Family Summit

What to Study Next in Your Small Group

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Leaders, I have laid out all our studies on a table in my office (pictured above), for you to come by and took a look, or borrow a couple to check out!

Also, don’t forget the “Lake City Offer”…

“The Lake City Offer”

If you are interested in a curriculum we do not have, I will buy the leader book and DVD (if there is one) for you, if you’ll return when finished, to add to our library. Just last week we added Tim Keller’s The Reason For God, and Philip Yancey’s What’s So Amazing About Grace?, per two leaders’ requests. Both will be great additions.

Curriculum Lists

My previous curriculum lists and resources can be found on this search link – http://lakecitysmallgroups.com/?s=curriculum&submit=Search

Also, my favorite place to search for small group curriculum reviews is the search feature on Mark Howell’s comprehensive small groups website – www.markhowelllive.com

Winter/Spring Semester, 2013

Here are a few important dates to put on your calendar right now:

  1. The 2nd annual Lake City Family Summit is scheduled for Saturday, January 12, 9:00AM-1:00PM. NFL quaterback Jon Kitna and his wife Jen will be our primary speakers, along with several breakout sessions.  As usual, the small group leaders training will be contained in one of those 50 minute workshops. How small groups fit into the BIG picture of the church as God’s Family is an exciting major theme for this year’s summit. Don’t miss it!
  2. If you miss the summit, a small group leader training make-up session is scheduled for Sunday, January 20, during 2nd service (10:50AM-12:10PM)
  3. The official Kickoff week of Winter/Spring Semester is the week of January 20. Of course, groups have autonomy to start earlier or later, based on their semester plan.
  4. Pastor Jim resumes the Luke Sermon Series on Feb. 2/3, a good option for any group who would like to study Luke’s gospel along with the weekend sermons. We have resources.

How NOT to Start Your Semester

Finally, this is one of my favorite words of wisdom for leading a successfully Christ-honoring small group; wisdom that I will implement in our group this coming semester.

Remember, small groups are not merely Bible studies alone. They are our glorious opportunity to live out ALL the New Testament’s design for the church (cf. Acts 2:42-47, for example) with each other.

HOWEVER, wisdom and experience shows that if you start your group’s experience with a Bible study, you will be locked into the “Bible study” mold and mentality, no matter what you try to do later. So, wisdom suggests to start your semester with the other things that get crowded out: Start with a worship/prayer night, seeking God’s guidance and setting a worshipful pattern for your year.  Start with a service/outreach project, or series of them, saying “We are going to be the hands and feet of Jesus!” Start with sharing a few personal salvation testimonies, to celebrate God’s grace in our lives. Start with having the kids involved in worship, seeing Jesus Christ proclaimed as the purpose for your existence. Then, start your study. We have 16-20 weeks in the Winter/Spring Semester. Plenty of time to do it all!

acts

May God be glorified in our ministry,

Pastor Reg

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