Recruiting Hundred-Fold Players

Want your small group ministry to have an overwhelming impact?  Here’s the bottom line: you can’t do it without a team of hundred-fold players as a foundation.  End of story.  You want to build a pervasive small group culture?  You can’t compromise on this reality.  You’ll be tempted to settle…but you can’t.  You’ve got to…

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Decisions vs. Disciples

One of my blogosphere buddies is speaking at the National Outreach Convention in November on a topic that we’ve begun talking about here: making disciples.  Here’s the short description of his talk: "If we are serious about accomplishing the mission of Jesus we can no longer be satisfied with “raise your hand”, “sign a card”…

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What Will You Call Success?

When you think about your small group ministry…would you say you’re winning or losing?  Are you succeeding at what you’re doing?  Or failing? This is a very important question.  No doubt you’re already asking it!  In fact, that’s probably why you’re here reading this article right now.  So…back to the question…are you winning or losing…

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5 Keys to a Great Fall Ministry Season

Want to have a different kind of fall ministry season?  You have to start now…in the summer.  Here are the keys: Work with your senior pastor to develop the ways you’ll be promoting small groups every week beginning ________.  You pick the date.  It’s a little bit arbitrary.  The idea is that on that date…

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Day Eleven

A few days have passed since I landed here 11 days ago.  Here’s the big point of the day: If you have a place you want to get to, getting everyone talking about it is not enough.  Everyone talking is not a step in the right direction until they’re using a language that means the…

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The Global Trend of “Customized for You”

I’ll have more on this later, but I want you to think about the significance of “customized for you.”  Think discipleship.  We are no longer in an “off the rack” world.  As much as “simple” makes sense (and it totally does), the organizations that are winning are making each experience custom to the user.  How…

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Day Two

Day #2 is in the bag.  A good day…hammered out the fall timeline.  There are some really big keys to a launch.  You’ve got to understand that every slight deviation from the plan doesn’t change the trajectory incrementally.  No…you’ve got to see that every slight deviation changes the trajectory geometrically.  Here’s what I mean.  Let’s…

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Day One

I began a new phase in my ministry run yesterday.  I’ll still be consulting and coaching churches around the country, but I’ve joined the team at Adventure Christian Church to help take their small group ministry to a new level.  At this point they have weekend attendance of around 3500 and only about 30 groups. …

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A Life That Matters

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…

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