Get Fresh and Get Focused

Helpful Suggestions for

Strengthening and Serving Focus Groups

Get Fresh

The best of life groups can become stagnant if you don’t stay proactive in keeping things fresh and vibrant.  Here’s a suggestion that some of our life groups are using to get fresh and stay fresh.  In order to go deeper in relationships, several of our life groups have changed up their format to allow for cultivating more developed relationships of women with women and men with men. 

For example, my life group meets on Thursday evenings.  The first Thursday of the month we all meet together to discuss and apply the previous Sunday’s message using a list of questions prepared by the person leading the discussion.  We do this on the 3^rd Thursday of the month as well.  On the 2^nd Thursday the women meet for fellowship and fun, while the men meet and watch the kids.  On the 4^th Thursday the men get their turn for fellowship and fun, while the ladies keep the kids corralled.   

This format is fresh and allows us to go deeper.  Deeper in the application of the preached Word of God.  Deeper in our relationships as men.  Deeper in our relationships with women.  Our relationships with God are benefiting and certainly so are our marriages and relationships with each other. 

Need to freshen up your life group?  Or maybe you’d like to start a new life group? Try this suggestion on for size and see if it fits.  Contact Pastor Kevin on how you can get a Life Group together.

Get Focused

Just as a pencil loses its sharpness after being used, so ministry teams can lose some of their focus if they are not "resharpened."  Recently, the Children's Ministry Team used six questions to get "resharpened" and bring their ministry into sharper focus.  Before working through these six questions, they reviewed the vision and purpose statements of Cheyenne Berean Church (see below).

The questions and the answers the Children's Ministry Team put together are listed below for your information and as an example of what you can do in your ministry team to "resharpen" and get focused.  Contact Pastor Kevin if you'd like some assistance in working through this exercise with your ministry team.

Cheyenne Berean Church is a non-denominational Bible church that is committed to meeting the contemporary spiritual needs of families and individuals in and around the Cheyenne, Wyoming area. We are a church with direction that is courageously building a safe place to grow in Christ. We are intentionally seeking to create a church family where we model faith, grace, and mutual submission as we affirm each other's unique gifts and strengths.

"We exist to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ and to eagerly follow His example as we engage in whole life Christian living.” 

• What do we want to be known for?

We want Cheyenne Berean Church’s Children’s Ministries to be known by children and their parents as a place of love, safety and adventure.  We want to be known as partners with parents who teach the truth of God’s Word intentionally and comprehensively and are flexible with those who have special needs.  We want to be known as leaders/teachers who are well prepared, punctual, and faithful to follow through.  We want to be known as being age appropriate, relevant, and up-to-date.

•  How do we want to treat each other?

We want to show mutual support and mutual respect.  We want to always be ready to give the helping hand and assume the best from each other.

• What kind of environment/workspace to we want to have?

We want to provide a clean and organized environment to our children that is visually appealing and personally calming.  We want our environments to complement what we seek to teach.  We desire our Resource Room to be neat, orderly, and sufficiently stocked to provide for teaching needs.

•  What does each person bring in terms of unique talents and skills?

We recognize that each person on the Children’s Ministries Team is uniquely gifted by God will special skills and talents that when combined with the rest of the team brings a wholeness and fullness to children’s ministries.  We value each individual’s unique and essential contributions.

•  What do we want to achieve?

We want above all things for children to be growing in their relationships with God.  We desire them not just to learn facts, but to go deeper in their knowledge of and experience with God.  We want children to encounter God in worship.  We seek to partner with parents and intentionally communicate with them about what their children are learning and from the parents how we can best connect with their children.

---

“Is the Seed Still in the Barn?”

This week my Bible reading had me in the Old Testament book of Haggai.  Haggai was a prophet who called the Jewish people to complete the work that they had begun, which was the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem. 

In the second and final chapter of the book, in verse 19, the prophet poses the question, “Is the seed still in the barn?”  In context, the answer to the question is “no”, and it was to be a reminder to the people that they had not been experiencing the abundant provision of the Lord because they had strayed from the Lord (see vs. 16-17).

Yet, as I read this question, “Is the seed still in the barn?”, it struck me with a personal challenge and application.  Growing up on a farm in Nebraska, the image that came to my mind immediately was a barn filled with bags of seed corn, soybeans, and milo that had not been planted.  These bags of seeds were purchased to be planted and delivered for the same purpose, but here they were stacked in a barn and gathering dust.  The mental picture is one of “unrealized potential.” 

Is the seed still in the barn?  What a challenge!  Have I taken what God has purchased for me at great cost and entrusted to me for a great purpose, and stacked it in the barn where it gathers dust?  Why is the seed still in the barn?  There are many possible answers to this query:

   Lack of PURPOSE.  I’ve lost my focus and am pursuing an agenda other than God’s.  My life is not in alignment with my assignment from God.

   Lack of PASSION.  I’ve forgotten what is at stake.  I’ve been lulled into a “comfortable” life where I’ve grown complacent and insensitive to the life and death spiritual reality that surrounds me.  I give lip service, but the truth is that my life betrays me.

   Lack of PRIORITIES.  I’m committed to planting the seed and I understand how important it is, but something always comes up and I just never seem to get to it.  One of these days, when life settles down, the kids are grown, the finances are under control, work isn’t so crazy, and we get settled, THEN I’ll brush the dust off the bags and plant some seed. 

There are many more reasons why the seed is still in the barn, but I haven’t thought of any that are legitimate.  In fact, as believers, we are to be carrying a sower’s bag of seed with us at all times and spreading the seed wherever God has placed us (Matthew 28:18-20).  We are to be sowing seed “as we go”.  As we go to school, plant seeds.  As we go to work, plant seeds.  As we live with our neighbors, plant seeds.  As we raise our family, plant seeds.  As we serve our community, plant seeds. As we live, plant seeds. 

It’s interesting that some of us think that planting seeds is the “job” of the paid church staff, and that our “job” is to work and “support” the seed planters.  Friends, that’s just NOT true!  We are ALL seed planters! 

From your point of view, you may be an accountant who plants seeds.  From God’s point of view, you are a seed planter who happens to be an accountant.  Do you see the difference?  We need to adopt God’s point of view.  After all, His is the correct perspective.  Right?

Now, planting seed is RISKY business.  The Psalmist in Psalm 126 speaks of sowing in tears and going “to and fro weeping” (vs. 5-6).  Planting is RISKY because it always involves sacrifice and faith.  It is taking what you possess and casting it on the ground in hopes that the seed will take root, grow, and produce fruit.  The sower weeps as she plants because she takes present limited provision (the seed) and puts it into the soil trusting that the end result will be future abundant harvest.  As seed planters, we sacrifice and suffer in the present because we are convinced that we are investing in what will produce a bountiful harvest in the future.  As seed planters we must have a HEAVENLY mindset. 

Planting seed is also REWARDING business.  Also in Psalm 126, we find that the tearful sower reaps with joyful shouting, and the weeping seed planter comes again (to the harvest) with a shout of joy!  Being a seed planter is all about delayed gratification.  You cannot be a seed planter if you demand instant gratification.  When we demand instant gratification, we cheat ourselves of the opportunity to experience the incredible JOY of the HARVEST!  The promise of Psalm 126 is that the seed planter will INDEED (doubtless) come again with a shout of JOY bringing his sheaves (bundles of grain) with him. 

What will you bring with you at the FINAL harvest?  Will you come with a shout of joy and a parade of souls who came to Christ because you planted seed in some way in their lives?  That is my personal desire!  And I pray that you join me in this desire as we together work passionately to plant seed in the Cheyenne area!   

Is the seed still in the barn?  What practical steps do you need to take to be a seed planter?  

By Kevin Workman, Ministries Pastor, Cheyenne Berean Church  November 9, 2006

Service Times and Directions

Back to Top

Back to the Cheyenne Berean Church Welcome Screen