MarkHowellLive.com

How would you describe your church?  How would you characterize the model your church has adopted?  Are you an admittedly attractional church?  Are you an externally focused church?  Do you have missional aspirations?  Are you attractional but want to be missional when you grow up? One of the most challenging and inspiring books I tripped [...]

Looking for a way to build a more externally focused edge to your small group ministry?  M. Scott Boren’s Missional Small Groups: Becoming a Community That Makes a Difference in the World is a great place to start. I have to admit, I was a little wary when I picked it up.  Probably because I [...]

Working my way through Soul-Shaping Small Groups: A Refreshing Approach for Exasperated Leaders by Kim V. Engelmann.  New from IVP, the subtitle sounded hopeful and honestly, the book doesn’t disappoint. The concept for the book comes from Engelmann’s own experience while serving as the head of the Care Ministries Department at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church.  [...]

Do you know your leadership style?  Do you know what your default leadership style is?  That is, do you know yourself well enough to know what you do best without really working at it?  Got that figured out? Alan Danielson’s Triple-Threat Leadership E-Book posits that there are three essential skills in the leadership realm: the [...]

One of the best books or Bible studies I’ve ever found to launch men’s groups is Character: Who You Are When No One’s Looking by Bill Hybels.  The topic will immediately resonate with the majority of the men in your congregation.  I’ve also found it to be a topic that makes for engaging conversation and [...]

One of the books you need in your library is The Naked Truth About Small Group Ministry by Randall Neighbour.  You don’t need to agree with everything.  I don’t.  But this is one of those books that you need to read because it will bring balance and perspective to whichever small group philosophy you choose. [...]

There is a new spiritual formation series out that you need to know about.  The Good and Beautiful God, by James Bryan Smith, is a must have for your curriculum resource shelf.  More importantly, it just might be what you need personally to take an important next step. You’ll get some sense of this book’s [...]

Looking for a leader training resource?  Finding the Flow: A Guide for Leading Small Groups and Gatherings, by Tara Miller and Jenn Peppers, is one you should take a look at.  New from IVP, it’s full of great leader training ideas, practices, and philosophy.  This is a book length training guide.  At over 240 pages [...]

What in your life is unexplainable apart from God?   Is there anything?  Or is there a perfect explanation for everything do?  For your decisions about jobs, your finances, and your relationships? If this is a question that intrigues you at all, you might want to take a look at a new 8 week DVD-driven [...]

My copy of Growing Small Group Leaders arrived over the weekend.   If you’re trying to build a coaching structure that works, I’m thinking you’re probably going to want to pick up a copy.  Developed by Seacoast’s leadership development expert Mac Lake, this tool is packed with some very good plug and play training ideas, tips [...]