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Group Answers Podcast

Group Answers Episode 57: Heather Zempel

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On this week’s episode, Brian and Chris join Heather Zempel, the discipleship leader at National Community Church in Washington, D.C. Heather answers the following questions:

  • How does discipleship work in a transient community, such as Washington, D.C.?
  • What is the most difficult part of identifying and developing leaders in a big city?
  • How can the church do a better job raising up more women leaders?
  • What are the keys to discipling millennials?

The Group Answers Podcast is a weekly show designed to resource, train, and encourage small group leaders. Each episode considers current trends and resources as well as timeless truths and methods of discipleship. It is hosted by Brian Daniel, a Bible study and discipleship expert in LifeWay’s Groups Ministry, and Chris Surratt, the small group and discipleship specialist at LifeWay and author of Small Groups For The Rest Of Us.

GUEST: Heather Zempel leads the discipleship efforts at National Community Church in Washington, D.C. Heather oversees small groups, directs leadership development training, and serves on the weekend teaching team. Heather can be found on Capitol Hill enjoying the adventures of parenting with her husband Ryan as they raise Sawyer, their fun-loving and energetic daughter. Heather is the author of Sacred Roads, Community is Messy, and Amazed and Confused. You can keep up with Heather here.

Group Answers Podcast

Group Answers Episode 56: Jana Magruder On Kids and Groups

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On this week’s episode, Brian and Chris join Jana Magruder, the Director of LifeWay Kids. Passionate about kids ministry, Jana discusses the following questions:

  • Why is it important for kids to be in a small group as well as a large group setting in kids ministry?
  • What are the essentials to discipling kids?
  • What do children’s ministers look for in a small group leader for kids?
  • How can a church start a kid’s small group system if they don’t currently have one?
  • What should groups do about childcare?

The Group Answers Podcast is a weekly show designed to resource, train, and encourage small group leaders. Each episode considers current trends and resources as well as timeless truths and methods of discipleship. It is hosted by Brian Daniel, a Bible study and discipleship expert in LifeWay’s Groups Ministry, and Chris Surratt, the small group and discipleship specialist at LifeWay and author of Small Groups For The Rest Of Us.

GUEST: Jana serves as the Director of LifeWay Kids. She is a Baylor graduate and offers a wealth of experience and passion for kids ministry, education, and publishing. She is the author of Kids Ministry that Nourishes and Life Verse Creative Journal, the latter which she co-authored with her teenage daughter Morgan Grace. Jana and her husband, Michael, reside in Nashville along with their three children. You can follow Jana on Twitter.

Group Answers Podcast

Group Answers Episode 55: Jeff Vanderstelt on Making Space

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On this week’s episode, Brian and Chris join Jeff Vanderstelt. Jeff is the visionary leader for Saturate and a teaching pastor at Doxa Church in Bellevue, Washington.

Brian, Chris, and Jeff tackle the following questions:

  1. What’s the most neglected topic in the group ministry conversation?
  2. “Gospel fluency”: How can we train one another to speak the gospel to one another?
  3. What leads to group leader burnout?
  4. How do we move group leaders from consumers to owners?
  5. What’s the ideal discipleship environment?

The Group Answers Podcast is a weekly show designed to resource, train, and encourage small group leaders. Each episode considers current trends and resources as well as timeless truths and methods of discipleship. It is hosted by Brian Daniel, a Bible study and discipleship expert in LifeWay’s Groups Ministry, and Chris Surratt, the small group and discipleship specialist at LifeWay and author of Small Groups For The Rest Of Us.

GUEST: Jeff travels around the world training the church in missional living. He is the author of Gospel Fluency: Speaking the Truths of Jesus into the Everyday Stuff of Life, Saturate, and the Bible study, Making Space. You can hear Jeff preach at  Doxa Church in Bellevue, Washington. You can keep up with Jeff at http://www.jeffvanderstelt.com/.

Group Answers Podcast

Group Answers Episode 54: Bill Willits on Groups Systems

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On this week’s episode, Brian and Chris join Bill Willits, the Executive Director of Ministry Environments at North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia.

Brian, Chris, and Bill tackle the following questions:

  1. How do I create long-term small groups?
  2. How do I maintain traction in my small group?
  3. How much does group participation matter?
  4. How do I assess the health of my small group?
  5. What is the best way to maintain retention for both small group leaders and small group members?

The Group Answers Podcast is a weekly show designed to resource, train, and encourage small group leaders. Each episode considers current trends and resources as well as timeless truths and methods of discipleship. It is hosted by Brian Daniel, a Bible study and discipleship expert in LifeWay’s Groups Ministry, and Chris Surratt, the small group and discipleship specialist at LifeWay and author of Small Groups For The Rest Of Us.

GUEST: Bill Willits is the Executive Director of Ministry Environments at North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia. Bill is one of the founders of North Point, and his role in the church involves leading and growing the Groups Ministry team. Bill is a graduate of Florida State University and Dallas Theological Seminary. He is the co-author of Creating Community: 5 Keys to Building a Small Group Culture with Andy Stanley. You can follow Bill on Twitter here.

Group Answers Podcast

Group Answers Episode 53: Todd Adkins on Building Your Leadership Pipeline

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On this week’s episode, Brian and Chris join Todd Adkins, Director of Leadership at LifeWay Christian Resources.

Brian, Chris, and Todd answer the following questions:

  • How do you gauge the spiritual health of a church?
  • How can you re-contextualize the business world in the church setting?
  • As a small group leader, how do you play not to win, but to get better?
  • What is leadership development?
  • Why is it important to develop, or disciple, small group leaders?

Click here to get free small group leader training on Ministry Grid during the month of February.

The Group Answers Podcast is a weekly show designed to resource, train, and encourage small group leaders. Each episode considers current trends and resources as well as timeless truths and methods of discipleship. It is hosted by Brian Daniel, a Bible study and discipleship expert in LifeWay’s Groups Ministry, and Chris Surratt, the small group and discipleship specialist at LifeWay and author of Small Groups For The Rest Of Us.

GUEST: Todd is the Director of Leadership at LifeWay Christian Resources. Lifeway Leadership is responsible for ministrygrid.com, the Leadership Pipeline conferences, and the New Churches Podcast. Todd participates in Leadership Pipeline coaching, where he has facilitated in the coaching of over 2,600 church leaders. Todd is also the co-host of the 5 Leadership Questions Podcast, along with Eric Geiger and Daniel Im. Todd has a Master of Divinity at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a Master of Arts in Leadership.

Group Answers Podcast

Group Answers Episode 52: Vince Vitale On Answering Hard Questions

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On this week’s episode, Brian and Chris join Vince Vitale, the Director of the Zacharias Institute. Brian, Chris, and Vince answer the following questions:

  • Why did Christians lose their good reputation?
  • Why should Christians not be fearful of society’s shift toward secularism?
  • How can Christians be in the world, but not of it?
  • Why is it important for Christians to be conversationalists?
  • What do I do if one of my group members asks me a hard question?

The Group Answers Podcast is a weekly show designed to resource, train, and encourage small group leaders. Each episode considers current trends and resources as well as timeless truths and methods of discipleship. It is hosted by Brian Daniel, a Bible study and discipleship expert in LifeWay’s Groups Ministry, and Chris Surratt, the small group and discipleship specialist at LifeWay and author of Small Groups For The Rest Of Us.

GUEST: A skeptic-turned-evangelist, Vince Vitale studied at Princeton University and the University of Oxford. He taught the Philosophy of Religion at both universities. Vince is the Director of the Zacharias Institute. He is the co-author of Why Suffering? Finding Meaning and Comfort When Life Doesn’t Make Sense and Jesus Among Secular Gods along with Ravi Zacharias.

Group Answers Podcast

Group Answers Podcast: Episode 51-Daniel Im

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On this week’s episode, Brian and Chris join Daniel Im, the Director of Church Multiplication for newchurches.com. Brian, Chris, and Daniel discuss the following points:

  • You are only one step away from unlocking new levels of maturity and growth for your church.
  • You are more apt to join a small group if you are personally connected to a group member.
  • There are no “silver bullets,” or magic solutions, for a church’s groups ministry.
  • We must be wary of the existence of “discipleship whiplash” within our church and group leaders.
  • Sometimes a church’s metrics to determine growth are more harmful than helpful.
  • We must view goals for our small groups as means, not ends.

The Group Answers Podcast is a weekly show designed to resource, train, and encourage small group leaders. Each episode considers current trends and resources as well as timeless truths and methods of discipleship. It is hosted by Brian Daniel, a Bible study and discipleship expert in LifeWay’s Groups Ministry, and Chris Surratt, the small group and discipleship specialist at LifeWay and author of Small Groups For The Rest Of Us.

GUEST: Daniel Im is the Director of Church Multiplication for newchurches.com and LifeWay Christian Resources and serves as the teaching pastor at The Fellowship, a multisite church in Nashville, TN. Daniel is the coauthor of Planting Missional Churches. He has an MA in Global Leadership from Fuller Theological Seminary. You can find him at danielim.com. His latest book, No Silver Bullets, discusses the five small shifts that will transform your ministry.

Group Answers Podcast

GROUP ANSWERS PODCAST – EP50 – On-Campus vs. Off-Campus Groups

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On this week’s episode, Brian and Chris join David Francis. A prolific author of eleven books, David Francis has been at LifeWay for about twenty years. David currently serves as the Director of Sunday School in the Group Ministry department at LifeWay.

Brian, Chris, and David discuss the ongoing debate: should small groups be on campus, or off? David affirms the fission of both, “‘Sunday schools’ and ‘small groups’ aren’t at odds with one another.” There is no one “right way” to meet with a small group; rather, the location and time of the group is dependent upon the spiritual needs of your group members. In this way, group location should be flexible and, no matter what, encourage discipleship. Says David, “Sunday schools should not be defined by where they take place.”

The three weigh the pros and cons of on-campus versus off-campus small groups. Factors to consider when deciding the location of a group include childcare, convenience, parking, consistent attendance, and the spiritual state of group members. No matter the group, whether it’s for new believers or seasoned believers, the small group leader should be “missional in their invitation,” says Chris.

The Group Answers Podcast is a weekly show designed to resource, train, and encourage small group leaders. Each episode considers current trends and resources as well as timeless truths and methods of discipleship. It is hosted by Brian Daniel, a Bible study and discipleship expert in LifeWay’s Groups Ministry, and Chris Surratt, the small group and discipleship specialist at LifeWay and author of Small Groups For The Rest Of Us.

GUEST: David Francis is the Director of Sunday School at LifeWay. He is the author of eleven small books available for free at lifeway.com/davidfrancis or at the iTunes store. His interactive Bible study, Spiritual Gifts, is in its ninth printing and is not free! (But it is available to order at lifeway.com.) He and his wife Vickie teach four- and five-year olds in Sunday School and are members of a small group of empty nesters. Their three sons and their families live in three different time zones—Boston, Los Angeles, and Bryan-College Station.

Group Answers Podcast

GROUP ANSWERS PODCAST – EP49 – TITLE: Robby Gallaty

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SUMMARY: On this week’s episode, Brian and Chris sit down with Robby Gallaty, the Senior Pastor at Long Hollow Baptist Church in Hendersonville, Tennessee. Robby is the author of seven books, including his latest, The Forgotten Jesus.

Brian, Chris, and Robby talk about The Forgotten Jesus, published April 2017. According to Robby, “This is one of the most important conversations as it pertains to Bible study.” The Forgotten Jesus discusses the “Jewishness” of Jesus, and how our misunderstanding of His culture inhibits our reading of Scripture. “Jesus was not a blonde-haired, blue-eyed American. He was a dark-skinned, black-haired, Middle Eastern rabbi. He followed Jewish customs,” said Robby. The Forgotten Jesus seeks to uncover who Jesus truly was, in the midst of His Jewish culture. Robby explained the importance of retrieving cultural context from Scripture, “We often superimpose our western understanding on this eastern book, and we miss some of the nuances of Scripture. We have forgotten the life, in the context of His Jewish culture, of Jesus.” The Forgotten Jesus encourages a change in perspective—and thus we get a fuller, brighter, and richer understanding of Jesus and God’s Word.

Chris affirmed the importance of The Forgotten Jesus for small group life and application. With the knowledge we gain from Jesus’ context, we learn more of His nature and character. And the more we love Jesus, the more we obey Him. Robby called this the “Know-Love-Obey” triangle. Our obedience leads to our discipleship.

The Groups Matter Podcast is a weekly show designed to resource, train, and encourage small group leaders. Each episode considers current trends and resources as well as timeless truths and methods of discipleship. It is hosted by Brian Daniel, a Bible study and discipleship expert in LifeWay’s Groups Ministry, and Chris Surratt, the small group and discipleship specialist at LifeWay and author of Small Groups for the Rest of Us.

GUEST: Radically saved in 2002, Robby was mentored and discipled by former Senior Pastor of The Church at Brook Hills, David Platt. Robby completed his Masters of Divinity Degree in Expository Preaching in 2007 and his Ph.D. in Preaching in 2011 from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Robby is the founder of Replicate Ministries and the author of seven books, in addition to his pastoral leadership at Long Hollow Baptist Church. Robby is married to Kandi, and they have two young sons, Rig and Ryder.

Group Answers Podcast

Preparing Your Groups For The Holidays

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SUMMARY: On this week’s episode, Brian and Chris sit down with Stephanie Nichols, the Central Groups Director at Cross Point Church in Nashville, Tennessee. With five campuses, Cross Point is a multi-generational church with 250 small groups across all campuses. Stephanie provides vision and leadership to all directors. 90 percent of Cross Point’s groups meet off-campus.

Brian, Chris, and Stephanie discuss how to keep momentum during holidays and breaks. According to Chris, “Stopping and starting [groups] builds momentum.” Stephanie adds some advice for those who oversee the small groups in their church: “If your leaders are tired, then they need a refresh. But if your leaders are not losing steam, then try to vary meetings and not meet every single week.” Other ideas for refreshers include coffee dates, holiday parties, and dinner gatherings after groups. Stephanie affirms that the social aspect of small groups is important to foster community. The three also discuss how to disciple groups during the holidays—including accountability, prayer requests, get-togethers, and book clubs.

The Groups Matter Podcast is a weekly show designed to resource, train, and encourage small group leaders. Each episode considers current trends and resources as well as timeless truths and methods of discipleship. It is hosted by Brian Daniel, a Bible study and discipleship expert in LifeWay’s Groups Ministry, and Chris Surratt, the small group and discipleship specialist at LifeWay and author of Small Groups for the Rest of Us.