Seeker Small Groups

Transitions

As you have probably noticed if you are a regular visitor to this site, there have been no posts for quite some time. My role as the new president of Neighborhood Bible Studies and our new beginnings have been taking most of my time both in traveling and developing our new ministry plan. NBS has plans to create a new website that will include blogs and other social networking features. In the meantime, if you would like to be a guest blog poster for this site, please let me know and we can all participate in keeping this site going together. - Mary

Luis Palau in Argentina

A friend recently sent me this photo and a few others on the Buenos Aires Festival in Argentina with Luis Palau this past month. I almost wept, when I saw the size of the crowd, which numbered over 800,000 people in Palau's native country. Jay Fordice, a member of the Palau team, said "For Luis, this entire campaign was a dream fulfilled – the result of much prayer and years of hard work. But for the churches in the area – and for tens of thousands of believers – it was even more than that. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity … an occasion to let their light shine before all men and make a powerful statement in front of their friends, their neighbors, their family, and their city. It was their opportunity to share Jesus Christ on a region-wide scale.

Over the last 12 days, the Good News of Jesus Christ penetrated a city, a region, a country … even an entire continent:

· In-depth television interviews aired on Argentina’s top secular news programs.
· More than 8 hours of continual coverage of the festival appeared on several secular news programs during the days of the festival (including several re-broadcasts of Luis’ evangelistic message).
· Live broadcasts of the festival aired in 23 Spanish-speaking countries through Enlace Television.
· More than 100,000 people were reached through Internet broadcasts of the festival.
· Cover stories appeared in all of Argentina’s top newspapers and magazines.
· Meetings with top government officials included the mayor of Buenos Aires, state and city legislature, the vice president of Argentina, and an historic meeting with the president of the nation.
· Andrew Palau shared the Good News through a unique outreach to prisoners, as well as sharing the stage with Luis at the festival on Saturday night.
· Luis and the team held an historic pastors/businessmen’s conference, focusing on the role of Christians in business and politics. The conference helped to break down several harmful stereotypes and presuppositions facing the Church in Argentina.
· More than 23,000 individuals were trained in discipleship and decision-maker follow-up.
· Successful outreaches were accomplished for women, businessmen, government officials, and union leaders.
· And best of all … tens of thousands of individuals made decisions to follow Jesus Christ."

Luis also got to meet with the president of Argentina, which was the first time that he had ever given any such attention to the evangelical community. This all is a reminder to me that God is working around the globe in ways that astonish and encourage me. I hope news reports like this will do the same for you. God's blessings to all our partners in the gospel! - Mary

Why God Allows Pain?

I received this story this morning that provides a simple way of addressing the question of why God allows suffering. This is probably one of the biggest questions about God, and it warrants continued study and examination, along with tremendous compassion and mercy to those that are suffering. So I don't want to minimize the magnitude of the topic, but thought it gives us a glimpse of the answer:

A man went to a barbershop to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed. As the barber began to work, they began to have a good conversation. They talked about so many things and various subjects. When they eventually touched on the subject of God, the barber said: "I don't believe that God exists." "Why do you say that?" asked the customer. "Well, you just have to go out in the street to realize that God doesn't exist. Tell me, if God exists, would there be so many sick people? Would there be abandoned children? If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain. I can't imagine a loving God who would allow all of these things." The customer thought for a moment, but didn't respond because he didn't want to start an argument. The barber finished his job and the customer left the shop.

Just after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the street with long, stringy, dirty hair and an untrimmed beard. He looked dirty and unkempt. The customer turned back and entered the barber shop again and he said to the barber: "You know what? Barbers do not exist." "How can you say that?" asked the surprised barber.  "I am here, and I am a barber. And I just worked on you!" "No!" the customer exclaimed. "Barbers don't exist because if they did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards, like that man outside." "Ah, but barbers DO exist! That's what happens when people do not come to me." "Exactly!" affirmed the customer. "That's the point! God, too, DOES exist! That's what happens when people do not go to Him and don't look to Him for help. That's why there's so much pain and suffering in the world."

I don't know who wrote this story, as it was sent with no attribute. But it makes a good point. 2Chr. 7:14 says "if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." Or another verse, Psa. 119:36 Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word." - Mary

Prayer and Community

As most of you know, one of our 150 seeker small group leaders, Denise Blocker, experience a tragedy this past week when her husband Brad Blocker was in a serious skiing accident at Lake Tahoe. He was in a drug-induced coma with severe head and chest injuries in a Reno hospital. I sent out an e-mail to all of you, asking you to pray.

I was astonished at the response! So many of you sent e-mails back saying that you were praying for Brad, Denise and her family. It showed me how much this group values prayer. We may all not be able to show up to some of the events that are being planned for seeker small group leaders, or even get that seeker small group going yet, but what I witnessed through this recent tragedy is a high value on prayer and reliance on God's power within our SSG contingent. This prayer response continued when the very sad news came in on Friday night (2/22) that Brad had passed away. Some of you have offered to put together a love of offering for the family. Someone had a friend in Reno that is a pastor who could go visit the Blocker family in the hospital. Others knew Brad personally through his love of basketball.

For those that may be interested, Brad's memorial service is 11:00 a.m. Saturday, March 1st at the Woodside Priory, Portola Valley. There will also be a viewing at Spangler Mortuary, 399 South San Antonio Rd. in Los Altos on Friday night (2/29) from 5-8 p.m.

I must confess that there have been times over this past year that I was discouraged, because this is so new and I don't really know how this whole movement of seeker small groups is going to unfold. But this week's response has taught me that there is a community forming of like-minded people that know how to pray and come together when we need it most.

I hope I see many of you at the Conversational Evangelism Conference. Unfortunately I will miss most of the lunch, due to the funeral. However, Garry Poole and Fran Goodrich of NBS as well as Bruce Stryd another key SSG catalyst, will all be there to make that hour count for each one of you that attend. I continue to be so grateful for each one of you. Thank you for praying for the Blockers and also for the all the prayers you have been praying for me over this past year. I feel them. Love, Mary

Vision for the Future

A few days ago I picked up that magazine called "Real Simple" which is supposed to be designed to "make life easier" according to their slogan on the cover. In my opinion, it often doesn't deliver on that promise, since the magazine is full of advertisements of expensive things that most people don't need or ideas that make life often more complicated. Nonetheless, in a serious attempt to help Mom achieve more simplicity in my life, my daughter bought me a subscription last year.

However, I was struck by an article in the May, 2007 issue (OK, I know I am little behind in my magazines!) that was entitled "What's in your future?" The subtitle read, "We all want something: a smaller dress size, a bigger bank account, a less stressful job. Well, if you can visualize what you want, you can get it, says Real Simple's life coach and author of this article, Gail Blanke. Just paint a picture in your mind and you're on your way." I am thinking as I read this, "this sounds like something like out that popular New Age book, "The Secret." But for some reason, I kept on reading.

The author talked about the importance of vision, and referenced that when Walt Disney was building Walt Disney World in Florida, he told the executives building the theme park to "build the castle first." The logic of this plan, was that if the team could look at the castle for inspiration along the way, then they could get through the hard parts of making the whole vision happen. Then the author laid out four steps to fulfilling your "wildest dreams."

Here's the steps:

1. Find your vision - what would you love to see happen, if anything were possible?
2. Build the castle - flesh out and color in your vision of what the best outcome would look like?
3. Set the date - determine in what time frame you think it could happen.
4. Commit - figure out how it could possibly happen and put in place the tasks necessary to accomplish the vision.

The reason this struck such a chord for me, is that a little over a year ago, I followed these steps regarding seeker small groups (although it wasn't that intentional or formalaic). But when I think back on what happened it followed this formula. My vision was to launch ONE HUNDRED SEEKER SMALL GROUPS in the SF bay area so that HUNDREDS of unchurched folks could find a relationship with Jesus Christ. The one hundred groups were my castle. I put a plan in place with the necessary tasks to make it happen.

Now there are over 150+ leaders that are in varying stages of launching groups. Our vision is now growing larger. We're asking, "what if there were ONE THOUSAND SEEKER SMALL GROUPS IN THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA in the next three years?" Wouldn't that be a great castle of hope in an area that is reporting an unchurched population of 93%? I can already visualize that outcome and we're planning the tasks that could make that vision a reality.

And how about you? Although this was a secular article, it has something to teach us about the importance of vision, which is nothing more than "a preferred future." Do you know the vision God is calling you to have? What does your castle look like? When could it become a reality? And what are the tasks that by committing to them, you along with the power of the Holy Spirit, could see God make the vision a reality? - Mary

Francis Collins and The Language of God

A few weeks ago, I had heard that Francis Collins, director of the National human Genome Research Institute and author of the book "The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief" was going to be at Stanford University on Feb. 5. I heard from several of you who had the opportunity to hear him speak, as well as bring some of your friends that are not Christians. Here are some of the comments about this event:

"As a scientist, I have grappled with many of the issues Francis discussed, and it was invigorating to listen to ‘a greater mind than mine’ on bridging the gap between science and religion. After all, everything is God’s. Science and mathematics derive from God’s creation construct. One can not consider science without acknowledging that God ‘owns’ it all!" - Bob

"It was Super Tuesday all right. 2300 people came out, according to campus security. Overflow rooms overflowed. Dr. Collins was funny, humble, brilliant, and incisive. The Q&A ended with the question: “I see what you’re saying – how do I take the next step?” Collins said, seek, and know that this is the most important question of your life – having laid out the Gospel and where he found his answer." Pete

“Thank you for inviting me. The talk last night was AWESOME” – PhD Candidate Bio, a seeker

“I just wanted to thank you for organizing the talk last night. I've prayed that it was well received, and seeds were planted. My friends were blown away by the talk.” – recent EE alumna

“As it happened a heavily-bearded physicist was in the seat beside me. We chatted before the lecture began. He wanted to say that he'd read Mere Christianity and found it vacuous… Yet, maybe 1/2 way through Collin's presentation I sensed what might have been a crack in his shell occurring… I was thrilled to get to be a part of the Holy Spirit's movement last night.” – veteran campus minister

Several of my friends are reading Collins' book and say that it is the easiest book they have read about complex scientific issues. I am putting it on my reading list. But I also wanted to highlight this event at Stanford to encourage you to keep looking for opportunities to invite your friends to something like this that allow for honest and open discussion after you attend together. Ask good questions and listen. - Mary

New Beginnings For Me

As many of you know by now, a month ago I accepted the position as president of an organization named Neighborhood Bible Studies (NBS), a ministry very consistent with my passion and outreach goals. I started working officially with them two weeks ago by hitting the road traveling to our three strategic cities (New York, Chicago and San Francisco). Hence the break in posts on this Blog. :-( It is a DELIGHT and a PRIVILEGE to join NBS as their new leader and merge everything I have been doing in the bay area regarding seeker small groups into the new NBS ministry plan.

This verse from Isaiah 43:19 expresses succinctly what is happening at NBS and for me personally. These New Beginnings are authored by our Sovereign God: “For I am about to do a brand new thing. See, I have already begun! Do you not se it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness for my people to come home.” I want to share with you how these new beginnings got started.

As some of you might know, NBS was founded by Kay Schell and Marilyn Kunz back in 1960 in New York with the purpose of bringing unchurched people from a neighborhood together into a small group to discover what the Bible has to say. Hence, the name of this ministry was Neighborhood Bible Studies. The primary goal was to provide a safe place to question, reflect, learn and grow as people studied the Bible and figured out what it said and what they believed.

Our culture has substantially changed in the past 48 years. In the 60’s and 70’s, most people fundamentally believed that the Bible was worth studying, even if for a variety of reasons, they had chosen not to attend a local church. However, increasingly over the last five decades, this belief (that the Bible is worth studying) has diminished. In addition, NBS has struggled to thrive and grow since their beloved founders Kay and Marilyn retired fifteen years ago. Recently, the NBS board began asking tough questions: Did NBS still have relevance and purpose in today’s culture? Were there changes that needed to be made to continue it’s mission? Can we find a leader that can carry out these changes and maintain the values that have been at the heart of NBS?

Little did any one of the three of us know when we met in May, 2007 for the first in Cupertino, CA. that God was already “doing a new thing.” At the table that day were Fran Goodrich, the NBS western regional director and author of e-Help, Garry Poole, and I discussing the possibility of learning from one another.

Nine months later (January '08), a new birth occurred: NBS has adopted Garry’s Seeker Small Group concepts and resources for a more culturally relevant approach to those outside of our churches that are spiritually seeking, and they asked me to be their new leader. Our budding partnership with Garry will enable us to initiate “Question Forums” throughout the U.S. and ultimately the world, in which our friends, neighbors, and co-workers can discover truth in the context of a small group for themselves about the toughest questions regarding God.

Ultimately, when people genuinely start wrestling with the toughest questions about God, eventually they are ready and open to looking at Scripture. The 40+ NBS guides provide an easy way to transition a group from general questions about God into a serious, but non-threatening look at the Bible using the same self-discovery method. We are calling these “Bible Study Forums.”

Here’s a little about my background for those of you who don't know me well. Most of my professional adult life has been spent as an entrepreneur starting companies as well as new community/church initiatives. Six years ago, I enrolled in Fuller Theological Seminary and began a seeker small group in my Portola Valley, California home with two other leaders. This group was life changing as I saw friends of mine begin a relationship with Jesus. These activities culminated in a passion for effectively reaching those that don’t know Jesus (outside our church doors) with small groups for spiritual seekers. In the last 18 months since I finished my Masters in Divinity, God has furthered this work by enabling me to launch and support over 150 seeker small group leaders in the San Francisco bay area.

As I got to know Fran Goodrich and everyone at NBS, God knit our hearts together with a new vision to reinvigorate NBS with a more expansive outreach/discipleship strategy. My prayer is that you will catch the vision (if you haven't already) and join us in these exciting new NBS beginnings! - Mary

Exercise your Evangelism Muscles

There are several upcoming events in the bay area for those that are interested in exercising their evangelism muscles. Some of those muscles may be stretched for the first time, others have been stretching them for years. But isn’t January the month that we get out those workout clothes and head for the gym to exercise our physical bodies that have gotten flabby?

How about we head to a spiritual gym (like a conference or one of our outreach oriented churches) to get back into shape for outreach in the new year??? Here are several opportunities to not only be reminded of the GREAT COMMISSION, but to equip you with tools on how to effectively share your faith:

1. Conversational Evangelism Conference: **** NOTE: Early-Bird rates through today, Jan. 18th!*****
(if you sign up today through Seeker Small Groups, we can get the lowest group rate of $129. Students can attend for $79 early bird rate. There’s also an option for just Saturday at $79. Contact me directly by e-mail and I’ll give you the details for all of these.) Registration and Details at www.conversationalevangelism.net

Also, we need prayer warriors for this conference. If you are interested in praying for the CEC in the upcoming weeks and pray during the conference with those that are in need of prayer, you can obtain a very low rate.

Where: Menlo Park Presbyterian Church, Menlo Park, CA.

When: Feb. 29 – Mar.1

Learn how to develop skills for effective evangelism in this contemporary culture. It’s all about the conversations we have with our unchurched friends, neighbors, families, and co-workers. We all know how to NOT do it, through personal mistakes and well-intended attempts. But here is a conference that explains the power of listening, healthy productive conversations, and sincerely guiding someone on their own spiritual journey of discovery.

Todd Hunter, National Director of Alpha USA, will be joined John Ortberg, Becky Pippert, Mark Mittelberg, Dan Kimball , Richard Peace and Garry Poole; as well as networking with other like-minded people, worship and prayer.

* Todd will help us understand what is going on in our rapidly changing culture
* Dan will help us contextualize the unchanged message of God’s love to young adults
* Richard will equip us to engage in easy and comfortable conversation about the good news of Jesus.
* John will help us learn how spiritually connect with our Father’s heart
* Mark will give us strategies for helping every part of the church develop an evangelistic edge
* Becky will inspire us to become the kind of people who naturally and easily attract seekers, and will teach us about “Seeker Bible Studies”.
* Garry will give us excellent training on how to invite seekers, and how best to facilitate Alpha groups and Seeker Small Groups
* The Alpha Team – will present Alpha to Conference delegates in a fun, exciting way.

How can you make the most of this Conference?

1. Be sure your pastors and leaders know about this Conference. They may already be familiar with these speakers and their books.
2. Don’t come alone – bring a team. These ministries teach a “team approach” to evangelism. It takes a community to reach seekers in our world today. Your team will be learning how each part of the church can make its own particular contribution; according to the gifts each person has been given.
3. Plan to put into action those things you learn at the conference.

2. Lee Strobel at the Cathedral of Faith in San Jose, this Sunday Jan. 20

They have 4 services. The Sat night 5 pm service will show The Case for Christ Movie, which I recommend you go to and take a skeptical guest with you. Their Sunday services are at 8:30, 10 & 11:30 a.m and Lee will be speaking at all of them. Again I recommend you take a skeptical guest with you. Please pass this message on to others, and do consider inviting a skeptical friend. I'm not sure what Lee's topic will be, but it most probably will be the topic of his latest book: i.e. The Case for the Real Jesus. Their website is: http://www.cathedraloffaith. org/ Address: 2315 Canoas Garden Ave., San Jose, CA 95125

3. Veritas Forum at Stanford University on Tuesday, Feb. 5

Check out details at http://www.veritas.org/stanford. Here’s some of the basic facts taken directly from the website: “The Veritas Forum is a co-sponsor of the Francis Collins lecture at Stanford, an event which is sponsored on campus by InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship.

This event is an opportunity for the entire university community to explore and discuss life's hardest questions together. By asking the pressing questions on campus and answering them with respected university voices, we hope to engage the entire university in fruitful discussion.

The planners of the forum are inspired by the idea that Jesus Christ has something relevant to offer our modern university in its search for knowledge, truth and significance. We welcome and honor skeptics and their questions, and even bring some of our own. The Forum is not meant to be a typical academic exchange of abstract and unembodied ideas. Rather, it should come out of real community earnestly exploring questions of real importance.

We have invited presenters who have wrestled with our questions to challenge us, connect disconnected ideas, and put forth their answers and objections in light of our beliefs and doubts. We believe the events will draw participants into real conversations, questions, discussions, stories, and friendships.”

God and the Genome
7:30pm. Memorial Auditorium
Francis Collins (Author—The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief. Director—National Human Genome Research Institute, NIH.)

Well, I hope these are events that can encourage you and exercise those important spiritual muscles! May God bless your efforts to spread His good news to the 93% of the folks in the bay area who are outside our church doors. Grateful for the privilege of working with you. -Mary

Upcoming Events in 2008

I am actually on vacation as I write this, (so much for staying unplugged when there are internet connections wherever you go - even if you don't take your own computer!), but I wanted to wish you a happy new year and briefly tell you about some things that are happening in 2008 in the SF bay area.  Mark your calendars and/or tell your friends about these upcoming events:

Thursday, January 31 from nine to noon in Fremont - There will be a bay area seeker small group leaders planning event for those that are interested in helping in the upcoming year with this ministry.  It will be at Thorton Ave. Baptist Church.

Friday, February 29 and Saturday, March 1 all day in Menlo Park - Register for the Conversational Evangelism Conference at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church to hear from some great leaders on how to effectively engage your unchurched friends and neighbors in significant faith conversations.

Saturday, March 1 at noon - Seeker Small Group Leaders lunch with Garry Poole, held during the Conversational Evangelism Conference from noon to one.  Location TBD.  More details to follow.

A Saturday in April (TBD) - An all day Seeker Small Group Leader training with Garry Poole.  This is a better venue for those that know they're ready to launch a seeker small group.

Stay tuned for more details on all of these events.  In the meantime, I hope and pray that one of your new year's resolutions is to be more intentional in reaching out to those that are far from God with the love of his son, Jesus Christ.

I will be on vacation until Monday, January 14th.  There will be no more posts until I return. - Mary

Important News!

Merry Christmas to you! I wanted to give you an update on what has been happening with seeker small groups in the bay area. It was only a year ago that God gave a group of us a vision and call to launch ONE HUNDRED seeker small groups in the San Francisco bay area. As I write you a year later, there are over ONE HUNDRED FIFTY seeker small group leaders that have launched or are planning to launch a group that is specifically designed to meet the needs of spiritual seekers in the bay area from THIRTY different churches. We are receiving stories from many of you that indicate the fruitfulness of these groups in bringing people into a relationship with (or closer to a relationship with) Jesus Christ.

Shortly after the training conference in March 2007 with Garry Poole in which many of you said you would become ONE of the ONE HUNDRED seeker small group leaders, I met with another ministry that has a similar vision for reaching unchurched people through the self-discovery small group process by the name of Neighborhood Bible Studies (NBS). Throughout the rest of 2007, Garry and I have gotten to know this wonderful 47-year-old organization that is based in Dobbs Ferry, New York. We were astonished at the similarities that we found in their method and ideology. Here is their mission: to mobilize and empower followers of Jesus Christ to introduce and multiply small group discussion Bible studies among their neighbors, co-workers and friends so that participants can encounter God, grow in faith and pattern their lives after Jesus.

Within the last month, NBS and Garry have determined that there are significant benefits to both parties in forging a partnership that provides new direction and life into each ministry in reaching the unchurched with small groups for spiritual seekers. NBS has asked me to be their new CEO, based on this new partnership with Garry Poole, and I have accepted. Our vision is to grow NBS into a well-known resource for unchurched people to find a relationship with Jesus Christ through the self-discovery, question-asking process in a small group. And all of you in the bay area that are leading (or getting ready to lead) this kind of a group are part of that vision! Somehow, we are all finding ourselves in the middle of a movement that is sweeping through the bay area and to some degree, through our increasingly secular national culture. We all have the privilege of walking alongside and partnering with this established godly organization that is beginning a new chapter of Kingdom building. NBS has Bible studies that are a natural follow-on to SSGs for those who find a relationship with Jesus! It is exciting to see what God is doing with this form of outreach. - Mary