The above picture was taken last night, the first gathering of a brand new small group of awesomely awkward 7th grade guys. See me leaning in on the right? The smile on my face masks a ton of anxiety about the year ahead.…
This week we are still talking about small groups.This week we bring in one of our veteran volunteers to talk about training, leadership, and care for our small group leaders. We had a lot of fun. Check it out!! Hope it Helps, Kurt & AC…
Andy Stanley recently said something to the effect of, “The church should be the safest place to talk about anything.” I’m no Andy Stanley, but the other day while talking to one of our interns I said something that I thought was equally brilliant: “Always make extending the conversation one of your goals.”.…
Discussing suicide is never an easy conversation. With suicide getting more attention in the news lately, it has been revealed that there is a lack of resources to effectively discuss the subject with our students. It is important to have these discussions but it is equally important to have good discussions.…
To wrap up our series on becoming a small group guru, I’d like to prepare a little guru goulash; a delish mish mash of thoughts. * Don’t forget the parents! Leading a small group of 5-10 teenagers also gives you an incredible opportunity to minister to 5-20 parents!…
Week three of this series may be a good time to come clean. I’m not a very good small group leader…a small group guru I ain’t! But I’ve observed some of the best (because I’m so bad I always partner with somebody really good!).…
John Maxwell has said, “Everything rises and falls on leadership”. And while I’m not sure that everything rises and falls on leadership, I think it is true when it comes to youth ministry small groups. The adults you entrust to lead your small groups will make or break your efforts.…
Last Spring, during the SYM Conference, I filmed a teaching video for teams on the Simply Youth Ministry TOOLS site. The video was on creating a safe place within small groups and Sunday school. I wanted to share some of these thoughts with you.…
Are small groups part of your student ministry? Are they working? The traditional small group model may be the last sacred cow of today’s church. Statistically, we know that young people are now the largest, most irreligious generation ever on the rise.…
This year with my small group I decided to try somethings that I didn’t do with my last group, and boy has it paid off. So I thought I’d share with you five things that I’ve tried this year in my small group that has brought them closer, and has also made them more interested in their life with God.…
