A Test Always Awaits Us

Scott Wilson wrote a book on the tests God brings into our lives called the Next Level.

This reminds me of Bobby Clintons leadership training.  There are so many tests that God brings us to help us continue on in our Christian growth and get to the next level of that growth.

• Noah: The Tenacity Test
• David: The Waiting Test
• Solomon: The Contentment Test
• Naaman: The Humility Test
• Mary: The “Yes” Test
• The Disciples: The Courage Test
• Jesus: The Wilderness Test

ScottWilsonLeadership.com.

Thoughts on Teaching 2

Again reading Bobby Clinton's blog I ran across this on teaching.

Robertson McQuilkin. He was a fourth model who really impacted my teaching goals (from him I learned the importance of stressing experiential learning**).

Here is an example of an assignment that brought about experiential learning. In this spiritual gifts course I took from McQuilkin, the major project for the class was a paper, which had as its two major purposes,

            •  Identifying my spiritual gifts and
            •  Suggesting a plan for developing myself toward effectively using those spiritual gifts. 

Thoughts on Teaching the Bible

These are from Bobby Clintons blog.

            1. Study your Bible over your entire lifetime;

            2. Know your Bible well;

            3. Believe that the Bible can impact lives;

            4. Enjoy teaching the Bible;

            5. You don’t have to defend the Bible just teach it with power—it will defend itself.

Lessons from a couple of teachers he had:

            Values I learned from Frank Sells included:

     1. Use special techniques to motivate people;
     2. Always apply the word—ministry to the heart should flow out of input from the word.
             Values I learned from Buck Hatch:

  1. Always review so as to integrate the whole—everything should be placed in a broader perspective;
  2. Always learn something new yourself in the course you are teaching;
  3. Never just give truth to the student—make the student, himself or herself, discover the truth;
  4. Use materials that are designed to have the student learn for himself or herself.
  5. Use all of Gregory’s 7 Laws of Teaching.
 
Buck was the best at that of any teacher I have studied under.

Dream: 3

Dream of Leading a Healthy, Growing, Multiplying Group

A. Having a dream focuses direction and channels energy

. we need goals because goals are dreams in increments.

Without goals we lose focus, fail to channel our energy, and are hindered by obstacles.

The big dream is broken down into specific, simple, attainable, and challenging goals.

Goals such as habits of prayer, inviting new people, contacting people, having activities, etc.

Dream: 2

Dream of Leading a Healthy, Growing, Multiplying Group

A. Having a dream aids accomplishment

. Proverbs says that without a vision the people perish. We want Gods vision for a group. This gives us direction and purpose.

Dave Early says "There are many good things in life I never would have accomplished without a dream. Had I not first dreamed about it, I would have never led someone to Christ, read through the Bible, or planted a church." And I have never successfully grown and multiplied a group that I did not have a dream of growing and multiplying.

From: 8 Habits of Effective Small Group Leaders p.21

Dream:

Dream of Leading a Healthy, Growing, Multiplying Group

A. Having a dream increases potential

. Satan wants to keep small group leaders as sleeping giants.  He will constantly whisper lies to small group leaders about what they can't do.  Discouragement and disillusionment is part of his strategy to keep us from Gods best for our lives.

. A dream of what God can do and the difference a small group can make in peoples lives helps drive our faith.

Living for something greater than ourselves (a transcendental cause) is something to live for and strive towards.

ex: The Methodist church traces its roots to a small group that met at Oxford University.  The Methodist church today has 11 million members.

Small groups can be the spiritual hospitals for the hurting and the hothouses for spiritual growth.

Dream the dream of leading a healthy, growing, multiplying group.  Dream of leading your group to multiply every year.  Believe that God can use your small group to make a big difference.