Small Group Help Blog

A Small Group You Don't Want To Attend

frank@moviechurch.com — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 22:00:00 +0100

Check out this hilarious video...

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaMAAJBCFok 400x400]

Leadership Basics In Small Groups

frank@moviechurch.com — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 22:00:00 +0100

Bill Search, author of Simple Small Groups, recently posted how caring for others is an essential component of leadership in small groups:

What is the most basic expectation of leading a small group? Some would say it is providing a place for the group to meet. Others would say it has more to do with crafting a riveting lesson with careful attention to interpreting and applying ancient biblical texts. Still others imagine the key component of leading a groupis providin [...]

10 Worst Small Group Ice Breakers

frank@moviechurch.com — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 22:00:00 +0100

So often in our groups we talk about great plans and techniques to try out and improve community in group life. However, what about the things we should NOT do? Below are the top ten worst small group icebreakers and I just couldn't stop laughing!

10. Which famous criminal would you say you are most like, and why?

9 [...]

Advice For Small Group Leaders

frank@moviechurch.com — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 22:00:00 +0100

I was browsing the web today and ran across 5 tips for small groups leaders:

Dont go it alone: Team ministry can be more effective and way more fun. Always start your groups with an apprentice, and remember that apprentices are not just for planting new groups, but they make your existing group experience better. And your coach is the other key part of your team, so make the most of the coaching relationship.Expect the revolving door: You may rarely have the exact same set of people in you [...]

Small Groups - With Yoda

frank@moviechurch.com — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 22:00:00 +0100

[video:http://vimeo.com/1555580?pg=embed&sec=1555580 400x400]

DC Area Small Group Pastor Connect Event

frank@moviechurch.com — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 22:00:00 +0100

Heather Zempel and NCC are hosting a gathering for Small Group Pastors and point leaders at Ebenezers Coffeehouse. Here is her recent post with the details:

Calling all DC-area small group pastors and point leaders! NCC will be hosting a gathering of small group/discipleship point leaders on November 13 at Ebenezers Coffeehouse from 2pm-4pm. Whether you are a volunteer or a full-time paid staff member, if you are the primary champion of small groups at your church, we'd love f [...]

Small Groups Can Learn from BMW

frank@moviechurch.com — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 22:00:00 +0100

If you watch the video below you can see some experimentation that BMW is doing in changing the skin of their cars to a flexible material instead of rigid steel or fiberglass.

How does this apply to groups?

In one question - is your group model flexible? Does it allow for variety or is it rigid? At the conference I just attended Heather Zempel said that "maturity does not equal conformity." I AGREE. However I would follow that with rigidity does not equal exc [...]

Group Life Conference Highlights

frank@moviechurch.com — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 22:00:00 +0100

Dave Treat has posted the video highlights from each of the main sessions. Here are links to each so take a look to get a feel for the great speakers at this year's conference:

Session 1 - John Burke

Session 2 - Mark Batterson and Heather Zemple

Session 3 - Will Miller

Session 4 - Bill Donahue

Session 5 - Miles McPherson

Group Life Conference - Session 5

frank@moviechurch.com — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 22:00:00 +0100

Miles McPherson - How Community Transforms

Five things we need to do to as leaders to create transformational community:

1 - We have to redefine our evangelistic starting point as God's response to a broken world.

The gospel is a person - Jesus! God not only wants an experience with you. He wants you to share this to the world.
Exodus 3:6-10 Our communities are crying out. The church must respond to the cry of the people in the community. We need to fi [...]

Group Life Conference - Session 4

frank@moviechurch.com — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 22:00:00 +0100

Bill Donahue - Seemed Like A Good Idea at the Time

Jon Stolpe took notes for me again during this session...

Life puts us in challenging and difficult situations that force us to make a decision.
There are times where we don't always make the best decision - despite our best strategies, ideas, and intentions.

Sometimes we make decisions out of a desire to satisfy our egos. We exchange expedience for wisdom - convenience for conviction.
What do you do when [...]

Group Life Conference - Breakout C

frank@moviechurch.com — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 22:00:00 +0100

Finding and Launching New Leaders - Dave Treat

Workshop Goal - Learn to use a leadership assessment tool that will identify the readiness of each potential leader in your ministry and will clarify different training paths to help them move toward leadership.

Define - What do we want to reproduce?
- The reproducible life. "Follow me." I Corinthians 11:1
- What is the role of the Small Group Leader? What do we want to see happen in our groups?
- Leading vs. [...]

Group Life Conference - Breakout B

frank@moviechurch.com — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 22:00:00 +0100

Removing and Restoring Leaders - Rex Minor

Okay this looks like a "positive" subject. Rex Minor is the presenter:

- Resources when approaching this subject: Boundaries, Face to Face; Emotional Intelligence; The Peace Maker; Silos, Politics and Turf Wars; Unleashing the Power of Rubber Bands.

- There are many reasons for removing leaders: poor fit, incompatibility of vision, sin/moral failure, break of confidentiality, divisive behaviour, theological differences, health (ment [...]

Group Life Conference - Breakout A

frank@moviechurch.com — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 22:00:00 +0100

Leveraging Technology to Support Community

My buddy Jon Stolpe blogged through this breakout by led by Cynthia Ware:

- Technology is normative.
- The next generation is thinking about communication differently than my generation.
- http://thedigitalsanctua [...]

Bill Search - Simple Small Groups

design@johnnoonan.com — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 22:00:00 +0100

I had a great discussion this morning with Bill Search (author of Simple Small Groups) and Chad Allen (from Baker Books). We talked about a variety of issues around community and group life.

How open should groups be? We landed around empowering leaders to make decisions for our groups. Intimacy can be disrupted in group life and the timing of a new addition can have a big impact on spiritual growth. However, certain groups lend themselves to new additions. For example, Bill shared how [...]

Group Life Conference - Session 2

frank@moviechurch.com — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 22:00:00 +0100

Mark Batterson and Heather Zemple - Where Community Grow Best

I was lucky enough to connect with Heather on a panel we shared at the pre-conference session on community and social media. She is really as bright at Mark shared in the beginning of the talk.

Here are some points from their discussion:

- Don't confuse the outcome with the method

- There are a number of different ways to accomplish community

- EVERYTHING is an experiment (core value of Nation [...]

Group Life Conference - Session 3

design@johnnoonan.com — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 22:00:00 +0100

This guy is funny, really funny. Here is some statements from Will that were great.

- The culture stunts community growth.

- The US leads the world in stress disorders

- 25% of Americans have stress related disorder

- Last year 46million Americans moved

- The average American is watching 28 hours of TV/week and the Internet is enhancing it.

- How many people have refrigerator rights in your house?

- The only definition of a family that holds any water [...]

Group Life Conference - Session 1

frank@moviechurch.com — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 22:00:00 +0100

Introduction

Bill Donahue shared some of the history of the Group Life Conference to start us off and it is hard to believe it has been 10 Years in the making of what it is today. He then introduced us to John Burke for our first session.

Why Community is [...]

Group Life Conference 2008

frank@moviechurch.com — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 22:00:00 +0100

I am certainly looking forward to a great experience at the Group Life Conference this year. Each year that I get to attend this learning experience I come back to my church with some fresh ideas for another season of ministry.

I will be sure to be blogging through all the main sessions so keep visiting to check out the highlights f [...]

Miles McPherson

frank@moviechurch.com — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 22:00:00 +0100

Miles, Senior Pastor of The Rock Church, will be one of the featured speakers wrapping up the Group life Conference this year. And don't forget - as a reader of this website you get a discount by using this code - GLC8BLG

Click here to view a quick video from Miles.

Source: Dave Treat

Small Groups Contribute To Church Growth

frank@moviechurch.com — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 22:00:00 +0100

The Hartford Institute recently released a report on Changes In American Megachurches and found that a focus on small groups was one of the things in common for growing congregations. Here is a summary of the report:

Megachurches - Protestant congregations that draw 2,000 or more adults and children in a typical weekend (attendance not membership) - show considerable consistency over the past eight years.

They continue to:

Grow in size, Lead the way as America's mos [...]