FORMED: Transformational Teaching

Scott Sullivan interviewed Jeremy Elam, Connections Pastor at Peavine Baptist Church, about the third element of the FORMED Discipleship Culture Blueprint: Transformational Teaching. They discussed how Peavine has grown from 500 to over 2,500 members over 15 years, with over 300 baptisms annually, and explored the four key components of transformational teaching: biblical authority, gospel impact, calling out the called, and measuring life change.

Jeremy shared how Peavine creates clear pathways for people to move from hearing the truth on Sundays to practicing it during the week, including their Step 1 class and community outreach initiatives like paying off $6–7 million in medical debt. They also discussed Peavine's approach to leadership multiplication through intentional identification, development, and launching of new volunteers using spiritual gifts assessments and personality profiles, rather than just recruiting for specific roles.

The conversation concluded with Jeremy explaining how they measure success through engagement metrics, people movement tracking, and sharing transformation stories during staff meetings to keep everyone focused on making multiplying disciples.

Develop and offer clear on-ramps and pathways, such as Step 1 class, serving opportunities, and community outreach, to help church members move from hearing the truth to practicing it during the week.
Maintain and update the monthly scorecard tracking volunteer movement, Step 1 class completions, and new volunteer deployment to ensure ongoing volunteer and leader development.
Provide spiritual gifts assessments, personality profiles, and one-on-one conversations to help individuals identify their God-given wiring and match them to meaningful volunteer roles.
Share stories of life transformation and vision wins regularly with staff and volunteer teams to reinforce the impact of their service and maintain focus on the mission.
The Peavine staff continues to evaluate metrics beyond attendance, such as engagement, movement from guest to member, and stories of transformation, to measure spiritual fruit and discipleship impact. They regularly discuss “vision wins” in staff meetings to keep the team focused on the main mission, celebrate stories of life change, and maintain alignment with the church vision.

Transformational Teaching and Discipleship
Scott explained the concept of transformational teaching, using the metaphor of concrete foundation building to illustrate how the Word of God refines and prepares believers to become multiplying disciples. He emphasized that transformational teaching focuses on biblical authority and gospel impact, not just information transfer.

Scott invited listeners in Georgia to join regional discipleship cohorts led by Jeremy, with more detailed discussions planned for August.

Gospel-Centered Transformational Teaching
Scott explained the importance of gospel-centered teaching, emphasizing that it transforms hearts rather than just modifying behavior. He outlined four key components of transformational teaching:

Biblical authority
Gospel impact
Calling out the called
Measuring life change
Scott concluded by discussing the need to develop a discipleship culture that reaches, connects, matures, launches, and multiplies disciples. He asked Jeremy about building a culture of personal investment in learners’ lives.

Practical Spiritual Growth Pathways
Jeremy discussed the importance of practical spiritual messages from the pulpit that filter down to small groups and one-on-one conversations, where people can take next steps in their faith journey.

He identified the challenge of connecting head knowledge with heart application, citing James’ warning about being hearers rather than doers of the Word.

Jeremy explained that Peavine Church creates clear pathways for spiritual growth through Sunday morning invitations, Step 1 classes that call people to action, and community outreach projects both inside and outside the church building.

Church Medical Debt Initiative
Jeremy shared an example of how Peavine Baptist Church paid off $6–7 million in medical debt for three counties using a $25,000 offering, with Pastor Joel announcing the initiative from the pulpit.

The church received community impact through letters sent to debtors directing them to a gospel-sharing video on the church website.

Scott emphasized the importance of including next steps in all church activities and events, then shifted the discussion to focus on leadership multiplication and volunteer development strategies.

Leader Development and Volunteer Strategy
Jeremy described his approach to identifying and developing leaders at Peavine, which involves tracking metrics like volunteer growth and completion of membership classes.

He explained his shift in mindset from focusing on meeting needs to helping individuals discover their God-given gifts and talents for fulfilling volunteer roles.

Scott emphasized the importance of calling people to purpose rather than just filling roles, referencing Jesus’ approach of calling disciples to a relational journey, and questioned whether there are easy on-ramps for people to serve at Peavine.

Church Service Involvement and Metrics
Jeremy explained that Peavine Church has different levels of service involvement, with some roles requiring formal training or code-of-conduct agreements while others have more flexible on-ramp opportunities.

He shared his experience of eliminating the six-month waiting period for new members when he became kids pastor.

The discussion then shifted to measuring spiritual transformation, where Jeremy outlined key metrics including attendance, group numbers, volunteerism, and tracking people’s movement from first-time guests to regular attendees and members.

Church Engagement and Growth Strategies
Jeremy discussed the importance of measuring engagement rather than spiritual maturity through church metrics, emphasizing that serving opportunities and sharing transformation stories are key to growing the church.

He shared an example of how telling life transformation stories to his connect card team has strengthened their spiritual growth and encouraged family members to join the church.

When asked about staff culture, Jeremy explained that focusing on living out biblical principles and agreeing on the main thing creates significant ministry wins, even when people do not fully agree on every detail.

Scott encouraged interested leaders in Georgia to sign up for the regional discipleship leader cohorts by reaching out via email to ssullivan@gabaptist.org.