One of the most helpful small group leader training tools to come out in the last several years is Bill Search’s book, Simple Small Groups. I wrote a review on it right here and included it in my 5 Essential GroupLife Reads.
Hadn’t talked with Bill in a while and was excited when I got his email pointing me to a great new resource on the Southeast Christian Church website. When he mentioned that it was intentionally designed to be helpful to other churches…I knew you’d want to check it out. I also took the opportunity to ask Bill a few questions.
Mark: What have you been up to since Simple Small Groups came out?
Bill: I just celebrated my fourth anniversary at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville. It’s a blast working at a church like Southeast. There is always something going on. Just like every other groups pastor out there I’m developing leaders, praying for more, and helping groups enjoy health. I’ve had the privilege of training other church leaders on the three biblical patterns of a healthy group from northern Canada to Havana, Cuba, and places in between.
Mark: What are your biggest challenges right now at Southeast?
Bill: We are experiencing tremendous growth. We baptized more than 2,000 people last year. With so many new Christians joining the challenge is helping them grow and mature and groups is a key part of that.
Mark: What are you seeing as the big grouplife priorities at Southeast?
Bill: We want groups to be more than a gathering of friends that put community at the center. We really want people to understand that Jesus should be at the center of their group. We should live and Jesus did. Our biggest grouplife priority is helping our people see groups as an integral part of growing as a disciple of Jesus.
Mark: I love the Leader Training Videos on your website. What motivated you to invest the time and energy in developing this tool?
Bill: We found many of our group leaders were wrestling with common problems. We figured if we answered those simple questions it would free us up to engage our leaders about deeper matters. Also, we wanted our leaders to have answers to their questions as the questions came up. So we made the videos and put them online. We also have them on DVD for leaders would rather have that format. We also wanted to share with other churches the resources God has blessed us with. We purposely didn’t mention Southeast on the videos so leaders from other churches can use.
Mark: Thanks for sharing the link with all of us!
Bill: It was a pleasure talking with you, Mark. Thanks for your encouragement to the great grouplife community across the globe!
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You can take a look at Southeast’s Leader Training Videos right here. I think you’re going to be bookmarking this site and linking to it on your own small group leader blog! Great stuff!
