Always Make the Bible Your Centerpiece

Recently, I have been putting a passage of scripture for your group to read at the beginning of your meeting time.
If you haven't been doing this, start this week.

It helps remind you and your group what the first and final authority is in your group.
GOD'S WORD.

Not the opinions and impressions of the group members.
GOD'S WORD

Not the latest quote or book you saw.
GOD'S WORD

Read the article here: 
http://www.lifeway.com/groupministry/2014/09/29/always-make-the-bible-your-centerpiece/

Finish the Mission. Leader guide

Read Acts 18:1—17 together.

In one sentence, summarize Paul’s actions in each of the following sections:
In order to get more participation on these 3 questions you can divide the sections up between group members and only have the assigned group members comment.

Acts 18:1—4

Acts 18:5—7

Acts 18:9—11

What is your mission?

General: To live by faith in the Son of God.  Galatians 2:20 

Specific:  Specific things areas.

How will you complete this mission?  (Think general & specific things)

General: 

• See your need for the body of Christ 
• Keep the message of Christ and His cross central which includes preaching the Gospel to yourself 
• Receive the encouragement of Christ's Word 
• Cling to the promises of Christ

At EBC, we talk over and over again about preaching the Gospel to     yourself.  What does this mean and why is it important?

 You can read or recommend that your group read Pastor Shane's post about the Gospel Primer.  Click HERE for the post.

Soul Care with kids can be more than babysitting.

Please read to the end. 
Even if your group doesn't have any children.

I recently posted about Soul Care and children for the whole church
http://blog.emmanuelbaptist.com/soul-care-for-families/

I wanted to provide you as leaders some more details.
In our group, Krista and I are working on this but are planning to have some others lead 

 We have two different Soul Care groups that meet at our house.
1st and 3rd Thursday 6:30 - 7:50
2nd and 4th Thursday 6:30 -7:50
We have a 10 minute time with the entire family.
This is what we did last week.

The Sunday before, the children studied the Wise Men.  
You can find out what the kids are studying by going to http://ekidzministry.blogspot.com

Here was the set up:
Before the families arrived I placed 8 yellow post it notes around the room.  
Four of them are visible in the picture below.
I had the kids, in their seats find the stars but not say anything.
After a minute or two of looking, I had them point out what the stars were.

I told them that the wise men were following one star that led them to the ONE SAVIOR, who they worshiped. 

Here is a video of most of the time.
During this meeting time we had 24 people.



 

Total time:  less than 10 minutes

After this time together, the kids go play together.  
For supervision someone from the 1st & 3rd group comes to help during the 2nd & 4th group. 
And the following week the opposite happens.  
We have the additional help of my mother-in-law who helps out when needed.

BENEFITS:  
Parents, kids and other people learning and being reminded of God's truth as a group.
Families see an example of family worship.
Kids grow to love more than a kids program.  They are learning Bible truths together. They are learning to play together.  They are learning to serve together.
More on the benefits next week.

Three things to remember note from 09.21

Be sure to do your attendance through the website.

1. go to ebcsoulcare.homestead.com.
2. click on the underlined location with your name.
3. type in password rigged4God (case-sensitive)
4. Follow the directions on the pages
5. Be sure to hit submit.

Be sure to log into and watch the video on www.ministrygrid.com

1. Go to this post for info on ministry grid

Check www.soulcare-disciplemaking.blogspot.com for help on how to do the first two things and for other Soul Care information.

Throughout this blog are various posts with tips for specific week's of Soul Care or general training posts.  If there is something specific you would like to share or ask about please email me at soulcare@emmanuelbaptist.com 

The Gospel Goes to Athens

Here are the Soul Care notes for this week

Last week’s challenge was to get the most from God’s Word.  What are you as an individual and you as a group doing to get the most from God’s Word?

This week think about this:  Are you trying to understand the people you serve in order to better deliver the Word that they desperately need?

Read through Acts 17:16—34 together.

What was the basic message Paul told the people?

A good question to examine your life is:  If only I had _______, I would be happy.

What are some things you have placed in that blank that shouldn’t be there? 

What are the four meta-narratives, big ideas, Pastor Duke shared on Sunday?  What is the importance of each one?

1.  God
2.  Man

3.  Sin
4.  Salvation

-Part one – God
-God is Creator (He made the world and everything in it v. 24)
-God is Ruler (being Lord of heaven and earth v. 24)
-God is Transcendent (He doesn’t dwell in temples made by man v. 24)
-God is Self-Sufficient – Asceity (he is not served my human hands as if he needed something v. 25)
-God is Imminent – (he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything v. 25)
-God is Sovereign – (see verses 26-28)

-Part two – Man

 -Man is created

-Man is a worshipper (he makes gold, silver and stone images my his own imagination – v 29)

-Man is ignorant of his Maker (the times of ignorance are overlooked v. 30)

-Part three – Sin

-Man must repent…In his ignorance he doesn’t go the right way…he sins (now God commands all people everywhere to repent v. 30)
 
-Part four – Salvation
- Ultimate salvation (he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness)
-A Savior…Redeemer (a man whom he has appointed who was raised from the dead v. 31)

Think about your life in light of these four things.  Share your salvation story with someone this week.  Use these four themes to focus your story on God and Jesus Christ not you.  Check out blog.emmanuelbaptist.com

A link and a prayer request

If you don't read the church blog check out THIS BLOG entitled  "Don't Do Soul Care because..."

Also, I want to encourage you to be praying for Jon and Melanie Nichol and those in the Perrysburg area.

There is a growing number of people down that way and as of now only one Soul Care group.  

Ministry Grid? What is it?

I have been talking about the ministry grid.
Here are two ministry grid videos.

The first video shows you how to login.
Click HERE for the how to form and email me if you need the promo code. 
If you are still having problems logging in, I will be in room 401 @ noon this Sunday.
There are two video for you to watch right now.
 
These ARE NOT the two videos.  These are ministrygrid how to videos.


MG How-To Spring 2014 UPDATE from Ministry Grid on Vimeo.


This second video shows why ministry grid could prove to be a great tool.



MinistryGrid HolyCause Promo from Ministry Grid on Vimeo.

Getting the Most from God's Word? Soul Care Leader Edition

Thanks for your ministry in the ministry of EBC.
I know a couple of groups cancelled this past week because of the severe rain.
If you did meet be sure to do your attendance at ebcsoulcare.homestead.com.  If you need a reminder on how to do that please let me know.  Remember, we want to do a better job this year of using attendance to help people stay connected.

HERE ARE THE SOUL CARE NOTES FOR SUNDAY with some comments in red.

Check out blog.emmanuelbaptist.com for more about these questions:

Mission pattern in Acts:  penetration of the Gospel; proclamation of the Gospel; prospering of the Gospel; persecution because of the Gospel and preservation of the Gospel.

Which is the better question to ask and why:  "what does this passage mean to me?" or "what does this passage mean?"

If you are wondering, there is a correct answer to this question.  It is "what does this passage mean?"  Here is the honest, harsh truth.  I don't care what the passage means to you!

We can talk about personal applications of the truths and principles found in a passage.  But we cannot discuss your truth and my truth and his truth and her truth.  There is ONE truth.  

As it relates to Soul Care here is what we need to understand:

Sunday morning:  Proclamation of Biblical truth.

Soul Care:  Reminder of Biblical truth and discussion of how to live out that truth.

Throughout the week:  Live out that truth and remind others in your group and in our church to do the same.

Describe a time when you have approached the Word of God with a closed heart.

 
If you watched the video "The Importance of Authenticity in Group Leadership" on ministrygrid.com, you will understand the significance of this question and how it can help you in becoming an even more effective leader.
By the way thank you Bob Flamm, Bobby Cooper and Jon Elston for watching the entire.  You are almost finished Brandon (66%).  Thanks for logging in Pastor Shane and Everett, make sure you watch the videos.  Everyone else be sure to login and do the training soon.

How are you planning to get the most out of God's word? 

Write down some individual AND group plans.  Such as memorizing a verse or passage, attending EBI yourself or as a group, serving in a ministry that stretches me to learn God's Word.

The orientation notes talked about the concept of a growth plan for your group.  This week's sermon serves as another reminder.  

Think about some goals you could do together as a group.  Here is a list of suggestions.

• Memorize the fighter verses together (see www.ebcgrow.com) 
• Commit to reading through the book of Acts two times in the next 4 weeks.
• Develop a plan to multiply your group.  
• Serve someone at Emmanuel who is not part of your group.  You can talk to Jim Kujawa about this.
• Serve in a ministry on Sunday morning OR Saturday together.  I have some ideas if you need help finding somewhere to serve.

Kit Kats and the purpose of Soul Care

At the orientation meeting, I used Kit-Kats to help make a bit.

So when you get a mini candy bar from me remember the big picture of soul care.  

It is more than getting together with people.

It is more than sharing Bible information.

We want to help people know God and grow into Christ (Eph. 4:16).

For this week's soul care time there are no notes.

Use this first week's meeting to connect, reconnect and 

challenge your group to consider how they can grow. 

Here is a good article to read through and get your group thinking about.

"Help for those who feel 'Disconnected' at Church" (www.ordinarypastor.com/?p=14622)

Soul Care Orientation Meeting

Remember Kit-Kats!  They will be coming back!
For Orientation notes pdf click HERE
For Probing Your Soul with Questions pdf click HERE

Why Soul Care and not Small Groups? and a connection with this Sunday's message.

I know we talk about Soul Care being the small group ministry of our church

The reality to remember is that small groups are NOT the goal of this ministry or our church.
We want people to make to make disciples.  We want people to grow and learn how to build relationships with others.

Small group is a good place to connect and challenge one another but it must move beyond your small group. 
Good question to ask your small group is who have you connected with outside of this group.

If you are having a great small group experience through Soul Care that is awesome. 
How are you going to help others in our church and community experience that same fellowship and soul care?

This week there are no Soul Care notes but a great sermon discussion you can have is
how can we demonstrate humility and a genuine love
  for God,
  for those in our group,
  for those in our church and
  for those in our communities.

Top 10 Ways To Find New Group Members

The following is an article to connect members with your group.

www.markhowelllive.com/skill-training-top-10-ways-to-find-new-group-members/

1. Look for people who are already doing the same things you are.
2. If you sit in the same area at the same service every week, you’ll often begin to notice some of the same people.
3. Take a few minutes in your next meeting to talk about who your members know that would be a good fit in your group.  
4. Plan a social get-together (potluck, cookout, theme dinner, chili cookoff, etc.) and invite unconnected friends over.   
5. Volunteer to serve at your membership class.
6. Volunteer to serve as an usher or greeter.  
7. Volunteer to serve at the small group kiosk in your lobby.  
8. Volunteer to serve with…(see a pattern developing? almost any volunteer opportunity will put you in contact with unconnected people).
9. Make sure your group is absolutely, positively, up-to-date in the Small Group Finder.
10. What ideas do you have?  Take a moment and add your tips in the comment section below!

Infographs from Training Time

These are pictures from the training video.

These quote infographs can be found at www.challies.com

These Bible verse infographs can be found at http://blog.biblia.com/

Sunday Night Training Time!

Thank you
  Those who attended the Sunday night training.

I mentioned a video that would be here.
It will not be available until later today (09.02) or tomorrow.