Last Wednesday night we had our annual one28 Fall Kick-Off. It was great to be back at it after taking the last four Wednesdays off. The worship team was tight and the overall atmosphere of the room was … electric? I enjoyed being the Hostess Snowball target once again and we just couldn’t beat Little Caesar’s to top off the evening.
If you were there, you know that the subject of my short exhortation was “The Year of the ‘S’”. I mentioned five ‘S’s in total, and over the next few days I’ll try to recapture in weblog form a few thoughts for each one.
The first ‘S’ was The Year of the SMALL GROUP. Most of you probably know by now that we’ve made a major change to our Wednesday night program. We’re dedicating every second and fourth Wednesday of each month this year to small groups. This decision was made through much discussion and a lot of prayer, and there are at least a few reasons we are so excited about it.
Small groups are such a major part of what we do in one28. They are critical in our endeavor to warn and teach and present every man complete in Christ. They are where we focus on a few to reach the many. They are the place where lifelong relationships are forged and where eternal differences are made. They are a place for encouragement, for accountability, for application, for discipleship, and for growth in Christlikeness.
Since so many students are so busy we believe that this will enable them to participate in their small groups with greater consistency. Teachers typically assign less homework for Wednesday nights and most athletic events are scheduled for other nights of the week. In addition we know that many families have already made Wednesday night untouchable in their weekly scheduling. So making room for small groups on Wednesdays seemed to be an obvious benefit.
And by having all the small groups on the same night we eliminate not only the possibility of having families separated two nights a week, but in some cases maybe even three nights a week. Homes with multiple students in different small groups might have had one student out Monday night for their small group, both gone on Wednesday for one28, and then perhaps another student out for their small group on Thursday or Friday. The new plan makes recurring ‘multiple night out weeks’ a thing of the past.
I am also excited on both a personal level and from a shepherding perspective because I’ll be able to visit each small group on a rotating schedule. Each small group has already signed up for their own Wednesday and the list goes through the start of the new year. I’ll start this week as I will be with the JH guys on the 22nd. As I’ve mentioned a couple times during announcements, this will be a great opportunity for me just to hang out with each group, answer questions, have some fun, and get to know each other a little bit better.
I want to encourage you to make sure that you take advantage of every small group opportunity there is. Your junior high and high school experience is a short one (regardless of how slow it seems right now!), and your time in one28 will be like no other time in your life. If you’re new to the ministry or just not sure which group you’re in, please let me know as soon as possible and we’ll get you hooked up with a group right away. This is the Year of the Small Group in one28…I pray it will be in your life as well!
