Very exciting weekend ahead of us here that we want YOU to be a part of!

1^st – The Journey Groups Spring Launch happens Sunday (ask everyone you see on Sunday, “So…¦are you in a group yet?”)  Sunday is the day!

2^nd – We received a call this afternoon from the producers of Extreme Makover: Home Edition for Journey Church to host a Welcome Home Rally for the Skaggs Family (with Ty & the rest of the Extreme Makeover Team!!!!!).  Not to mention the local news camera crews, the Extreme Makeover production crews, and maybe the whole community!  Here’s the SATURDAY schedule if you’d like to come out (and maybe get on TV?!?).

3:00 pm SETUP (if you want to be in on the ‘good stuff’!)

4:00 pm Doors open to the whole community

4:45 pm Ty & team & the family arrive

5:00 pm Event kicks off!!!

6:00ish – Stick around to earn some treasure in Heaven by praying for & helping us prepare the building again for Sunday!

* As you know their son received a heart transplant, so this event will also focus on the organization Donate Life, which the Skaggs family supports.

3^rd – Please make plans to join us this Sunday for Clark’s start of the MOST powerful series ever…Untamed and remember to bring your toys for the “2×4 Toy Drive” for the Extreme Makeover Family dream focus!  Can’t make it to Norman?  Give online towards the drive at Online Giving.

Lots of BIG stuff this weekend at www.JourneyChurch.Tv.  Pray for the Holy Spirit to show up at these events in a huge way so people can taste & see that the Lord is good, and brings good & perfect gifts to His people.  We are constantly amazed…

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Leadership seems to be an important issue, as businesses become more and more global. Many colleges including mine teaches leadership and its importance, but it is also important to link knowledge with reality. Studying from a book or from a teacher might be the easiest and most efficient way to learn a solution to a problem but, on the other hand, lots more can be learned from actual experience. Linking these together to make your life more experimental might be the first step to  solve your problems in life. Today I’d like to discuss a tip for leading a group, from reading and real life experiences.

Recently, I’ve read a book called “Our Iceberg is Melting.”

I’ve also read the book “The Mckinsey Way”.

They both discuss a similar solution regarding how to motivate your group members.

The solution is to achieve something at an early stage or to “pick the apple from a short tree”.

In real life circumstances, there are times where group members are less motivated compared to the leaders. This is because the leader can see the whole project while group members are responsible for only a couple of processes.

It is hard to understand what the group members have accomplished when they become a worker in a factory line. For instance, if the group is making a car, and a group member is responsible for welding pieces of metal, they will never understand what it is they are making until the final product is finished. On the other hand, the group leader can see very clearly which process is done and what else is left to finish the product because they have the plan in their heads.

It is important to share the whole plan with each group member while you carefully explain the objective of such a plan. Also, it is important to let them realize which part of their process they are responsible for and how it is helping the whole picture.

Coming back to our solution, for achieving something at an early stage, it is vital for leaders to emphasize the accomplishments of a group. Group members become less satisfied if they are just there for labor; obeying to the group leader and just becoming a simple wheel of a machine. They are willing to provide their knowledge and experience for the group and they want to be a part of the final outcome. Probably similar to the feeling of getting into the staff roll at the end of the movie. But, just patting their back after the end of a project does not always keep the member’s motivation. It is important to keep encouraging the members by making goals in between processes. Many projects can be broken down into several pieces. If you praise the work in each section of the project, members will realize the importance of their work and feel appreciated.

Trying to pull members is never the solution when it comes to group motivation. Try to understand each member and by pushing them to try harder, it almost always leads to a better outcome.

When I was in Jr. High I began to realize that I was not successful…and began my quest to become successful.  Fortunately, I noticed a new movie coming out called, The Secret of My Success and made plans to attend!  I don’t remember much about it now, except that Michael J. Fox was in it AND one of my favorite bands at the time, Night Ranger (don’t judge me) said the title song.  Basically it was a big let down…to quote the title song, “The secret to my success…Is I’m living 25 hours a day…”

So all these years later…what have I found to be the real Secret to Success?  I’ll get to that later…  What I have discovered recently is that EVERYONE is asking that question…especially regarding their spiritual life!  My men’s group, BSF, the Journey women’s group, our recent Storyline series (viewable online at www.journeychurch.tv, and even our newcomers class!!!  How do I find & live into God’s BIG PLAN for my life???

As a church we are answering part of the question in the upcoming All In Launch Events.  For Journey Group members we’ve got 3 times next week, Sunday (Nov 8th), Tuesday (Nov 10th), or Wednesday (Nov 11th)…all at the Loft at 7pm.  For everyone else, we have a few Town Hall Meetings on Sunday (Nov 15th) or Wednesday (Nov 18th) at the North Campus at 7pm.

Please make plans to attend one of these events to find out God’s BIG PLANS for Journey Church these next 2 years, and how YOU can be a part of God revealing the secret to success for church!

OK, back to my answer… The secret to success is simply living each day pursuing God & His revealed plans for you (in the Bible) until you look back and see what His BIG PLAN for you was.

So, most of you know that I’ve recently become a dad…for the fourth time.  As you can imagine things are pretty different when you have your fourth vs. your first and one of those was the paternal stress level.  Alison had a great natural birth, Hannah came out wonderfully, and we served our proverbial 24 hours in the hospital just to make the hospital happy.

OK… so I got a  blissful night’s sleep in the hospital (jk) (especially after being up all night the previous night with labor stuff) and I felt really good leaving the hospital with my lovely wife and our 24 hour old kid at 10am…

And of course, we headed first to get some Starbucks coffee.  (the hospital had coffee actually IN a Starbucks cup, but it was terrible.)  I went in and ordered Alison’s normal decaf and, instead of my normal decaf, I ordered a 1/2 caff for myself for a little jolt on this special morning.  I get in the car, drive out of the parking lot, and head down a little hill as I prepare to get onto the main street when I realize I don’t have my coffee!

Amazingly, my coffee is still sitting on the top of my car where I left it!  Alison asks me if she should drive or if I need to go back and get an extra espresso shot or something…

The moral of the story???   God laughs at me all the time I am sure and always have people bring you good coffee in the hospital before you hit the road with your newborn!

As I am preparing to start my doctoral studies, I have become increasingly intrigued with what I call Cognitive Reinscription. This is basically the ability to change the way in which we think. Exploring the anatomy of the mind for success is something every individual should consider investing time in. Often likened to that of a super computer, the human mind is a very powerful device, allowing us to go far in life, be successful and realize whatever dreams which we may have. Thus, it is important for any individual to explore the anatomy of the mind in order to open up any possible paths to success in life.

At the very outset, it is important to recognize that the human mind is essentially made up of two main parts, the conscious mind and the subconscious mind. These two parts of the human mind function in conjunction with one another and are by no means separate entities. Achieving success would be a factor dependent on how well these two parts of the brain are used with one another.

To start off, we begin with the conscious mind. This part of the mind is what we use often in our day-to-day functions in places such as in school or at the office. This part of the mind controls cognitive functions such as our thought process, decision making process and analysis of problems. This is also the part which school tends to train, by enhancing our mental framework in more sophisticated ways. This part of the mind is able to reason and differentiate between things that are good or bad as well as being true or false. While this part of the mind is necessary in allowing us to go about daily lives, it is insufficient merely to rely completely on this part of the human mind to achieve success in life.

Subsequently, we move on to the subconscious mind. This part of the mind does not rest, unlike our conscious mind, even working while we are asleep. The subconscious mind covers many functions which we often take for granted, such as when we are breathing during sleep, the way we speak and the way we eat. This part of the mind is unable to differentiate various occurrences that it might come into contact with. Such occurrences include truth from falsity, as well as reality and the imaginary. Whatever information that the subconscious brain comes into contact with is not filtered or analyzed and gets programmed into our conscious mind, which determines the action ultimately carried out by us. This transmission of information form the subconscious to the conscious mind is carried out after a process of repetitions and a series of affirmations.

Given that, our subconscious mind is extremely vulnerable to negative affirmations. Negative messages can often work their way unnoticed into our subconscious where it enters our conscious mind and manifests itself as the result which we do not want to see. Thus, it is important for us to develop positive affirmations. This could take the forming of using positively charged words that appeal to our self-esteem and inner needs. It could also entail surrounding ourselves with positive like-minded people who never consider failure as an option.

What this all means is that whom you surround yourself with will determine the path(s) you take in life, and the mindset you decide to maintain.

Duane Saunders is the President of ReVision Consulting Group, an organization that specializes in helping businesses and their leaders grow and develop to find success in a competitive corporate environment.

~ D.M. Saunders MBA

ReVision Consulting Group

It’s easy to discount the importance of leadership development, assuming that corporate leaders either they have what it takes or they don’t and if they do they’ll learn as they go. If they don’t…well, if they didn’t have what it took they wouldn’t have been given a leadership role to begin with, right’ ?

Not necessarily. Sometimes all that’s needed is a little leadership development.

There is no such thing as a natural born leader, which is why leadership development is so important. Anyone can have the fundamental requirements necessary for the leadership role. It’s how they develop them that matters. But in today’s climate, the role of leader has taken on a newer meaning. With this new meaning, there is a greater call for a newer strategy as it relates to leadership development.

Leadership development is defined as an effort to enhance a learner’s ability to lead, an endeavor focused on developing the leadership abilities and attitudes of the individuals sitting at the top of the chain of command. Successful leadership development requires a lot more than the ability to give orders. It also requires diplomacy, top of the line people skills, a certain level of ruthlessness and an understanding of how much space there is and there isn’t between the executive suite and the mail room. A good leader doesn’t just lead. He or she leads by example. But is this merely enough? It is quite apparent that there is a break down of leadership. With the latest collapse of the economic markets, predatory lending, and rapid corruption. There must be a way to bring leaders back to a level of accountability, and it starts with solid leadership development.

Leadership development within a company should be addressed at both the individual and group level. Individual leadership development can be undertaken in both a hands-on and a classroom environment, and which method your organization chooses is entirely up to you. Through various exercises the individual learns to identify their strengths and weaknesses, using both to shape and mold their successful leadership style.

Individual leadership development is very important for individuals first entering the field and those who are having a difficult time taking up the reins of command. Additional leadership development offers them the opportunity to hone their skills, smooth over their weaknesses and learn to make the most of their current position rather than finding themselves stuck on the bottom rung of the ladder to success because of a lack of knowledge and personal resources.

Group leadership development is absolutely vital in any company, regardless of industry, because it teaches an executive team how to look, think and act like a team. For a business to run smoothly it’s essential that the executive team be able to operate like a well oiled wheel, cognizant of each other’s patterns, strengths, weaknesses and goals and able to work together to achieve success. Any leadership team that is rapidly ‘slapped’ together and tossed into the ring is going to fail almost instantly. It takes time and practice, and leadership development offers the opportunity for both.

Leadership development through books, activities, conferences and classroom studies is a vital part of any company’s success, which is why there are hundreds of books, seminars, conferences, workshops, boot camps and personal coaches devoted to that very goal. Never underestimate the importance of the team of people holding the reins in an organization, and don’t discount the need to allow those individuals to develop their leadership skills both inside and out of the office.

It must be noted… once a person(s) obtains a position of leadership, the journey has just begun. According to The Paradigm of Perpetual Progression™, Leadership and it’s development is an “infinitive process” and is based on five principles

Service – Trust – Credibility – Influence – Vision

Each one of these principles are interdependent and are paramount in the leaders arsenal of tools as he or she navigates throughout their career.

Leadership Development Matters!

Duane Saunders is the President of ReVision Consulting, a company that specializes in helping businesses and their leaders grow and develop to find success in a competitive corporate environment.

Redefining The Science of Business & The Art of Leadership Development

Sounds abrupt, but according to an article today at Prevention.com you will live 4-8 years longer if you have some really good friends…and of course you’ll meet a number of new people in groups and some may even become lifelong friends.  Here’s the quote

“Good interpersonal relationships act as a buffer against stress,” says Micah Sadigh, PhD, an associate professor of psychology at Cedar Crest College. Knowing you have people who support you keeps you healthy, mentally and physically: Chronic stress weakens the immune system and ages cells faster, ultimately shortening life span by 4 to 8 years, according to one study. Not just any person will do, however. “You need friends you can talk to without being judged or criticized,” says Sadigh.

So…this Fall is the time (This Sunday specifically at www.journeygroups.tv) to DIVE INTO A GROUP!

Our Senior Pastor is doing a series right now called “DIALOGUE” and it has been incredible to hear from people who have had some misconceptions of prayer understand that prayer is not a monologue.  You can hear the talks at www.JourneyChurch.tv and even download the small group discussion guides at www.JourneyGroups.TV.

Dialogue: Prayer is not a Monologue

In my own prayer time I have been troubled by the reality that so few christians live in conversation with God regarding their normal life, or more personally, that I don’t spend time conversing with God.  Sometimes it’s because I don’t think my request is worthy of His help…”I got this one..save yourself for my next BIG request.”  Or maybe because I think that because he’s gifted me with a brain that I should use it.  That sounds nice and makes sense for choosing my socks in the morning or other small decisions, but God desires a relationship with us…not just our todo list. Leaving Him out of our daily lives, but wanting His help on the big stuff is life is like not talking to your spouse all month long and then expecting an amazing date night with all your dreams fulfilled (not going to happen…).

…”Until now you have asked for nothing in my name; ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be made full.”-John 16:24  He WANTS US TO ASK and wants our joy to be filled to the brim through Him.

“The Lord awakens me morning by morning, He awakens my ear to listen as a disciple (student/ learner)…” – Isaiah 50:4

ASK & LISTEN TODAY!  And feel free to share any amazing stories as well!

Considering the reasonableness of not meeting expectations with my blog. I really enjoy writing & assume you enjoy reading (at least Adam Barnett reads it)…Alas, Adam you may be alone in my readership.
However, I must apologize for my delay in writing…there is no excuse. BUT if I told you I’d been abducted by aliens since my last post and that the clone put here on Earth in my place did not realize he was suppose to be blogging for me also sounds believable to you then so be it…

Here are some things that have occupied my time and thoughts since my last blog….

* Wife is having baby #4 in about 6-8 more weeks.
* 3rd trip to HHH is 8/29 and I’ve been biking like a madman this summer.
* My cohort in small group ministry left in July.
* Other staffing changes have changed my role more than expected and more to come.
* Did I mention that I’ve been biking a lot recently?
* My unread email is up to 150 now.
* The grass in my backyard was at 1ft tall until last week.

So, hopefully you’ve lived differently than I have this summer. I’m ready for the Fall and look forward to sharing more of my journey along the way.

In San Antonio this week for a few days with the Willow Creek GroupLife Advisory Board conference soaking in some great relationships, great ideas, & what is pervading our meetings…a sense that working by yourself is incomplete.  Bill Donahue & Greg Bowman shared last night of our passionate desires to see where God is moving in the groups movement and unite together around that movement.

In possibly related ideas…God and I were chatting this morning and he just shared Prov 21:21 – He who pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity, and honor.  Wow… who doesn’t want more of those things these days!

How are the pursuits of your day going to bring you closer to God, life, prosperity, & honor?

“The group leader training was an incredible use of my time. I have led or been in groups off and on for the past 15 years (we could even mention us being in one in our previous lives) Leading before kids was pretty easy. I would study, pray figure out am ice breaker and roll. Group would go smooth we would pray, icebreak, study and pray and go. No distractions. Then came kids and TONS of distractions and no time for much of anything. I still tried to follow the same routine and it would function but not grow or be as fulfilling as we wanted it to be, I didn’t know why. Then when we had our group leader training I learned more about having a champion and why it was like a light switch came on the frustration level(at myself) went down and I realized where I went wrong. I needed help-I couldn’t do it like before and this is probably more how God designed it to help more people and grow. I’m very fortunate to have the best co-leaders in the world, but I wasn’t utilizing them. Now we have better direction, more purpose and time to make the group be the community it should be.” – Sam Wampler

The Next Training is January 18th, 2009.  Email HERE to sign up, or drop by the Info booth early in 2009.

Being an effective instructor is discovering how adults learn best. Adults have special needs and requirements as learners.

Adults need to be free to direct themselves. Teachers must actively involve adult participants in the learning process. To put it simply, they must get participants’ ideas about what topics to cover and then let them work on projects that reflect those ideas. Allow the participants to assume responsibility for presentations and group leadership. They have to guide participants to their own knowledge rather than supply them with facts. They must show participants how the course will help them reach their goals.

Adults have developed many life experiences and knowledge that includes work-related activities, family responsibilities, and prior education. They need to associate learning with this knowledge/experience foundation. To accomplish this, teachers should draw out participants’ experience and knowledge that is relevant to the course. Relate theories and concepts to the participants and acknowledge the value of prior experience in learning.

Upon enrolling in a course, adults usually already know what goal they expect to attain. They welcome a learning program that is organized and has well-defined elements. After all, adults need to see a reason for learning something. Learning should be applicable to their work or other responsibilities to be valuable to them. Therefore, teachers must identify objectives before the course starts. This can be determined by letting participants choose courses that reflect their own ideas of what is needed.

Adults focus on the areas of a lesson most useful to them in their job. They may not be interested in information for its own sake, so instructors must tell participants how the course will be beneficial to them on the job. Finally, adults need to be shown respect. Teachers must recognize the value of experiences that adult participants bring to the course. These adults should be treated as equals in experience and allowed to speak their opinions freely. Solo Learning can help your company tailor-make learning courses that allow adults to act and learn as adults, benefiting your company in both employee morale and profitability.

Journey Groups exist to lead people, through relational connections in groups, to become fully devoted followers of Christ.  That being said, what the heck is a ‘fully devoted follower of Christ” anyway?

The REVEAL 2008 conference, hosted by Willow Creek Church in Chicago hosted a terrific lecture-style overview of their ongoing work with a study of spiritual formation among churches across the country of all shapes & sizes.  What they discovered can be read in a few short books at www.revealnow.com .

For this blog though, the real application for Journey Groups was an intense awareness of how most churches (us too) have approached group ministry in a one-size-fits all group model.  Reveal validated our purposes around Connect, Grow, & Serve but opened the door for discussion on how those purposes work themselves out over the life of a person’s spiritual journey from exploring christianity to live a Christ-centered life and multiple steps in between.

Is your group ‘plan’ taking into account the unique spiritual needs of your members?  If anyone is using a ’spiritual assessment tool’ I’d be interested in hearing how that is going for you…

What have you downloaded recently?  Podcasts, MP3 files, updates to applications, or maybe a virus?  Downloading is the process by which we either update an outdated application or acquire brand new information.  I have recently downloaded a new small group model that has revolutionized our purpose with Journey Groups to the point that I have been overwhelmed with upgrading all our leaders non-stop this Fall. 

Essentially, we’ve take our core purposes as a church (REACH, CONNECT, GROW, SERVE, & REFLECT) and identified what ministry really OWNS these purposes.  Which have the most influence on the church actually achieving these purposes, and came away with Groups owning 3 of the 5.  Groups give us the unparalleled opportunities for connecting relationally, growing spiritually, and serving locally.  The application we have been running was based on flexibility and support, but lacked direction & purpose in a way that left groups asking, “are we really being successful at this group thing?”  While groups will remain varied, we have adopted some guidelines around these three areas (connect, grow, & serve) that we are hoping to see revolutionize our Journey Groups.

What have you downloaded lately?  Is God showing up in your group time or are you still running outdated programs?

Many of you know the great impact that the Willow Creek GroupLife conference and Advisory Board meeting has had on me in the last year.  I want to extend an invitiation to any of you considering diving deeper into small group ministry to attend the Annual Willow Creek GroupLife conference in Chicago.

We have been considering hosting the CCN simulcast of the conference to make a local solution available, but have not landed on that option yet…i’ll keep you posted.

If you have any interest, please see all the details HERE !

Now, 38 may not mean much to you, but that is the number of people that attended our first New Group Leader Training event on Sunday night.  We have totally changed over our methods of creating Fully Devoted Followers of Christ through Journey Groups and it has been fully embraced by those at the retreat & the 38 additional leaders!

“What new methods, plans, visions, & resources are you talking about?”, you may be asking…  Well, the next Training will be Sept 21st from 7:00-8:30 and we’d love to have you come find out!!!  If you can’t make that, please contact me directly and I would be extremely happy to buy you coffee or lunch or something and share our vision & passion for the year to come…

Blessings,

Herschel & the Journey Groups Team

What an amazing weekend equipping, encouraging, & being entertained by group leaders!!!  The annual Group Leader Retreat was a huge success, and I so appreciate everyone that carved out time in their busy summer schedule to hang out with us.  We laid out the groundwork for our new groups vision & structure and our new approach to team leadership within groups.

If you missed out, I want to personally make sure you get as much info from the retreat as possible, so we are going to be wrapping much of the content into our New Group Leader Training sessions happening monthly this Fall.  The next one is scheduled for August 17th from 6:45pm-8:30 on Sunday night.

Also, our next big CONNECTION EVENT (GroupLink at Journey) will be happening on September 7th, and leaders that would like to add members should plan on attending the Aug 17th training in order to recruit at the Sept 7th GroupLink.

Finally, I just wrapped up our men’s study this morning for the summer and it reminded me that I am so blessed to serve, study, & ‘do life with’ such devoted & talented Christ followers in our groups.  Tell someone thank you today for ‘doing life with’ you also!

Obvoiusly there are the normal fireworks celebrating the independence of the United States & a wonderful excuse for any dad to enjoy setting fire to stuff with his kids…  but that is not all of the fireworks this month for Journey Groups.  Here are some terrific highlights worth celebrating…

Journey Group Leader Retreat THIS WEEKEND – Huge vision, guest speakers, philosophy & theology changes to our groups ministry model…all coming in just a few short days!  RSVP today if you haven’t already…

Our House series kicked off this last weekend and is ’stage time’ for the message that the House of God (the church) is only established through the House of God (in us & our families)…anybody see Groups written all over that???  DVD curriculum available this Sunday.

New Staff addtion of Don Overton to the team as the Senior Executive Pastor over Adult Ministry…or just “Don” will work also.  Please welcome him aboard!

New Calendar for the year scheduled with huge amounts of resources & regular training opportunities for you and your group’s leadership team…including a New Leader Training on 8/17, GroupLink on 9/7, and brand new Grow Groups & teaching curriculum the week of 9/7.

If you’ve considered leadership of groups for yourself (or others) at Journey now is the perfect time to take the next step and plan on attending or inviting others to attend our new leader training this August. 

Blessings to you all as we see a city transformed, one group at a time.

That’s right!  The 2008 Journey Groups Leader Retreat is coming very soon on July 18th & 19th!  I hope you have all enjoyed your RoadTrip CDs and are getting ready for an awesome RoadTrip: Embarking on God’s Adventure Together.

A Vision talk from Clark, worship with Kyle, catering from Goldie’s, vision about group purpose & planning for the Fall by our Group Leadership team!  The retreat center has hotel style accommodations so just bring your Bible, your spouse, your apprentice leader & spouse, & your toiletries and you’ll be all set.

Registration is after 5:30pm and dinner starts at 6:00pm on Friday the 19th.  The last session concludes at 11:30am on Saturday the 20th.

RSVP to Herschel.

Where in the world is Herschel Thompson?  It has been a whirlwind of a vacation and I am back in the swing of things after traveling 1985 miles with the family and enjoying an awesome time enjoying the midwest & extended family.

However, this week is also ‘2008-2009 strategic planning week’ so our adult ministry team is neck deep in ideas, vision, planning, etc… and loving what God is crafting through our prayers, plans, & research!  Many of you know that we utilize a lot of group leadership materials from Life Church in OKC and Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago, but we are also looking to group models at Forest Hill Church & Seacoast Church out East, Community Christian Church in Chicago, and even from Mosaic Church out in LA.  All that to say that we would benefit extremely from your prayers this week as we craft our best plans yet as we rely on the holy spirit’s direction & leading.

Also, as a great new tool for you that i just stumbled across in my research, check out www.buildingsmallgroups.com for some neat leader tools.

I am amazed at how easily I forget how very different we are called to be as Christians.  I rode with a bicycle group here in town this week for the first time and there were about 35 riders.  I am a social & friendly guy and tried to start up a number of conversations only to be sized up and tolerated.  I was talking to my wife about it later and she had a similar experience at our son’s baseball game.  Idle polite conversation with a healthy heaping of tolerance.

Who in the world wants to just be tolerated?  We want to belong!  That feeling that you are a welcome addition to the team, an integral part of the community, that the organization is now ‘complete’ because you have arrived.  What kind of atmosphere are you creating around you when you are at church, in your neighborhood meetings, at the ball fields, in the community, but ESPECIALLY in your groups!  New, old, regular attenders… everyone in your group needs to experience the ’sense of belonging’ every week.  God has fully accepted us, removed all condemnation, and made us joint heirs with Christ.

Please don’t ‘tolerate’ your group members this week, help them BELONG.

“It is a terrible thing to look over your shoulder when you are trying to lead and find nobody there.”

- Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Most of you are very familiar with the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-32 and many have heard it renamed the parable of the ‘mericiful father’ since the storyline really is about the grace & forgiveness shown by the father to his 2 sons and not just about the lost boy that returned.

Our staff was challenged by Brooke Harrison, our Senior Exec Pastor over Children’s Ministry, with this passage during our chapel time this morning, and I couldn’t stop thinking about the application of this to your group.  Yes, I said YOUR group!  What would happen if YOUR group treated every prodigal the way a loving father would treat his son?

Does that mean your group picks up homeless people, or give $100 to a hungry high-schooler?  No.  There are definitely consequences to our actions and we are challenged to be good stewards of God’s money, BUT the twist in the story really was the ‘unreasonableness’ of father’s actions in welcoming his wayward son home.

Consider what ‘unresonable’ actions you and your group could take to welcome a prodigal home.  Using only first names, share about a prodigal or two that you know about, and discuss ways to unreasonably welcome him/her home.

Lastly – Brooke challenged all of us with this quotation, “You exist to be the church – not just come to church.”  Way to go pastors!  You rock.

Hey Journey Leaders, just wanted to remind you that we need your help in fully testing out the trial run of the Church Teams website.  Please check out my emails from last week for the links, enter your group data, and respond to the email reminders.

This seems to be a fantastic system that will be a joint venture with our existing database, but replace all our excel tracking forms.  Plus it will give you tools to communicate with your groups easily, update group info at your convenience, AND give those looking for groups accurate info.

As we get everyone’s data entered I will be blogging on some of the features to give you more info…