Sacred Sector Helped Me Become a More Effective Ministry Leader
Kerwin Webb was in his second year at Princeton Theological Seminary when he learned about CPJ’s Sacred Sector learning community. Having served as a nonprofit and ministry leader for nearly six years, Webb had a desire to gain additional skills to become a more effective leader in his vocational calling.
“I wanted to experience more practical application of leading and working in the church,” said Webb.
Webb applied for, and was accepted to, Sacred Sector’s inaugural 2018 Fellowship cohort. Sacred Sector Fellowship empowers seminarians to explore their sacred calling in the faith-based nonprofit sector.
Webb spent the summer in Washington D.C., where he joined 11 other seminarians. After a weeklong learning intensive, he was placed with First Rock Baptist Church, a local congregation based in a predominantly African American–and often underserved–neighborhood of in southeast D.C. First Rock served as a host site for the Fellowship program because of the unique ways the congregation impacts the surrounding community, such as through elder care, daycare and afterschool tutoring programs.
Webb assisted First Rock in learning and applying an integrative framework to live out its faith-based identity in every aspect of its organizational life. This framework, called the "3 P's," gives organizations the opportunity to consider how their sacred missions impact their public policy engagement, organizational practices and public positioning.
“[Webb] was a tremendous help, and the timeliness of his recommendations was like a breath of fresh air,” said Pastor Anthony Minter of First Rock Baptist. “The Fellows program was such a blessing to our church.”
Today, Webb is applying his skills to support his home church in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Thanks to Sacred Sector, he was able to use an organizational assessment tool to help his church identify key areas of strength and growth. From there, he was able to develop an implementation plan specific to their needs, and helped First Rock focus on adopting new practices in one specific area.
Webb explained that Sacred Sector is helping faith-based organizations remain relevant and cast a vision for organizational success.
"The work of the Church is changing,” said Webb. “The way we need to impact the community needs to change, too. That’s why Sacred Sector is so beneficial – because it’s helping shape future leaders in the Church."
By Julia Faulkner
Sacred Sector is now accepting applications for the 2019 Fellowship, based in the Midwest. To learn more and submit an application, visit https://www.sacredsector.org/fellowship-home/ or contact Virginia Creasy.