Director of Colson Fellows Cohorts

The Colson Center equips Christians with the clarity, confidence, and courage they need to live like Christians in this cultural moment. All employees are part of our ministry effort, and each are assigned significant responsibilities to move our mission and vision forward. This description lays out the key ministry areas this position leads and supports.

As a key strategic leader within the Colson Center, the Director of Colson Fellow Cohorts is responsible for maximizing the effectiveness, leadership capacity, and long-term growth of the Colson Fellows Cohort ecosystem. To do this, the Director will expand and equip the volunteer leader network, which currently includes nearly 1200 cohort leaders. As the chief steward of the cohort ecosystem, the Director will provide strategic leadership for the volunteer staffing, the fellowship recruitment, and the operational excellence across the fellowship program. The primary objective of this role is to recruit, develop, support, and multiply volunteer leaders capable of expanding the reach and effectiveness of the Colson Fellows Program.

• Cultivate strong relationships with volunteer leaders throughout the cohort network.
• Provide ongoing encouragement, support, and pastoral care to Cohort Directors and leadership teams.
• Develop strategies for increasing volunteer engagement, ownership, and long-term commitment.
• Facilitate leadership gatherings, training opportunities, and community-building initiatives.
• Help ensure volunteer leaders remain connected to the broader mission and vision of the Colson Fellows Program.

Cross-Functional Collaboration:

• Partner closely with the Dean of the Colson Fellows Program to implement strategic initiatives and advance program growth.
• Collaborate with Program Operations, Marketing, Development, and Communications teams to support recruitment and engagement efforts.
• Work alongside administrative staff to ensure consistent execution of cohort-related processes and support systems.
• Coordinate with other Colson Center initiatives to maximize organizational effectiveness and ministry impact.

Operational Oversight:

• Develop and maintain systems for tracking cohort performance, leadership engagement, enrollment trends, and expansion opportunities.
• Ensure effective use of CRM systems, reporting tools, and program metrics.
• Oversee cohort onboarding, leadership transitions, and operational standards.
• Contribute to annual planning, budgeting, forecasting, and strategic reporting processes.

Other Duties as Assigned:

• Attend annual Core Week all-staff gathering.
• Attend annual Colson Center National Conference.
• Participate in strategic planning initiatives across the Colson Center.
• Represent the Colson Fellows Program at conferences, meetings, churches, and ministry events as assigned.
• Pursue ongoing professional, leadership, and theological development.
• 25% expected travel

• Senior pastoral experience or equivalent leadership within a local church context.
• Familiarity with denominational structures, ministry networks, and church leadership dynamics.
• Experience leading multi-site ministries, distributed teams, or volunteer-driven organizations.
• Experience in Christian worldview formation, theological education, or adult discipleship.
• Experience with CRM systems, performance metrics, and organizational growth strategies.
• Graduate theological education or equivalent ministry training.

Characteristics of an ideal candidate:

• Deeply committed to the mission of forming Christians to live faithfully and lead redemptively in this cultural moment.
• A leader of leaders who enjoys developing people and multiplying leadership capacity.
• Strategically minded and growth-oriented, while remaining committed to ministry excellence and faithfulness.
• Relationally warm, encouraging, and skilled at building trust with volunteers and ministry leaders.
• Highly organized and capable of translating vision into scalable systems and measurable outcomes.
• A servant leader who leads with humility, wisdom, and conviction.
• Resilient, adaptable, and energized by building and strengthening healthy ministry structures.
• Able to balance strategic leadership with practical execution.

What success in this role looks like:

• Sustained year-over-year growth in Regional and Online Cohort enrollment.
• Increased utilization of existing cohort capacity.
• A growing pipeline of qualified Cohort Directors and leadership team members.
• High levels of volunteer leader engagement, effectiveness, and retention.
• Healthy, thriving cohorts that consistently deliver an exceptional formational experience.
• Strong leadership development systems that support future expansion.
• Effective implementation of strategic initiatives that strengthen the reach and impact of the Colson Fellows Program.
• Greater organizational capacity for growth without sacrificing culture, theological fidelity, or personal engagement.

Why this role matters:

The Colson Fellows Program has experienced extraordinary growth over the past decade and now possesses significant untapped capacity within its existing cohort structure. This role exists to provide the strategic leadership necessary to maximize that capacity, strengthen the volunteer leadership network, and position the program for its next phase of expansion.

The future growth of the Colson Fellows Program will depend less on curriculum development and more on leadership multiplication. This role exists to identity, develop, and support the leaders who will make that growth possible.

Through faithful leadership and strategic execution, this role contributes directly to advancing the mission of the Colson Center: equipping Christians with the clarity, confidence, and courage they need to live like Christians in this cultural moment.