Had a chance to check out a new DVD-driven small group curriculum yesterday.  A Life That Matters is a “cutting edge small group Bible study inspired by Rick Warren’s book The Purpose Driven Life. Tell the Story Productions has taken those themes and incorporated them into a six-week Bible study that will inspire.”

I liked what I saw!  Each of the six sessions have a Touched by an Angel feel.  Quality production, engaging stories, and a real change from the “talking head” studies your groups have been using.  They’re offering a sample kit for a free 2 week preview.  If you check it out, tell them Mark sent you!

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 just a few minutes (3 to 5) to affirm your new leaders, invite them to a New Leader Orientation, and give them a next step that they can easily accomplish.   You’ll also give them a packet with some important information.

First, keep in mind that no one ever comes to the connection expecting to end up being the leader of a group!  They don’t!  Actually, they came to the connection for a variety of reasons and those reasons don’t include finding a group to lead.  Consequently, their very natural reaction to being chosen is “what just happened!!?”  I always take a couple minutes to affirm them and help them rethink what just happened.  Here’s how I do it.  I say something like this:

“You need to know that almost every leader in the Bible was chosen.  They didn’t volunteer.  Old Testament or New Testament.  Chosen.  Moses.  Gideon.  Abraham.  James and John.  Peter.  Paul.  Chosen.  There aren’t any great stories where someone came up and said, “I’d like to volunteer to be a leader.”  All of the great stories are about God choosing a leader.  And the best story is about how David was chosen.  Remember how it goes?

Samuel is sent by God to anoint the next king of Israel and he goes to Jesse’s house.  When he gets there Jesse automatically brings out his oldest son.  Naturally.  He did what was expected.  I believe that in that moment the Holy Spirit whispered to Samuel, “That’s not him.”  So Jesse brought out the next son.  “That’s not him.”  This went on until there was only one left.  David.  And when Jesse brought out David, Samuel heard, “That’s the one.”

Interesting about Samuel, we learn about his ability to hear God much earlier, when he was a little boy living with Eli the priest.  And so we know that Samuel can actually hear God speak.  But I believe that as you were sharing your answers with the group today, they heard something deep in their heart about you.  I don’t know what it was.  But I believe they heard it and that’s why they pointed to you.”

Telling this story to affirm their selection is the first step.

The second thing I do is hand them a packet that includes a few basic things and then quickly show them what’s in the packet.

• The ABCs of a Great Start for Your Connection Group
• An invitation to the New Leader’s Orientation (usually held the next Saturday morning)
• A copy of the study their group will be doing
• Name tags and a marker

Once I’ve pointed out what’s in the packet I dismiss them, but offer to hang around if anyone has a question.  I’ll talk about what to do at the New Leader’s Orientation in the next post.

Jump back Rob Bell!  We’re filming a new DVD-driven study called Live Forgiven at the coolest location…a totally crumbling cotton mill in McKinney, Texas.  Can’t wait to see this curriculum hit!

Brian Jones, Lead Pastor at Christ’s Church of the Valley, is asking an interesting question over on his blog.  "Should the small groups in your ministry be euthanized and replaced with another something that actually makes disciples?"  Actually, he’s making the case that they should be euthanized.  I’m just trying to turn it into a question.

And to be fair, he doesn’t have any information in his post about what their groups are doing, only that whatever they’re doing it isn’t producing disciples.  Also to be fair, I’ve seen plenty of evidence around the country that small groups can become just about information or just about a way to get connected with a few others to escape the "face in the crowd" syndrome.  But I’ve also seen a growing number of places that can point clearly to real disciples being made.

Maybe it’s evidence that Andy Stanley’s statement is dead on in many places:

"Your ministry is perfectly designed to produce the results you are currently experiencing."

What do you think?  And while you’re at it, head over to Brians’s blog and jump into the conversation for yourself!

(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 so of your connection.  Now it is time to help them choose a leader.

I like to say, “Now we’ve come to the ‘white-knuckle’ portion of our time together!  Hopefully you’ve enjoyed getting to know a few folks today.  In fact, you may know more about the folks at your table than almost anyone else!  But now we’re at a point where we’re going to help you with a key step.  Believe it or not, we’re going to help you choose a leader from amongst yourselves!”

Then I add: “The New Testament gives us at least two ways that leaders were chosen.  First, at about the midpoint of Jesus’ 3 year ministry he went up on a mountain, prayed all night, and then chose 12 to be his disciples (Mark 3:13-14).  Another time, the disciples were being overwhelmed by the needs of their growing church and needed to add additional help.  So they instructed the congregation to ‘choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom (Acts 6:3 NIV).’”

“We don’t have 18 months…so we’re preferring method #2.   But before we help you do that, let’s talk a little bit about what makes a good leader.

1. A good leader is not necessarily the person at your table who knows the most about the Bible.  It could be, but that’s not always the case.
2. A good leader is not necessarily the person at your table who has the most experience leading a group.  It could be, but that’s not always the case.
3. A good leader is usually the person that as they were sharing a few minutes ago you heard them say something like, ‘I’m not where I should be, but in the last 6 months I’ve been steadily moving in the right direction.’
4. Or they may have said, ‘I can see God is helping me become the kind of person I really long to be.’
5. As they shared, you may have sensed a real spirit of humility or the sense that God is doing something with them and that you’d be willing to call them if you needed to talk with someone.

“Now in a moment we’re going to choose a leader, but does that help you see what might make the best leader?  Ok, now this is going to sound crazy…but here’s how we’re going to choose.  I’m going to pray and ask God to remind all of us about the conversations at our tables.  And then I’m going to count to three and we’re going to point to the person at your table that you’d be willing to follow for a six week test drive.”

It is a good idea to have all of the tables ready for this step AT THE SAME TIME.  I’ve mentioned previously that it is a good idea to have a monitor for each table.  This is an important moment to have help.  You’ll count to three (or say, “ready, set, point!”), have them point, and have them keep pointing at the person they’re willing to follow.  A monitor can help a group clarify who they’ve chosen.  It will almost always be more than one person.  That’s actually a good thing.  Once they’ve pointed and you’ve clarified you’ll want to move quickly to the next three important steps.

First, have each group go back around and tell the person they’ve pointed to why they chose them.  This is a huge step.  Most people have never been affirmed this way.  This step, all by itself, is worth the price of admission!  Be sure and do it.

Second, while the group is affirming those pointed to, have them begin circulating a roster.   You can download the roster I use RIGHT HERE. I usually have the roster made in two-part paper.  That way the new leader can have a copy and you can keep a copy for your records.

Third, have the group choose a day and time for their meeting.  You’ll notice that the roster has a blank for this information.  I’ve found it helpful to have the monitor available to move through this question.  You can often shorten things by asking, “Is there a night that anyone cannot meet?”  Next, ask, “How many of you need a weekend meeting (Friday, Saturday or Sunday)?” or “How many of you need a weeknight meeting (Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs)?”  It can take a little work to narrow it down, but you can do it.  Once they’ve chosen their meeting time you can dismiss the group and ask the leaders to join you for a very brief (3 to 5 minute) meeting.  I’ll be talking about what to do in the new leader meeting in the next article.

Important Notes:

1. Since very few people will ever come to a second connection (they’ll either end up connected in a group or they’ll find a group on their own), the method of choosing a leader will always be a surprise to those who attend.
2. Depending on your risk-aversion, you may feel like this method of choosing a leader can’t possibly be effective.  However, I have tested this method in churches of all sizes and shapes and have no doubt that it is actually more effective than the idea of pre-selecting and training leaders in advance.  Believe it or not, people are very capable of sniffing out authenticity.  In an hour-long conversation they can identify who they’d be willing to follow.
3. In the next article I’ll let you know what happens at the new leader briefing and what to put in the new leader packet.

Few churches have had as much influence on how small group ministry happens as Willow Creek.  And very few books have as large an impact on how small group ministry happens as Building a Church of Small Groups.  While a lot has changed at Willow Creek  since Bill Donahue and Russ Robinson first published it in 2001, it is still required reading if you’re trying to figure out how to build a church where nobody stands alone.  Some books are written by theorists.  This one was written in the trenches by practitioners.

Based on an adaptation of Carl George’s Meta Model, what developed at Willow in the 90s and the early part of this decade was the practical working out of how to recruit leaders, how to train and develop them, how to care for leaders, and how to develop healthy groups.  If you’re trying to figure those things out, this would be an important book to spend time in.  You can order your copy RIGHT HERE.

When it comes to promoting small group ministry opportunities nothing comes close to the power of personal testimony (live or video).  While that statement might not be a mystery, in practice most of us end up doing the least effective thing instead.  In the great hierarchy of marketing effectiveness the least effective is print (I’ve lumped all print together: bulletins, newsletters, e-newsletters, website).  Only slightly better is verbal announcement supported by a handout.  Still better is for the senior pastor to talk about the opportunity as part of the message.  And the most effective method is for the pastor to refer to a video or introduce a live testimony.

How can you develop video or live testimony that recruits members or leaders? It’s really pretty simple.
Recruit people for the video (or live testimony) with compelling answers to the following questions:

1. What were you afraid of when you were considering joining a small group?
2. What do you sense God has done in your life as a result of being in the small group?
3. What would you say to the people who are still thinking about whether they should join a group?

If you’re making the video to recruit leaders (HOSTs), you can make a very simple tweak:

1. What were you afraid of when you were considering hosting a small group?
2. What do you sense God has done in your group?
3. What would you say to the people who are still thinking about whether they should host a group?

Here are some additional keys:

• The testimony (video or live) should be about 2 1/2 minutes.  If it is video it is best to string together 10 to 12 short clips.  The creative use of a soundtrack and graphics can really be effective.
• Let the video only show the interviewee (not the interviewer).  Have the interviewees answer with a form of the question.  For example, "When I was thinking about hosting a group, I was afraid because I didn’t know much about the Bible."
• Don’t be afraid to yell "Cut!" and ask the question again or ask the interviewee to shorten it up.  It is much more compelling when the the video is tighter.  Long answers are death.  Keep it short.
• If the testimony is written have them practice reading it.  The key is "once more with feeling!"