Well, my sabbatical from the blogosphere is over. I know you care deeply about that! Truthfully, my rest from writing was a welcomed one as it reminded me that the internet can and will go on without my 2 cents. I spent several of those days last month without ever looking at anything on a computer screen!! WHOA! Crazy I know but something I encourage you to do if your daily routine involves computer screens and offices like mine does. On to some thoughts I’d like your input into as the blog gets back up and running.

I’m considering expanding the scope of the small groups guy blog. This blog, since its inception, has been geared specifically and intentionally to small group leaders. And I love it. I love being a resource to leaders and the expansion I am considering will not change that. However my time lately in the scriptures has reminded me that we are called to make disciples, not small groups. Of course the former we desire to happen in the latter, but healthy disciples in healthy churches is our goal.
So, I am considering expanding the scope of the blog to include other contributors who God has gifted in areas of missions, worship, teaching, etc that can speak words of wisdom and impact into all of us as people seeking to grow as disciples of Christ. What do you think? Provide feedback in the comment section below.

Also, we are going to need a name for this new thing!

One of our own small group coaches here at the Summit has put together an awesome set of blog posts that I want to commend to you in case you haven’t seen it. Bruce Ashford is a member and small group coach at the Summit, and when he isnt doing that role he is a husband and soon to be dad, and in his spare time the dean of the college at southeastern. Love this guy and am always encouraged by him. The blog post series is titled “On Disciplined Reading” and its been one of the most helpful blog series i’ve read in the past year. Thanks Bruce for this series and for your commitment to making disciples at the Summit!

Bruce is one of the regular contributors to the blog “between the times” that is sponsored by Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Our lead pastor at the Summit, J.D. Greear, is also a contributor.

I found the article below on Leah Rade’s blog. Leah is part of a the staff of fellow local church here in the area and focuses her time on creating community in the church much like I do. Like her, I find this short word from James D. Berkley challenging.

Is there anything simpler or more natural than members of a church looking out for their own interests? We like to park conveniently. We want our pew available each week. We expect our kind of music to be sung—not that other ungodly stuff! We like things our way, to our convenience and taste.

How easy it is to make church nice and comfortable for us! And how wrong! Why? Because church isn’t meant to be comfortable. No pioneering, radical, countercultural organization has the leisure to be comfortable. A country club can be comfortable. A golfing foursome can be comfortable. A family gathering can be comfortable. But a church—that culture-shaking, eternity-changing band Jesus commissioned to turn the world upside down—doesn’t have the charter to be comfortable. It’s commissioned as activist for the kingdom of God!

My pleasure, my ease, my way are really not important. God’s glory, God’s tasks, others’ benefit—that’s the reason for the church. The apostle Paul makes clear that Christians must treat one another as more important than themselves. They are to be “put out” by the interests of others. The church is not my personal vending machine. Instead it is a lifesaving station to reach out to those in peril needing to be made safe.

How does that happen? When leaders decide their responsibility is to follow seriously the One who came to seek and save the lost. That, however, gets expensive, when the church has to add parking and pews and programs for those not yet in the church. That becomes difficult when the comfortable become discomfited by change. That becomes messy when the sacred mixes with the profane. Granted.

But Jesus emptied himself, humbled himself, and died on a cross for us—and that is to be our mindset (Phil. 2:5-11). As leaders we must proclaim to the comfortable the message of Christ. And then refocus our thinking and strategy on the outsider, so that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

—James D. Berkley

To note, I think the Summit Church is a body of believers who “gets” what berkley is saying. But we must never forget it. especially as we enter a season of growth in our small group ministry.

I’m sitting here in the DPAC attending Advance09, a conference on the resurgence of the local church. 2 sessions in and I’ve already been challenged by some pretty major stuff. Also been affirmed in some things we are doing at the summit. Here is a little bit that has stuck with me:
challenging thoughts:
– less than 17% of people age 17-29 are in a evangelical church in the west.
– we must engage in long-term active repentance to see a resurgence of the local church.
– the local church must revolve around Jesus
– we have done a poor job in Christian education

Affirmations
– Sunday school is not welcoming to non-believers
– Small groups studying the same thing the pastor is studying creates unity in the church.

More to come

ADVANCE09 is next week. Advance09 is a conference about furthering the local church and equipping pastors, leaders and the laity to help further the church. If you are coming and would like to connect while there, let me know. If you are not planning on coming yet, you need to change your plans. Best line-up of speakers I’ve seen in a while and what a great topic for them to train us on: the local church!

Summer bible study at the Summit: I will be leading a 5 week study through Ephesians beginning next wednesday for all interested. The goal: to fellowship through learning from the scriptures, to help you gain confidence studying the scriptures, and to connect to others at the Summit in a laid back atmosphere.

Came across this 3 part training session by Total Church author Steve Timmis which he did at Mars Hill Church in Seattle recently. I encourage you to take some time as a group leader to sit down and listen through these sessions whenever possible as they were created with you in mind.

In our ongoing series on stuff a small group leader should know, today we look at the Calendar. Let me put it to you this way, if you are a small group leader, you need to own a calendar. Especially if you lead a group full of families with young kids as they are forced to manage their schedule farther in advance than most. Regardless, you need to be aware of the Calendar so you can plan for success in your small group. Nothing is better for your small group than knowing what is coming so they can prepare. If you are a SummitLIFE group leader, knowing that we switch gears in June and July is critical. We want you to break from your normal leader role and focus on relationship building and week of hope project. So dont plan a ton of gatherings but instead focus on relationship building.

Exercise for you as a leader: Sit down with a copy of the remaining 2009 calendar and plan out your schedule for your small group. When can you do social gatherings? When can you do community service? When could you devote a night solely to prayer? When could you invite a church planter to come (via skype or in person) share with you? What major church initiatives do you need to take into consideration?
And can I be honest with you? I’m not good at calendaring. I have to really discipline myself here, but it is very much worthwhile.

A look at my group’s June calendar:
Notes
* I know the sg staff has encouraged leaders to focus on relationship building and our community ministry projects.
* Spence & Trevor both separately leading on-campus bible studies on Wed. nights so that is open to those interested.
* Church planters we support have a team rep. coming to town sometime. When we know, we will try to have them join us.

05.31 – 06.06:

• No gathering
• Advance09 conference that some are attending towards end of week.
• Hope 4 RDU grant application due by 06.07

06.07 – 06.13:

• Tentative hang out night at new home of the Wickershams.
• Confirm Hope4RDU week of hope ministry assignments for everyone in the group
• Check-in individually on prayer reqs & answers to prayer from 05.27 gathering

06.14 – 06.20:

• Tentative cookout / video game (old school NES) and other fun stuff night. Probably Tuesday Night.
• Church Planting Team rep. can be there to talk with us?

06.21 – 06.27

• Nothing on calendar but maybe a guys night or a girls night?

06.28 – 07.04

• Final preparations for week of hope projects.
• Some people on vacation

I hope you see that this is nothing major and some things are still not set in stone. The point is, some direction has been provided that our group can then work with. People need this. So either get on it, or entrust the calendar to a group member who you know can pull this off. We’ve got an awesome calendar lady in our group so the above is all up for her to adjust!

Its not normally my deal to dabble in summer cable TV on this blog. However, I’ve got a hunch that several readers of this blog are familiar with the TV Show Jon and Kate plus 8. Like all good stuff, it didnt get really popular until hollywood could uncover the “dirt” and spin it into real drama. In fact, due to the family focus of it, I imagine a large number of christian couples who are parents watch the show. Courtney and I do. She sucked me in last year sometime when we were pregnant with our first. The family has attended church regularly during the show and though they have never been real vocal on this reality TV show, they’ve given every other indication that they are Christians.

Last night, the season opener centered around Jon & Kate’s marital issues and what they made hints at was an inevitable divorce. The only time the couple was together, you could have fit 3 nfl linemen between them on that loveseat. This is not out to talk smack on this couple by the way. As a fellow believer, I spent time praying for them last night. They both said something that I think resonates with a lot of parents that we must continue to correct for one another:

“I wake up for my kids, everything I do is for my kids.” “If they are happy & safe, everything else will be ok.” One of them went so far as to say your marital status isnt important as long as the kids are ok, you can still be there for them.

Here is what I know: that is an easy web to get tangled in. I love my son. I cannot imagine 7 more of him. I know Courtney and I have struggled more since he’s been born than ever before in our marriage because soooo much energy has gone to caring for him. I feel like its all about him. Its not. In reality, the best thing I can do for my son is to love his mother like Ephesians 5 tells me to do. That means the best thing I can do for him may be to leave him with someone for a couple of days while we get away together for vacation. That’s just one example of course. The point is, the best thing for Zeke is his dad loving his mom more than he loves him. Its for me to honor and cherish her and to teach him as often as possible why I do it.

It means, in light of the topic of this blog, it would mean guarding my MARRIAGE at all cost. Now, if this couple were to read this I’d be sure to ask where their church is during these hard times.

And so I will say to you instead. Have you asked your fellow believers in your local church how their marriage is lately? Have you asked them how they are doing single if that’s where they are? The point is: you need people in your life to tell YOU what you may have been screaming at the TV last night: “quit the show, save your marriage!” I wonder though what is going on in your life that is a year away from having devastating consequences? Today, go get somebody you trust IN YOUR LOCAL CHURCH, and give them permission to yell at you like that. Best thing you can do.

Oh, and now I feel ok not watching the show the rest of the season. I can say its because I want their ratings to go down so they will cancel and maybe get normalcy back. In actuality I have books to read.

Ok boys and girls, for this edition of Monday on the Links we are looking into Bible Study. What a broad topic! Ok so we are looking at 3 facets of bible study: 1) how to study the bible /  helpful resources for bible study and 2) what materials to take your small group through.  *Some of these links are going to take you to sites where you can buy resources. Sorry, not everything is free today but I realized that you are probably quite willing to spend a little cash on great stuff.

1. How To Study the Bible
   1. Article: “Studying the Scriptures” (an article by Kenneth Boa): This is a pretty long article but rich with insight into the why and how of studying the bible.
   2. website: www.biblestudytools.net
   3. Rick Warren’s Bible Study Methods (book by Rick Warren): Very Accessible and helpful resource, but it does cost money.
   4. Living by the Book (book by Howard Hendricks): What I consider one of the best works on the “observation, interpretation, application” method.
   5. SummitLIFE Leader Training Session 1. Just a shameless plug! If you want to learn to study the bible, come lead a small group at the Summit Church!
2. Materials for your small group
   1. Life Change Series (series of book-based studies by NavPress): A great resource for a small group to use. The link I’ve provided is for the Ephesians book study.
   2. MaCarthur Bible Studies (series by John MaCarthur): Written by one of “the guys” in popular bible study, a few of our groups here at the Summit have found these to be quite helpful.
   3. BestCommentaries.com (website…of course): Nothing beats speaking with your pastor to get good guidance on a particular passage you are working through. With that said, whenever I’m confronted with the question “what would be a great commentary on (insert book of the bible)?” I now turn to this site in my search. It’s new, but good.
   4. Redeemer Presbyterian Small Group Studies: Written largely by Tim Keller these studies are deep, good, and very well priced.

Ok, a little late in the day, but nonetheless here we go. In leu of an awesome Easter weekend, the theme for this week is tailored to how you and I as small group leaders can help a new Christian begin to live as a follower of Jesus. Honestly this particular opportunity is one that gets me amped. But, I often find myself going WAAAAY too fast or speaking in Christianese saying things like “dude, ready to start your ‘walk’ or ‘we are going to wean you off milk and onto some meat man.’”. Go ahead, try those out on a guy who has been a Christian for 24 hours. The only thing that will keep him from running screaming is his new found appreciation for grace. Hopefully the links below will help you develop a little bit of a gameplan for discipling a new believer.

• “Eight Keys to Discipling New Christians” (article from Christianity Today): I know, the title is cliche but this article is short and helpful.
• “Top 10 Things newcomers in your church think a small group is” (article from SmallGroups.com): Humorous list to help remind us as leaders what someone new may be thinking about an invite to our “small group.”
• “Measuring Growth in your Small Group” (Article by Summit Small Groups Team): Let me explain because putting a link to an article I wrote feels soo lame. I struggled finding a lot of good stuff that is free on this one. So, instead of re-writing here, I am linking you to an article I wrote for SGX. If you think this is lame…just keep your comments to yourself!
• “Enjoying Grace and Detecting Legalism” (Sermon by C.J. Mahaney): This is my favorite non-Summit pastor to hear preach. The guy is passionate, honest, and full of joy. I promise you will smile and be challenged by God when you listen to him.

Hopefully what you will learn from all of this is that discipleship for a new believer SHOULD not be too different from how you encourage your own spiritual disciplines. As always, if you have any good resources in this particular area, please share!

After the longest hiatus Ive ever taken from the blog, time to get back in action. Thanks for your patience. I bet you were worried a snake got me.

Anyways, a couple of weeks ago I went to a conference over at SEBTS my soon to be alma mater #2. My favorite guy to go and hear preach, C.J. Mahaney, as well as Mark Driscoll, both spoke Friday night. It was awesome. Seriously my hand was hurting from note taking.

But the session that ended up being most profitable for me was a breakout session led by Andy Davis (fellow durham pastor) who talked about the impact memorizing scripture has had on his life. His sincerity and clear love for the word of God was quite challenging to me. He actually challenged everyone in the session to memorize one book of the bible in 2009. A WHOLE BOOK!! I’ve never done that before. Ive memorized a psalm, and a couple of chunks of maybe one chapter. But a whole book?

Then he busted my bubble even more. My mind was already thinking…what does philemon have? 24 verses? And about that time he said “If you want to start out with something really easy, do philemon or jude.” I think he knew my pride would kick in there. I, like all males, have an ego that will keep me from ever “starting” on the bunny slopes. Give me the double black diamond!  So then he said to memorize ephesians as a good challenge.

Well, I didnt pray much about this decision because I dont think you need to pray about whether or not you should know God’s word better. So Im now in the midst of a daily memorization plan that will, with God’s help, result in the complete memorization of ephesians by early September 2009. 155 verses.

This is not to gloat. Im only on verse 9 in the first chapter so there isnt much to try and gloat about anyways. The purpose of this is to challenge you to get in your bible. I mean soak it up. There is no more vital discipline to your spiritual health than reading and meditating on the words of God. Donald Whitney, in his excellent book Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life gives 3 simple steps that I have found helpful in developing a more steady habit of reading and studying the bible:

1. find the time. studies have shown that it takes 71 hours to read the bible out loud in its entirety. 15 minutes a day can get you through the bible in a year. 5 minutes a day will get you there in 3 years. Yet many professing Christians will never read the whole bible in their entire lives. So it starts with finding and committing a little of your time. (ex: im waking up 15 minutes earlier than I used to & Im using my time walking my dog to memorize scripture.)

2. find a bible-reading plan. So many christians drop the habit of reading daily because they just kinda open the book and wherever it lands is where they will read a chapter that day. The bible wasnt written to be read like that. The one year bible is a great resource for this, the McCheyene reading plan is also good. Courtney and I are going through that one this year.

3. Find one word, phrase, or verse to meditate on each day. This basically means to consider and think deeply on one thing you read each day. For me, until september, it will be my daily ephesians verses.

Hey, I hope this is helpful. The word of God is referred to in scripture as the bread of life. Basically, you need it to follow and love Jesus. I hope you will give it a shot. If you need some help getting into a routine, check in with your small group leader. Or, just shoot me a comment below.