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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 [...]

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 [...]

Have you heard about Life’s Healing Choices, Saddleback’s newest campaign?  You can hear Rick Warren talk about the study right here.  Looks like a great new resource on a topic that’s been a home run for many churches and is clearly on the easy end of the easy/hard continuum. An 8 week church-wide study based [...]

If you’re looking for a DVD-driven study that is provocative, easy to use, and generates great discussion, you’ll love Mirror Image.  From the Liquid series, this is a study of five of Jesus’ best known parables (including The Prodigal Son and The Good Samaritan) and it is a must-have in our suggested curriculum list. What [...]

Many effective strategies are multi-component strategies.  That is, there are multiple essential components to the strategy and effectiveness and impact are a result of these components working together.  HOST, often used in conjunction with launching a church-wide campaign, is an example of a multi-component strategy. Remember that in the HOST strategy, the “T” stands for [...]

If the greatest fear that people have is public speaking…it only makes sense that many people will be hesitant to pray out loud.  Here are some ideas that I’ve found very helpful: Distribute index cards and pens and ask each person to write out a simple one sentence prayer request.  Swap cards and read them [...]

Q: “What is the best way to close a group meeting in prayer?” A: Great question!  There are several parts to my answer.  First, the entire meeting structure ought to vary according to the needs of the group’s members.  After all, new groups will be much less willing to share genuine needs.  Long-term groups may [...]

How do you know you’re succeeding at what you do?  If we were baseball players…it’d be easy.  At the end of the game we’d see who had the most runs on the scoreboard.  Would hits matter?  Yes.  Would RBIs matter?  Yes.  What about our pitcher’s ERA?  Yes.  But would they themselves be a win?  No.  [...]

As we’ve discussed previously, there is no problem-free.  Every solution comes with a set of problems.  Knowing that, wise people simply choose the problems they’d rather have and select the solution they like based on that. Is there a problem-free way to identify and recruit small group leaders?  No.  Every method of identifying and recruiting [...]

Churches make the decision to launch a small group ministry in a church with a Sunday School culture for a variety of reasons. There may be a growing conviction that while an on-campus solution may work for some…it isn’t working for everyone. There may be a sense that we need to provide a menu that [...]