This is pretty cool in light of the times and seasons we're in right now in this place, in this hour!!! GOD is SO GOOD and HIS timing is just perfect! I love HIM so!

Newsflash—Pastor’s Weekly has a new name and format. Pastor’s Weekly is now called “The Roundtable.” This week’s topic, Best Practices – What works and What Doesn’t, was presented in a panel discussion format with Chris and Jim Martini, Shepherd’s House CEO, facilitating.

Our session opened with a presentation of the CONNEXUS materials and our vision of what it could do. Our goal for 2014 is to put CONNEXUS materials in 1,000 churches. What a JOY explosion!

Jim Martini gave three steps you can take to begin to spread JOY in your church and community.

 

 

1. Be An Instigator. Get the Joy Starts Here book and find a small group that is looking for a new book to study, or gather a group and form your own. Be an instigator with your pastor(s) and leadership (adult education minister, youth minister, etc.) and introduce them to the material. Show them what JOY can produce!

2. Start the CONNEXUS program. This begins with two classes running concurrently, Restarting (for those who are aware of their pain and know that something is missing) and Forming (not necessarily aware of pain, but who want more…a deeper more intimate relationship with The King). Next class is Belonging in which both groups come together to learn how to live in community. This is based on the Life Model concept of transformation happening when there is a gentle response to weakness and the “strong” and the “weak” relate.

3. Repeat! Now that you have experienced it, become a life-giver and give away what you know by starting more groups and sharing the JOY! Over 170 people across the U.S. are licensed teacher/trainers. Information about becoming a teacher/trainer are available by contacting CONNEXUS.

Somewhere along the way you are going to want to take the THRIVE training. It is available twice in the U.S. and highly recommended. See Resources below.

And then the interactive part started. The panel introduced themselves and shared their “best practices.” They told what was working at their end as they used the Connexus materials and how the JOY was spreading. There were questions…and answers. Wow! How do you summarize that? You don’t!

Listening to people share the excitement of seeing lives changed has a way of igniting your imagination as to what could happen if 1,000 churches really got hold of how to help people connect with Jesus. It would be/could be a repeat of what it was like in the apostle’s days!

Give a listen and feel the possibilities! The next session is Jan. 16, 2014.