Aug

28

Dealing with Members with Personality Disorders

August 28, 2007 | 2 Comments

I just read an interesting article on Brain Based Business. While the article discusses dealing with people with personality disorders in the workplace, the same principles apply to such members in small groups.
You may run into people in your group who exhibit personality disorders. Of course, you aren’t qualified to deal with them on a […]

Aug

25

Lead Where You Are

August 25, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Mary Schaller at SeekerMinistries.com has a great post today. She attended the Willow Creek Leadership Seminar, and discusses Bill Hybels’ challenge that we as leaders (and I would add, everyone else) are responsible for inspiring ourselves as opposed to expecting someone to do it for us.
This is such a great point. How often have you, […]

Aug

24

Review on Wineskins for Discipleship

August 24, 2007 | 1 Comment

Heather Zempel, the Pastor of Discipleship at National Community Church in Washington, DC., just posted a wonderful review of Why Didn’t You Warn Me? How to Deal with Challenging Group Members on her blog, Wineskins for Discipleship, and on Amazon.com. Thanks, Heather.

Aug

23

Servant Leadership

August 23, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Nathan Gonzales of the National Community Church in DC has a wonderful post today on ZoneGathering.com. He talks about the importance of being a servant leader or shepherd of the flock God has entrusted to you. This is a great reminder for all of us in ministry as we begin a new year. Am I […]

Aug

18

Dealing with Divorce

August 18, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Divorce is certainly a challenge. We hate it, yet it’s becoming increasingly prevalent in the church. If you’re a leader dealing with divorce among group members, BuildingSmallGroups.com has just released a Training Download called Dealing With Divorce in Your Small Group. It includes seven articles plus additional resources. I’m delighted that my article, Living in […]

Aug

14

Authentic Parenting in a Postmodern Culture

August 14, 2007 | 3 Comments

I’ve been reading Authentic Parenting in a Postmodern Culture by Mary DeMuth as part of her blog tour. This book would make a great discussion guide for a parenting group, especially for parents of school age children. Mary offers lots of practical parenting hints, illustrated with stories of her family. I especially like the many […]

Aug

9

The Praying Leader

August 9, 2007 | Leave a Comment

The Zone Gathering, the online community for leaders of National Community Church, has a wonderful post on the importance of prayer for leaders. I know this is a constant problem for many of us. We get so busy doing the work of the Lord that it’s easy to leave him out. I know that life […]

Aug

8

Empathy vs. Sympathy

August 8, 2007 | 2 Comments

The July-August Mighty Oak Ministries newsletter featuring an article on Communicating with Empathy was mailed last week. If you aren’t on the mailing list, you can read it here.
I received an email from a friend who said, “I would have loved to see you compare examples of how not to give sympathy in a way […]

Aug

1

A New Small Group Opportunity

August 1, 2007 | 1 Comment

I’m excited to announce that I’ve been invited to serve as an Editorial Advisor for BuildingSmallGroups.com and other small-group resources at Christianity Today International. This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to the small group community. Be sure to visit their website.
In addition, CT and SmallGroups.com have announced their intention to combine their efforts to […]