Group Highlight (Corlew Group)

First, before I get into their discussion material, I want to share with you two exciting things that are taking place in this group.

They are growing numerically, with a number of new guests attending dinners and discussions. These are family members of the folks already in the group and another couple that is a part of water's edge that was looking to attend one of our LG's.

They also just completed a service project for Christmas. They brought Christmas gifts and spent time with a new mom at the Liberty Woman's Clinic. The mom and staff were so appreciative and the group was charged by the service experience.

As far as curriculum is concerned, they have used the Serendipity Bible for Groups, which has been an excellent resource for them. The Bible has discussion questions for certain scripture passages. You can choose to go through a topical study or take a book of the Bible chapter by chapter. They have done both. Earlier this year, they completed a study of Ephesians. Then we went on to a discussion series pertaining to parenting. They also went through part of a study on discipleship and basic spiritual disciplines. The discussions don't take a lot of prep time, so it is easy to get various people within the group to lead the discussions.

This fall, they went through the Walk Across the Room series (Hybels), and they loved it. They are now in the process of choosing their next lesson. When we are in between a specific series, they usually base the discussion off of the Sunday teaching at Water's Edge, using the discussion questions that are circulated.

Great job Corlew group. Thanks for your serious investment into your faith and the faith of others.

Love and Respect

This months curriculum highlight focuses on Dr. Emerson & Sarah Eggerichs book Love and Respect. The Allred group has decided to tackle the concept of a healthy relationship using a biblical exploration based around Ephesians 5.33 and the therapeutic system that the Eggeriches have developed. The book argues that the Ephesians passage is crucial to understanding how a marriage works. This might seem obvious but the book emphasizes the desire for love and respect in a marriage relationship. These two concepts built around the genders (men - respect, women - love) details how to break unhealthy cycles and provide the depth that is needed to create a healthy relationship. Peace to you all on your journey through this material. For more information you can visit loveandrespect.com.

WE Curriculum Highlight October 2009

This is the first LifeGroup curriculum/discussion highlight that I have done, so I thought I should start with my own group. This highlight is simply to let other groups know the type of discussions and material that other groups are dealing with. Maybe you can get some ideas for your own group.

Starting 2 weeks ago my group began to go through the book "Celebration of Discipline" by Richard Foster. This book is a practical and in depth discussion about what spiritual disciplines are as well as providing some how-to's. The book is broken up into three sections: inner disciplines, outer disciplines, and corporate disciplines. The inner disciplines are meditation, prayer, fasting, and study. The outer disciplines are simplicity, solitude, submission, and service. And finally, the corporate disciplines are confession, worship, guidance, and celebration.

We have chosen to take one discipline each week while taking a break between the sections for a time to just hang-out. At the end of each discussion we pose a challenge to incorporate an aspect of that discipline into our week and then share our experiences the following week. The discussions are based out of the chapters but are not limited to its content. Each person brings a question or comment about the particular discipline we are studying (for instance prayer) and shares during the discussion.

So far things are going well and we are learning a great deal about these important disciplines for life. Here is a kind of thesis statement of the material.

"The purpose of the Disciplines is liberation from the stifling slavery to self-interest and fear. When the inner spirit is liberated from all that weighs it down, it can hardly be described as dull drudgery. Singing, dancing, even shouting characterize the Disciplines of the spiritual life."

Godin Passion Series

Beautiful....

Spiritual Disciplines

Often times we think spiritual disciplines are reserved for only the pious among us. Typically they are relegated to what are called internal disciplines; such as study of Scripture, prayer, and meditation. Clearly these should be practiced, but I want to suggest something...that these exercises in no way exhaust or complete the necessary spiritual disciplines. Uh oh...here comes the list of rules we have to follow, right? Hold on a sec.

Spiritual disciplines are not about rules to follow or something that religious folks should be shoving down the throats of people, projecting them as some type of fence around the relationship that exists between God and God's people. Instead, we must understand spiritual disciplines for what they are; practices which train us to live as people of the good news. Just like an athlete trains for an event, or an intellectual studies for a debate, or a politician practices his shouting skills :)' so too do we train to live according to the teachings of Christ.

Let me explain; the practice of fasting is often misunderstood. I even once heard it described as a brain washing technique used by youth pastors. Fasting is essentially practicing the ability to give up food, especially for the other. We learn to give up what is ours out of love for another. So too is the practice of simplicity; we learn to live with less, so that others may have some. I am reminded of the passage in which Paul talks about restraining personal liberties for the benefit of the other (1 Cor. 8&9) and where he instructs the Corinthians to examine their motives and desires when they participate in the common meal.

Also, we can understand prayer as more than just a petition to God, as if he was some sort of cosmic Santa. Often we spend our time trying to figure out the right words to cajole God into performing some act or miracle in our lives. Certainly there are Biblical calls to petition God, all of which assume appropriate motivation, but what if we were to understand prayer as a way to shape us? Lukas and I say the Lord's Prayer every night. Now the Lord's Prayer is something that shapes us. Think of the words, Your Kingdom come, Your will be done... They reorient our hearts toward a life centered on trust in God. This is a critical piece that we often miss in our training.

Well, I could go on and on but let me end with this: spiritual disciplines are like exercises training us for Kingdom living. They include those internal disciplines but also others like simplicity, submission, service, confession, celebration, feasting, and fasting. May God shape us to be the people we were created to be through Christ our Lord.

David Frum

Thought this was another interesting discussion on healthcare from former Bush administration special assistant David Frum. (Click here)

HealthCare Debate

Wow...just wow. There are some really angry folks out there. My question is do they fairly represent the American public. In a recent CNN poll, when asked the question, "Do you think it is or is not necessary to make major structural changes in the nation’s health care system in order to make sure that all Americans have health insurance?" 77% of people said yes it is necessary. Now I am smart enough to realize that one poll doesn't tell the whole story. But what I can say is that I have a sense that people understand that healthcare is an important issue; in a country where, according to WHO, we spent 15.3% of our GDP on healthcare. We like to be healthy. Unfortunately, many (myself included) seem to not like the work it takes to stay healthy. And, many don't want to pay for it. Which brings me to my main point. There are key things, I believe need to be discussed in the 'Healthcare debate." Here is a great interview with Denise Cortese, CEO of the Mayo Clinic. I thought it was a good conversation about these key issues.