Here is the latest off info from the group life conference website, they just released a promo video too!  If your church is not hosting this event you will want to find a local host near you:

What's the next, right step for your small groups?

Real growth is possible, especially in the fertile soil of genuine Biblical community. This is
the place where hearts open to grace, where relationships heal, where sin patterns break, where connections to God strengthen.

This is the place where lives are transformed.

How do you bring your small group to this point of transformation? This Changes Everything is a one-day training event designed to move you in that direction. It offers practical next steps for fostering spiritual growth in your small groups. And best of all, it does this with an emphasis on convenience and affordability.

Who should attend?

-All small group leaders and volunteers

Why attend?

-New laser-focused, broadcast only, one-day training
-Unrivaled teaching from experienced group life experts

Where?

-Hosted at your church or a host site near you
-This is a broadcast only event exclusively on CCN
-There will not be a live event at Willow Creek Community Church

Why become a host site?

-Provide your leaders with unrivaled training and the opportunity to interact with fellow leaders
-Your church will receive a block of 40 tickets to Group Life Conference 2009
-Free downloadable marketing tools to promote the event
-Training with immediate ministry application
-Dedicated CCN ministry consultant to support you along the way

How do I sign up to be a host church?

Apply now

Call 800-321-6781 (ext. 1)

    Inspire and train every small group leader at your  church with this outstanding-and convenient-one-day event.

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That is the subtitle for Dave Treat's new website, Thinking Small.  At one time Dave was leader for small group ministry at Granger Community Church before joining the staff at Willow Creek.  Later he moved to the Willow Creek Association and joined the team there in the creation and organization of the Group Life Conference each year (That is where I got to know him a bit). 

In a recent post on Thinking Small Dave reflects on another transition he is experiencing.  Leaving to do something else,

Ministry is all about leaving.

If you're in ministry you understand this immediately and accept it grudgingly. You're a short-timer. The leaders you have so painstakingly developed may help another leader realize their goals. You will need to start over with a bunch of rookies and do it all over again. The structures you so carefully crafted may collapse; the framework you so artfully erected may be replaced. The trust you built and the relationships you nurtured will largely vaporize... and it all happened so fast.

In our group ministries we see this happen more frequently as we grow larger.  Apprentices move on to lead their own groups.  Leaders move on to become coaches, coaches may turn into directors and some even become pastors. Still others we build relationships with God may call to other churches or even other countries to lead and start new ministries.  We have to learn to celebrate these changes and view them as opportunites to grow ourselves and develop new leaders for God's work.

Dave speaks on small groups and trains leaders internationally.  If you are looking for a solid trainer or more info you can follow him by clicking here.

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Great small group leaders are always hunting for new ways to get the discussion going.  The link below is a free e-book with 40 different small group icebreakers! Here is an a example of one you can find in the e-book:

The aim of the game is to talk for one minute on a given subject. You announce the topic and a member of the group is randomly selected to speak for one minute. Use a pack of cards to randomly select i.e. person who draws the lowest number. Choose subjects to stimulate the imagination and which may be amusing. Put a stopwatch on each person to see how long they last before drying up! Subjects might include, my earliest memories, my favourite computer game, why beans are good for you, 10 things you can do with potatoes, Alligator wrestling, pre-millennialism (no, not really!)

Click here to download the e-book.

The free e-book is written by Grahame Knox.  Grahame lives in the UK and has been serving as a Christian youth worker and trainer for 27 years.  You can read more about his youth work at his blog, Insight.

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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

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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 first LISTEN to the cry.

2 - Identify God's response to the brokenness of your own life.

What is your God experience? What is God doing in your life? Surely, you (I) are not fixed. Surely, God is still working on you. Small group leaders are not fixed and perfect.
As leaders, are we transparent to our groups?

3 - Identify and love the brokenness in your church.

Our groups are breeding grounds for helping people through their brokenness.

4 - Identify and love the brokenness in your community.

We need to find the people in our communities and listen to the tears.
What is going on within a 10 mile radius of our church? Where is the brokenness? We need to take Christ's compassion out to the community - bars, strip clubs, adult book stores, women's centers, jail, ....
Let me go to the bar and drive people home who are drunk.
The community wants this interaction, they just don't know how to initiate it.

5 - Re-establish your evangelism priority.

It is a non-negotiable that you love your neighbor.
God created the church for the people who aren't in it yet. (We turn it into a country club.)
God wants to bless us so that we have overflow to give away.
STOP, LISTEN, and GO!
Don't waste the opportunity to turn people into a Jesus follower (not a Christian).
Keeping it to yourself will kill your ministry or your small group.
Take a risk!

Session Notes - Jon Stolpe

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