From a worldly perspective, Aida seemed to have it all. She was a successful biotech executive; she was married with two wonderful kids; she had a lot of friends, and she owned a beautiful home in affluent Portola Valley. Sadly, her world began to crumble: within a short period of time, her husband of 20 years left her for a younger woman; she was laid off from the job she loved, and her teenage children started to rebel and reject her. Aida became discouraged and depressed, and it wasn’t long before she descended into a dark pit of despair from which there seemed no escape.
A friend of Aida’s invited her to my Tough Questions group. One of the questions that was of real interest to Aida, is why do bad things happen to good people? She believed that good things would happen to her if she were a good person. Over the next few months, my two other leaders and I loved Aida wholeheartedly and unconditionally as she struggled to make sense of her life.
At the end of one of our meetings, Aida stayed behind to talk to me about Jesus. She told me that she had gone to church most of her life, but she had never developed a personal relationship with Jesus. She didn’t know she needed one! She said she wanted to invite Jesus into her life, and I had the wonderful joy and privilege of praying with her and escorting her into the Kingdom of God. When Aida came to the group the following week, she seemed much more at peace with herself and the things she had been dealing with in her life.
That was four years ago. Since then, Aida’s life has stabilized once again. She has a growing faith that enables her to find peace and joy even in the hard times. Aida would say this group changed her life. It changed mine as well.
Step 3 of Garry's six step process for launching a seeker small group is Extending Irristible Invitations. Whether you are inviting people to join a new group or an existing one, people can't come until you or someone else invites them. Garry says in his training, here is a one hundred percent guarantee: they won't come if you don't invite them. But when we do invite them, they have an opportunity to investigate, clarify, explore, evaluate, and decide what they believe.
Do you have a story about someone you have invited to join a seeker small group? Please share it with us through the comments section of this Blog. - Mary
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