MarkHowellLive.com

I’ve written in the past about how to use special days (like Father’s Day) to launch groups.  Just thought I’d give you an update on how it works out when you actually do it. This year on Mother’s Day we launched a strategy to jump start some new women’s small groups.  We used the following [...]

“I can’t find enough leaders!” Have you ever said that?  If you have, you’re in good company.  It’s one of the most common complaints of small group ministry point people. Here are the five most common reasons you can’t find enough small group leaders: You’re asking for the wrong thing.  I think this is one [...]

A number of years ago (back when the connection strategy was new and untested) I developed a handout that I give to each person who is chosen as a leader.  In most cases that’s more than one person per group.  The handout is called, Getting Started: The ABCs of a Great Start (for your connection [...]

A few weeks ago I published Taking Advantage of Special Days to Launch Groups.  Since I use the strategies I write about, I wanted to give you an update on what happened at our Women’s Small Group Connections this last weekend.  You need to know several things: We had a great time!  I added an [...]

As I’ve mentioned previously, there are several key seasons when launching groups makes the most sense.  End of September, first of October is a great time to help new arrivals connect using the HOST strategy.  End of January, first part of February is a great time to help New Year’s resolution and turn-over-a-new-leaf people take [...]

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 [...]

This is the fourth post in this series.  You’ll find the first post right here. In this article I want to talk about what happens right after each of your connection groups have chosen a leader (or more often, leaders). You’ve just dismissed the members of the new connection groups.  Now it’s time to take [...]

(This article is part of a series.  You can find the first article right here.) You’ve done most of the hard work at this point.  All the preparation and promotion has happened.  You’ve pulled together a group of people wanting to be part of a small group.  They’ve gone through the first 45 minutes or [...]

You’ve promoted it and prepared for it…what do you actually do at the Connection?  In this article I’m going to fill in some blanks…but first, let’s clarify one very important detail.  What I’m going to lay out is how to do a Saddleback style Small Group Connection.  I’ll detail the North Point version (GroupLink) in [...]