Think Faces Not Numbers...thank you Larry Osborne

Last November I attended the Small Group Trader Pre-Conference at Irving Bible Church and was privileged to get to hear Larry Osborne speak on becoming a 'Sticky Church'. In his session he used a phrase to communicate his church's philosophy on maintaining the flock....think faces not numbers.

This immediately had an impact on me, the more I thought about this philosophy the more it grew on me and since then the Holy Spirit has been using this phrase to recalibrate how we at FBC Burleson approach those straying from the flock.

Think faces not numbers. Ah.. how clear things are now. When we average 440 in Sunday morning small groups and only 390 show up...don't think where are the other 50 people and how can we get back to 440. No, think about 50 possible ministry opportunities, 50 relational connections that will potentially suffer. If we care about them as a person and not a number, they'll stick....because being relational creates stickiness and before you know it, while not a focus, you've shot past 500!

Thank you Larry Osborne for that little paradigm shifting nugget :)

We're a work in progress though...after our last group life audit we have approximately 550 in group life but 900 people without a group...however as we begin to view them as 900 potential ministry opportunities, or 900 legos looking for open connectors...we'll slowly get them back into fellowship...

What about you? How do you view those members/attenders who have slowly slipped through the cracks?

JR

Resources That Help Me Navigate Group Life

Well, as promised at our Life Group leadership meeting below are most of the resources I turn to for guidance, a memory-jog, motivation, tools, etc. Hopefully you will find them useful and will help in your pursuit to navigate Group Life well! Enjoy :)

Community 101 by Gilbert Bilezikian
Walking the Small Group Tightrope by Bill Donahue and Russ Robinson
7 Deadly Sins of Small Group Ministry by Bill Donahue and Russ Robinson
The Search to Belong by Joseph Myers
The Church of Irresistible Influence by Robert Lewis
Building a Church of Small Groups by Bill Donahue
Making Small Groups Work by Henry Cloud and John Townsend
Soul Revolution by John Burke
Leading Life-Changing Small Group Leaders by Bill Donahue
Coaching Life-Changing Small Group Leaders by Bill Donahue
The Good and Beautiful God by James Bryan Smith
The Good and Beautiful Life by James Bryan Smith
The Good and Beautiful Community by James Bryan Smith
No Perfect People Allowed by John Burke
Next Generation Leader by Andy Stanley
Biblical Foundations of Small Group Ministry by Gareth Icenogle
Community that is Christian by Julie Gorman
Nine Keys to Effective Small Group Leadership by Carl George
The Big Book on Small Groups by Jeffory Arnold
Creating Community by Andy Stanley and Bill Willits
Activate by Nelson Searcy and Kerrick Thomas
Simple Small Groups by Bill Search
Refrigerator Rights by Will Miller and Glen Sparks
Visioneering by Andy Stanley
Created to Learn by Rick Yount
Grown Up Digital by Don Tapscott

Sacred Roads Review

So my small group recently finished Sacred Roads by Heather Zempel and I thought it would be helpful for all you small group leaders out there if I were to post a brief review of this study. 

When I first sat down to read through the study I was struck at how well the content flowed together. The approach Zempel takes is truly engaging. Each pre-session reading opens with a brief snippet about a person and how they model the chapter's theme. For example, the pre-session reading on Incarnational Discipleship opens with a wonderfully worded summary of the early days and decisions of Agnes, better known as Mother Teresa. Educational Psychologists would be proud as this is a great learning readiness exercise for the student.

While each pre-session reading can be lengthy for the nominally engaged member, all the student must do is blink to realize that the content has the potential to challenge them in the walk with Christ. As I read through each reading I had many moments of sheer conviction as I reflected back on how many times I was not following Jesus way of building disciples. While one may disagree with the terms she uses, she more than drowns out any disagreement with a clear and concise explanation of Jesus' example for the type of discipleship strategy being studied.

To take things a step further each pre-session reading concludes on a high note. Zempel encourages the student with zeal to at least experiment with the different types of discipleship Jesus harnessed. It always left me with a good tast in my mouth.

Now, the actual study contains many questions for discussion, often too many to get through (well maybe that's just my group :)) The format of the leader guide is well written and this study scores an A+ in providing leader helps. I mean, we're talking a cd-rom of articles to dig deeper, videos by Zempel herself, emailable songs, articles, and short videos that enhance the learning experience. It's all around a top shelf resource for the small group leader.

Lastly, like any study, what the group thinks of the study rests solely on the leader in whether they ask good questions and are a good facilitator. Most of our group enjoyed the study and we often had conversations about the "what's next" aspect of a particular mode of discipleship. I fully endorse this study and would recommend it to groups that desire to self-evaluate how they grow closer to Christ.

Throughout the study, Zempel's sentiment rings loudly-Jesus made disciples in many different ways, it wasn't always sitting in a circle filling out a workbook.  It was sending the disciples out 2 by 2, taking a walk through a grain field and expounding on God as the provider of everything we have, it was Jesus sitting by the fire and building into the life of a former tax collector to the point where that disciple chronicles in a book the story of Jesus, and 2000 years later I'm in the service of the King because of the truth of his book.

If you want to be challenged...do this study. Boom.

What I'm Reading

I run across blogs every now and again sharing what the author is currently reading. At first I was like come on, no one cares what you're reading. However over time I've found those type of post to be helpful for me. Many times I'll hear of a book because of a blog and when I read it I realize that it has blessed me so much. There is wisdom is casting a broad net when looking for resources to enhance your leadership ability, ministry savy and relational gravitas.

So here is my current reading list:

The Me I Want To Be by John Ortberg
I Quit by Gerri Scazzero
Visioneering by Andy Stanley
Lost and Found by Ed Stetzer
Prayer: The Timeless Sceret of High-Impact Leaders by Dave Early

What are you currently reading?

Nintendo, Small Groups, and the Reset Button

When I was little Santa gave me a Nintendo with a free game, Super Mario Brothers! My brother and I played Super Mario Brothers day in and day out without stopping. It was awesome! We even had our friends over and had tournaments to see who could get the farthest, the fastest. I look back and realized that it was in moments such as those that many of my friendships grew strong roots that to this day have not been severed.

Yet, over time guess what we had to do? Come on, you know the answer. That's right, we had to begin a ritual in order to get the silly Nintendo to work! First, I would blow on the game like a harmonica, then I would blow into the interior of the game holder, then I would insert the game and rapidly bounce it up and down 6 times before forcefully pushing it into position so it would lock. Amazing. Every time it seemed to work!

But sometimes, that procedure didn't work. Sometimes, I had to focus on the console itself. I had to complete the installation ritual, then hit reset. Once I hit reset, it was a failsafe...instant gratification baby! On and on we played with that Nintendo until we eventually got a Sega. Why? Because the Nintendo no longer met our needs. The Sega became a better fit for me and my brother. Hm.

I've found that small group ministry is often similar to my experience with the Nintendo. It works well for a while and it serves as a vehicle for spiritual transformation and community but over time due to the wear and tear of life on the participants, it no longer works on its own, but rather needs some help. So we go out and begin the "Nintendo ritual" on our small group ministry. We go and infuse our leaders with more encouragement, more skill-training, refresh our marketing etc. And this even works for a while!

Yet, after a semester or two we come to the realization that it's not working any more. The participation is stagnating, groups are veering from our vision, our coaches are buckling under life's responsibilities, and we as point leaders are always frustrated. So what do we do?

I've recently found it not only helpful, but liberating to put a name on what's going on. What we're doing no longer works! Let's hit the "reset button" and start anew! I know some leaders may have a problem with this because we must admit that we're not as good as Gladen, Donahue or Willits but find solace in the words of Henry Cloud: our model should work for us, we should never work for our model.

Willits and Stanley write in their book Creating Community "Like every living thing, every group has a life cycle." and that true for ministry models as well. So, as you go about leading your people to community I pray that you are senstive to ministry needs and have the courage to hit the reset button...because at some point the model's we have in place will no longer be relevant.

Experience the adventure of starting with white sheet of paper!

JR

Learn From or Live Through Experiences

When I was in seminary I had a professor that taught me the focus of discipleship in its embryonic form is to learn. She then asked us 'What is learning?' after a numerous attempts by students to answer her question she finally shared 'learning is a change in knowledge, skill, understanding, or behavior brought about by some experience.' For example, if we walk through the story of Abram leaving everything he knew to go to a place the Lord would show him and say "hm that Abram was a courageous dude." Then we have not learned. Rather if we read that story and walked away with a new/fresh/fuller/deeper understanding of God's sovereign plan and can begin to make parallels into our own life, we have then learned something.

As a leader, do you seek to learn from your experiences or are you content to live through your experiences? In my world of small group point leadership I am constantly trying to sniff out potential/current issues with my ministry model. This is not always an uplifting task, no one likes to see a model they designed and implemented suffer, but I'm convinced it is the task of great leaders. And when I come upon an issue that must be addressed so that more people can experience Group Life at its finest, it's hard not to hide.

Picking yourself up and making adjustments along the way is the quickest way to reaching your potential as a ministry. In my world, I'm at that stage. I've taken the bitter pill and admitted I'm not the greatest, but I refuse to allow my system issues to define my ministry. Rather, it spurs me on to try new things. Change. I have new knowledge. I have improved my skill. I have strengthened my understanding. And now I'm changing my behavior...I believe that's called learning. Are you?

A Leader's Levers

Not long ago I was reminded that working with volunteers is much like walking a tight-rope. Be too demanding with expectations and they're gone in a blink, be too lax and they get so diluted in their understanding of your expectations they become toothless. The key is not to pull the demanding 'lever' and expect a result, nor is it to pull the freedom 'lever' and expect a result. Rather, we must acknowledge that there are more levers!

There multiple types of levers that a point leader has at his/her disposal. There's the grace lever, the speaker of hard words lever, the encouragement lever, the teaching lever, the training lever, the coaching lever, the pastoral lever, the understanding lever etc.

I've found that while I'm extraordinarily far from mastering this, pulling on each lever just a little at a time creates a dynamic that is more in line with the desired outcome we're looking for.

So here are a few reminders that I've found can help me walk the leadership tight-rope:

1. Have I asked my leaders if there is anything they need help with?
Leaders always, always, always want to know you care more about them, than the task. If the task is pervading your thoughts more than what happening in your leaders life-you might need to chat with God about that.

2. Have I personally encouraged my leaders lately?
There are a multitude of ways we encourage our leaders, but few are as effective as good ole fashioned penmanship. A handwritten note can go eons farther than a typed, mass produced letter. When we communicate to our leaders that amist our business we stopped and intentionally set aside time for them...it's a powerful communicator of their worth to us.

3. Am I doing anything to help my leaders become better?
Are we providing 'need-to-know' training that can be immediately implemented at their next group meeting? Abstract concepts are good for retreats and big rallies...but not in-the-trenches training. My experience has been that leaders want training that is short, sweet, but potent. While that can hard to do, know that you have lots of resources at your disposal. Such as this and this. Or perhaps you may not even offer training at all...if not, check this site out, it's loaded with helpful resources.

Peace out!
JR