3 Things I Wish Someone had Told Me
Oscar Wilde said, “experience is simply the name we give to our mistakes.” Having been a Small Group Point Person for a number of years now, I have accumulated lots of that type of experience. My hope is that by sharing what I wish someone had told me when I was first starting out in […]
Spiritual Rhythms
One of my favorite classes in my under-grad was Ministry Observation, which I took my freshman year. I know, it doesn’t sound super exciting or life changing by any means, but man…I loved this class! We would, as a class, visit various different churches in Southern California; write critiques and analysis papers about our experience […]
Look Up, Look In, Look Out
About two years ago, I began to wrestle internally with what was going on within my life and ministry. I didn’t feel particularly close to God, His calling on my life, and even my relationships were starting to pay the price. I felt as if I had grown into a stagnant relationship. I knew I […]
3 Keys for Keeping the People Engaged: Enlisted, Employed, Empowered
When we moved into our new home, we made cutting the grass our oldest son Cade’s responsibility. He mowed periodically at our old home, but when we moved in here, it became his responsibility, his to own. The other day I asked him to mow the front yard. Later in the day he looked out […]
3 Areas of Growth After Learning the Hard Way
I am not writing this as an expert, but I am currently learning some valuable lessons the hard way. In May, as this Small Group Semester came to a close, I began to call a few groups to ask about their summer plans. As I hung up the phone with one group leader, my worst […]
4 Influencer Imperatives in Small Group Leadership
Bill Hybels in his 2005 Global Leadership Summit address “These Things We Must Do” gave four points, imperatives, we as leaders must do. He implored us to: Keep the vision clear Keep the people engaged Make your meetings memorable Pace yourself for the long haul This is a great list. It is simple and doable. It can […]
The 1 Thing Your Leadership Development Pathway is Missing
When we talk “leadership development pathway,” I’ll bet you think about all of the cognitive steps leaders need to take to develop. You start to map out the markers all along the way, from trainings to gatherings to curriculum. But there’s one primary aspect of development you just might have overlooked. You can’t grow […]
7 Absurdly Awesome Apps for Groups Leadership
A few weeks back on a day out with my wife we ended up at the local home improvement store. Eighty-four aisles ranging from showers to shrubs greeted us with the express purpose of expanding my todo list. We’re in the midst of tackling some much needed repairs and updates on our home, and as we […]
Ruling the Roost
I don’t know about you, but my 2017 has gotten off to a hectic start. I blinked and February is almost halfway over, and don’t even ask me about what happened to January. (Are we sure it even existed?) Sadly, our culture has somehow equated busyness and stress with productivity. And in the church it […]
Top Five Benefits Of Joining The Small Group Network
As a ministry leader, you know that being in community is critical to the spiritual growth of your small group ministry. If you are part of the Small Group Network, then you also know it is a great place to build relationships with people who have the same passion for ministry you do. If you […]
