Planning & Design Process
Financial Stability ● Ministry Management ● Emotional Wellness ● Community Leadership
Vision:
The Pentecostal Assemblies of the World (PAW) is a membership organization that exists to equip and deploy people and resources to preach, teach, and reach the least and the lost, so that Christ may be preeminent in every life. To be effective in that purpose, PAW leadership sought a more comprehensive strategy to expand support for pastors to grow their economic knowledge and foundational operational practices.
In November 2023, First Assistant Presiding Bishop Mark Tolbert secured a $50,000 planning grant from Lilly Endowment, a private foundation that has a special interest in supporting efforts to reduce or alleviate some of the financial pressures that impair the abilities of pastors to lead congregations effectively (through their National Initiative to Address Economic Challenges Facing Pastoral Leaders or "ECFPL"). The grant perimeters were aligned to PAW's own interest in nurturing its member pastors’ abilities to navigate their economic pressures.
Opportunity:
Concept Planning:
In December 2023, Bishop Tolbert convened a think tank with 12 diverse participants from around the country. With the support of Presiding Bishop Theodore Brooks, he charged the group with designing a program that could address the economic challenges faced by pastors, their families, and their congregations – and that would meet the requirements of Lilly's ECFPL implementation grant. For two days, across six working sessions, think tank participants discussed problems, needs, challenges, trends, and potential opportunities and solutions. A facilitator charged the group to drill down on key priorities and identify elements that would ideally comprise the program.
After numerous follow-up meetings with the think tank, the program design, entitled "Lead Well," was finalized in February 2024. A grantwriter prepared a draft application for discussion and then finalized and submitted the application in March 2024. In July 2024, Lilly Endowment gifted the PAW a $1.25 million grant to implement the proposal over the next 2 years (through July 2026).
The final result of this process is explained in Overview.
Final Proposal:
More on the planning and design process can be found in
Program Design, Research & Evaluation, and Advisory Board (formerly the Think Tank).