There's a temptation we all face as leaders, the feeling like we have to do it all and have it all together. But if we have to be Superman, we don't get to build the Justice League. As leaders, we're actually more effective embracing our inner Clark Kent. Thanks for joining me in this episode. I hope it encourages you and gives you some thoughts around creating your own team of heroes!

In this episode, we roll out episode 1 of a new podcast Jay and I will be doing, "On 2nd Thought." In this episode, we discuss Jay's sermon series on marrage. 

Most of us have dropped the habit of setting resolutions or setting new goals for the year. After a week or two, we've typically forgotten them or blown them to the point of discouragment. What if we could distill our goals into one word. One word that helps us focus and clarify our efforts and resources might be a better way. In this episode, Pastor Jay Hackett joins us to share his thoughts on choosing a word for the year and how he uses it to direct the staff in a certain direction. 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming more prominant in our culture as companies race to encorporate it into their products. But there are varying opinions and concerns as to it's use. Is AI the answer to increasing our productivity, effectiveness and creativity, or the precursor to Schwarzenegger death robots?

Maybe more germain to our discussion, is there a use for AI in the church? How should we view this potential resource and what are some of the considerations in adopting this new and rapidly growing technology? 

In this episode, we look at possible ways leaders might leverage the power of AI for their life groups and how we can help our people navigate this controversial tool. 

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These are some resources that might be of use to you in leading your life group. Some are free resources, some premium (subscription), and some a combination of the two. 

Content Creation (Teaching Materials, Bible Study Guides)

• ChatGPT: Excellent for creating Bible study outlines, answering questions, and crafting discussion prompts. https://chat.openai.com
• Google Docs with Smart Compose: Includes AI-driven writing assistance for drafting and editing materials collaboratively. https://docs.google.com
• Notion AI: Offers free content generation, note-taking, and organization features, making it easy to create and store study guides or discussion questions. https://www.notion.so
• Canva: Useful for designing attractive presentation slides and visual aids for teaching. https://www.canva.com
• Gamma: Create a beautiful slide presentation in seconds by entering your notes and making a few selections. https://gamma.app 
• Midjourney: Text to image AI application. Enter text prompts "create an elephant riding a bicycle in the desert in the cubist style" and receive several images to choose or improve on. 

Scheduling and Time Management

• Clockwise: Assists in managing schedules, setting meeting times, and balancing small group leader duties with personal schedules. https://www.getclockwise.com
• Calendly: Free scheduling tool that makes it easy to find common meeting times with group members. https://www.calendly.com
• Google Calendar with AI Suggestions: Offers smart scheduling suggestions and reminders to help with consistency in planning. https://calendar.google.com
• Motion: An AI-powered calendar that automatically schedules tasks and meetings to maximize productivity. https://www.usemotion.com

Spiritual Growth Resources (Bible Study and Devotionals)

• BibleProject Classroom: AI-driven, interactive Bible study resources that help break down complex biblical themes. https://bibleproject.com
• YouVersion Bible App: Offers personalized devotional recommendations and reading plans for various spiritual goals. https://www.youversion.com/the-bible-app
• Faithlife: Includes resources like commentaries, study aids, and devotionals tailored to specific Bible passages. https://faithlife.com
• Blue Letter Bible: Provides free Bible study tools, commentaries, and dictionaries to aid in scriptural understanding. https://www.blueletterbible.org
• BibleHub: Offers free access to Bible commentaries, concordances, and study guides, helping leaders prepare lessons. https://biblehub.com

Community Building (Group Communication, Relationship Management)

• Church Center app: PCBC's app that contains groups like yours. A great way to quickly and easily communicate to your group through chat and email as well as scheduling events and sharing documents. https://pcbchurch.churchcenter.com
• Facebook Messenger: Offers free group messaging and event reminders, which can help keep group members connected and informed. https://www.messenger.com

Personal Development (Training and Skill Development)

•  edX: Contains free courses on leadership, communication, and management, which are useful for personal growth. https://www.edx.org
• YouTube: Offers free access to various tutorials and talks on leadership, community building, and faith-based teaching. https://www.youtube.com

Data and Feedback Analysis (Improving Group Effectiveness)

• Google Forms with Google Sheets: A free way to create and analyze surveys, allowing leaders to gather feedback from group members. https://forms.google.com
• Jotform: A free survey tool that allows you to collect feedback and track responses for group improvement. https://www.jotform.com
• Otter: An audio recording and AI transcription app that also creates discussion summaries, suggested action steps, and offers AI after meeting interaction. https://otter.ai 
• Fathom: AI note taker similar to Otter, but for video. Record and transcribe Zoom (and other platform) video meetings. Get impressive meeting summaries, action steps and other AI interaction.  https://fathom.video 

It's easy to get in a rut when we've been teaching for a while. Problems that might be glaring to a guest, might have become invisible to us and our group as we've become comfortable with the norm. But we don't want to be sabotaged by deterants that we aren't aware of! It might be time to look at the areas where we can make little ajustments to gradually improve and become more effective in our teaching, community building, follow up, and so much more. 

Teaching notes pdf 

Books referenced: 

Uncommon Greatness - Mark Miller

What a Great Idea! - Chic Thompson

Change Your Questions, Change Your Life - Marilee Adams

For more information or to ask a question, email [email protected] 

The gospel is the foundation of our hope, the core of our message, and the driving force to our purpose as believers. But what is the gospel? Yes, it's the "Good News", but could you explain it's essential elements? In this episode, we look at a few false gospels floating around out there and identify the key ingredients to the true gospel. 

Conversion and Discipleship - Bill Hull

The Discipleship Gospel - Bill Hull and Ben Sobels

It's natural to teach according to our own personality and preferences, but there's a balance to keep in mind. When we remember to include the elements of head, heart and hands we not only create a more engaging lesson, but we provide a more fertile environment for a healthy life group and true spiritual growth in your people.  

What does spiritual maturity look like? Does it automatically come with age or the time one has been a Christian or gone to church? Is it possible that church conflicts could arise from spiritually immature being placed in positions of leadership?

Join us in the 4th and final part of this series on healthy discipleship as we look at the markers of true spiritual maturity. 

We all want to belong - to feel loved, appreciated, and needed. There's nothing quite like being part of a group that feels like home. It turns out that the people  around us have one of the largest impacts on our spiritual development. We weren't meant to take this journey alone. And those alongside us can make all the difference. How can we tell which travelers will put wind in our sails and which will hold us back and drag us down? 

Join us for part 3 of our pursuit for what's really involved in healthy discipleship!

Identity is one of the most important filters in determining how we show up in life - in our relationships, our decisions, our actions and reactions. But where does our identity come from? How is it shaped ? And how can we build a more healthy identity? 

Join us for part 2 of our look at routing a better path to spiritual growth!