When Your Counselor Calls You Intense
The Session I've seen a counselor on and off for years and every once in a while something really hits home. My last session was one of those times. My counselor asked, “Have you ever thought about how you come across as intense?” I nervously laughed for a minute, but inside my head it was like the world stopped and my life flashed before my eyes. I was thinking, “OH NO! My counselor thinks I’m intense!” What does it mean when the dude people pay to listen to their intense thoughts for a living, thinks you're intense?! And what does it ...
5 Music Videos Every Christian Needs to See
Remember what it was like to feel far from God? I was talking with a friend recently who described feeling like "something" was missing from his life. For some people it's a distant memory while for others it's a daily reality. The truth is, the further we get from the time we felt far from God, the easier it is to forget what it was like. Every once in a while a song comes out that immediately makes me remember. If you're a Christian, I hope the messages in these 5 songs will help you remember that everyday people are searching for.....something. ...
The Best Part of Leading a Group
I remember this past fall, peering around the room at my new small group. I wondered how well this group was going to go. Yes, I’d been through this many times before, but sometimes you wonder if this is the group that just won’t click. Connection was slow the first few weeks, but people consistently came. Everything was fine but not necessarily great. That is, until the night we began to talk about family. As I asked a question about how our family has influenced who we are today, one of my group members took a deep breath and said ...
Is It Possible to Do Good?
I’m not sure I’ve ever done a truly selfless thing in my life. I’ve served in Haiti, helped the homeless, visited the sick, taken out the trash without being asked, and yes, even helped a little old lady cross the street. (I’m not 100% I’ve done that last one- but you get the idea.) I find that every time I attempt to make some significant stride for God, I’m conflicted. There’s a part of me wanting to serve because I want to see great things done for God. But, there’s another part wanting to serve because it’ll make me feel ...
The Marriage Challenge
Maybe you always thought the first marriage was a match made in heaven. You thought Adam and Eve were a picture of perfection in paradise. For a time that may have been true. But then, as they disobeyed God, and sin began to infect everyone and everything- something happened. Adam and Eve had marriage problems. Adam blamed Eve for eating the forbidden fruit. But, when Eve was faced with great temptation, Adam was nowhere to be found. They were selfish, only worrying about themselves in front of God. And as both Adam and Eve listened to voices other than God, their relationship ...
How Size Matters, Part 2: House Size
Our Groups are Too Small? A few years ago I was at conference talking about groups and the lead church proposed that larger groups, made up of 30-50 people, on mission together, could be more effective than smaller groups of 10-15. As they explained this idea, I agreed with a lot of the things they were saying but I knew we had a huge problem! The host church was situated in a more affluent part of the state with bigger houses that could fit 30-50 people. I live in an older area with a little smaller, post World War 2 ...
Group Stressors: Food
Something special happens when people eat together. You relax and sometimes laugh. It gives your group something common to talk about so you can say things like, “Man, this is good, how’d you make this?” If nothing else, it gives you a way to hide awkward conversational silence. But, there’s no way around it, having dinner at small group is stressful! I think it’s most helpful to remember that there are no rules a group has to follow when it comes to eating. It is helpful to offer something. People will relax and open up easier as a group if they’re ...
7 Simple Questions to Begin a Small Group (with free download)
As we began our yearly preparations for small group to begin about a year ago, I began to feel bad about how many times I had to e-mail our leaders for their group info. It felt like I was bugging our leaders- which I never want to do. Finally, I decided to sit down and figure out all the info I needed so I could ask them in one easy step. After I received their info, I made a simple excel sheet to find out where there are holes and could easily follow up. As I'm working through this process ...
Discipleship is _________________?
If you had to answer the question, “What does discipleship look like at your church,” what would you say? What kind of disciple is your church trying to create? Every book/article I’ve read on discipleship recently keeps coming back to this main question. Since our church (Velocity) began 5 years ago I've always thought we answered that question pretty clearly through our mission statement. “Velocity exists to Ignite the Faith that Fuels Your Life to Impact the World.” For the last 5 years we've explained our statement in the following way. We want to help people Ignite their faith for ...
3 Things Jesus Calls Us To
Thanks to Mike Carlisle for collaborating on this post. http://radicaltreeoflife.blogspot.com God asks His followers to commit completely to following Him and there's only one other type of relationship on earth that can be compared to that level of commitment: marriage. There are 3 things that Jesus calls us to that are similar to the commitment of marriage. (1 and 2 won't make sense until you understand 3.) 1. An Exclusive Relationship: You can't say you love your spouse and have a boyfriend/girlfriend on the side. In your commitment to marriage, your committing to love and pour all your affection into ...