.
The conversation arose once again about growing healthy churches.
"What would it look like to update the information, leverage some of the online tools and other resources that weren't available 25 years ago, and make the content available for a new generation?"
That conversation led to the birth of LifeLift Ministries as a formally organized entity. The team agreed that one of the first projects needed to be Healthy Church.
That's where Andrew, Edwin's son, comes in.
With 25+ books to his name, as well as a background in online courses, church & ministry consulting, and more, the father-son duo merged their skill sets to make a bigger impact.
It soon became clear that churches & ministries ALSO need healthy systems.
That is, they need to pursue the Presence (and become healthy) but they also need processes to implement and reach greater levels of effectiveness.
In early 2025, Edwin and Andrew tag-teamed to repurpose the previously released Biblical Design of a Healthy Church book AND add Healthy Systems for Healthy Churches, based on some of the content Andrew developed to consult churches and ministries over the past decade.
And, with plans to train church and ministry leaders around the globe (yes, actual plans are in place for 2025 and beyond), they're starting the movement at home.
That means these Healthy Church and Healthy Systems are available for you.
And, they're rolling it out in one day workshops so that you can--
⏰ Quickly see how this resource can help you and your church
💥 Expose other team members and church leaders to the resource without investing a lot of time
⏩ Take the "next best step" that is right for you!
Edwin and Andrew would love to spend the day with you at Healthy Church LIVE!
Edwin and Andrew want to help you...
... lead a healthy church and leverage healthy systems to make it easier, more efficient, and more effective!
(So you can make an IMMEDIATE and ETERNAL impact!)
So how does it work? What's the two-fold resource like?
Healthy Church LIVE! equips church & ministry leaders with two companion resources so they can lead at a higher level with less stress
Healthy Church is all about the Presence.
Part 1 provides a working definition of a New Testament church (lesson 1), talks about the importance of intentional leadership (lesson 2), and offers a simple framework to seek God’s wisdom as you lead (lesson 3).
Part 2 walks through the 2-4-6 Biblical design of a healthy church. You’ll notice it doesn't promote a singular methodology or model. The two foundations of a healthy church (lesson 4), the four types of growth (lesson 5), and the six functions (lesson 6) are outlined in Scripture. Rather than beginning with a model or a methodology, we must start with the Master’s blueprint.
What’s not detailed in this book is the implementation strategy. That is something for which you must seek God’s desire, God’s design, and God’s direction in your church’s unique context. However, this book also provides you with the tools to do just that.
In the third and final part of this book, the shortest, we point to eight identifiable fruits which manifest in healthy churches. We place them in the final chapter, as a summary of sorts, because they are the markers which show us we are on the right track. They are not the beginning point, however. They are byproducts— results— of the 2-4-6 Biblical design of a healthy church.
Here's the lesson-by-lesson overview.
🍎 1. What is a Healthy Church?
⚜️ 2. Design Not Default
🧭 3. Three-Part Best Question Ever
🧱 4. Two Foundations
💥 5. Four-Focused, Full-Scope Impact
⚛️ 6. Six Functions of a Biblically-Driven Community
🌳 7. Eight Fruits of Good Roots
Healthy Systems is all about the processes.
Part 1 walks through each of the five systems. We show you how to implement them in helpful and healthy ways. And, we direct you to templates and worksheets you can download, video modules you can access, and other resources to help you implement each of them.
Part 2 highlights two “loose cogs” that sometimes monkey-wrench forward movement with each of them systems. We address two of the primary frustrations we encounter—
- Conflict— the tension that surfaces any time you get people together.
- Current reality— the tension we feel when we’re not “as far along” in ministry as we thought we would (or even should) be.
Our goal is to shift each of these frustrations into freedoms. They are two of your opportunities for the four-focused impact we discuss in book 1.
In part 3 we remind you of an essential point to remember about the work of ministry. Namely, people carry the Presence— processes don’t. But, at the same time, God-ordained structure creates space where ministry thrives.
Here's a lesson-by-lesson overview.
⚙️ Intro to the Five
🧭 1. Path | System 1
😇 2. People | System 2
✏️ 3. Processes | System 3
⭐️ 4. Place | System 4
💰 5. Purse | System 5
❤️🩹 6. Frustration into Freedom #1 = Conflict
📌 7. Frustration into Freedom #2 = Current Reality
🔥 8. People (Not Processes) Carry the Presence
📳 BONUS. What Churches Need to Know About Reaching People Online
We're excited to help you lead a healthy church that leverages healthy systems to make a Kingdom impact!
What you get with registration
📙Both books!
We'll bring BOTH books to you the day of the event. In fact, they'll be out go-to resource for the day as we race through the 2-4-6 "healthy church" framework and the 5 systems.
🎙️Access to the companion audio…
We provide you with advanced access to selected portions of the audiobook BEFORE you attend. We encourage you to listen as you drive, exercise, or study so you come prepared to take the your insights to the next level.
📝 Worksheets, templates, and more!
No need to start from scratch. We'll hit the ground running. We've created downloadable templates and worksheets you can use to implement the five systems.
Our desire it to make this the start of something amazing!
Questions you may have...
If we were sitting at a coffee shop and chatting, you might ask me a few questions about this opportunity. Since you're over there (and we're over here), let me guess about what some of those questions might be...
⁉️ When and where is this workshop?
⁉️ Is there a schedule for the day?
⁉️What’s provided? What do I need to bring?
⁉️ Can I bring a staff member, person on my team, volunteer, deacon, elder, friend, etc.?
⁉️ What kind of church will this work for?
⁉️ What else is planned to help keep the movement going forward after the workshop?
⁉️ What if I need help implementing what I learn?
⁉️ What if I want to host a workshop?
⁉️What if I want to teach the material?
⁉️What if I want to donate to the project?
⁉️ Are there other workshops scheduled?
⁉️What if my question isn’t addressed here?
More about Healthy Church & Healthy Systems
For sure, numerous outstanding resources for starting, strengthening, and/or revitalizing churches already exist. Whereas many of those promote a specific model, Healthy Church does not.
These resources encourage you to go back to the Scripture and answer the question, “What do healthy churches in the New Testament do?”
And— “What are the unhealthy churches told they need to start doing— or go back to doing that they may have stopped?”
You see, the New Testament doesn’t so much tell us how to do church as much as it tell us what churches do. We must seek the Lord’s wisdom to clarify how to “do church” in our unique context.
To that end, The Biblical Design of a Healthy Church works for churches in any denomination (or lack of denomination). It works for churches of any size. It works for churches of any music style. It works for churches in any location.
Oddly enough, we created Healthy Church and Healthy Systems at the same time. During the writing phase, we placed all of the content in a single volume. We decided to separate it for two primary reasons.
The first reason is practical.
Whereas the original Biblical Design of a Healthy Church book (2004) was less than 50 pages in length, we eclipsed 200 on the rewrite. Some of that has to do with the illustrations we included throughout the manual; some of it has to do with the stories and examples.
The second reason is spiritual.
Healthy churches need healthy systems. In fact, a church will— over time— shrink back to the size its systems can facilitate.
If you see your ministry growing and contracting, growing and contracting… in a predicable cycle… you may need to evaluate the processes you have in place. Your issue may be a systems issue and not a spiritual issue. Every organization operates at a level its systems can sustain.
The five systems are not the six functions of the church, though (worship, discipleship, ministry, evangelism, fellowship, prayer). It’s easy to get enamored with the systems and begin focusing on them rather than prioritizing the functions (systems are often easier to create than it is to do the six functions). Keeping the content separate in a different volume helps draw a clear line between the two.
In the end, we opted for two shorter books rather than a single 300-page volume. However, we teach "both parts" of leading a healthy church.
- You need the presence and power of God-- which is the foundation of Healthy Church.
- You need processes-- which is the theme of Healthy Systems.
Register Here!
April 28, 2025 | $15 each
9:00am - 3:00pm / Athens/Decatur, AL @ First Baptist Church Tanner, 11590 US-31, Tanner, AL 35671
What you'll receive:
⚜️ Your spot at the upcoming workshop
🍗 Catered lunch, coffee + tea & snacks
📗📘 Both books-- Healthy Church and Healthy Systems
📻 Curated audio, to prep for the event
📝 All the worksheets, slides, templates, and downloads
✅ Learn with like-minded ministry leaders
📈 Ongoing support & interaction AFTER the event