A RESOURCE FOR GROUPS AND GROUP LEADERS

Many of your groups went through Crazy Love and have seen changed lives because of its challenging message. I hear the exciting things that you’re groups are doing in response to Crazy Love and I can’t wait to see how Forgotten God will impact you.

Francis Chan’s newest book Forgotten God now has a small group DVD companion and you can get it from our library.  Enjoy!

I love it when small groups lead the way in projects like this! Here’s the deal… GA Baptist Disaster Relief is sending a boat load (sorry! couldn’t resist) of food to Haiti. For only $30 you can provide a family with a week’s worth of food. Be sure to follow this packing list so that your buckets gets through customs. All buckets must be at SonRise by March 14.

Maybe you could take your completed Bucket of Hope to small group and show everyone how easy it is to make a huge difference. Lead and encourage your group to jump on this opportunity today!

So you may have heard that we have a food pantry.  I’m guessing that raises several questions so we wanted to take a sec to keep things clear.

Purpose: Help our church help people.  If you know of someone who needs some food, but don’t want to go to the Coweta Food Pantry, you can grab stuff from ours.

Who stocks it? One of small groups has been stocking it, but your group might want to help also.  Check out the “coupon mom” video…

Are we advertising it? No.  The Coweta Food Pantry located at One Roof is much better equipped to screen and provide for community needs. They do a wonderful job!

So next time you’re at church, look in the break room in the back of the office area and you’ll see several shelves stacked with food.  This is simply a resource for your group to serve others in need.

Take a moment to check out Living Water International.  Maybe you or your small group could help “provide a cup of water in Jesus name!”

Interested in saving money on your next grocery bill? With some simple tips, you could save as much as 80%! Dr. Tim interviews Kevin & Patti Hall as they explain how they use CouponMom.com to make their coupons work overtime.

One of our small groups is coordinating a new food  pantry here at SonRise.  You could also use these tips to purchase additional groceries and drop them off at church.  This group will keep the pantry organized with non-perishable items to help out families in need.  It’s really a win for everyone!

Check out the newest study from John Ortberg called It All Goes Back in the Box.  “Using popular games as a metaphor for our temporal lives, this six-session DVD curriculum neatly sorts out what’s fleeting and what’s permanent in God’s kingdom.”  Along with being a pastor, he is also the author of several popular books and small group studies including If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat and The Life You’ve Always Wanted.

With all the choices that exists today, picking curriculum can easily turn into more of a dread than a joy. Next time you’re looking for something new, check out GroupCurriculum.org. This is a fantastic site developed by NorthPoint Church to provide their leaders with over 200 different studies. You can sort based on topic, season of life, format, or group type. So what are you waiting for? Check it out today!

CAUTION:  If you are not ready to search the deep tucked away places of your faith and examine the very things that we believe make us Christian, then do not read this book.  But hopefully, even if with some reservation, you will be willing to dig into one of the most basic but lost portions of Christianity–a LOVE relationship with God.

The small group DVD has a 10 minute video for each chapter where Francis Chan sets up the discussion each week.  Crazy Love will shake you.  It will spur conversations with God that hurt.  But its a phenomenal book that will help you return to the relationship God has always wanted with you!

You will also want to check out additional chapter videos at the Crazy Love Book website.

Francis Chan is the pastor of Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, CA.