Tag Archive - Bible Study

Raising up Bible Study Leaders

January 12, 2012 in Ministry, Movement Building, Sharing with 0 Comments

Great quote from Brian McCollister, Cru director at Ohio University:

 If you’re not growing the number of small group leaders:

    • You either have a problem on the front end – involving more freshmen
    • Or on the back end – of identifying and developing leaders

 

I think the converse holds true:

If you’re not growing the number of freshmen involved, you are not raising up enough small group leaders (we count “involved” as # of freshmen in Bible studies).

 

Either way, the focus remains: I think the primary win for the spring is growing the number of small group leaders who will lead in the fall (here are some thoughts on how we plan to do that).

 

80/6*2=28

Let’s say we want to involve 80 freshmen in the fall. We need to work backward from there:

  • If an average study has 6 students in it. . . we need 14 successful freshmen studies
  • If each study has 2 co-leaders, at the very least we need to have 28 students leading freshmen studies
  • So our goal for the spring should be to raise up 28 freshman Bible study leaders

 

It’s been said: “Good falls begin in the spring.”

Would love to hear: What is your team doing this spring in order to have a good fall?

What I’m doing for Bible Study

February 17, 2011 in Ministry, Sharing with 0 Comments

I started this blog because, as Russ Martin said in Tithing your Time Online: “By spending five minutes to upload the presentation from your last small group leader training you could save someone hours”.

It’s one of the primary reasons I read so many blogs – to quickly glean from others and use their thoughts for Cru talks, Bible studies, and staff coaching. I feel that it multiplies my time (requiring a lot less prep/admin time so I can spend more time with staff and students).


So hopefully this will help you save some time. Here’s a few things I’m using in my Bible study the coming weeks:

“Repentance is THE way we make progress in the Christian life. Indeed, pervasive, all-of-life-repentance is the best sign that we are growing deeply and rapidly into the character of Jesus.”

  • I’m also using this question from Tim Norman in Bible Study today: “Why do you think it’s important to read the Bible?” followed by his Devil’s Advocate questions and study of 2 Timothy 3:16–17 he lays out in his post (he just started blogging – you should definitely subscribe! And not just cause he’s my boss).
  • For the next five weeks in our Bible study, we will be reading through a chapter a week from Fight Clubs. I’ll have them read through the chapter during the week and then discuss and apply during Bible study. The “Bible” part of our Bible Study discussion will come from digging deeper into the various passages in each chapter. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like this e-book is free anymore. You can preview the intro and 1st chapter here. Or buy it here.

What we fight for: “All else that is good and beautiful flows from him, but our thoughts don’t naturally drift to Christ. This is precisely why we need to fight.”

Why accountability groups fail in this fight: “We need to remove accountability [groups] from the center and replace it with the Gospel. We need to orbit around Jesus, not rules or confession. Instead of groups gathered around accountability, we must gather around Jesus. Only then will we find something truly worth fighting for.”


What are you using right now for BIble Study and Discipleship?


Midweek Ministry Thoughts

February 9, 2011 in Ministry, Sharing with 1 Comment


Student Staff - I posted this a while back on CruPress Green but never linked to it on my blog. So check it out: Student Staff – THE best idea I’ve ever seen in empowering students to lead.


How many times have you heard this from a student: I want to go deep in Bible study?

I almost ditched Cru my freshman year because I thought Cru and its Bible Studies weren’t deep enough. Deep for me was studying prophecies and Revelation. Was I a self-righteous punk? For sure. Am I typical of many Christian students? Probably.

Great post from Trevin Wax on what “going deep” should look like:

  • It’s not learning new facts
  • It’s not coming up with a new list of to-dos

Going deep is:

  • Immersing ourselves in the truth that Jesus Christ bled and died to save helpless sinners like you and me.
  • Seeing the depth of our sin and the depth of God’s grace.

Not only should we implement this in our Bible Studies, I think it would serve us to communicate this vision to our students (lest, like freshman Tim, they think we’re not “deep enough”)


Great thoughts for those of you who lead others (especially in staff meetings):

“Next time you walk into a meeting, consider, How do I want people to feel when the meeting is over? Begin with the end in mind.”

Definitely a good reminder. Mental note to self: do not end staff meetings with to-do’s. End with vision. Even better, end with “THIS is the most important thing you should be doing this week”. Then end with vision on why we must do THIS. You can read the full article from Michael Hyatt – 5 Ways to Energize your Team


Google Translate is a cool free app that was released yesterday that will surely greatly benefit missionaries (and of course, tourists) around the world. You can write or speak a sentence into your iPhone/iPad and it will translate it instantly into one of 50 languages (giving the written and spoken translation). More info here.

The Gospel Propels us Outward

July 16, 2010 in Movement Building with 3 Comments

I used the Gospel-Centered Life Bible study this year with my Senior guys Bible Study and it’s phenomenal.  Almost zero prep.  Incredible heart-probing, Christ centered content.

I just skimmed thru it again this morning during my QT and came across great material to use with students re: being missional. I plan on using this for our student Leadership Retreat to kick off the year.


It’s from Ch. 7 – The Gospel Propels us Outward.

“If the gospel is renewing you internally, it will also be propelling you externally.”

There’s a Bible passage to work thru (Gal 5:13-15), an article and great discussion questions to think thru at the end like:

  1. Identify a missional opportunity in your life in which you are not motivated to do what you “should” do. Here are some categories to jump-start your thinking: showing hospitality to neighbors; actively praying for and engaging with co-workers; sharing the gospel with a family member; serving someone in poverty; giving generously;
  2. What heart issues hinder you from rightly motivated action in this situation?
  3. Repentance: What sin do you see in yourself that you need to repent of?   Faith: What specific gospel promises or truths are you not really believing?

Here’s a link where you can purchase it from World Harvest Mission (it’s written by a couple of former Cru staff – Bob Thune and Will Walker).  You download the file from them – it’s $7 for one copy, $40 for the license to print 20 studies.