Basic Training 4U

I am thrilled to have such a capable group of leaders upon which to build the small group ministry at Crossroads.

Basic Training for small group leaders starts week after next, Wednesday February 28th at 6:30 p.m. in the Cappetta Home (2 Exchange St. Hopkinton). If you can't get there for 6:30 p.m., come when you can. The training will be February 28th, each Wednesday in March, and potentially the first Wednesday in April.

The idea behind basic training is to give you a small group experience with all the basics. I will lead:

• an icebreaker,
• a worship time,
• a Bible application time (based on the Sunday sermon)
• a time for us to minister to each other
• and a vision time (to challenge us to reach out).

I will show you how to lead these elements. I will ask you for feedback on the experience so that we can refine it before we start the pilot groups in April.

The groups are slated to start the 2nd week of April. The idea on the table is to host a party in each of the houses hosting a small group. This gives everyone in the church a chance to sample these new groups.

I am creating a leadership community via blog so that we can interact between meetings. I don't expect you to spend all your free time there, but check it out every once in a while and share your thoughts by commenting.

Vinnie

Made to stick?

If there is any idea within the church that we want to stick, it's the idea of people gathering together in the name of Jesus to live life as He did.

Made to Stick offers six steps to creating a sticky message:

1. simplicity: strip ideas to their essentials
2. unexpectedness: use counterintuitive examples
3. concreteness: include sensory information
4. credibility: ideas must be testable by the user
5. emotions: disgust, sympathy, resentment--they all work
6. stories: people love a good tale.

As we attempt to cast a vision for LIFE groups at Crossroads, what can we learn from this ?

Some people can't handle community

This young woman faked her own death b/c she didn't know what to do with the group of friends who cared for her so deeply.

Woman's tragic tale just a tale after all

What lessons can we learn from people like this who have childhood attachment problems that are still affecting them today? What can we do to reach out to people like this?

Building a church of small groups

This past week, I was talking to a friend outside the faith explaining to her my role at Crossroads and the process of building an infrastructure of small groups in the church to ensure that people are cared for. She yelled into the phone, "Vinnie, your job is so cool." I think it is cool, but it was nice to hear this from someone else.

When I went to pick up the book "Building a Church of Small Groups" from the Hopkinton Library, the Librarian commented, "That's an interesting theory." I responded, "Yeah, we getting ready to test that theory at our church in Framingham." "Good luck," she said sincerely.

Here is something to think about from the first pages of this book, "What would it look like if the local church got serious about Biblical community and making it accessible to everyone?" I guess it would look like what is going to happen at our church, because I hope our church "gets more and more serious about Biblical community and making it accessible to everyone."