Winning Workshop HANDOUTS by Sheriolyn Curry

A Closer Understanding

q Checkers Mentality- A methodology or mindset that approaches problems or investments from a reactive and potentially impulsive approach with an expectancy of immediate gratification or results. Power to Gain Position or a Sprint vs Marathon mindset.

q Chess Mentality- Is a methodology or mindset that is strategic in nature and adopts a long-term thinking approach. This mentality is proactive and not reactive. Position to Gain Power or a Marathon vs Sprint mindset.

q Checkers mentality often confuse making money with building wealth.

Compare and Contrast

Creating a deferred compensation package utilizing cash value life insurance called Indexed Universal Life Insurance (IUL)

IULs allow cash value within the policy to grow tax-free overtime. IULs are funded with post-tax dollars which allow clients to withdraw money tax-free at any age

One of the main advantages of IULs is that the cash value is protected from drops in the market. An lUL is a cash value policy that has both a death benefit and saving portion.

There are no Restrictions on when the money can be taken out, unlike an IRA. Also, the money inside an IUL can be taken out at any age by the client tax free and without extra fees

(IUL)

How Can I Assist?

EDUCATE AND EQUIP LIKE MINDED PEOPLE TO CREATE GENERATIONAL WEALTH TO BE UTILLIZED TO IMPROVE LIVES AND SITUATIONS WITHIN CIRCLES OF INFLUENCE.

Demystifying AI for Church Leaders

UNDERSTANDING AI, ITS USES, AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

REV. SHERIOLYN CURRY HODGE PRESIDING ELDER

What is AI?

• Definition

• Machines designed to performed tasks that typically require human intelligence.

• Typers of AI

• Narrow AI – specific tasks

• General AI – human

• Examples of AI in daily life

• Voice assistants, recommendation algorithms

How is AI Used Today?

• AI Applications

• Healthcare, finance, marketing, and education

• Specific examples for churches

• Chatbots for member inquiries, data analysis for community needs, and social media engagement tools.

AI in Church Context

• AI tools for church management:

• Scheduling, attendance tracking, and resource allocation.

• Enhancing outreach

• AI driven insights into community demographics and preferences

• Personalizing member experiences through tailored content and communication.

Let’s Chat

What are some common AI applications that church leaders may use without realizing it?

How many use AI tools like Google Assistant, Siri, or automated email responses in their church?

Navigating Fears About AI

• Fears:

• Job displacement, loss of personal touch, and ethical dilemmas

Ethical and Theological Concerns

Common Concerns:

• Data privacy, bias in algorithms, and the potential for dehumanization.

Theological Implications

• The role of technology in ministry

• Stewardship of resources

Maintaining human connection

Best Practices for AI Use

Transparency

Ensure congregation understand how AI is used.

Continuous Education

Staying informed about AI developments and their implications.

What is a ChatBot ?

A chatbot is a software application designed to simulate human conversation, either through text or voice interactions. It can communicate with users and provide automated responses to questions, complete tasks, or assist with customer service, sales, and more. Chatbots use technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP) to understand and respond to user inputs in a way that mimics human conversation. They can be simple rule -based systems that follow predefined scripts or more advanced AI-driven systems that learn from interactions and adapt over time.

Common Chatbots

• ChatGPT

• Gemini

• CoPilot (Bing)

• Claude,ai

• Chat.openai.com

• Perplexity.ai

BOUNDARIES

When

to say Yes, How to say No to Take Control of Your Life.

By Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend

Summary and Application

Rev. Tonya Taylor, Presenter

April 4, 2025

Mountain Valley District Conference

My Favorite Boundaries Quote

“No is a complete sentence” – Anne Lamott

“ You teach people how to treat you by what you allow, what you stop and what you reinforce. - TonyGaskins

“ Daring to set boundaries is about having the courage to love ourselves, even when we risk disappointing others. – Brene Brown

- Rev. Tonya Taylor

BOUNDARY CHALLENGES

Understanding Boundaries for Healthy Ministry

Why Boundaries Matter

• Boundaries are essential for preventing burnout and maintaining emotional, spiritual, and physical health.

• Without boundaries, ministry leaders risk being overwhelmed by the demands of others, leaving little time for self-care and personal well-being.

• Boundaries help you create a sustainable pace in ministry, ensuring long-term effectiveness.

Setting Boundaries in Ministry

Recognize Your Limits

• Understand your emotional, physical, and spiritual capacity.

• Set realistic expectations for yourself and communicate them clearly to others.

Practical Tips

• Schedule personal time and make it non-negotiable.

• Say “no” to requests that compromise your well-being or priorities.

• Delegate responsibilities and trust others to help.

The Impact of Healthy Boundaries on Self-Care

• Spiritual Health

Boundaries protect your time for personal prayer, study, and reflection.

• Emotional Well - Being

Setting limits fosters emotional stability, reducing stress and anxiety.

• Relational Health

Boundaries strengthen relationships with family, colleagues, and the congregation by creating respect for your time and needs.

Biblical Foundation for Boundaries

• Mark 1:35 - Time Alone

• John 6:15 - Jesus Withdrew from the crowd

• Proverbs 4:23 - "Above all else, guard your heart...“

• Matthew 18:15 - 17 - Confrontation and accountability.

Reflection Questions

• Where do I need stronger boundaries?

• What’s stopping me from setting them?

• How can I respond when boundaries are ignored?

Closing Thought

Boundaries are NOT selfish, they are the structure of HEALTHY love.

Boundaries Summary

fourminutebooks.com

1-Sentence-Summary: Boundaries explains, with the help of modern psychology and Christian ideals, how to improve your mental health and personal growth by establishing guidelines for self-care that include saying no more often and standing firm in your decisions rather than letting people walk all over you.

Read in: 4 minutes

Favorite quote from the author:

A day without boundaries looks something like this: You wake up early to make breakfast for your kids. Even though you’re doing a presentation at work that you really need to prepare before leaving, you still don’t ask your husband to help you cook for the kids.

Once you get to work, the presentation equipment isn’t ready, so you go get it yourself, even though it’s not your job. Your boss asks you to run the Christmas party, and you agree, even though you’re probably too busy. And your day is just getting started! If any of this sounds familiar, you could probably use boundaries. Life without them can be draining!

Boundaries: When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend is a classic guide on setting healthy boundaries and finally taking the reigns in your own life. Using both Christian faith and contemporary psychology, the authors create a strong argument for why healthy boundaries are essential for your emotional and spiritual health.

Here are the 3 of the most helpful lessons this book taught me:

1. Boundaries are all about kindness to yourself and others.

2. It won’t be quick or easy, but setting boundaries is always worth it.

3. Boundaries will help you in both your personal and professional life.

Let’s get right into these ideas and learn how to take better care of ourselves!

Lesson 1: It is an act of kindness to yourself and those around you to set boundaries.

From concrete walls to “No Trespassing” signs, we find physical boundaries all around us. Usually, these exist for a good reason. A tall chainlink fence around an electrical plant is there to protect us from walking inadvertently into a dangerous area.

Personal boundaries are likewise necessary for protecting your emotions and spirit. But unlike physical boundaries, others can’t always see them. This makes it hard to establish boundaries and to recognize the boundaries of others. It also is hard to enforce them because it can make you feel mean. But it shouldn’t.

Setting boundaries entails taking ownership of your own wants, needs, and feelings. It means prioritizing you, but often people feel like it means they are neglecting others. But the authors emphasize that setting up healthy boundaries doesn’t mean you don’t care about other people’s concerns or problems. All it means is that you aren’t solely responsible for them.

Take the O’Riley family. Unfortunately, their son Peter has gotten involved with drugs and was expelled from school. His parents could take responsibility for his problems by enrolling him in a new school and paying his fines, but it’s likely this isn’t going to solve the problem. In this case, his parents would shoulder the whole problem for him.

On the other hand, they could hand the responsibility to their son instead. They could listen and support him in becoming sober and do all this without stepping in to fix his problems. In this case, they are taking care of themselves by establishing boundaries and still taking care of Peter. Setting boundaries like this is an act of kindness to yourself as well as to everyone around you.

Lesson 2: It can be hard to set up boundaries, but it will make your life much better.

Before you are comfortable enough to assert boundaries, you might make excuses for other people violating your boundaries. You might say stuff like, “Jeff always puts me down when he’s with his friends. He’s only joking, though.” But over time, you start to get resentful. This resentment can be a good thing! If it means you’re done being complacent about boundary violations, so pay attention!

This will be your first step to healthy boundaries. But it won’t be easy. When you try to set boundaries with a controller or manipulator, they are set on using you and won’t let you say no. Their insistence on using you can be addictive for you because it makes you feel needed. Friends who don’t make a fuss if you can’t make it to lunch won’t give you the same high. But this is the time to seek out these types of friends.

Next, learn how to love and value yourself. When our boundaries are constantly being violated, we start to treat ourselves like these people treat us. We can’t use our thoughts, feelings, talents, and bodies like God intended us to. If we can’t love these things in ourselves, we will have a hard time loving these things others. This is why finding value in yourself is key to creating and recognizing healthy boundaries.

After that, you can start setting small boundaries like telling your partner you don’t want to be left with taking out the garbage all the time or accepting your friend’s offer to bring a dish to your party. Ultimately, you’ll find out that you enjoy having your new healthy boundaries and the peace they can bring to your life.

Lesson 3: Boundaries are essential in both your personal life and your work life.

It’s important to establish, maintain, and respect boundaries within a marriage. The authors say it is the key to a fulfilling romantic relationship and is something couples should work on together. It’s also important in friendships, where it can be harder for people to assert their boundaries.

Many times there are friendships with a compliant person and a controller. An example of this is that friend that wants you to cancel all of your plans to spend time with them. In situations like this, one person walks all over the other, and both are left unhappy. Being a natural compliant or controller isn’t necessarily bad, but you need boundaries to make sure the friendship stays within the bounds it should.

It’s also equally important to assert boundaries at work as it is in your personal life. Many people find it hard to say no in a professional setting. But just because you are clocked in doesn’t mean your boundaries have disappeared.

You might be the type that steps in and takes responsibility for your colleague’s poor performance. If this is you, it’s time to step back and only take responsibility for your own tasks and let them figure it out.

You might also be an overworker, but often this is the fault of a boss who doesn’t know how to allocate work. Don’t take responsibility for this problem if it’s not yours!

At the end of the day, remember that you need to create a boundary that separates your work and home. Stress from work should be left at work, and stress from home should be left at home. Of course, you’ll always have things you need to do. But if you never say no to work, you’re probably missing out on the things that make life worth living.

Boundaries Review

Boundaries is really eye-opening. It makes you realize that you need to lay down some boundaries for your own health and that you shouldn’t feel guilty about doing so! It also helps you recognize other people’s boundaries and hopefully become a better person for that, which the world could use a lot more.

Who would I recommend the Boundaries summary to?

The 47-year-old who always feels mentally drained and isn’t sure why, the 29-year-old that lets people walk all over them, and anyone who wants to discover a crucial component of selfcare.

THE BI - VOCATIONAL PASTOR AND CONGREGATION

A Growing Reality:

Creating a Partnership for Ministry Sustainability

Presented to Mountain Valley District Conference April 4, 2025

Elder Sheriolyn Hodge

WHAT IS BI - VOCATIONAL MINISTRY?

• Bi-vocational ministry refers to a model of church leadership where a pastor or minister holds two jobs: one as a church leader and another in a secular profession. This arrangement allows the pastor to fulfill their pastoral duties while also earning income from a separate job outside the church.

• SUCCESS is often tied to effective time management, strong communication between the pastor and lay leaders, and the willingness of both the pastor and the congregation to adapt to this model.

Presiding

Rev. Gerald Richard, Esq.

INCREASE IN BI - VOCATIONAL PASTORS

• Over the last 5-10 years there has been a notable increase in the number of bi-vocational pastors in the U.S.

• Factors:

• Declining church attendance

• Financial constraints within the congregation

• Changing landscape of church leadership

KEY POINTS REGARDING STATISTICS AND TRENDS

1. 2020 National Congregations Study – 25% of pastors were bivocational, compared to around 10% a decade earlier.

2. Many smaller congregations have increasingly turned to bivocational pastors as a means of financial sustainability.

3. Younger pastors are more likely to embrace bi-vocational ministry as they seek to balance work-life realities.

4. Various denominations have reported growing numbers of bivocational pastors are needed to supply churches in transition.

5. Future projections suggest that new pastors entering ministry may embrace a bi-vocational model as a viable option to fulfill a Call to Ministry and have economic stability.

TRANSITION TO BI - VOCATIONAL PASTORATE

• Bi-vocational pastors will have limited availability due to their commitment to a second job.

• The stress of balancing two roles can impact leadership relationships.

• Salary and compensation adjustments may be necessary to reflect the bivocational nature of the pastorate.

• Church programs and events may need to be adjusted to accommodate the pastor’s schedule, or the pastor may miss some events.

• The success of a bi-vocational pastorate hinges on mutual understanding, support, and open communication between the pastor and the congregation.

BENEFITS OF BI - VOCATIONAL PASTORATE

• Diverse skill sets

• Increased Community Engagement

• Financial Flexibility

• Encouragement of Lay Leadership

• Broader Perspectives

• Enhanced Relatability

• Resourcefulness

• Increased Accountability

• Sustainability for Smaller Churches

• Flexibility in Ministry Activities

While there are challenges associated with bi - vocational ministry, the benefits can lead to a more dynamic, engaged, and resourceful church community.