Pat previously served as a Church Consultant for thirteen years with Lifeway Christian Resources, where he served as a leadership specialist in Texas and Louisiana, coaching leaders and consulting churches. He also served as the Team Leader for Lifeway Consultants across a 13-state region and was part of a departmental leadership team driving a $79M national sales strategy. In those roles, he conducted over 15,000 conversations with leaders giving him an in-depth understanding of the opportunities and challenges faced by a diversity of leaders and organizations.

Before that, Pat served in executive leadership roles for twenty years in mega-churches with responsibilities for programming, personnel, budgeting, and facilities. He supervised professional staff and coordinated hundreds of volunteers focusing on vision casting, organizational change, professional leadership development, and volunteer training. His work expanded to involve training leaders at the local, state, and national levels.

In addition, Pat has served as an Adjunct Professor of Christian Education and Leadership at Grand Canyon and Wayland Baptist Universities and as a Field Supervisor/Project Director for master and doctoral students at Southwestern, Southeastern, Golden Gate, and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminaries as well as Rockbridge Seminary. He has also authored numerous publications and is a frequent conference leader.

Pat attended Paris Junior College and then Baylor University, where he received a Bachelor of Science degree. He then studied at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, completing a Master of Religious Education degree followed by additional Master of Divinity studies. He did Doctor of Philosophy studies in Higher Education at North Texas State University and earned a Doctor of Education degree from Southwestern Seminary in Church and Education Administration. He is also a Certified Professional Leadership Coach from Professional Christian Coaching Institute and Certified Strengths Champion Coach from Strengths Champion Solutions.

On a Personal Note:

Pat and his wife, Jeanie, are both native Texans and have two young adult daughters. He enjoys hunting, fishing, baseball, tennis, tropical fish, photography, and vintage Volkswagens.

Get in contact with Pat at pat.ford@convenenow.com or 832-725-4253

CONVENE INFLUENTIAL LEADER GROUPS

Are you preparing for a more influential role as a business leader or entrepreneur and dreaming of making a real difference?

Most business leaders face significant challenges alone and are isolated from peers that understand the pressures of business leadership or ownership. The Convene Influential Leader model of leadership development brings business leaders and entrepreneurs together to face those challenges in community and from an eternal perspective. Influential Leader Groups provide time-tested peer group experiences and executive coaching to accelerate their personal and professional growth so that they can have a redemptive impact on their business, direct reports, clients, and community.

Your role as an influential leader in your organization comes with significant challenges:

• How do you lead up to or alongside your executive team, investors, or partners?

• How do you gain familiarity with areas of expertise outside of your own?

• How do you drive profitability for your organization or business?

Facing these alone is a recipe for frustration and burnout over time. As someone that aspires to grow their career or business, it is important to take care of yourself and develop as a leader as an investment both in yourself and your work.

WHAT IS AN INFLUENTIAL LEADER GROUP?

Influential Leader Groups are designed to give Christian business leaders and owners an opportunity for both spiritual and strategic community regardless of their role within an organization or how far along they are in the business life cycle. Historically, Convene has served CEOs that manage a few million in revenue to over a billion through their Forum teams. These Influential Leader Groups represent the first time that Convene is opening the doors to a much wider audience, allowing leaders and entrepreneurs in varying stages of development and responsibility to find community, even if they do not meet the criteria for some of Convene’s original offerings. As described below, Convene has two different tracks of Influential Leader Groups, one called the Intrapreneurship Track that is for leaders within a larger organization, and another called the Entrepreneurship Track that is for leaders who own or are partners in a business, including those who are the clear successor to their current CEO.

WHY JOIN AN INFLUENTIAL LEADER GROUP?

In your career, you have likely had plenty of opportunities to get involved with other professionals through church or community organizations. However, these opportunities never allowed you to solve intense business challenges with peers who understood the struggles of business leadership. If you are just looking for a community of Christian peers, there are plenty of options out there. If you are looking for a high-impact group of Christian peers that can tackle complex business problems with you and push you to the next level of your leadership and business, then these groups are for you.

Influential Leaders join Convene to:

• Build capacity for stronger leadership and expanded roles

• Leverage best practices for organizational excellence, greater profitability and faster growth for their businesses, clients, and direct reports

• Connect to a high-capacity peer group to work through “tough issues” in a risk-free, non-judgmental, and confidential environment

• Receive executive coaching and leadership development along with reducing isolation and improving life balance

• Be equipped and inspired toward greater integration of faith and purpose within business

Process personal growth through bi-annual leadership assessments 

INFLUENTIAL LEADER GROUP TRACKS

As stated above, Convene has two different tracks of Influential Leader Groups, one called the Intrapreneurship Track that is for leaders within a larger organization, and another called the Entrepreneurship Track that is for leaders who own or are partners in a business, including those who are the clear successor to their current CEO. Whether leading a team within a large organization or leading a company as a small business owner, thinking like an entrepreneur is an incredible asset. As described by an Inc. article by Gene Hammett, “Employees with entrepreneurial mindsets are assets not threats to your company.” Regardless of which track you fit into, the goal of both is to help you develop an entrepreneurial mindset that looks at the world through a Kingdom lens and from a biblical foundation. As an intrapreneur or entrepreneur, members learn to act decisively, problem-solve, innovate, and drive value for their organizations and companies.

INTRAPRENEURSHIP TRACK

Ideal Member:

• Leaders within a large organization that are not on ownership track

• Rising talent and team leaders with direct reports or training to take over managing others

• Desires to develop an entrepreneurial mindset and innovate from within an organization to improve profitability, service delivery, and impact

• Member is coachable, humble, vulnerable, hungry, and understands that to lead well, we must learn to follow well too

• Potential titles could include General Manager, Supervisor, Director of Marketing, VP of Sales, Controller, Data Team Lead, HR Director, etc.

Track Focus:

Influential leaders that join the Intrapreneurship Track hold significant influence in their organizations and want to build their capacity for stronger leadership. In the future, it is very likely that these influential leaders will end up in expanded roles within their department, possibly even in C-suite positions, which is why this track focuses heavily on self-awareness and learning to think like a C-suite executive. This track focuses on leading redemptively and sacrificially stewarding our roles to advance the Kingdom. In adopting a mission-driven worldview and sound business strategies, the leaders in this track will support each other as they drive Kingdom impact in their organizations. This track has a heavy focus on leader development, people development, team development, and other organizational development topics. Members in the Intrapreneurship Track will develop an entrepreneurial mindset that helps them lead their teams more effectively, drive higher profitability for their organizations, and provide change management during seasons of growth.

Common challenges faced by members in this track:

• Leading up to the executive team

• Innovating from within an organization

• Managing multiple stakeholders

• Finding time/life balance

• Managing direct reports and building teams

• Talent development and hiring practices

• KPIs to drive personal and team success

• Execution of plans

• Integration of faith and business

ENTREPRENEURSHIP TRACK

Ideal Member:

• Solo entrepreneur or small business owner that is not ready for a Forum team

• Junior partner or partner in a company

• Employees training to take over a company one day and are the clear choice in succession planning

• Desires to develop an entrepreneurial mindset and innovate from the owner role in an organization

• Member is coachable, humble, vulnerable, hungry, and understands that to lead well we must learn to follow well too

Track Focus:

Influential leaders that join the Entrepreneurship Track are training to think like an entrepreneur because they are either already running a business or are on track to take over their company down the road. This track has employees with ownership, those who are the clear successors to the current CEO or President, or who own their company outright. This track focuses on building a holistic perspective of business, everything from organizational purpose and foundation to direction, development, reporting, marketing, sales, operations, finances, staffing, ministry, etc. The goal is to develop entrepreneurs trained to succeed in all areas of business, including how to integrate their faith into the company's strategy. Members in the Entrepreneurship Track will develop an entrepreneurial mindset that helps them lead their companies more effectively, align their Kingdom purpose with business excellence, and provide organizational direction and development to drive significant growth.

Common challenges faced by members in this track:

• Managing relationships with business partners, investors, or boards

• Succession or exit planning

• Business model design and organizational structure

• Building marketing, sales, operations, financial, and ministry plans

• Training to lead and grow businesses at a CEO or President level

• Thinking holistically about various departments within a business

• Finding time/life balance

• High-level strategy and execution of plans throughout an organization

• Integration of faith and business, including developing a Kingdom purpose and vision for their companies

FREQUENT QUESTIONS

Why sponsor your leader in a Convene Influential Leader Group?

All employers face the challenges and enjoy the benefits of leadership development. But where can employees go to be completely open and authentic about the challenges they are having in business? As open as they can be with their staff, managers, or employers, is it the same as a safe space within their own peer group? Where can they go to learn how to better follow and lead within an organizational structure? As necessary as it is to develop leaders internally, abilities and holistic business perspectives are greatly expanded by learning from other business leaders in different companies and industries. What would happen to leaders and the teams they lead if they got feedback from peers about critical decisions? Providing a space for leaders to say “I don’t know” opens up personal and professional growth that directly impacts the organizational culture and the financial bottom line. There is no better avenue to develop top talent than to give them the opportunity to grow together in community with other influential leaders. 

Employers sponsor influential leaders to:

• Retain top talent by demonstrating that they are valued and worth developing

• Give their leaders a space to say “I don’t know” and solve complex problems

• Help their leaders develop a holistic business perspective

• Build a pipeline for rising stars to grow into C-suite or ownership positions

• Allow their leaders to develop skill sets in both leadership and followership

• Provide insights through leadership assessments that ultimately transform culture

What Is the meeting format?

Convene Influential Leader Groups meet via Zoom for two hours twice per month. Each member also receives 45 minutes of One2One™ coaching per month and access to thousands of articles, videos, and tools for maximizing their Kingdom impact in the workplace, including leadership assessments and additional coaching for their team.

How are members selected?

To better facilitate connection and relationships in a virtual setting, each Convene Influential Leader Group is limited to 12-15 members. Because of this, the process of becoming a member is highly selective. Most influential leaders will already be in leadership roles within their company or have already started their own company, but consideration will be given to anyone who demonstrates a humility that attracts influence.