Speaking Engagements & Workshops

Our dedicated team of knowledgeable consultants have decades of experience organizing and leading ministry teams, establishing ministry systems, mobilizing Christians for service and developing leaders to maximize ministry impact. Take a look at our extensive topic list below of speaking engagements and workshops. Invite us to speak to your church, ministry team or church executive board to help engage, equip and empower your people to propel ministry forward. Connect with us and we would love to create a custom topic or workshop that meets your unique needs.

We speak to teens and adults and conduct self-discovery workshops and retreats on the topics of:

Our goal is to release God’s people from negativity, insecurity and fear to a faith life that is confident, joyful and active in and for Jesus. We will work with your theme, your audience, and your needs to provide inspiration and practical takeaways for every person in the audience.

Speaking Topics

How Pastors and Lay Members Can Work More Effectively Together

This presentation addresses the need to engage, equip and empower more people to do the work of the Lord. The presentation begins with a “What’s on Your Pastor’s Plate?” discussion. Participants will discuss misconceptions regarding the roles of pastors and laity and discuss how to more effectively engage others in ministry. (1- 1½ hours)

Building a Member Ministry System in Your Congregation

Partakers will learn the eight key principles to an effective member ministry system. Participants will leave with a general overview of how Trinity Lutheran Church in Crete, Illinois developed a Member Ministry System that engages hundreds of people in active ministry each year. (1 ½ hours)

Unleashing God’s People: What’s Holding Them Back?

Why are some people in our congregations not actively serving?
Come participate in the discussion and learn that it has to do with lots of possibilities including spiritual health, the actions, attitudes and behaviors of the pastors, leaders, active members and maybe even people at other churches. Often these people need to be served somehow. Are you aware of what’s holding people back in your church? Let’s dig into this topic together.
(1 ½ hours)

How to Create a Faith in Action Day at Your Church

Each year Trinity Lutheran Church hosts an annual Faith in Action Day. Hundreds of people come out to serve from 8:00AM to 1:00PM on a Saturday morning and it’s amazing to watch God bless the results. Thousands have been served. Would you like to organize a day to encourage serving at your congregation?

The Art of Inviting Others to Serve

Do you struggle with asking people to volunteer their time or serve? Are you hesitant to approach people? You might prefer to hide the invitation in a bulletin or a newsletter and just hope people show up. But why are you so hesitant to invite people? Let’s dig into this topic together. We will help you hone your invitation skills. Here’s a secret—there’s prep work that goes into a captivating invitation. The results will be clear, compelling invitations to the right people and God willing a lot more yeses! We will share the PIE approach—Prepare, Inspire, Equip. Get ready for a fun, interactive presentation where you walk away feeling more confident and ready to invite others to partner with you in ministry!

Engaging Women in Ministry

What is your personal ministry? Ask anyone in a church setting this question, and they will usually struggle to find an answer. Ask any woman, and she might bring up something she would love to do at her church or in the name of Jesus, but feels she has no outlet in which to serve with a particular gift. As believers, everyone has been equipped with at least one spiritual gift to be used to serve and show love to others. There’s more to serving at church than making the coffee and bringing the food. Together, we will consider all the ways women are gifted to serve and how the Bible supports embracing their gifts for God’s glory and for the health of the church.

Pastors and Leaders: Get out the way, Let God’s People Serve

Why are you doing what others can do and not doing what only you can do? That is a great question to continually ask yourself. Because, unfortunately, we can be the ones that get in the way of God’s people using their gifts to serve. Whether it is micromanaging, or lack of trust, or we simply don’t know who to ask or what people’s gifts are, we often get in the way. Equip God’s people with the skills they need, empower them to do the work, and let God’s people serve.

Lessons from Jethro: Equipping God’s People to Serve with their God-Given Gifts

How do you keep from being completely overwhelmed with the work of the church and burning out? The answer is the godly advice Jethro gave his son-in-law, Moses. We’ll do a deep dive into Exodus chapter 18 and learn from Jethro’s godly advice: Do what you are called to do. Select capable people to carry out the work. Put them in the right positions. Train them for what they need; and communicate clearly. The end result? God is glorified.

Spiritual Gifts for Everyone: It is More than You Think

Did you know that 19 or more spiritual gifts are listed in the Bible? What if every person in your church were made aware of, and used, at least one of their spiritual gifts daily? Would your culture improve? Would your community be attracted to the way members interacted with each other and treated others? What if people celebrated each other’s gifting as a way to show love to God? This topic needs to be better understood and utilized on a much higher level. We will discuss how this can be a vital part of any gathering of believers.

Women in the Early Church: Romans 16 - God Entrusting Growth of the Church with Women

In Romans 16, the Apostle Paul lists several women who were instrumental in the growth of the early Christian church. Who were these women, and what roles did they play? We will look at what the Bible and biblical scholars tell us, basing our conclusions on the interactions Jesus had with women in the gospels.

Moving from Doer to Developer

Ministry is not just for the few called. We each have a purpose to serve in the body of Chris, but sometimes a select few do all the ministry, leaving staff and leaders burnt out and overwhelmed. Discover how to go from doing it all to developing others to partner with you in ministry to share the work and have a greater impact. You will also develop your skill to invite others to partner with you in ministry, which will lead to fewer nos and more yeses.

Leadership Development Topics

Cindy Jansen

Leadership Facilitator & Coach

Lead With Emotional Intelligence

Emotions! It’s been said that Emotional Intelligence is a key predictor of success in life and relationships. Emotions are involved in every human interaction. So, how do we as church leaders develop this crucial skill? In this workshop, we will discuss the four basic components of emotional intelligence and how we can cultivate this skill to develop deeper and more meaningful church relationships.

Communicate and Adapt to Different Behavioral Styles

This is a slightly revised workshop compared to “Understanding Personalities to Better Serve Together.” We will explore the impact behavioral style has on the ability to communicate effectively with others in your ministry. You will complete an assessment during our time, which will guide most of our discussion.

In this workshop, we review four basic styles and then with our newfound knowledge of style, discuss how we adapt our style in our leadership to make it more comfortable for others in our interactions. Remember, leadership is not about you.

The Art of Listening, Asking Questions, and Feedback

Listening and Asking Questions are important and fundamental skills as a ministry leader. Yet, most of us struggle with what it means to be an effective listener and question asker. In this workshop, we discuss the importance of both skills and participants will participate in an activity to maximize the effectiveness of both skills. With these two skills in mind, we introduce the importance of feedback in your role as a ministry leader.

Confidently Address Difficult Situations

It can feel uncomfortable addressing difficult situations. And yet, we know that effectively delivering these conversations helps others achieve ministry goals.

In this workshop, we discuss why we avoid these conversations, share key concepts to navigate difficult conversations and review a framework for having difficult conversations.

Leaders will increase their confidence to approach difficult conversations with practical skills to address situations with calmness and respect.

Team Development

No matter your role in ministry, working with and on teams is something we all can relate to. And in some cases, it can be so rewarding and also frustrating. The purpose of this workshop is to provide leaders with tools, techniques and competencies needed for team maximization. We also introduce leaders to stages of a team model that shows the growth of teams. Leaders will be exposed to a Ministry Team Charter that can help provide a framework for maximizing team effectiveness.

From Lone Ranger to Ministry Multiplier: Building Teams and Serve Together

(Cindy recently custom developed a workshop based on a church’s need and focus of developing teams.)

This training is all about how we move from doing ministry alone to doing it with others—how to build a team that can serve together. It’s not unusual in churches that we try and do ministry alone. It’s also not sustainable. And here’s the good news: You don’t have to do it alone. Discover how to build teams and the importance of building teams.

Lead and Support Others Through Change

Change. This one syllable word can evoke a slew of emotions for people… from excitement and positivity to dread and anxiety. Change is constant.

In this workshop, we will explore the reason that, as leaders, it’s a struggle to navigate change. We will explore the change dynamics of two people in the Bible who will help set the path for our conversation on change and the reason it’s our job, as leaders, to change in order to effectively serve the ministry and help others embrace change.

Intentional Living

Time is one of our most precious resources and being productive is important. In this workshop, we explore how we can intertwine these two into achieving high success in our ministry goals. We utilize the Traction tool and expand this concept and share a model to increase productivity, achieving goals and focus on what matters most.

Live Workshops And Retreats

S.H.A.P.E.D. to Serve

This fun interactive retreat allows participants to dig into God’s Word and study themselves. Participants will discover their Spiritual Gifts, focus in on what they are passionate about, identify their abilities, learn about personalities, evaluate life experiences and then begin to piece all of these concepts together to more fully understand their unique calling. We wrap up with a conversation on how to set priorities based on the “Best Yes” principle. Through videos, assessments and group discussion participants grow to greater appreciate how God has uniquely shaped them. This retreat will change how you approach and do life! (7 hours. It can be broken up into Friday/Saturday, or be a 1-day workshop.)

Understanding My Spiritual Gifts

Participants will look at the Biblical reasons for understanding spiritual gifts and take a spiritual gift assessment. Small group discussions will allow them to articulate places where they have used these gifts and have been affirmed in them. (1 hour – 1 1/2hours)

Identifying My Passions

This workshop helps people to articulate the people and causes that they are passionate about. They also will identify needs they like to meet. We will discuss how to create ministries around our passions. (1 hour)

Different by Design: Understanding Personalities

Participants will take a quick personality assessment, identifying their own unique personality and then look at the four different primary characteristics of the different personalities. Participants will begin to explore and value different personalities types and learn the benefits of including different personalities on every team. (1 hour)

Be You! Living in Your Gifts and Passions

Participants dig into God’s Word and examine the Bible verses that speak to our need to know our gifts and serve together as the body of Christ. Each participant will walk away more confident knowing their spiritual gifts and with a clearer understanding of the passions that God has uniquely placed on their heart. We conclude with a discussion on how to take steps to move toward more joyful living. (3 hours)

Different by Design: Embracing Personalities

God has created each of us uniquely and yet all God’s people share four different personality traits. Do you have people who make you crazy? This workshop can help! Participants will learn their unique personality traits and will begin to recognize and value the traits in others. God created us to complement one another and not to frustrate each other and yet we still do! Marriage, parenting, work relationships and team building will be discussed. Assessment, group discussion and activities are part of this workshop. This workshop will change how you see and get along with people! (3 hours)

High School Students

I am God’s DESIGN

Students begin by talking about love -God’s love for us and our love for Him. Over the course of the day we look at what we are DOING, our life EXPERIENCES, SKILLS, INTERESTS, GIFTS AND NATURE. This allows students to study themselves for the day and step into living more intentionally from their God-given strengths. This is a great pre-college workshop! (6-hour in house field trip or location of your choice)

Junior High Students

Got Gifts?

An introductory level of I am God’s DESIGN Includes team building and affirmation activities. This workshop helps teens investigate the idea of more intentional living and helps them to understand the need to put their faith in action! (4 hours)

5th–6th Grade Students

Uniquely You!

Don’t you love it when someone notices something you are good at and tells you? This workshop helps build confidence and tear down fears that often hold students back during their junior high school years. Students will recognize strengths and abilities with peer affirmation; look at different personality types; participate in team building activities; begin to think about people, causes and needs that they are interested in; and be introduced to intentional living. (4- hour in-house field trip or location of your choice)

We Also Speak To
Women’s Ministry Groups
On These Additional Subjects

Building a Women’s Ministry in Your Congregation
Building Effective Ministry Teams
Creating A Vision for Your Ministry and Operating from It
Strategic Living- Thriving Not Just Surviving
Thriving in Life and Leadership
Extending Grace
Recognizing and Developing Gifts in Your Children

Speaking Engagements & Workshops