7 Lessons I Learned from My First “Lobby”
I just returned from attending my first Small Group Network Lobby Gathering, and I am already looking forward to the 2018 So Cal Lobby (Register HERE), which is March 13-15, 2018! While Derek Olson captured some of the best of the best quotes from the Lobby, I want to share some of the lessons I […]
25 Small Group Quotes from “The Lobby” SoCal 2017
The largest global network of small group ministry leaders, the “Small Group Network,” annually hosts “The Lobby” small group conference in Southern California. Here are the top 25 quotes from this amazing week… People join a small group for content, but they stay for the relationships. – Rick Warren You can’t microwave a great small group […]
7 Absurdly Awesome Apps for Groups Leadership
A few weeks back on a day out with my wife we ended up at the local home improvement store. Eighty-four aisles ranging from showers to shrubs greeted us with the express purpose of expanding my todo list. We’re in the midst of tackling some much needed repairs and updates on our home, and as we […]
Keep Your Eye On The Prize
When Huddle leaders around the world were asked for their most profound small groups learning last year, one pastor in Europe got straight to the point: “It is not numbers and growth but health and balance of purposes that makes the difference in the life of small group ministry. It was the greatest discovery I found […]
Three Realities for Lead Pastors and Small Groups
It is a pleasant fiction to think that a small group ministry can soar in a church by delegating all of the responsibility to an Associate Pastor. A similar line of reasoning would contend that the Lead Pastor doesn’t need to worship because they have hired a worship leader to do that. Of course, nobody […]
The Top 5 Podcasts of 2016
When I was a kid I loved the show MacGyver about a secret agent who saves the day once a week. In every show Mac, as his friends call him, ended up in some impossible life and death scenario where he used just his smarts, a stick of gum, a bit of wire and his trusty Swiss […]
Top Five Benefits Of Joining The Small Group Network
As a ministry leader, you know that being in community is critical to the spiritual growth of your small group ministry. If you are part of the Small Group Network, then you also know it is a great place to build relationships with people who have the same passion for ministry you do. If you […]
An Exponential Leadership Lesson That Most Pastors Miss
I have been a student of small group ministry for many years. Recently I asked the leaders of SGN huddles around the world for one thing that they learned this past year that significantly changed their group strategy. The following is a very insightful comment from a pastor in Australia: “As a Pastor with multiple […]
How You’re Missing out on Feedback
Church people like to give feedback. It comes from a healthy place. Congregation members share directly because they are speaking the truth in love about something they see in you. Matthew 18 conversations help people get to the bottom of conflict. Sins get confessed. Miscommunicated sermon points get corrected. If you’re considering vocational ministry or […]
Three Ideas to Engage Your Lead Pastor as the Groups Champion
As an Associate Pastor who has oversight of small groups at my church, I see a large part of my responsibility as assisting the Lead Pastor to be at the center of our discipleship strategy. This is more of an art than a science, because the Lead Pastor has many demands on their schedule that […]
