Tico Tuesday, June 13th

Salutations from Costa Rica!
I've been visiting 1-2 small groups per week over the last few weeks, in addition to the meetings with my own small group. It's fun getting to know people, seeing who is in which group, and seeing each facilitator's leadership style (and getting to eat delicious things like last night's dessert torte of ripe plantains, refried beans, cheese, and cinnamon!). Rudy, our head pastor, often says that the bigger our church is, the smaller it must be. This means that the more people we have coming to our church, the more people we need in small groups.

I have been doing a lot of thinking and brainstorming about small groups lately. How do we take small groups to the next level? What does that look like? What will it take? I've been wrestling a lot with these big, hard questions. Being small group coordinator is a lot of hard work. I am amazed and very grateful for all that has happened with and in the area of small groups in the past year and a half that I've been in this role. I kind of feel like I've created a Frankenstein though: I can't do it all, it's too big for me. That is a good thing though, and I'm working hard on trying to strengthen and grow my core team, but issues of time and commitment make it quite a challenge. So, I'm continuing to learn...and seek the Lord about it. Will you pray with me as I work to clarify and strengthen the vision for small groups and share it with others so they can catch and spread the vision too? I'm registered for a small group conference at Saddleback in July and I have high hopes that will be a fruitful, transformative time. I appreciate your prayers for that as well.
May God help us all to better understand and spread his vision for his kingdom!
Carrie