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B.O.L.D. books

The Bold Leader Handbook

For the man who leads a Bold Men group at his church

Who it is for
Pastors and lay leaders starting or running a Bold Men accountability group.
Format
8 parts, 40 sections, built to be used rather than read once.
Anchor scripture
Proverbs 28:1
How to get it
Paperback. Ask at contact or through your pack leader.

Nobody hands you a manual the day you start.

You said yes to leading a room of men who are done hiding. Then came the questions nobody prepared you for. What do you say when a man texts you at two in the morning? How do you run a meeting where somebody finally tells the truth instead of the polished version? What do you do when what he brings you is bigger than your role?

The Bold Leader Handbook is that manual. It is written for the man who leads a Bold Men group at his church, from the first room he gathers to the day the men he trained are leading rooms of their own.

Eight parts, built to be used rather than read once. The Foundation covers what this ministry believes and what a leader is actually responsible for. Leading a Team walks through starting a group, the first four weeks that decide whether it survives, and how to run a meeting where confession is normal instead of rare. The Hard Moments is the part most leaders reach for first: setbacks, crises, marriages in trouble, the urge in real time, and the clear line where a situation stops being yours to carry and belongs to a pastor or a professional.

The Tools, The Long Road, and Your Church cover curriculum, raising the next leader, keeping yourself standing, and getting a group properly established under your church's authority. Policies and Procedures supplies the formal language most volunteer ministries never write down: screening and qualification, child safety, incident reporting, confidentiality, recordkeeping, grievances, and dual relationships.

The appendices close with a Field Kit of twenty-one forms and scripts, laid out to be photocopied and used. Message templates, emergency contacts, scripts for the hardest conversations, verses for the room, and a theology of freedom.

Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another. This book is for the man doing the sharpening.

Published by Bold Men Ministry, a 501(c)(3) Christian men's discipleship ministry. A companion to the Bold Men app.

Contents

Part I: The Foundation

  1. Welcome, Leader
  2. Our Mission & Foundational Scriptures
  3. Statement of Faith
  4. Understanding the Struggle

Part II: Leading a Team

  1. What a Team Leader Is (and Isn’t)
  2. Starting Your Team
  3. Your First Four Weeks
  4. The Weekly Rhythm
  5. The Engagement Standard
  6. Running the Meeting Well
  7. Walking Through the Curriculum

Part III: The Hard Moments

  1. Supporting a Man Through a Setback
  2. The Moment of Crisis: SOS & the Urge
  3. The Battle Plan
  4. Wives & Families
  5. Confidentiality & Boundaries

Part IV: The Tools

  1. Why the Tools Work
  2. Using the App as a Leader
  3. Watchman+: The Protection Layer
  4. Welcoming New Men
  5. Meeting Templates
  6. Handling Common Situations

Part V: The Long Road

  1. Multiplication: Raising the Next Leader
  2. Caring for Yourself as a Leader
  3. Quick Reference

Part VI: Your Church

  1. Leading Beyond One Room
  2. Bringing Bold Men to Your Church
  3. Working With Your Pastor & Church Staff
  4. Raising Leaders for Your Church
  5. Creating Teams and Placing Men
  6. The Church-Wide Rhythm
  7. Standards of Practice
  8. Reading the Health of the Ministry

Part VII: Policies & Procedures

  1. Child & Minor Safety Policy
  2. Leader Screening & Qualification
  3. Incident Documentation & Reporting
  4. Code of Conduct & Grievance Procedure
  5. Data, Privacy & Recordkeeping
  6. Crisis Response Quick-Protocol
  7. Conflicts of Interest & Dual Relationships

Part VIII: Appendices

    Sample: Section 01: Welcome, Leader

    Welcome, Leader

    You didn’t take this on because it’s easy. You took it on because someone once fought for you, or because no one did and you wish they had. Either way, thank you. This handbook exists so you’re not building a team from scratch, guessing at what a healthy meeting looks like, or wondering what to say when a man texts you at 2 a.m. to tell you he has just fallen.

    Bold Men is not a program you run. It’s a small group of men who tell each other the truth, every day, until the truth stops having power over them. Your job is to hold that space open, keep it safe, and point every man in it back to Jesus, not to fix anyone yourself.

    This handbook is written to be used rather than admired. Part I grounds you in what we believe and how this struggle actually works. Part II walks you through building and running a team, including the engagement standard every man is held to. Part III covers the hard moments: setbacks, crises, marriages. Part IV is the practical toolkit: why the tools in the app work and how to get men using them, the leader’s side of the app, the templates, and the situations every leader eventually hits. Part V is the long road, raising the next leader and lasting long enough to see fruit. Part VI is for the day your church needs more than one room. It covers getting the ministry properly established where you are, the pastor relationship, the leader bench, and the mechanics of setting up teams and filling them. Part VII is the formal policy set: child safety, leader screening, incident reporting, and the other guardrails a ministry handling this kind of disclosure needs in writing rather than only in spirit. Part VIII holds quick appendices, from ready-to-send messages to a mental-health-emergency protocol. Part IX is the Field Kit, a set of twenty-one forms meant to be run off on a copier and filled in with a pen.

    Read it straight through once before your first meeting, then come back to what you need as you need it. You will not need Part VI for a while, and that is fine. It will be there the week a fifth man asks to join a room that is already full.

    THE ONE THING TO REMEMBER

    You are not your team’s savior, therapist, or judge. You are a brother who shows up on time, keeps his word, and keeps pointing everyone, including himself, to Christ.