X Recognizing Potential ISSUE 1 VOLUME 3 March 7, 2010

Leaders……….…………...1

XGod’s Story...........................2

X Nuts& Bolts for

Leaders…………..…………..2
Group
Recognizing Potential
focus
I am not but God knows my name.
I am not but He has pursued me in His love.
I am not but I know the Creator of the universe.

Leaders I am not but I have been invited into His story.

I am not but I know I AM. - Louie Giglio

You may be asking, “How can I tell if
someone will make a good leader?
Leaders don’t come ready made. Average,
everyday people become good
leaders through time, experience and
mentoring. But we can learn to spot
them before they're leaders, if we
know what to look for.
Three defining qualities that set
people apart and give you reason to
take notice:
♦ Character
♦ Concern for others
♦ Competencies
Character—for group leadership
purposes we define character as
“having confidence in a person’s walk
with Christ” (Bill Hybels). These are
people who have some handle on
basic spiritual disciplines. It is their desire
to grow in their relationship with Christ and
they are taking steps to do so. They are
also honest, teachable, humble (everything
doesn’t center on them) and reliable.
Concern for Others— being other minded
is essential to leadership. Do you have
someone who asks how other group
members are doing and listens to others
with genuine interest?
Competencies— Most skills
necessary for Group leadership can
be learned and they will develop
over time. Basic organization skills,
ability and willingness to
communicate with others and some
ability to facilitate group interaction—
inviting and involving participants.
These qualities will not display fully
developed, but you will see hints that
they are already present and simply
need to be nurtured. As you read
this description, who came to your
mind?

Just a Reminder…
You should have already answered the four information questions about your group and turned it into your Team Leader or
to Linda (lindawaldo@cliochurch.com). If not, go ahead and do it now. This information will really help us.
*Who signed up for your group, but didn’t show up? *Who showed up for your group, but didn’t sign up? *List the people who are regular attenders to
your group. *Who is your coordinator? (if you have one) A BIG THANK YOU for doing this!

Next...we want to hear stories! Some of you have already shared some stories with us and we
LOVE IT when you do this. Keep’em coming! Continue listening and collecting stories of what God is doing in the lives of the
people in your group. We will compile comments and stories and use them to inspire and encourage others. God is good and I
will be thankful!
 God’s Story
! It’s about looking up to see that
there’s a story that has been
going on long before you arrived
on the planet and one will go long
after you’re gone. God is the
central character of this story and
of this Book. He commands
center stage in the existence,
creation, time, life, history,
redemption, and eternity.
I’m not trying to put you down or
imply that you don’t matter. Nor
am I saying that you are absent
from the grand story of God in
fact, just the opposite. Amazingly,
you appear on every page,
existing in God’s thoughts long
before this world was made. I’m
simply stating the obvious—that
the story already has a star and
the star is not you or me.
And here’s why it matters—if we
don’t get the two stories straight,
everything else in our lives will be
out of sync. We’ll spend our days
trying to hijack the Story of God,
turning it into the story of us.
Inverting reality, we’ll live every-
day as though life is all about you
Nuts & Bolts for Group Leaders
As Group Leaders, there are
6 things that should be the
focus of our attention:
1. Think Life Change
Leaders look for ways to effect
life-change in the lives of those
they have contact with.
Leaders ask “How can I make
others better?
2. Cultivate Relationships
Leaders provide opportunities
for relationships to form. They
provide a safe place and teach
others behaviors that will foster
healthy relationships, e.g.
prayer, encouragement,
thinking of others, etc.
Give me understanding, and I will keep your law and obey it with all my heart.
...It’s not about you and making your story better, but about waking up to the infinitely bigger God
story happening all around you, and God’s invitation to join Him in it.
and me. We’ll live as though life
is our one act play and history our
story as though creation is our
habitation alone, existence our
playground, and God our servant
(that is, if we decide we need Him
at all). We will throw every ounce
of our energy into the fragmented
and fleeting story of us. Calling
the shots ourselves, me-centered
3. Promote Participation
Leaders have the ability to
encourage participation not
only within the group, but also
for the group to participate
outside of themselves—
touching others within the
church and community.
4. Replace Yourself
Leaders diligently seek to
replace themselves. Always
looking and praying for God to
raise up a new leader, a new
facilitator. Leaders recognize
that part of their responsibility
is to identify new potential
leaders and invest in those
people, developing the next
generation of leaders.
5. Provide Care
Leaders make sure the
members of their group are
cared for. The leader and
other group members are the
best ministers for one another.
Teach me, O LORD, to follow your decrees;
Then I will keep them to the end.
Psalm 119:33,34
thinking will dictate every move
we make and how we feel.
And in the end—when the last
clap is clapped for our tiny take—
our story will fade to black, a pitiful
return on our one-shot chance
called “life on earth.”
The 6 Essentials of a
Group Leader
6. Multiply Influence
Launching new groups
extends your influence beyond
what you can do alone.
Equipping, encouraging and
building into someone who can
then gather a group together
will reach people you may
never have an opportunity to
reach. Your influence is
dynamically multiplied as you
release others into leadership
roles.
So, what does this look like?
As a Group Leader, when you
engage in study and
discussion or simply spending
time together around a
common interest, as leaders,
we always need to Think Life-
change for the members of our
group. As you meet regularly,
serve, and play together, you
are providing an environment
to Cultivate Relationships. As
you meet together, study, talk,
I want to lead you to a fresh
awareness of…[the] God story
that you and I are running down
the middle of everyday.
It’s a place that requires a
constant choice. We can choose
to cling to starring roles in the
little-bitty stories of us, or we can
exchange our fleeting moment in
the spotlight for a supporting role
in the eternally beautiful epic that
is the Story of God.
Think of it as trading up, abandon-
ing the former and embracing the
latter will allow our little lives to be
filled with the wonder of God as
we live for His fame and the
unending applause of His name.
And joining our small stories to his
will gives us what we all want
most in life anyway; the assurance
that our brief moments on earth
count for something in a story that
never ends.
Louie Giglio,
I am not but I know I AM, 2005
discuss—you Promote Par-
ticipation. Identifying,
encouraging and sharing
leadership with your
coordinator are first steps
toward Replacing Yourself. As
you get to know one another
and life happens, you have the
opportunity to Provide Care for
each another. And finally,
through serving and launching
new groups you will Multiply
Influence to people you
otherwise would have no
opportunity to reach.
Transforming Lives,
Transforming Culture happens
when we’re intentional with our
time and our relationships.
How are you participating in
this Transformation process?