Posted by: Frank Chiapperino in group health on
Dec 18, 2007
My small group had a great Christmas party last week. We decided to get together for a Sunday dinner party after the kids had all gotten in their afternoon nap. As you can see from my previous post, my small group is quite like an extended family. It was great watching the kids light up as our friend Gin gave each child a small present and laughing with the group as we did a funny gift exchange game. Having these fun, party like events are critical to group life. They develop intimacy among our group members, and when those deep spiritual moments occur, we can speak into each other's lives.
Posted by: Frank Chiapperino in Untagged on
Dec 13, 2007
I want to thank you for your prayers. Things are well and his Dr calmed our fears. MMichael is healthy and happy and his EEG was totally normal, plus the seizure he did have was very mild.
Thanks again!
I continue to love the members of my small group and I have mixed feelings about how to write this post. On Tuesday, I came home from the office early to help my wife get the house ready for our small group meeting while she had taken the kids to an appointment. During that appointment my son, Michael, had a seizure.
He half way closed his eyes, kind of zoned out, and shook just a little bit, all for about a minute or so. Shelli called me immediately and told me an ambulance was on the way. I jumped in the car and called Rose (one of our group members) and she handled the group for us.
Two days later we took Michael in for an EEG at DuPont Hospital and some group members swung into action. When we got home from the testing a package was sitting in the driveway waiting for us. While we were gone some of my Home Team (small group) had put together a small care package! Nothing extravagant but some simple things to show us they cared and that they were thinking about us.
I can't tell you how good it felt to come home and see that package from them waiting there for us. Especially after a long day of testing.
I hesitated writing this post since I am still emotionally in the middle of this thing but I had to let other leaders know how much something small like that makes a difference.
Keep us in your prayers...
Posted by: Frank Chiapperino in group ideas on
Dec 05, 2007
I used to be a youth pastor so I just love crazy icebreaker activites. Here is a fun one I was reminded of by a youth ministry site:
Make-A-Santa Game This is purely a game to invoke laughter, teamwork, and to start your meeting off on a note of fun. You will only need some red construction paper, shaving cream or whipped cream in a can, tape, and few towels. Split the group into small teams and have each team pick someone to be their "Santa." Have the Santas sit in chairs, cover their shoulders with a towel (this is going to get a little messy), and distribute the paper, tape, and one can of cream to each group. When you say "Go!" each team is to work as fast as they can to transform their team member into the likeness of Santa, using the paper to form a hat, and the shaving cream to make the beard, trim for the hat or whatever else they can think of to add. Make sure you have a camera on hand as this will make for some great photos for the website or for the kids to use for a new FaceBook profile pic! (Note: if you choose to use shaving cream, it's a good idea to give all the Santas cheap plastic googles to protect their eyes).
