Eric Flood - Associate Pastor, South Park Church in Park Ridge, IL

I was ready to give up on the concept of coaching/shepherding before meeting Randy. I was overseeing a growing network of small groups at our church as the Associate Pastor/Adult Ministries. It had grown beyond my ability to give personal attention to each leader. I was concerned about the health of our groups. I was hearing from more than one voice in small group literature that it is necessary to hire staff to coach small groups--they said volunteers wouldn't get the job done. Yet Randy helped me see how coaching/shepherding could work at my church, in my context. It has become a tremendously rewarding experience to see seven shepherds own this concept and follow through. I received the tools, the personal encouragement, and the prayer support to see this vision become reality. Our entire small group ministry has been affected positively. I feel that we are prepared to continue to grow deeper and broader now that we have shepherds in place.

My incentive for connecting with Randy centered around understanding how to build a healthy small group ministry. What I disovered very quickly was that Randy believes that this had to start with my personal transformation and health. God has been at work in my life addressing issues below the surface for a few years. But Randy has targeted areas that had not yet been touched--areas that needed healing. I am learning to see that my performance-based value system is not healthy nor productive. It has been transformational to begin radically defining myself as God's beloved son. I look forward to sharing what I've learn with others.

Randy is very disarming in his approach. Some people dance around the truth in an effort to be loving. Randy finds ways to help you confront the truth because he loves.