Small Groups Begin June 6

We are so excited to announce the new small group line up for our summer session.  For the first time there are multiple topics on multiple days.  Pastor Ward has been working for months training our small group leaders and we are taking the month of May to get everyone signed up for a group.  Our Summer Session goal is 200 sign-ups in 11 classes!  If you still like Sunday School, no problem, we have groups for you.  If you like home groups, no problem, half of our groups meet in homes.  If you want a ladies group, we got that.   Childcare? Many of our groups have kids and youth group times built-in.  Our goal is to help everyone related to our church know and follow the Word of God.  You can check out the online catalog here.

WE

One of the most valuable things in our church is the power of "WE." I think most churches have experienced the frustration of finding small group Bible Study material that is not only scriptural and helpful, but relevant to the DNA of that particular church. Most material out in church world is denominationally driven or written for a specific church and then marketed to the masses. As with most mass produced items, much is lost in flavor and nutrient. "WE" have been writing our own Adult Bible Studies for several years and today we will be taking another step in the development process. A team of our Bible Fellowship Leaders will begin meeting each week to collaborate on the discussions. Our goal is to create discussions that will give us opportunity for iron to sharpen iron and to teach our people to go to God's Word to for relevant answers to today's biggest questions.

Bible Fellowship

We are moving all of our present Bible Fellowship Tables to meet at 9:30 on Sunday mornings. This is partly to improve timing for the Classic Service, as well as a way for us to emphasize Bible Fellowship as the key ministry of our church. We will be working over the next three weeks on Wednesday nights to find ways to emphasize and organize our Small Group ministry. We will begin by removing the bulk of the responsibility from one "table leader" and dispersing the leadership to everyone at the table. This part of our overall team approach and will greatly improve the quality of the Bible Fellowship Tables. Here are the new positions.

1. Learning – This person takes responsibility for leading the discussions each week. They will give greater time to studying the passage and work with the other teachers on building the lesson.
2. Gathering – This person will keep in contact with the members of the table via phone and email, and keep everyone up to date with the events and projects of the group. They will also follow up on absentees.
3. Inviting – This person will scout out newcomers and people who may not be part of a small group. It is their job to invite people to join the table for Bible Fellowship and any other events that they feel would connect people to the group.
4. Enjoying – This person will be in charge of scheduling monthly events for the groups. Such events would include, shared meals, game nights, trips, sports, etc
5. Caring – This person would take charge of the group prayer list, and organize their table to meet the needs of those in their group. This may include, prayer, rides to the Dr., and meals.

It is our goal that each group would not only have one person fulfilling these roles but each one teaching someone else to carry on that function.

In The Daily

Yesterday we launched a new study through the book of Ephesians on our devotional blog, "In the daily" You can find a link on the right sidebar. Our small group Bible Fellowship tables will be discussing a chapter each week on the topic of Building Life Together in Disney's World. We know that working in a vacation town is difficult and vastly different than either the big cities or the small town. In this study we will look at the bustling city of Ephesus and how the faithful there were challenged to live for God in a town built to house the great temple of the goddess Dianna. It is our goal that everyone in the church join one of these small group studies on Sunday, that they will read along in the prescribed reading plan, and take a few minutes to read the devotional blog. By doing this we know that our small group study will move from on Sunday to in the daily. And it will have a much greater impact in our lives.