On this episode of Group Answers, Brian and Chris talk to Pastor J.D. Greear about his new book and Bible study, Gospel Above All. J.D. is pastor of The Summit Church, the 62nd president of the Southern Baptist Convention, and cohost of the Ask Me Anything Podcast.

Questions:

1. What motivated you to write this book and make this the cornerstone of your presidency? 

2. Gospel Change, Gospel Multiplication, Gospel Mission, Gospel Grace, Gospel Community, Gospel Victory. Why these specific topics?

3. As we talk about The Gospel Above All, tell us what a group can gain from engaging this message and why it is important for everyone — not just pastors and leaders.

4. What are some traps a church, and maybe even small groups, can find itself in (placing other things above the gospel) and how can this book and study speak to some of those things?

5. One of the chapters in the book, and also a full session in the Bible study, engages the tension we’re seeing more and more in the Gospel and politics. We’re in a very divisive age when it comes to politics. What’s the church’s role in politics, and what are some ways a church can view the gospel above politics?

6. Tell us about your experience with the video shoot, the weather, managing schedules with Veronica, and what you learned from this adventure but also spending time with people like David Platt, Greg Laurie, Rosaria Butterfield, Vance Pitman, Walter Strickland, Jen Wilkin, Kevin Smith, and Al Mohler.

Quotes:

A burden for our church has been thinking about the gospel as being above everything else that we are committed to and everything else that defines us.

The gospel was more important to Paul then anything else he could be about.

What ought to be a gospel people. When people think about us, they should think about the gospel.

There is literally nothing I could do with the 99 that brings Jesus as much joy as going after the one with the gospel.

When the gospel is at work within you, it is going to multiply.

Ordinary believers make disciples.

39 out of the 40 miracles in the New Testament took place outside the church.

An idol becomes an idol because it’s a good thing that takes on too much weight our lives.

We love to swap out gospel for religion.

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The Group Answers Podcast is a weekly show designed to resource, train, and encourage small group leaders. Each episode considers current trends and resources as well as timeless truths and methods of discipleship. It is hosted by Brian Daniel, a Bible study and discipleship expert in Lifeway’s Groups Ministry, and Chris Surratt, the small group and discipleship specialist at Lifeway and author of Small Groups for the Rest of Us.