Small Groups Spring 2011

We’re going to have an amazing semester in our Small Groups!  GetIn…GetInvolved…GetConnected!

GIRLS ONLY! C’mon Ladies, it’s time to dive in to God Word together!  Join Elycia Perry for ‘Esther…It’s Tough Being A Woman!’  Tuesday nights at 8pm in Franks Hall.

GUYS ONLY! Gentlemen, it’s time to MAN UP!  Become that man that God wants to use!  Hang out with Smith North on Tuesday nights at a NEW TIME and LOCATION:  8pm at 272 Clay Street.

 

Join Tony Marshall for this Co-Ed study on Tuesday nights at 9:30pm in Franks Hall, and be Gripped By The Greatness Of God!

 

Hey Miller Hall Peeps! No need to trek across campus for Small Groups this semester!  Join Kenya Phillips on Wednesday nights at 7:30pm in Miller First Floor for ‘Follow Me’!

 

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Got 10 Minutes? If you do, then hang out with Jim on Monday’s and Wednesday’s at 6:30pm in Gillmor for Ten Minute Take-A-Ways. In 10 minutes…that’s right, just 10 minutes…we’ll take a look at a Scripture, a topic…break it down and how we can apply it in everyday life!  If you want to hang out longer…GREAT!  But if you gotta go, no problem!  See what just 10 minutes can do for you!

 

Text During H2O!

The Next Generation of students that are now occupying our college campus’ are the most connected and media-savvied students we’ve ever seen.  Laptops and tablets occupy student lounges…iPods are part of everyday attire…and texting has replaced doodling in the classrooms.  In fact, texting has almost become an obsession!

Texting is now the communication mechanism of choice to the college student.  So much so that email is becoming obsolete.  Texting not only offers the ability to have multiple private mini-conversations at the same time, but with the advancement of Social Media, students are consistently  updating their Twitter and Facebook status’ as well.

So how can we capitalize on this opportunity in our campus ministries and collegiate church plants?  Simple!  We encourage our students to text away during our services!  It allows them to be interactive with the message and communicate with their friends at the same time!

During our services,  instead of a normal ‘meet & greet’ time, we often encourage our students to text their friends and family to encourage them and to pray for them.  We also ask our students to invite their friends to join them for worship.  The results are staggering.  When we do this, we normally see an increase of up to 10% in attendance!

Here are a few reasons why we ask our students to update their Facebook status, Twitter and to text their friends during our services:

1. The Message Is Extended In Real-Time. When you quote something via Facebook or “retweet”, you are literally extending the reach of God’s message deep into your campus community.  If the pastor shares something that moves you, inspires you or changes your life, there is a good chance it will have the same impact on the lives of some of your Facebook Friends and Twitter Followers as well.
2. The Scripture Is Obeyed. Apply Mark 16:15 seriously:  ‘And then He told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.’”   This applies to the internet world of Facebook and Twitter, and to your friends listed in the address book in your cell phone.
3. It’s A Powerful and Free Marketing Tool. When you give students the freedom to ‘do what comes natural’, you help market the church in the best way possible which is by word of mouth.
4. It Helps Stay Focused. Regardless of how great the speaker is, it’s a known fact that a portion of us ‘wander off’ during a sermon!  This helps students ‘wander off’ productively.
5. It Helps Us Remember. I’ve always found that I’m impacted more when I take notes during a message.    By updating our Facebook Status and Twitter with quotes and moments from the message, we have in essence developed an online sermon notebook.  And if using a hashtag when Twittering, these quotes can be searched and shared with everyone.
6. It’s Current and Relevent. This allows students to share the Gospel with their friends in a way that is comfortable to them.  This gives students tools to reach other students right where they are.

So text away H2O, and let’s impact our campus for Jesus and His Kingdom!

Small Group Ideas

If you have Small Groups on your campus, here are a few suggestions to help you have a better semester:

• Prepare handouts to promote your Small Group each week at your large group worship time.
• Prepare to talk about and promote your Small Group at large group worship time.
• Take your group deeper this semester.  See them as a LIFE GROUP….or a FAMILY GROUP.  Make the students that attend, literally have your small group as a priority!
• Take to freedom this semester to ‘be yourself’!  HAVE FUN!
• Have designated prayer time each week.  Consider having 1 or 2 weeks of just concentrated prayer instead of teaching.
• Determine, promote and complete a missions project.  Either on campus or in the community.
• INVITE your small group members to be a part of your large group worship.
• Develop a texting group for your small group.  Be sure to text them each week to invite them to small group.
• Text your entire group at least 1 time throughout the week to check on them, ask for prayer requests, etc.
• One of your main priorities as a Small Group Leader is to raise up other leaders!  Get busy!

 

Any more suggestions…list them in the comments!

Small Group Newz

This Spring Semester is going to have some incredible Small Groups for you to chose! We’re going to have FOUR Student-Led Small Groups this semester! Our Student Leaders for the Spring will be Smith North, Elycia Perry, Tony Marshall and Kenya Phillips! We’ll be announcing in just a couple of days what the topics are, so stay tuned! Be in prayer for our Small Group leaders!  Make plans now to get connected and get involved!

2010 Blog Stats In Review

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Fresher than ever.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 9,200 times in 2010. That’s about 22 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 32 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 157 posts. There were 185 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 58mb. That’s about 4 pictures per week.

The busiest day of the year was July 3rd with 126 views. The most popular post that day was It’s Luau Time!.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, search.aol.com, twitter.com, ohiocollegiateministries.com, and alphainventions.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for luau, movie night, movie, luau pictures, and luau party.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

It’s Luau Time! September 2009

2

H2O FREE Movie Night… January 2009

3

Your Prayers March 2008
18 comments

4

The Team September 2008

5

Live Worship March 2010