Parachurch Ministry

Standing Stone

Guiding a pastoral support ministry into its next stage of growth and impact.

PROJECT DETAILS

Standing Stone Ministry, an organization helping ministry leaders prevent and navigate crises in their lives and communities and increase their health, turned to The Formation Agency to solidify a founder succession plan and expansion strategy during a time of extraordinary demand.

The Challenge

Standing Stone Ministry, a champion of leader care for pastors, non-profit leaders, parachurch leaders, and their spouses, was founded to solve the problem of ministry leaders experiencing burnout, failure, self sabotage, and conflict with their boards, teams, and communities. 

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, ministry leaders were facing massive challenges and turning to Standing Stone for guidance. But, Standing Stone did not have enough shepherds (ministry mentors) to serve the high volume of need COVID was exacerbating.

At the same time, cofounders Jim and Debbie Hogan expressed a desire to make a healthy transition out of executive leadership into full-time shepherding with Standing Stone and hand off the reigns of the ministry to the next generation of leadership.

The Solution

When the pandemic hit, Formation Agency advisor, Jeff Tanner, had already laid the groundwork for Standing Stone to step into Formation’s adaptive strategic planning process by guiding the organization into a newly articulated identity, strategy, and org design. The next stage was to implement the adaptive planning process and expand its services to help build the plan, systems, infrastructure, and org design to scale Standing Stone’s strategy and missional impact throughout the United States.

At the same time, Tanner worked with the Hogans on a succession plan to identify and install a new president, Dr. Jeramy Clark and an executive team to lead the organization into its next stage of growth and scale.

The Results

Standing Stone has doubled its service, resources, and impact in three years (from 2021 to 2024), installed a new president through a healthy succession plan, created a new executive team, and improved its board governance. As of summer 2024, Standing Stone’s 240+ shepherds are guiding ~3,000 ministry leaders each month throughout the U.S. and around the world into increasing health and navigating crises with Standing Stone shepherds. And, more than 1,000,000 of their community members are reaping the benefits.

  • "We were incredibly blessed to have Jeff Tanner join us as a strategic partner. His expertise played a crucial role in taking our organization to the next level. His insights on org design, marketing, technology integration, data management, and donor relations were game-changing, enabling us to enhance our communication, transparency, and overall impact."

    Jim Hogan

    Cofounder and former Executive Director, Standing Stone Ministry

LET’S GET STARTED

Your formation is foundational to financial and missional success.

The Formation Agency is here to guide you and your organization through key inflection points in your leadership journey. 

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