CRM - Empowering Leaders

History of reFocusing

After initial pioneering and research with pastors in Australia, Terry Walling brought the reFocusing process back to the US and began a pilot network in 1993.  Initial network materials were created and adapted during that pilot. 

Impact of the network on its participants and their churches created demand for more network facilitators.  This led to the development of what has become a highly interactive, discovery-based training process used to equip pastors and denominational leaders to reproduce these networks as safe-place mentoring environments.

Since that time over 4000 pastors from over 35 denominations have participated in our training and our networks.  The publication of the Focused Living resources for congregational leaders has opened the door for approximately 20,000 lay leaders to discover the impact of greater personal focus.  We know that reFocusing tools and networks are now being used not only across North America, but also in Indonesia, Singapore, China, Japan, Africa, Romania, Egypt, Hungary, Venezuela, and the Philippines.

In 2002, recognizing how much had been learned during ten years of reFocusing networks and given the fresh challenges pastors are facing, it was time to bring these materials up to speed with our learning curve.  Therefore, the reFocusing team at CRM embarked on a massive revision effort.  Newly revised and upgraded network materials were introduced in the fall of 2003. 

Deep appreciation goes to Dr. J. Robert Clinton.  His mentoring and empowering of many of us at CRM has made a huge impact on the reFocusing materials and processes.  With his permission, much of the material used in the network regarding personal focus and character processing was developed from his research on Leadership Emergence Theory.