Expert Advice for Small-Group Facilitators

 Just found a great resource for Small Group Facilitators. If these 3 ideas are helpful to you, check out the link below for more from the same author.

• The biggest challenge for facilitators is staying focused on why the group has gathered together—to grow and develop people. It's all about people. It's not about your agenda; it's not about the great lesson you wrote; it's not about all of the social things that the group likes to do. It's about life-on-life learning. So the facilitator has to help the group avoid getting sidetracked by knowing that there are a lot of good things and bad things that can hijack group discussions, but the group has to stay focused on helping people.
• Tactically, something you can do with dominant people is to seat them right next to you. This takes them out of direct line of sight. When they get eye contact, they often take that as a green light to talk. So having them on your right and left side minimizes that.
• Once you've built the relationship capital, you can start going deeper. Tactically, you can start with the curriculum you study and the tools you use. Americans tend to know more of God's Word than they actually apply. So if you want to take your group deeper, the issue generally isn't how to get more biblical knowledge into them; it's how to get them to act on it.

Source: Expert Advice for Small-Group Facilitators | Building Small Groups

How Do You Fire A Volunteer?

 Found the following question and I wanted to hear your ideas. Post comments below. Just so you know, I don't have anyone on this list right now. I would just like to get ideas for when this inevitably will show up.

Peter Hamm writes: "I think it's possible that the hardest thing we have to do in ministry is letting a volunteer go. Sometimes it's because they do something they shouldn't, sometimes it's because it's a bad fit for them and their giftedness, sometimes it's because they just can't do the job. For instance, what if your welcome team has someone on it who never smiles and insults people as they come in?...

An extreme example, I know, but what happens when you have to let this person know you need to re-direct them into something else. Or say it’s a person who serves in Children’s ministry who just can’t connect with the kids, or even frightens them. Or perhaps it’s someone who just doesn’t get what your church’s mission and vision are, and they do more grumbling than serving.

The most difficult thing for me is creative artistic people, especially singers/worship leaders. (I’ve had some recent experience with this, as we re-aligned our worship teams, and I’m still wading through the fallout on this.) This is the one ministry in our church where easily three times as many people want to participate regularly than I can handle, and some of those people just can’t do it in the way that we have, with God’s guidance, concluded it should be done in our environment (This is a small number, I’d estimate less than one-third of those interested). Others are competent and dedicated, but just not up to the level of some others, who need to be used in this area of their giftedness.

Add to that that artists and singers and creative types tend more than others to integrate their whole value as a person with the thing they do (sing, play, act, draw, paint...) and you have a recipe for ministry nightmares.

So, I’m curious, what kind of tips have you picked up over the years to help you with this? How do you approach people? What secrets have you learned that you could share with the rest of us?

Source: MondayMorningInsight.com > How Do You Fire A Volunteer?

AYCE: All you can eat

Just received the following and thought it was superbly written. If the snippet I provide below whets your appetite, click on the source link then come back and leave your comment. 

If you’ve ever been to an All You Can Eat buffet then, most likely, you’ve seen or experienced this scenario.  The sights and smells have you thinking about second helpings before you even pick up a plate. You begin working your way through the buffet but before you know it, the coaster sized dish they call a plate is full.   Now, the less experienced will just grab a second plate.  However, a true buffet veteran might skip the vegetables altogether, use gravy to keep everything from sliding off, or just add an entire second story. 

Too often, I believe, this is the way I treat God’s teaching.  Whether from scripture, sermons, books, conferences, seminars, devotionals, newsletters, blogs etc…it’s all great stuff but as it begins to stack up I’m not always sure what to do with it.

Source: Guest Blog: Travis Petty at LifeChurch.tv : swerve

There is none righteous, no not one!

 I just read of a book being released today by a journalist who tried to obey every rule in the Bible for just ONE YEAR. Read below to see if your curiosity gets piqued, then click on the source link on the bottom of this post to read more. Return and leave your thoughts.

After A. J. Jacobs spent a year reading the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica for his book “The Know-It-All,” he figured he had the yearlong experiment thing down. How much harder could it be to follow every rule in the Bible? Much, much harder, he soon discovered, as he found himself growing his beard, struggling not to curse and asking strangers for permission to stone them for adultery. Jacobs spent the year carrying around a stapled list of the more than 700 rules and prohibitions identified in the Good Book, and also consulted with religious leaders and spent time with the Amish, Hassidic Jews and Jehovah’s Witnesses. He spoke to NEWSWEEK’s Jennie Yabroff about his experience and his new book, “The Year of Living Biblically” (Simon & Schuster), which goes on sale Oct. 9.

Source: MondayMorningInsight.com > Journalist Decides to Follow Every Bible Rule for One Year

$8 Hot Dog

How do you use what you have received from God?

Advice from a leader of leaders: Balance

I read the following in a blog by one of my favorite pastors, Chuck Swindoll. 

My word to those of us engaged in ministry can be summed up in four words: keep a healthy balance.

If you teach, also remain a good student. Stay teachable. Read. Listen. Learn. Observe. Be ready to change. And then . . . change! Admit wrong when you are wrong. Stand firm where you know you are right. Since you are called to be leader, make sure you also follow well. You cannot do it all, so delegate and deliberately allow others to help you. And when they do it well, give them the credit. Our calling is serious, so cultivate a good sense of humor.

Source: The Pastor's Soul, Role, and Home.: Balance