Pastor

April 24, 2019

Group Answers Episode 97: Greg Surratt

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On this episode of Group Answers, Chris and Brian welcome Pastor Greg Surratt to the podcast. Greg is the founding pastor of Seacoast Church, which was planted with the goal of reaching unchurched people in the Charleston area. Greg led Seacoast as it grew from one campus to many, as Seacoast became one of the first churches to pioneer the multi-site approach to the weekend experience. Greg is the president and co-founder of the Association of Related Churches (ARC), which is a global church-planting initiative that has established 804 churches worldwide since its founding in 2000. He is the author of the book IR-REV-REND, as well as a contributor for Outreach Magazine, Ministry Today magazine, and Charisma Magazine. Greg is married to his childhood sweetheart, Debbie, and together they have 4 children and 14 grandchildren. He enjoys photography, fishing, golfing, and rooting for the Cubs,Broncos and Gamecocks.

Questions:

Your latest book, Re-Visioning, is kind of a story about the life of Seacoast Church. What led you to write it at this point?
You were able to do something that seems extremely rare these days, pass off the leadership of a mega-church successfully without any kind of scandal. What do you credit that to?
How important were small groups through the years of evolving ministry at Seacoast? How important is it for you personally to be in community?
For all of the small groups and discipleship point people that listen to our podcast, how can they best support their senior pastor?
Through your work with the ARC now, you have the opportunity to spend time with and pour into the lives of a lot of young pastors. What is the biggest advice you give them about successfully making it to the finish line?

Quotes:

The book is about keeping your vision fresh through every stage of the journey. Life, church and sheep will knock it out of you.

These are lessons and principles that have been accumulating through a lifetime of ministry. It’s the right time to share it.

There were some fun times, but there were also some incredibly painful ones.

The story is still being written for all of us. My prayer every day is I want to finish well.

Around year four, the first couple with gray hair showed up at church.

You can’t build the church for the next generation, but what you can do is build the leaders for the next generation. – Chip Judd

Small group was a part of what we did from the beginning, but became even more important as we grew.

Seacoast was the slowest growing mega-church on the planet.

The best thing you can do for your leader is be a low-maintenance, high-impact person.

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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.

Group Answers Podcast

March 20, 2019

Group Answers Episode 92: Ben Reed on Building a Growth Track

By Group Ministry

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On this episode of Group Answers, Chris and Brian talk to Ben Reed about how to build a successful spiritual growth track. Ben blogs at BenReed.net and oversees small groups, mission, and care at Mission Community Church in Gilbert, AZ. He’s the author of the book, Starting Small. Ben is married with a son and daughter. His interaction with small groups, recruiting small group leaders, training and shepherding them is broad, and his heart beats for healthy, authentic, biblical, Jesus-focused community. He knows that without a healthy system, you can’t replicate what you do with any efficiency.

Questions:

You have been around small groups and discipleship strategies for a long time and in different ministry settings, how have you seen them evolve and change?
How do you counsel groups on curriculum or Bible study choices. Do you adhere to a scope and sequence or more a la carte?
How does having a growth track to follow help people in their spiritual growth? Where do groups fit on that track?
What’s the greatest challenge to you as a groups pastor and how are you addressing it?

Quotes:

I have seen a movement from high discipleship to a relationship and missional model.

I have the seen the rise of the franchise model of plug-and-play groups.

Here at Mission, we say that we want you to connect relationally and grow spiritually.

Holding relationships and spiritual growth up is where we are going to find health in groups.

When I get questions from group leaders, it’s about what we should do about childcare or what we should study next.

We have a suggested curriculum track for groups to follow.

You’re either an explorer, a builder, an owner, or a thriver. You self assess where you are spiritually through a series of questions.

A thrive spiritual tract is unique for every person going through it.

Group Leadership, Uncategorized

November 15, 2017

Four Ways to Help Your Pastor Get Excited About Groups

By Chris Surratt

While it is extremely important for the senior pastor to be an advocate for groups in the church, there may be some work to do to get him there. A church without the pastor as the champion for groups will typically max out at around 40 percent who connect in groups. There are a few things you can do to win him over and reach the other 60 percent and beyond.

Bring him stories.

There is no senior pastor who does not get fired up about hearing stories of life change taking place in the church. Send him a monthly email update. Slip them into all-staff meetings. Include him on updates to leaders. If there is a constant flow of life change stories from the groups team, he will begin to embrace the concept.

Show him how key initiatives in the church can be reinforced through small groups.

If there is a building campaign, design a study around it for groups to go through. Or write studies to go along with the weekly messages. Every pastor loves to hear his members still talking about the Sunday message on Wednesday.

Allow him to participate in a small group with handpicked members.

Senior pastors feel the pressure to have to lead everything in which they are involved. Give him the opportunity to feel invested in a group he does not lead. The members of the group should be non-EGR’s (extra grace required) people, with whom he can be comfortable on a weekly basis.

Invite the senior pastor to speak at the next leadership training event.

There is something exhilarating about a roomful of leaders going in the same direction. By participating in the training, he will begin to see the leadership development potential of a well-designed small group system. Don’t forget to fill the night with stories of life change.

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 recently released by Thomas Nelson. You can follow his blog at chrissurratt.com or follow him on Twitter @chrissurratt.

Group Answers Episode 97: Greg Surratt

Group Answers Episode 92: Ben Reed on Building a Growth Track

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