Leader Huddle S1 Wk.3

 Replacing Yourself: 

The goal of every Christian relationship should be to raise up your own replacement. We want to create disciples who make disciples. 

In rGroups that looks like your co-leader, host, and admin. Who on your rGroup lead team could replace you and do your job? And who in your rGroup could replace the person that replaces you? This type of constant growth, moving forward, taking next steps, is our goal.

Let's start with how to do that with your co-leader. 5 steps of leadership development:

1. I do. You watch. We talk.
2. I do. You help. We talk. 
3. You do. I help. We talk.
4. You do. I watch. We talk.
5. You do. Someone else watches

At each stage you're intentionally looking for opportunities to demonstrate how and why you do what you do. Then, you slowly give over the reins, helping them along at each step until finally letting them fly on their own!

Plus this process also shows your replacement how to replace themselves, and so on and so on. 

Let's work ourselves out of a job this week! 

This week our rGroup leader prayer focus is Star Roman and Kristen Wallace. They lead a ladies group via Zoom on Wednesdays at 7pm. Be sure to pray for them then. When I asked Star how we can best pray for their group, she said this: 1 - That God will help us share His Word with the ladies and that we stay hungry for it. 2 - We all continue to grow closer as a group relationally and spiritually. 

Let's be praying for them specifically this week! 

Just Pray - Wk. 3

 Icebreaker: What is your top 3 least favorite foods? this icebreaker has nothing to do with the rest of the study, it just helps get conversation going!

1- When in your life have you been most consistent in prayer? Why do you think that was the case?

READ Daniel 9:1-3

2- Hardship - being an exile in a foreign land - turned Daniel to God through prayer. What difficult circumstances has God used in your life to push you closer to Him? 

3- God's Word, specifically the book of Jeremiah, is what helped Daniel have understanding of his current situation. What practices are you currently doing to help you spend time with God's Word? 

4- God's Word also helped form Daniel's prayer that we are about to study. Have you ever used the Bible as a tool to help you pray? If so, share how that went. If not, how do you think it could be helpful to your prayer life?

As a way to form our prayers in accordance to God's Word, we are going to work through a model of prayer during hard times using the rest of Daniel 9. Each section will conclude with 1-2 questions and one way to pray it in your life. Encourage your group to use this prayer model this week with different passages of Scripture and in their own life situations.

READ Daniel 9:4-6

5- What do these verses tell you about God? What do they tell you about humankind? The first way to pray is a prayer of confession of sin against God.

READ Daniel 9:7-10

6- What do these verses tell you about God? What do they tell you about humankind? The second way to pray is to be honest with God about how you feel.

READ Daniel 9:11-14

7- What do these verses tell you about God? The third way to pray is to acknowledge the consequences of sin. Then, praise God that the ultimate consequence has been taken by Jesus' death on the cross.

READ Daniel 9:15-16

8- What do these verses tell you about God? The fourth way to pray is to remind yourself of all that God has done in the past on your behalf, then ask God to provide again.

READ Daniel 9:17-19

9- What does this passage tell you about God? The fifth way to pray is to recognize where the provision comes from in every circumstance. 

Summary: this week pray by confessing, being honest, acknowledging consequences and praising God for Jesus, reminding yourself of God's faithfulness, asking God to do it again, and recognizing God as the source for any and everything that happens as a result of this prayer. 

10- What was the group supposed to hold you accountable for in prayer over the past 2 weeks? How has it been going? How can we continue to pray for you and with you this week? 

Leader Huddle - s.1 Wk.2

How do you as a leader handle that person that talks WAY too much and dominates the conversation? Or what about the people that sit on the sidelines and very rarely contribute? 

I hope this one tip will solve both of those problems! 

1- Rather than asking a general question to the group, point out one person and ask their thoughts. Then, open the floor for anyone else to contribute.

        - It could sound like this: "Matt, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this question: __________?" 

I've done this multiple times in my group and have been the target of this tactic in some of Nathan's groups haha! But hey, it works! I hope that's helpful.

Each week we are going to be praying for individual group leaders and their groups. I'm really excited about how this will connect you to other leaders in the church that you may not know. Here's our prayer focus for this week:

PRAYER POINT- This week we are going to be praying for John and Abby Wood. They have been co-leaders in the past but are taking on a larger leadership role this season. Their group meets on Mondays @ 7pm. According to John their biggest prayer needs are: 1- a group member who's unbelieving father is in the hospitable. Prayers for his healing, but ultimately for his salvation. 2- more peace and trust in God for John and Abby in their larger leadership role. 

Just Pray - Wk. 2

Icebreaker: Are you a morning person? Why or why not? 

1- Do you have a specific time of day or place where you like to pray? If so, share the reason why. 

Let's breakdown the specifics of the way Jesus prayed.

READ Mark 1:35-37

2- Jesus started His day with prayer. Why do you think He did that? 

3- Despite all the demands of the day that Jesus knew were coming (v.36-37), He still got up early to pray. What does that tell you about one of the benefits of prayer?

4- He also got away and was by Himself in order to pray. Why do you think He did that?

5- What do you think your purpose in life is? Why do you think that? 

READ Mark 1:38

6- Prayer fueled Jesus' purpose. Does prayer shape the purpose of your life or does your own purpose shape your prayer life? What do you think the difference is between the two? 

7- In what way do you think prayer could shape your daily duties and the purpose behind them?

8- One of Jesus' purposes in coming was to preach. He was "others" focused. As followers of Jesus how can we emulate that same mindset in our lives?

READ Mark 1:39

9- After praying about it and talking about it, Jesus went and did it. What are some things you've been praying about or talking about that you need to put into action? 

10- How can the rest of the group hold you accountable to the things we talked about? 

Leader Huddle - S1 Wk. 1

Let's talk about how to welcome new members. Whether you're a new group starting for the first time, or you've been an rGroup for a long time, it's important to know how to handle the new guy or girl. 

Here are 3 tips: 

• Don't be afraid of name tags
• Name tags seem so elementary. It might remind you of some weird office party. But the only thing worse than using name tags is having to ask someone's name for the 3rd time in 3 weeks or just calling them "girlfriend" or "bro". 
• Don't be afraid of small talk
• If you're like me, then you hate small talk. All the little questions about where you work, your family, what you like to do, can be boring and maybe seem awkward. But making small talk is so much better than having someone attend your group and stand awkwardly alone in a corner. 
• Do be afraid of cliques
• Bust the cliques up by connecting the newbies to someone other than yourself. It can be easy to take the newbie under your wing to ensure that they are welcomed. But then who do they talk to next week? Or the next week after that? 
• Find anything, and I mean ANYTHING that you can relate to someone else in your group. Find the smallest amount of common ground and run with it. 

Just Pray - Week 1

Icebreaker: Tell the group about one of the fun things you did during the holidays and the rGroup off-season in December.

Group Leaders: Be sure to emphasize plugging into 21 Days of Prayer with your rGroup - especially during this sermon series on prayer. REVO has tried to make it easily accessible through the app, so don't forget to download it and tell your group members to do the same!

1- When you think of prayer, what comes to your mind? Why? 

2- Judgement free zone! How often do you pray? Why do you think you pray that often?

READ Luke 18:9-13

3- Being self-righteous is to be confident and put trust in the way you live your life. How do you think that plays out in your life? 

4- Why do you think Jesus would tell this story to people who were self-righteous? 

5- How did the Pharisee see himself before God? In what ways can you have those same tendencies in the way you see yourself?

6- How did the tax collector see himself before God? In what ways can you have those same tendencies in the way you see yourself? 

7- Why do you think the way that you view yourself is important to prayer? What is the point Jesus is trying to make in regard to this?  

READ Luke 18:14

8- How does Jesus summarize the meaning of this parable? How do you think this affects prayer?

READ Hebrews 4:16

9- This verse tells us that because of Jesus' work on our behalf, we can approach God through prayer with confidence. What do you think the relationship is between confident prayer and humble prayer? How do you think you it is possible to do both? 

10- How can the rGroup help hold you accountable to pray each of the 21 days?