Last week, I attended the Orange Tour at National Community Church in Washington, D.C. The theme was “Lead Change…Lead Small.” The first half of the day was spent talking about leading change (in various ways) while the second half of the day spoke to the importance of small groups and leading small groups.
It was my very first time hearing Reggie Joiner speak and I thoroughly enjoyed the passion and inspiration that his talks offered. He spoke for all three main sessions. In addition, I attended two breakout sessions that corresponded to the theme. Here are my notes from all three main sessions. (I will post the breakout notes tomorrow.)
Opening Session – “Lead Change” – Reggie Joiner
Change is not an option, but how you respond to it is.
3 Possible Responses to Change:
1. Ignore it and drift nowhere.
2. Hold on and let it drive you where you don’t want to go.
3. Make an adjustment and use it to get where you want to go.
When you lead change you decide to make adjustments to present methods for the sake of a sacred mission.
25% of Americans treat Sunday like a holy day. Everybody else treats Sunday like a holiday. What if you stopped counting the people who come to your church every Sunday and started counting the people who don’t?
If you don’t change, you run the risk of being:
- Irrelevant
- Disconnected
- Ineffective
It’s time to change:
- How we treat every FAMILY
- How we communicate our MESSAGE
- How we develop LEADERS
- How we prioritize for SMALL GROUPS
- How we DISCIPLE a generation
- How we redefine the CHURCH
“At some point, most of us stop doing ministry out of our imagination and start doing it from memory.” Mark Batterson, Pastor of National Community Church
Session 2 – “Lead Small” – Reggie Joiner
Our strategy doesn’t matter if God is not a part.
What you do for a FEW will always have more potential than what you do for MANY.
If you are a small group leader, it’s just as important that you know what you ARE NOT as that you know what YOU ARE.
Nothing is a substitute for relationships.
- God created us for community.
- Jesus illustrated community.
- The Church practiced community.
(1 Thessalonians 2:8)
Small Group Leader “To Do’s”:
1. Be present. Connect their faith to a community by:
- Showing up predictably (consistently)
- Showing up mentally (coming prepared)
- Showing up randomly (at events important to the child)
2. Create a safe place. Clarify their faith as they grow by:
- Leading the group
- Respecting the process
- Guarding the heart
3. Partner with parents. Nurture an everyday faith by:
- Cuing the parents (parents should know the plan)
- Honoring the parents
- Reinforcing the family (do not compete with family time)
4. Make it personal. Inspire their faith by your example by:
- Living in community–your small group of kids is NOT it!
- Setting priorities
- Being real
5. Moving them out. Engage their faith in a bigger story by:
- Moving them to someone else
- Moving them to be the Church
- Moving them to what’s next
You should start packing a student’s bags the day he or she shows up. The goal isn’t to keep them; the goal is to launch them.
Session 3 – “Personal Challenge” – Reggie Joiner
We should not SIGN UP for ministry; we should be CALLED to ministry.
There’s no way to do what you do without getting messy.
There was no way for Jesus to do what He did without getting messy (John 6:53-54)
The Gospel is messy because the cross was messy.
There’s no way to make disciples without THEM getting messy.
Jesus did not call to you to follow Him to safety. Jesus called you to take up a cross and engage in a MISSION.
When serving your children, you have two choices:
- You can protect them; or
- You can engage them.
Did you attend the Orange Tour? What impacted you the most?
