I just wanted to share with you some questions I have been pondering this week.

What is the most important thing you want people to remember you for?

What are you doing now to make that happen?

Is the world impacted by your presence?

What would the world say distinguishes you from itself?

It is so easy to get caught up in numbers. Numbers tell us if something is profitable, if someone is winning, or if something or someone is successful. Stop thinking about the numbers. Someone once told me, “If you are responsible in the small things, then you are more likely going to be responsible in the big things.”.

I have been talking about my experiences with small group ministry. I am not an authority and do not wish to be thought of as one. What may work for me may not work for you but experience shared can many times help someone come up with a better idea. Small Groups are about the discipleship and growth of a believer. They can offer fellowship and community, allowing believers the ability to encourage, and be encouraged, confess, and serve. My focus right now is in student ministry and student ministry discipleship.

The other day I talked about experience I have had with high school guys in my small group. We have focused on spiritual growth and numbers have been secondary. Small Groups are never meant to be large and that is why they are labeled small. What if your group only has 3 students? Why do you want more? I have learned that the more I have the less one on one time I can spend with each of them. A majority of us that lead a small group are in other careers and have families and our time is absorbed in those areas. The little extra time we have to devote to small groups should never be about quantity but quality. If you do not have the time you need to be more efficient with the time you have.  I have talked to people that lead small groups and they start curriculum just to start curriculum. They desire to see their students grow but they do not know what their students need. This all goes back to asking your students question to see where they are spiritually and how you can encourage further growth. If we honor God with the 3 that we have then He may give us the opportunity for more.

Once our guys have started to buy in to growing spiritually I have seen them start talking about inviting others. There is nothing more powerful than word of mouth. If your students are experiencing change themselves they will have the desire to share with their friends or will be asked by their friends whats going on.

Instead of focusing on recruitment, focus on retention. Why aren’t students more committed in attending small groups? Why aren’t adults more committed to attending small groups? I have seen students leave because they are confused, challenged, but more than not because they are not ready. How do you get a student ready? You get a student ready by knowing them. Many times we don’t jump on this early enough. Small Groups are not for getting to know students but for developing God Chasers. Know a student and grow a student. Why would they want to be challenged by someone that doesn’t truly know them? If a student is confused about who God is, why would they be in a discussion that they don’t understand? Once we know them then we can lead them appropriately. I only have two guys that regularly attend my small group and my focus has been on using what I have learned about them to formulate a plan that helps them grow with a solid foundation in Christ. The joy I have in this small group is something that I wish every other leader of a small group could experience. If God allows our group to grow, then I am all for it. Don’t judge your success in numbers but in what God is doing in the lives of your students.

Small Groups allow the church’s youth ministry’s core to grow, and develops a healthy spiritual foundation to grow numbers in the overall ministry. If this did not happen then the depth would be extremely shallow. Small groups or any discipleship is the backbone that allows a student ministry to build successfully upon. Your leadership is important in building the kingdom of God.

I wanted to write pt. 2 of my post on small groups today and completely forgot about the election today.

My hope is that everyone got out to vote. Something amazing happened tonight and that was the election of the first African-American President. (LIKE YOU DIDNT KNOW)

It really does not matter how I or you voted but what matters is that we lift this newly elected President up in prayer. The moment has happened and now has passed and it is time for Christians to remember that God is still in control of things. I do not mean to sound cliche’. This new President has some challenging times ahead and my God is so big that He can effect those decisions. I hope everyone believes that. It does not matter what we have read, heard, or seen about this new President, but what matters is God is God.

We can look at two different aspects of this.  The first, “Is your group growing spiritually?” and the second is, “Is your group growing in numbers?”.  Which of these questions is most important to you?  Does one have a direct impact on the other?

In this first post I want to talk about some things that have worked for me with the student group that I am currently working with.  I want to focus on the first question.  Is you group growing spiritually?  If we cant answer this question then the second question is irrelevant.  I have had the privilege, this semester, to work directly with a small group of high school boys.  The first thing that I wanted to confirm is their understanding of salvation and what it meant to be a Christian.  Once we were able to talk through this and I was confident in their understanding we could move on to determining other things.  This approach not only allowed us to get to know them better but showed them that we cared about them beyond the scope of this world.

Next, we wanted to see what foundation they had to build on.  We spent time asking them questions.  How often do you read your Bible?  How often do you pray?  These are just some questions to help determine discipline and  practice in their lives.  This gave us answers as to the areas, in which we needed to work with them.  Through conversation we were also able to determine how they saw God and how they saw themselves.  We asked them questions such as, “When you die what is the most important thing you would hope people would say about you?”  Some people may say that this is pretty intense but substantial growth cannot be made unless it is intentional.

Now I look forward to working with them to lay the necessary foundation for them to grow.  I want them to know who God is.  I want them to grow up to be the spiritual leaders that their homes and countries need.  If we coddle then we get a bunch of babies, but if we meet them head on with compassion, acceptance, and truth we will build a man chasing after God.  How can we train students if we never ask the questions?  How can we meet their spiritual needs if we never know what they truly need?

Tomorrow, I will be posting part two of this topic and focusing on the question “Is your group growing in numbers?”.  I will talk about the how and the why?

Temptation is something that I struggle with. Bondage is something I do not have to struggle with. Praise God!!!! A couple of weeks ago I was tempted to fall back into sin that had me in bondage a while back. What does this have to say about my spiritual growth? I had not been tempted by this in some time, and now it was rearing its ugly head. I was at a point of choice. Temptation is not wrong but it is the product of that temptation that can be wrong. I felt a sudden desire to get into the Word. I made my choice and went to the Bible, and God needed to show me something to encourage me. I have a new found understanding of what temptation is to me, maybe it is God just tapping me on the shoulder because He needs to show me something in His Word. Maybe your temptation is just God wanting to show you something, we just need to stop saying to Him, “Stop bothering me”.