Junk Drawer Spirituality

Pin a Tie on a Small Group Leader

Last week,we had a small group fair at Waterfront, advertising our new groups starting up in a few weeks.  And since it was Father's Day, we had the idea that we would ask everyone to give the leader of the small group in which they were interested a necktie.

Actually, they weren't supposed to give them real neckties.  We had cut-out neckties on which they could write down their names and contact info, and then when they left the auditorium, they saw large 24X36 posters of each of our leaders where they could stick their ties.  John McDavitt made the pictures up, and I thought they were brilliant.  Check it out:

Final Day ... Waterfront's First Small Group Session in Review

Today is our official last day of small groups for the Spring session.  We began our first small groups at Waterfront in early February, ran 12 weeks, and now we're coming to a close.

It's been a great semester.  We've seen alot of new people get connected.  We've seen many new people come to a deeper knowledge of God.  And we've all learned some things along the way.

I think in general, our experimental approach at term-based small groups that conclude at semester end has been good.  I'm alittle surprised at the amount of "push-back" we've received from some group members at the idea.  I think after we go through a semester end and semester start, it will seem less scary in the future, but at this stage, there are some who are having a really difficult time conceptualizing what it means for a small group to reach a conclusion and start again.

I've been pleased with the number of new group leaders who have shown interesting branching off to begin new groups next session.  We're seeing some really strong potential for growth and coaching through that.  And recently we've had several people from the outside of our church who've expressed recent interest in participating in Community Life ministry on an internship-type basis.  So potential abounds.

All of that is to say, I'm really excited about where this ministry is headed in our next few seasons.

March Madness and Community

It's that time of year again.  All the teams have been selected.  People are filling out their brackets, starting office pools, placing bets, buying plain tickets, wishing and hoping their team will make it to the Final Four.

It's March Madness Time!

And since I'm always up for experimenting with new forms of community, we openned up a Waterfront Hoops Tournament Challenge to our entire church this morning.  It's all online at Yahoo Sports.  You just go there, enter the password and make your tournament picks.  But it's a way for a person who is not in a small group or who is largely unconnected with our church to take a baby-step toward connecting in a very non-threatening way.  Hope people respond.  I think elements of community can happen with these sorts of things.

And if you're a reader of this blog and want to join in the fun, you're more than welcome.  Just go to http://tournament.fantasysports.yahoo.com/, click "join a Group," and enter our group ID# 36097 and password: waterfrontcc.

    

Milestone At Waterfront

Last night, two very important milestones happened at Waterfront.  First, we experienced our very first baptism.  It was really amazing.  We set up a portable baptismal in the home of one of our church leaders, and filled it up with a garden hose that ran through a portable heating system.  Basically took all day to set up, which was more than alittle bit of a pain.  But the end result was awesome.  A single mom who first came to our church because she saw an article about us in the paper 3 months ago, was baptized and took a major step in her relationship with Christ.  And dude, we had that house packed!  There were probably 50-60 people from our church there cheering her on.  It was great!

Then right afterward, we began our first night of small groups.  Again . . . awesome.  We had 3 small groups meeting in this house (a fourth and fifth will meet on Sundays and the sixth meets in Romeoville), and every group had many clearly engaged and excited people.  I was leading my small group for people who are new to the whole faith and Christianity thing, and we had nine people show up in that group (I call it Square 1).  And it was just cool.

Two very important things happened for us as a church in one night.  And I'm still riding the excitement of that.

Waterfront Community Life

This is a big week for the Community Life ministry at Waterfront.  I'm really excited that we're launching 3 (maybe 4) more small groups this week.  We had 2 small groups going already.  So by next week, I haven't done the math yet, but we should have a pretty high percentage of our Sunday adult attendees connected (which is really exciting).

Tomorrow night, we have a big kick off for our Wedenesday night groups, and Sunday we have one (possibly 2) group(s) that will meet after the service.  It's a pretty exciting time at Waterfront. 

The Couples Group At Waterfront

I'm really excited about all of our small groups starting up next week at Waterfront, and one of the groups that is very exciting to me is our couples group.  Jim and Sheri Mueller are leading this small group, going through the book Love and Respect by Emmerson Eggerichs.  It'll be a great group.

But I'm not sure everyone knows just how blessed we are by these two leaders.  Jim and Sheri not only lead a couples group at Waterfront, but they also are the principle architects and founders of a Christian non-profit marriage ministry called Growthtrac, which helps provide marriage resources for couples.  They also mentor and counsel married and engaged couples on a regular basis.  In fact, yesterday, the Chicago Tribune wrote an article about pre-marital counseling, and they featured Growthtrac and the great work the Muellers do.  It is not a usual thing for a church of our size and relative youth to be blessed with marriage experts and leaders of the Mueller's caliber, but we are.  I'm very excited for this group and ministry! 

Fantasy Football and Community

I'm in a fantasy football league right now with about 6 other people from Waterfront.  I was just thinking the other day how fantasy leagues can actually be great tools for creating community-- fantasy football, fantasy baseball . . .  The other night, we had a leadership meeting that involved several people in our league, and when we sat and started talking, we were all talking about our fantasy football teams and the matchups from the past weekend.  In fact the conversation was so good, those who weren't in our league were kinda wishing they were, I think.  There's something about healthy competition that breeds stronger community bonds.  It makes me wonder how fantasy leagues can be utilized for community building in Waterfront's culture in the long haul.  I always like thinking about alternative ways of building community that extends outside of the the "small group" paradigm.  It would be interesting to see how that might work.  Any thoughts?

My Last Day of "Square 1"

Tonight I am leading my very last day of Square 1 at CCC.  It's a happy and a sad day for me.  Square 1 was a term-based small group I developed when I arrived last summer to help people who have been baptized to transition into the CCC community.  So it was supposed to be a sort of post-baptism small group that would equip people with the basics of faith and being a Chirst-follower, but it ended up being a small group for new believers and seekers as well.

Each group lasted for only 3 months, so since last August, I've led 3 different Square 1 small groups, and 20 total people.  Almost all of those who have gone through Square 1 have gone on to connect in other small groups afterwards.  One Square 1 group decided to stay together after the 3 months and form their own small group.  One person from my second Square 1 group decided to be baptized in January, and another in my current group will be baptized soon as well.

All of that is to say, this has been an exceptionally fun ministry to lead, and I am so blessed to have had the opportunity to do so.  I have had the opportunity to get to know alot of great people and see everyone take a step closer to God no matter where they were at before.  I know I will continue to lead these kinds of groups well into the future at Waterfront.  

Life Transformation Groups

This morning I went to my LTG (Life Transformation Group), which is a cool Small Group-type thing that I started about a month and a half ago with a friend.  It's a ministry developed by Neil Cole (the writer of Organic Church).  For those of you looking for accountability, spiritual development, and community but have a slight aversion to traditional small groups, I think this is a cool alternative.

An LTG is a group of 2 or 3 people meeting every week in a high level of accountability.  Cole developed 10 accountability questions, and the LTG asks each other the same questions every week.  And they're TOUGH QUESTIONS!  her are some examples:

• Have you been a testimony this week to the greatness of Jesus Chirst . . .
• Have you lacked integrity in your financial dealings or coveted something that does not belong to you?
• Have you secretly wished for another's misfortune?
• (And my personal favorite) Have you been completely honest with me?

If you're interested in starting one of these groups, you can go to this website and pick up a "Life Transformation Group Card."  I'd recommend spending the few bucks on the actual card, because there's alot there and it's worth the cost.

Small Groups and Mentoring!!!

I had a phone converation today with Dr. Don Payne.  Dr. Payne is a theology professor, the head of the training and mentoring department,  and overall awesome guy from Denver Seminary.  I was talking to him about some things I've been thinking about with relation to small groups.  Willow Creek recently changed their whole small group structure because they realized that more spiritually mature people weren't really falling more in love with Jesus through their small group ministry.  So in response, Hybels and the gang decided to start offering accountability groups, and "Spiritual Coaches" for more mature Christians, saying at some point maybe some people outgrow small groups and need something else to help them grow.  This has gotten me thinking about how I would structure a discipleship plan at Waterfront CC.

Dr. Payne has done mentoring programs in churches and the seminary, so I wanted his insights, and he gave me alot.  Here are the highlights from my conversation.

1.  To start with, look for a handful of people in your church wwho exhibit excellent discernment and a passion for mentoring and begin building a pool of mentors

2.  Install a good training mechanism for those mentors . . .  There needs to be some sort of touchstone with a director or someone to train mentors on how to mentor well.

3.  Train a team of people to act as "Spiritual Consultants."  These consultants could serve as the sign posts for every person's spiritual journey.  Spiritual Consultants would help a person develop a Spritual Growth Pan (VIM: Vision, Inintion, Means,  a la Willard).  From those spiritual growth plans, the Spiritual consultant can suggest a small group, mentor, accountability partner, class, or service opportunity, etc, where those growth plans can be lived.  Everyone meets a spiritual consultant once a year or so. . .

So that was the gist of my conversation.  What do you think?