MarkHowellLive.com

“I can’t find enough leaders to take care of the number of people who want to be in a group.”
“Many of the people with the most potential to lead are just sitting in groups as members and won’t leave to start a new group.”

Sound familiar?  Those are two of the most common complaints of small [...]

I’m regularly asked how Saddleback can have more adults in groups than they have in worship.  People everywhere scoff when they hear the numbers.  And I have to admit, it is pretty wild.  After all, during Life’s Healing Choices, their most recent church-wide campaign, they had over 4,500 groups with over 35,000 people in them [...]

When comparing small group ministry strategies and systems there are some fundamental questions to consider.

What are the requirements to be a leader?
What does a new member commit to?
How will you care for the leaders?
How does a new group begin?
What materials can be used?

One of the most effective small group ministry strategies is centered on the [...]

How will your hosts add members to their groups?  After you’ve chosen the church-wide campaign you will use and recruited hosts, determining how you will recruit members is a very big decision.  Along with the first two questions, this one has a lot to do with how effectively your campaign reaches into the crowd.  It [...]

Looking for a sample message that casts vision for life in community?  You can download the audio of a great example by John Ortberg right here.  Here’s a link to the transcript.
Given in preparation for Menlo Park’s 40 Days of Purpose experience in 2004, this message provides a look at how Ortberg encouraged a large [...]

What are the secret ingredients of a message that recruits HOSTs?  Maybe that begs a question.  Maybe we should start by asking this question: “Are there certain ingredients that make HOST recruitment easier or more likely?”  What do you think?  Think there are ingredients that make it easier to recruit HOSTs?
I’ve found that there are [...]

Inspired by the Grammy Award winning song recorded by Tim McGraw, and developed by a group of incredible church-wide campaign experts, Live Like You Were Dying offers a great experience for your congregation.
Designed to help your congregation wrestle with how to live life to the fullest, this church-wide campaign has everything you need to pull [...]

What if you had one month to live?  Think you’d make any changes in the way you spent your time?  Would you spend more time with family?  Would you tell friends what they really mean to you?  Would you take steps to seek or give forgiveness?  What would you do differently if you found out [...]

One of the most important components of the launch sequence is HOST recruitment.  Many churches make a crucial mistake right here when they overestimate the risks and underestimate the rewards of crowd-to-core recruiting.  The secret to an exponential launch is to recruit from the crowd if you want to reach the community.  I know…it sounds [...]

When NASA prepares for a shuttle launch, there are certain steps that are a given.  There is a sequence to what they do.  When anything unexpected happens during the launch preparation (mechanical issues, weather change, etc.) it isn’t unusual for NASA to restart the sequence.
In much the same way, when you’re preparing for a small [...]