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Church Leadership

When the Local Bar Acts More Like the Church Than the Church Does

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For the record, I don’t frequent bars. But I do watch a lot of movies. And if Hollywood—that bastion of truth—has taught me anything about bars, it’s two things the church should embrace:

  1. People in bars talk to each other. OK, so maybe it’s because a little alcohol works on our inhibitions, but people talk. They talk to whoever walked in with them, the bartender, or just the random guy sitting on the next bar stool. They talk problems at home, hassles of work, or whatever. They talk about life.
  2. People in bars accept you just as you are.This is the part that fascinates me. People will talk about themselves, and those listening just listen. No judgments. There’s a sense of shared humanity: we’ve all got problems and we’re in this together.

Sure, people at church talk to each other, but there’s often a superficiality to it. We talk about the Bible, we talk about Jesus—and in all we talk about, we want to appear spiritual. We want to look like we’ve got it all together. After all, if we’re Christians and we love Jesus, shouldn’t we have it all together?

We don’t have it all together.

And because we don’t have it all together—but we assume other believers do—we don’t want to open up, lest we look inferior or unspiritual. We’re afraid people won’t accept us as we are—or worse, they’ll reject us. So we pretend. And when it comes to praying together, we talk about a distant relative’s gall bladder rather than our own doubts and struggles. Unfortunately, this lack of openness means we miss out on the deep sense of family and fellowship—sharing all things in common—Christ intends for His church.

I lead a small group Bible study. One week as we closed in prayer, one of the group members requested prayer because she had been struggling with feeling down all week. At the end of our prayer time, another person commented, “I didn’t know she struggled with that too. I sometimes get down, but I didn’t want to say anything.” A connection was formed that day, and it created more openness in the group.

I always thought the theme song to Cheers would be a great theme song for the local church. Just for the moment, don’t picture Norm on a bar stool; picture Norm on a church pew. Shouldn’t the lyrics of this song reflect a key motivation for going to church?

Making your way in the world today takes everything you’ve got.
Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot.
Wouldn’t you like to get away?

Sometimes you want to go
Where everybody knows your name and they’re always glad you came.
You wanna be where you can see our troubles are all the same.
You wanna be where everybody knows your name.

When we come to Christ, we come to His family. Let’s be family, talking and accepting each other.

“Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God” (Rom. 15:7).

Lynn Pryor is the publishing team leader for Bible Studies for Life. He is serving a Nashville church as their transitional interim pastor. Lynn and his wife, Mary, have survived raising two sons to adulthood. A graduate of Southwestern Seminary, Lynn has previously pastored and served churches in Texas. Read more from his blog at lynnhpryor.com. Follow him @lynnpryor.
Church Leadership

True Spirituality in Group Leadership

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by Jared Musgrove

Every group leader knows the feeling. 

It’s Tuesday afternoon, just after 5:00, and you’re headed home poured out and ready to drop from the day. To drive is perchance to dream about how you will relax and introvert into the evening (even if you’re extroverted… you’re THAT tired). 

And then it hits you and your stomach sinks. 

“Oh, man. We got group tonight.” 

It happens to even the most devoted of us. It’s normal from time to time to dread group meeting for various reasons, but I get worried when that feeling becomes normative. So how do you fight it off? 

When those moments of malaise wash over you as you think about or meet with your group, answer the feeling with a moment-by-moment faith. 

I was reminded of this as I re-read Francis Schaeffer’s True Spirituality over the summer. Particularly, I rediscovered in this old book just what it is that I should be doing as a group leader: 

“The Christian life is moment by moment… As we believe God for this moment, the Holy Spirit is not quenched. And through His agency, the risen and glorified Christ, as the Bridegroom of the bride, the vine, brings forth His fruit through us, at this moment. This is the practice of active passivity. And it is the only way anybody can live; there is no other way to live but moment by moment…

And so it must be for us. We accept Christ as Savior at one moment, and out guilt is gone on the basis of the value of the finished work of Jesus Christ. But after we become Christians, the moments proceed, the clock continues to tick; and in every moment of time, our calling is to believe God, raise the empty hands of faith, and let fruit flow out through us.”

The greatest thing you have to offer your group members is your own personal relationship and reliance on God. We should lead our selves and our leaders to:

 1) Believe God

2) Raise the empty hands of faith

3) Let fruit flow out through us and into our group participants. 

Sometimes this looks like praying for this faith on Tuesday at 5:02pm. Other times it means mentally reminding yourself (and then audibly reminding your group) that we are meeting because God exists, He has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world, and He wants to do work in and through us tonight.

The win for your group or groups ministry isn’t dependent on your ability. Your group depends on your dependency, your moment-by-moment faith. In the end, that will be your greatest investment in them and in your own leadership. 

Jared Steven Musgrove serves as Groups Pastor and elder at The Village Church in Flower Mound, Texas. He earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from The University of Oklahoma, a Master of Divinity in preaching from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a Doctorate of Ministry in leadership from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the husband of Jenny and the father of two sons, Jordan and Joshua. You can follow him on Twitter @jsmusgrove 
Church Leadership

Three Ways God was a Good Group Leader

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by Deborah Spooner –

“Small groups aren’t even in the Bible.”

The unenthused teenager makes the claim and rolls her eyes as you finish explaining that group sign-ups are this Sunday and you’ve found one for her.

Having led your own group for years, you pause.

Wait, are small groups in the Bible?

Be at ease.

We need to follow Jesus (Matthew 16:24). He’s our example (1 Corinthians 11:1). And His main followers? They were a group. You could even call them a small group. Yes, small groups are biblical.

What can we learn from the way Jesus led his small group so that we can better lead ours? At least three things.

First, we can lead by shaping. In John 21, we see Jesus shape culture. He shaped individuals to shape others. In a post-resurrection breakfast with Peter and others,  Jesus asked Peter directly, “Do you love me?” When Peter replied positively,, Jesus kept asking. Each time Peter responded in the affirmative, Jesus told him to feed or take care of Jesus’ sheep or lambs (John 21:7-17).

Even though the group was together eating breakfast, Jesus cared about them individually. He remembered their individual history. Peter had denied Jesus three times (Luke 22:54-62), but Jesus didn’t get offended and write off Peter. He engaged with him. He cut to Peter’s core by asking about Peter’s devotion and love—a love that, if real, shapes and transforms.

Leading small groups like Jesus means we shape our members to invest in and shape others. When we care for each individual in the group, call our members to a higher way of life, and challenge them to engage with others out of love, we lead well.

Second, we can lead by withdrawing. In Luke 5, we see Jesus making disciples through modeling what a disciple should do. Jesus did a lot, but one of the more interesting things he did was withdraw to be with His father. By doing so, He prioritized prayer and solitude for his disciples.

If we want to make disciples, we need to be a disciple. We need to be people who lead our small groups into prayer by being people of prayer ourselves. If we do not take time to seek the Father’s face, to saturate ourselves in the Word, and to learn to make our anthem the prayer that His will be done, we face consequences. Burnout. Hypocrisy. Pride. But, if we learn from Jesus, we learn that a good group leader withdraws. And not just every now and then, but habitually..

Finally, we can lead through pain. In John 11, we see Jesus building community by leading through pain. When Jesus learned of Lazarus’ illness and death, He knew He would walk with people through pain. Therefore, He kept hi purpose in front of him: the glory of God in pain and death (John 11:1-4).

Sometimes as a leader, you may recognize when bad news is around the corner. You might see that a season of pain or transition for specific people or the entire group is coming. First, remember to keep your purpose in front of you as Jesus did: ultimately, God is at work and can be glorified even in pain. Second, prepare to handle misunderstandings and opposition with patience as people walk through the pain. Third, use your words to address root issues that surface even as you help others work through the struggle together.

Leading through pain, you build a deeper community of belief in Christ. We lead groups well when we choose to keep the unified focus on Christ through the pain.

Jesus led, and he led well. Following His example, we, too, can learn how to lead groups like Christ led so that we all keep going farther and farther into knowing and obeying Him.

Small groups? Yes, they’re biblical (and so worth it).

Church Leadership, Uncategorized

Tuesday Thoughts: The 4 D’s – The Dominator

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If you lead a small group, the chances are good that you have at least one of what I call EGR’s. What does that stand for? Just extra grace required. Now those are people in your group that take just a little bit more of your patience, probably a little bit more of your time than everybody else. I still refer to these as the four D’s. See if you recognize any of these in your small group. The first one is the Dominator, then there’s the Dodger, the Debater, and finally the Drainer, and what I want to do for just a minute is talk about what do you do if you have a dominator in your small group. And that’s just somebody who tends to answer more questions and everybody else maybe turns the discussion back to themselves. They may be a seasoned Christian so they feel like they have more answers than everybody else. So what do you do if you have a dominator kind of dominating the conversation? Well, let me give you four things that you might try. The first one is just simply how the room is set up for the discussion of your group. You might try sitting right next to the person that dominates the conversation. There’s something about being that close of proximity to the person who’s answering or asking the questions that maybe slow them down a little bit before they jump into the conversation, so you might try that. Also, maybe make eye contact with other group members when you ask the question, especially those that have been introduced into the discussion yet and kind of with your body language invite them to answer the question before the person who usually jumps in as the dominator. And then you might also bring somebody into the conversation by calling up their name, asking them specifically to answer the question. Make sure that it’s something that there’ll be able to answer, maybe more of an open ended question, but invite them in before the person who dominates is able to jump in and if none of that works, it’s always good to meet outside of the group time. Maybe grab some coffee or meet them in the lobby after church and just sit down and explain the mission and the vision of the small group. So that’s some things that you might try if you have a dominator in your small group.

Chris Surratt is a ministry consultant and coach with more than twenty years of experience serving the local church. Chris served on the Executive Teams at Cross Point Church in Nashville, TN., and Seacoast Church in Charleston, S.C., prior to becoming the Discipleship and Small Groups Specialist for LifeWay Christian Resources. He is the author of Small Groups for the Rest of Us: How to Design Your Small Groups System to Reach the Fringes. You can follow his blog at www.chrissurratt.com.

 

Church Leadership

Why You Should Fast With Your Small Group

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I once watched my grandpa dive, head first and fully clothed, into a dirty pond in an attempt to catch a catfish with his bare hands. He did that. And he actually grabbed it and hoisted it before it flopped free and got away. He was 65 at the time, which, to me, seems a little older than the average dirty pond diver. But he was, as you might guess, a very passionate fisherman. He was also a disappointed fisherman. After years filled with hours of outdoor sports, he admitted regret a few years back when we were talking about serving Jesus. He said, “I reckon I spent too much time hunting and fishing to amount to anything.”

He told me to give my time to the pursuit of Jesus and the mission of the church. Grandpa realized when he couldn’t do it anymore, that fishing never filled him. It never satisfied. And he wished he had pursued Christ more with the type of passion that put him head first in a catfish pond.

For you and your group, it probably isn’t hunting or fishing that fights for your focus. It might be career goals or your Netflix queue or your family drama. But every single one of us knows that we rhythmically, even passionately, fill our lives and fix our eyes on pursuits that fail us. We are constantly being drawn in and then disappointed by doomed pleasures.

It is because of this tendency to fill our lives with incomplete satisfiers that we should consider fasting with our groups. There is more to hunger for—and it is powerful when we seek it together in our groups.

We fast to remember our Hope.

Fasting is one of the Bible’s prescriptions for a heart that tends to seek satisfaction where it cannot be found. Jesus said in Matthew 9, “Can the wedding guests be sad while the groom is with them? The time will come when the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.”

Jesus was letting us in on the secret that He is the true source of satisfaction. He said His disciples didn’t need to mourn, because they had Him. They didn’t need alternative joys, because they were going to have dinner with Him that night.

But He knew one day He would not be with them in the same way, and then they would miss Him. Then they would mourn. Disciples, like us, would be hungry in such a way that nothing but Jesus could satisfy.

And so we fast. We fast because we long for Him. We fast because so many lesser desires steal our attention from Jesus and they leave us lacking and they leave us longing. When we deny our wants, we can remember our Hope.

We fast to remember our weakness.

I have three daughters under the age of seven who are not very strong. We play a princess cupcake game that requires piecing together plastic parts to make things like the Princess Jasmine Spiced Fig Cake. I have one daughter (I won’t name names) who is not strong enough to squish the plastic “frosting” onto the plastic “cake.”

I know she can’t do it.

I offer her help.

She declines.

She tries.

She fails.

She cries.

At some point she realizes that she can’t do it on her own and she turns back to me and says, “Daddy, can you help me?”

Part of fasting is remembering that we can’t do it on our own. Part of fasting is feeling our frailty. It is remembering the reality that if we kept not eating, we would literally die. We are deeply needy, so part of fasting is saying, “Daddy can you help me?” God wants to help us, so He wants us to feel our weakness.

We fast to remember with our community.

The benefits of fasting are beautiful, but the act itself is hard. I once heard a pastor joke that he’d finished a two-week fast in two and a half hours. We’ve all had fasts die at dinner time. When that happens, we don’t just feel defeated—we miss out on the grace that God gives through the discipline of fasting.

That is where our groups can help. Fasting with your spiritual family provides support when you want to quit. Instead of fighting snacking alone, you feel your neediness with a friend. It is easier to carry on with your group. It is powerful to process your hope with your group. It is sweet to wrestle through weakness with brothers and sisters who are feeling it, too.

If you have never fasted with a group of like-minded disciples, you won’t believe the impact you’ll feel, the memories you’ll make, and the joy you’ll find that will remind you of forever.

We need to fast because we need to remember and hurt and hope. Try it together.

Brandon Hiltibidal is a former church planter and multi-site pastor, and he is now part of the Groups Ministry team at LifeWay Christian Resources. He also serves as an elder and a member of the preaching team at The Bridge Church in Middle Tennessee.
Church Leadership

Four Vital Questions for Planning the Future

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When I am taking time to work on a system, I like to think in frameworks with key questions. Asking those probing questions forces issues to the surface that we would have never discussed without them. I am also a big believer in working on it with a team. I am an introvert by nature, so it would be easier for me to work it out alone, but way less effective. A team outhinks an individual every time.

So as you pull your team together to plan for the future, here are four questions that I use to help filter the conversations toward results.

1. What was?

This is where we can have a tendency to get stuck, but we have to spend some time here to get to the next stage. George Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” What is the foundation for what you are attempting to build? If we rush into a new system without considering what it’s replacing, we will just make the same mistakes. Spend some time in your planning asking about what has been done before, but don’t stay in this stage too long.

2. What is?

This is your current reality. Take some time at this stage to do a careful analysis of your current systems and events. What is working, and what is not? What should you stop doing, and what should you start? Make sure that you have the latest facts as you spend time in this stage. It’s impossible to plan for the future when you don’t know the current state. Do some research and find out what the numbers are. It may be painful, but it’s necessary to get a 360 perspective before you can move to the next question.

3. What could be?

After you have gained perspective on where you have been and are now, it’s time to start dreaming about the future. This stage is about blue-sky thinking. Allow your team to put all of the “what ifs” on the table without worrying about the “how” yet. That will come in the next stage, but this is the time to answer the question: “What could we do if nothing was impossible?”

4. What will be?

Now that you have spent time dreaming about all of the possibilities, it’s time to decide on the initiatives that are realistic to tackle now and set goals for achieving them. Make sure to hang on to all of your ideas from the last stage and keep them somewhere to return to later.

At the end of this stage, determine the one or two goals that you have to achieve in the next six months or everything else will be a failure. In the military, this is referred to as the “Commander’s Intent”—a concise expression of the purpose of the operation and the desired end. How can the next six months be summed up, and what is the desired final result?

Chris Surratt is a ministry consultant and coach with over 22 years of experience serving the local church. Chris served on the Executive Team at Cross Point Church in Nashville, TN, and was on staff at Seacoast Church in Charleston, SC, for 15 years. He is also the Small Group Specialist for LifeWay Christian Resources. Chris’s first book, Small Groups For The Rest Of Us: How to Design Your Small Groups System to Reach the Fringes, was just released by Thomas Nelson. You can follow his blog at chrissurratt.com or follow him on Twitter @chrissurratt.

Tuesday Thoughts

Tuesday Thought: Ensuring Community in Your Group

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Okay, we’ve talked about the three distinctions of a biblical small group. Number one, are we creating disciples in our small group? Number two, are we experiencing community because we know that discipleship happens best within the context of community? Then number three is our small group on mission? Are we making a difference in the world that we find ourselves in and so today I want to focus on community. How do we ensure that community is happening with our small group? I think we have to be intentional in two ways. The first one is in our schedule with our group meeting. So as you schedule out your actual meeting, you want to look at the different segments and the first part of the group you want to make sure you have time set aside for community. So about 20 to 25 minutes of just hanging out, getting to know each other, maybe have a snack or dinner food of some sort. Just to give the group the chance to have community at the beginning of the group time.

And then after that you’re going to have your study, which is going to be about 40 to 45 minutes, but then you want to set aside the end of the group time, another 20 to 25 minutes for more community building. And a lot of times this is when the best conversations are going to happen. So someone who didn’t want to speak up during the Bible study might find somebody during this last segment when you’re having dessert, just hanging out to ask that critical question that leads to discipleship. And so make sure that you’re intentional with your group meeting. Schedule the built in times for community. And then second scheduling times on your calendar for community. So as you set up kind of your calendar days to meet, make sure that about once a semester or once a quarter that you have at least one day just for community. So that means you can even do like a game night or get outside of the house or the room where you meet and have a picnic together. Go to the zoo or just do something fun that makes sure there’s community built into your calendar, into your schedule, so schedule it into your meetings and then put it on your calendar and let’s make sure we have community in our small group.

 

Church Leadership

And Then There Were Two: Managing Your Group When “Small” Becomes “Really Small”

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It’s inevitable in group life where your small group becomes an even smaller group. Regardless of how you feel about the perfect group size (mine is 8-12), there will be those group meetings when you realize it’s just going to be you and 2-3 other people. In my experience, this happens most often in the early stages of group life, before routines have been established and relationships have been forged.

I’m in the habit of texting the group a day before group with the time, location, and topic. I do this for multiple reasons, but mostly to get an idea of who I should expect and to prompt everyone to prepare. Still, there are those times when it’s just my wife and I and another couple. Here are a few tips for those nights when your small group becomes a much smaller group.

First, I never cancel group because of attendance—even if we’re not expecting anyone, we still go through the motions and use the time for prayer or for a media-free time. I’ve been in groups where group is cancelled for low attendance, and I get it. But my recommendation is not to do this because it establishes an unhealthy practice—and maybe even incentivizes less-than-committed group members.

Second, while we never cancel group due to low attendance, there have been times when we’ve invited the lone couple to coffee or dinner. There’s no pretense in this, nor do I feel like I’ve got to “sneak in” a small group-like discussion into the main course or prayer requests with our coffee. It’s just dinner out with friends. This is a good way to “do life” with your group in an unplanned and serendipitous way. Even though I don’t feel the pressure to run through the teaching I’ve prepared, I do want to be open and even encourage biblical truth, God’s redemptive ways, and how God may be at work in our lives as a significant part of the conversation.

Third, when our group becomes a group 4 or 5, sometimes I forego the planned lesson in lieu of an open-ended discussion on one of the seminal texts of the Bible, such as the Sermon on the Mount, Isaiah 55, or Romans 8. The converse of this is I draw from a profound, yet more obscure, text that I’ve discovered in my own devotional time and introduce it to the group with a few questions very broad in nature. This does a couple of things. Because the time isn’t thoroughly planned, it somehow gives more ownership to the group. I’ve also noticed that this gives the group a measure of unpredictability that adds a little intrigue to our time. This doesn’t necessarily have to be a formal presentation, but you need to have a few questions in mind and have a decent idea about what direction you would like the discussion to go.

Yes, low attendance can be disappointing—I’d be less than honest if I didn’t admit to times of discouragement. But don’t be too disheartened. I’ve learned that using these approaches and remaining consistent eventually leads to a solid group dynamic. It’s up to the leader to set the right example of consistency.

Church Leadership

Taking Discipleship Beyond the Group Time

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Every Bible study leader wants to do more than simply teach the Bible. We lead our groups because we want to see people transformed by the truths of God’s Word. We want people to come to faith in Christ. We want people to grow in that faith and their walk with Christ.

But how do we do that? How do I disciple my group?

Discipleship is not limited to simply the time we meet. In fact, for those whose time with God is limited to the group experience, I’d say their discipleship is virtually non-existent. OK, maybe not non-existent, but it’s anemic.

Discipleship is a daily process. I encourage discipleship with my group by offering them a tool that gets them in the Word every day—and they’re more easily motivated when this daily discipleship builds on their group experience. If you want your group members to grow beyond what’s discussed in the group, offer them a study and discipleship plan that go hand-in-hand.

LifeWay’s three primary Bible study curriculums each offer such a resource: a Daily Discipleship Guide. These books include three pieces that, each week, work together toward spiritual transformation.

 

1. The group experience. It begins with you as the leader. Each week, you’ll lead the group to discuss God’s Word. You’ll focus on a passage of Scripture. This group time is centered on their discussion and deep dive into the passage.

 

 

2. D Groups. Encourage the individuals in your Bible study group to meet with two other people during the week to dig further on the topic. People call these smaller groups by different names: D Groups, Triads, you name it, but the idea is that they continue to talk it out with only two more people. Over coffee or lunch, they can encourage each other and hold each other accountable as they grow in Christ.

 

 

3. Daily Study. The book provides five days of individual reading. Call it devotions, a quiet time, or time alone with God. This key part of discipleship occurs when your group members take the opportunity to read, think further on the passage, record their thoughts, and take action on their own.

 

Why is all this important? Well…because it’s discipleship. And discipleship doesn’t just happen because the group meets one day a week. Discipleship happens throughout the week. Discipleship happens as we keep reflecting on God’s Word and what He wants us to do in response. You can facilitate your group’s discipleship by giving them a resource like a Daily Discipleship Guide.

For more information:

Bible Studies for Life

Explore the Bible

The Gospel Project

Lynn Pryor is the publishing team leader for Bible Studies for Life. He is serving a Nashville church as their transitional interim pastor. Lynn and his wife, Mary, have survived raising two sons to adulthood. A graduate of Southwestern Seminary, Lynn has previously pastored and served churches in Texas. Read more from his blog at lynnhpryor.com. Follow him @lynnpryor.

 

Church Leadership

Six Questions to Ask Before Launching Groups This Fall

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The end of summer is just a month away, and that means it’s time to plan for launching new groups for the fall semester. The odds are good that your church will have new people showing up in August who need biblical community. Whether you decide to launch a campaign with all of your groups studying the same content for a few weeks, or just have new groups available for those new people to join, asking the right questions now will help ensure the success of your future launch.

Question #1: Do we have enough coaches for the new leaders?

No matter how much training you provide for your new leaders, they will almost always run into issues during group meetings that they need answers for. The best source for providing those answers will be seasoned group leaders who have been there before. Every new leader should be assigned a veteran leader that can be one email or phone call away when questions arise.

Question #2: Are we starting the right number of new groups?

Before you launch your groups, make sure there are enough groups to accommodate the people wanting to join. It’s much easier for new people to stick to a new group than an existing one. Existing groups already have relationships formed and a new person will feel left out, no matter how open the group members are. Use last year’s August/September attendance numbers to help calculate how many new groups and coaches you will need to recruit before your sign-up weeks.

Question #3: Are we planning for multiple weeks of sign-up opportunities?

Most people only attend church one or two Sundays a month. If you only offer sign-ups for small groups on one weekend, you will miss over half of your congregation. Sign-ups should be offered at least two weeks in a row, with opportunities also available on the website for those who still missed it.

Question #4: Is the senior pastor prepared to make the initial ask?

If biblical community is an important piece of discipleship for your church, then the first vision call should come from the senior leader. The congregation will need to hear the “why” behind small groups before they understand the “what.” No one can do that better than the lead vision caster for the church.

Question #5: Are we providing biblically solid, easy-to-use curriculum?

It’s easy to spend a lot of time thinking about the details of the launch and little on what the groups will be studying. If groups are going to make disciples, they will need an easy-to-use Bible study to spur the necessary discipleship conversations. Aligning your groups with the Sunday messages is a good direction to start with. SmallGroup.com can help you write solid sermon-based studies without taking too much of your time.

Question #6: Do we have a next step for groups after the launch?

If you want your groups to continue to succeed after the initial launch, you need to think about easy next steps for them. What will they study after the short-term campaign is over? Will they continue with a coach? Will they need to add group members at the next sign-up opportunity? Provide a roadmap for them, and your new groups will last beyond the first semester. A balanced discipleship curriculum roadmap can be found here.

Chris Surratt is a ministry consultant and coach with over 23 years of experience serving the local church. Chris served on the Executive Team at Cross Point Church in Nashville, TN, and was on staff at Seacoast Church in Charleston, SC, for 15 years. He is also the Small Group Specialist for LifeWay Christian Resources. Chris’s first book, Small Groups For The Rest Of Us: How to Design Your Small Groups System to Reach the Fringes, was recently released by Thomas Nelson. You can follow his blog at chrissurratt.com or follow him on Twitter @chrissurratt.