

SG² Steve Gladen on Small Groups
Steve Gladen | Lumivoz
Small group leaders, pastors, and more discussing strategies for growth and community in church groups. The Small Group Network is an international ministry that equips churches to engage in deeper discipleship and community.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Dec 2, 2020 • 33min
INSIDE SADDLEBACK: Four 2020 Crisis Fatigue Busters
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-crime-and-justice-doctor/202008/crisis-fatigue-and-the-covid-19-pandemic https://hbr.org/2001/01/the-making-of-a-corporate-athlete
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Nov 25, 2020 • 45min
READING LENZ: Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging with Tommy Carreras
Show Notes: This month on Reading Lenz we cover Tribe by Sebastian Junger. Join us as we learn how modernity is affecting community. Our guest Tommy Carreras from Mission Ventura will be with us helping break down this fantastic book. Former Shows Referenced: Extreme Ownership Canoeing the Mountain Lighting Round References: Mission's Change Workshop (Michael Dye's recovery content) ► missionventura.com/changeworkshop Unhindered: Aligning the Story of Your Heart ► https://www.amazon.com/Unhindered-Aligning-Story-Your-Heart/dp/1950718743
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Nov 18, 2020 • 23min
LEADERSHIP JOURNEY: Dealing with Leadership Challenges in the Covid Era
SHOW NOTES: Kids Small Groups
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Nov 11, 2020 • 38min
HERE TO THERE: How Do Leaders and Groups Learn Best? w/ Josh Rose, PhD
Topic: Here are some questions we address in this episode: What is learning theory and how does it apply to small groups? What needs to be in place for group learning to be effective? How do you tailor curriculum and leadership training to different generations and various types of learners? Guest: Josh Rose, PhD Josh Rose has led small groups for nearly 20 years and has served as a small groups pastor for 15 years. He currently serves as Group Life Pastor at Rush Creek Church, a multi-site church in the DFW area and also serves on Rush Creek’s strategic leadership team. In addition, Josh serves as an adjunct professor of Christian Education at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Dallas Baptist University, and B.H. Carroll Theological Institute. Recently, Josh began a new part-time role at Southwestern Seminary as Program Director for the new Doctor of Education degree. SHOW NOTES 6 Habits of Groups That Actually Learn ((6) min or less vlogs) https://rushcreek.org/six-habits-of-groups/ 6 Habits of Groups That Actually Learn (part 1 is (20) min podcast, part 2 is bite-sized, application only from part 1 (8) minutes or less) https://rushcreekgroups.podbean.com/
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Nov 4, 2020 • 35min
INSIDE SADDLEBACK: 4 Ways to Reset for 2021
Courses Conferences Crisis Fatigue Article
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Oct 28, 2020 • 43min
READING LENZ: Canoeing the Mountain w/ Kiersten Telzerow
This month on Reading Lenz we cover Canoeing the Mountain by Tod Bolsinger. Join us as we learn how to navigate uncharted territory of small group ministry. To help carry the canoe over the mountain, this week's guest Small Group Network's own Northeast Regional Leader Kiersten Telzerow. Kiersten is also the Groups Director at National Community Church in our nation's capital.
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Oct 21, 2020 • 23min
LEADERSHIP JOURNEY: The Problem of Discipleship
The leadership journey requires a clear destination, otherwise we aren’t on a journey we’re just wandering around. Small groups have always been portrayed as an integral part of making discipleship. But what does that even mean? We use words like, “disciple” and “discipleship” but most of the time it’s surrounded by haze. It’s cluttered with feeling and impressions but without strong definition. Where did we even get the “D" word? As we explore the development of the term we’ll ask ourselves if this is the best we can do? Small Group Network Events
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Oct 14, 2020 • 55min
HERE TO THERE: Mental Health – Can Anyone be in a Small Group?
Dr. David Wang is a licensed psychologist and associate professor of psychology and pastoral counseling at the Rosemead School of Psychology, at Biola University. He is the editor of the Journal of Psychology and Theology and serves on the editorial board for Spirituality in Clinical Practice (an APA journal). He also leads research funded by the John Templeton Foundation and the Lilly Foundation investigating the spiritual and character/virtue development of seminary students. Dr. Wang teaches and speaks internationally, maintains a small clinical practice in Fullerton, CA and is the pastor of spiritual formation at One Life City Church https://www.drdavidcwang.com/about-dr-wang For Dr. Wang's sermons on Lament: https://www.onelifecitychurch.org/sermons Online Small Groups Training
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Oct 7, 2020 • 43min
INSIDE SADDLEBACK: 4 Areas Where Change Must Happen
New Online Small Group Course 2021 Training Events Saddleback Small Groups SOCIOLOGIST STUDY: Following the turn of the century, sociologist Chaeyoon Lim, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin at Madison, and his associate, political scientist Robert Putnam, Ph.D., Harvard University, demonstrated that religious people are more satisfied with their lives than nonreligious people. Surprisingly however they found that it’s not the relationship with God or spiritual factors, like Bible reading, that makes the devout happier. Instead, the satisfaction boost comes from closer ties to others who are sharing the experience. The social aspect of religion, rather than the theological or spiritual aspects of religion, is what made people more satisfied with their lives, because of their social networks within their faith community. As congregational affiliation [“attendance”] plummeted in the U.S., Lim and Putnam followed up their initial study with another study that went even deeper. The results of that study is reported in "American Grace: How Religion Divides Us and Unites Us" (Lim|Putnam Simon & Schuster). That study found that the deepest life satisfaction could not be attributed to spiritual factors like going to church, Bible reading, individual prayer, the strength of belief, or subjective feelings of God's love or presence. Instead, the deepest life satisfaction has to do with the fact that you meet with a group of close friends on a regular basis and participate in shared activities that are meaningful to the group, sharing a certain social identity, and have a sense of belonging to a moral faith community. Belonging to a secular group of friends that engages in meaningful activities and shares a social identity also boosts life satisfaction, but not as much as within the context of a moral faith community. As life becomes more digitally-rooted, the need to connect with others and have what we at the DXM™ Institute have called AHIs [authentic human interactions] grows exponentially. Small groups where people come together and connect over all kinds of things are one of the largest social movements ever. A central outcome of our BCX for participants will be to make possible life’s deepest satisfaction through meeting with a group of close friends on a regular basis [“belonging”], participating in shared community service activities that are meaningful to the group [“meaning”], sharing a common social identity [e.g. “Midtown Village Changemakers”], and having a sense of belonging to a moral faith community. According to another Harvard study, the social pleasure of shared experience outweighs the joy of doing something extraordinary on your own.
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Sep 30, 2020 • 42min
UNITED: Leadership Wisdom You Need Going Into the Final Stretch of 2020
10 Commandments for Talking Politics in Small Groups Small Group Network Events
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