Ministry Partners
ServingLeaders
Mission:
ServingLeaders exists to revive, restore and resource ministry leaders and their families, enabling them to pursue health and excellence in their call to ministry. We do this “one ministry leader at a time,” believing that the ripple effect of just one healthy and flourishing ministry leader has a profound and eternal impact.
Connect:
www.servingleaders.org, and www.SLcounseling.org | Dave Wiedis -
Ministry is Meeting Needs:
Since 2007, ServingLeaders has had the privilege of serving thousands of ministry leaders and their families through pastoral care, coaching, counseling, consulting and training, which includes our services of mediation, seminars, retreats, legal consultations, and more. We also provide counseling to non ministry leaders/laypeople as a way to resource ministry leaders. This division of ServingLeaders, that provides counseling resources for laypeople is called SL Counseling–www.SLcounseling.org. We have a diverse team of very talented and experienced counselors who have varying specializations in trauma, abuse, burnout, and more. Additionally, we provide many other helpful resources to meet our clients’ needs, such as a podcast with helpful content and great guests, Ministry Leader Gatherings, Created For Connection Marriage Workshops and other events like the Emotionally Healthy Relationships course.
How is the Ministry sharing the Gospel and making disciples?
- Our Vision is to be a catalytic presence in the lives of ministry leaders throughout the world, creating a ripple effect of eternal kingdom impact that brings exponential hope and gospel transformation.
Our Core Values are :
- Mission-focused - Pursuing, befriending and encouraging ministry leaders in their unique needs and challenges.
- Wholehearted - Stepping into the complexities of personal life in ministry and engaging the heart with transparency and hope.
- Grace-saturated - Creating safety, vulnerability and honesty in the context of sin, brokenness and dysfunction.
- Gospel-rooted - Offering a fresh experience with the Gospel of Jesus Christ to life, identity and calling and helping leaders develop a sensitivity to God’s Spirit.
We believe that as we bring the gospel to bear in the lives of ministry leaders and their families that they will be healthy and effective in proclaiming the gospel to those to whom they are called.
Life changing story from the Ministry:
- One of the ways we frequently come alongside ministry leaders is in walking through painful unresolved conflict. One story of relational mediation in particular involved a local Senior Pastor and a committed, involved congregant in his congregation. The two men had developed significant unresolved hostility towards one another such that the member decided to leave the church. After going through the mediation process with ServingLeaders, though the congregant moved on to a new church, they were able to restore their relationship– both personally and publicly to the congregation. The Lord provided a gospel display of reconciliation and healing that no one thought was possible. For more about this story you can watch the video testimonies that both people involved decided to create after the process was completed.
Prayer Requests:
- We are hoping to expand our geographic reach so that we can serve more clients in the Greater Philadelphia area. Part of this includes the need for another Ministry Director as well as more locations (“mission hubs”) for us to be able to provide our services.
- The demand for counseling has never been greater, and we’re seeing that clearly with our record high counseling inquiries every month. We need more counselors who are passionate about what they do and have a heart to serve ministry leaders.
- Every year we host a celebration banquet and this October we are celebrating 15 years! This banquet is our biggest fundraising event of the year, and it really helps set us up for success for the following ministry year - please pray that we will be able to reach our financial goal.
Tangible ways you could get involved:
- Consistent prayer
- Finances
- Refer friends/family members in need of counseling to our services
Here are some links to: video resources, testimonies, our podcast and our events page
Annual Celebration Banquet
Aronimink Golf Club
This banquet will be both a celebration of the Lord’s faithfulness and a challenge to see and respond to the growing need of ministry leaders. We are passionate about the future of the Church and the Lord's kingdom impact in this world through the next generation of leaders.
We hope you can join us for this special evening!
For more information on Serving Leaders, contact Dave Weidis at or visit servingleaders.org.
Netzer
How is your ministry sharing the gospel and making disciples?
We are investing into pastors and leaders, so that they can be more effective at equipping the saints for the work of ministry. When the Body is functioning properly, thegospel is lived out with greater effectiveness. When pastors are not poured into, and the Body is disjointed, there cannot be gospel saturation of a city or town.
Provide one story of life change directly from the ministry:
Multiplication by Subtraction
People often ask, “How many churches do you work with?” While we know that the theologically correct answer is One, we can also agree that’s not what people are thinking when they ask. They want to hear that there are dozens or hundreds of churches working together across the region. But is this the right question? Does more churches equal greater effectiveness?
Flash back with me to the summer of 2020. You’re on my deck (with whatever Covid safety measures will keep you from dismissing the rest of this story) and we are grilling some burgers and hot dogs. The others in the picture are Pastors Anthony and Kim, and Pastor Matt. It’s their first time meeting each other. We’re still in the shadow of the George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery incidents, and Pastors Anthony and Kim are black, while Pastor Matt is white.
It doesn’t take long for the hot dogs to be ready, although the burgers are taking more time because the grill is really old and not functioning well. This gives time for friendly conversation and getting-to-know-you small talk. And in short order, the value of education comes to the surface. Just about every member of Anthony and Kim’s immediate and extended family are educators, and this is a connection point with Matt.
By the time the burgers are cooked, discussion has moved to deeper spiritual topics. Once again, there’s a clear sense of the unity that the Spirit has brought to the gathering. Not just agreement, but tough questions being asked in honor and respect, and different perspectives being shared in humility. Everyone left that lunch challenged, encouraged, and strengthened in their faith. It was a sweet picture of the Body building itself up in love.
Fast forward to today: the summer of 2022. These two congregations have committed to spend the summer in Sunday morning worship together. Now many people are having the chance to get to know one another and grow in their faith as well as in their perspectives on life. It’s a wonderful thing to witness, even on a small scale. It brings hope for what can be in our communities, when we see it taking place in the Church.
All of this leads us back to the original question: is the number of churches really what’s important? Or, by lowering the number from 2 to 1 (at least for the summer), is the Church now stronger and more effective for Kingdom growth and ministry to the community? I would argue that in this instance, we will see more fruit because the pastors weren’t concerned about numbers, but about the heart.
What are the things you are concerned about? Would you have innocently asked the same question as posed at the beginning of this article? Maybe take a minute and examine why you think/thought that was important—God might reveal something to you about your assumptions or ideas that He’d like to shift. Or, He might affirm the things you set as priorities. Isn’t it worth the few minutes to know either way?
Prayer Requests:
- That the Church would walk in the oneness which Christ’s blood bought for us and the Holy Spirit has sealed for us
- For pastors and ministry leaders to live and work from a proper perspective of their role in the Kingdom
- That people in local churches would recognize and connect with their brothers and sisters in Christ
Emotionally Healthy Discipleship / EHD
Emotionally Healthy Discipleship is a Christian ministry birthed out of the realization that key areas were missing in the church’s spiritual formation/discipleship. Over a 22-year period, these missing elements were identified and applied deeply at New Life Fellowship Church and then in churches around the world. The Emotionally Healthy Discipleship courses we are dedicated to transform church culture through the multiplication of deeply changed leaders and disciples. It equips church leaders to lead from their inner life with Christ and move to raise up mature disciples in their church, community and the world. At Providence Church we believe that EHD courses are a vital way to grow spiritually closer with God and others.
Riverstone United Christian Academy
Riverstone United Christian Academy (RUCA) is a new private school option for families in and around Chester County. They are an independent, Christian middle school and high school that serves students in grades 6-12. Their educators are driven to support your child’s academic success through Christian education. They challenge students with a rigorous and active curriculum, and we support them with small class sizes and individualized attention.
Does this sound like a place your child would flourish? Come check them out at one of their upcoming open house events, or call to arrange a tour date for your child to spend time with them, experience the unique culture, and meet other students.
