05 Nov Life Group Leader Meeting – November 4, 2019

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Life Group Leader Meeting

November 4, 2019

12 tables – approximately 96 people

Cheryl Hatch gave a devotion:

Cheryl welcomed everyone. Tim and she are so blessed to be pastors of this church and are so thankful for the leaders here at Waters Church who are all led by MaryAnn.  Cheryl wanted to share a word of encouragement.  Sometimes we go through seasons and challenges.  There are some groups who are struggling because people are messy.  It is hard because we feel that God has called us to minister to them.  Sometimes people don’t show up and we can take it personally, but we shouldn’t.

Cheryl shared a life-changing experience… “Gratitude can affect your attitude.” 

In April of this year, she and Tim were able to go to Uganda through Compassion International.  They visited a church in Kompalla and noted that there were numerous brothels surrounding the small church.  The girls prostituting themselves charge only $0.50 per customer.  This is also a high AIDS area. It is an extremely sad situation.

The pastor shared with them the experience about how they got the land to build the church and the process they had to go through to get a building permit.  As a Christian organization they had to deal with a Muslim licensing board and received their permit just a week prior to she and Tim visiting.

While she and Tim attended the church service, the pastor held up a piece of paper in his hand and told everyone that they had just received the building permit for their new church.  In response, the congregation jumped up, carried their chairs, and danced in a circle singing and praising God for His favor.

Seeing the excitement brought to light how blessed we really are.  Many of those singing were former brothel workers and it was really a beautiful example of the difference the Gospel can make in a region.  There was such a tremendous display of gratitude in place where it would be so easy to forget the blessings.

Sometimes we forget the goodness of God.  We need to praise Him.  Psalm 149 says praise is a weapon.

In Colossians 3 it says,

15 And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.  16 Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. 17 And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.  Let’s display God’s goodness.  Be infectious.  Show off the goodness of God. 

We lack for nothing in our Country and it is so important that we always remember to display His goodness in every situation.

[Greg Salgado prayed and we went in to a time of fellowship]

MaryAnn opened the training portion of the meeting:

New Small Group Leader were welcomed in: Nicole & Deb Parenteau, Daniel Carpenter (Wed AM Men’s Group), Betty Gifford, Melissa Damass, Nidia Ochoa, Seth & Brook Holbrooke, and Amy Owen Joseph.

The group also welcomed in new apprentices.  Apprentices and their leaders whose first time attendance at a meeting were given gift cards

RE: Name Change

The name Small Groups has been updated to Life Groups so that we now include Action Groups and eFam Groups.

  • Action Groups are Small Groups who meet once a week but do not study the past weekend’s message. Instead, they do an activity helping others such as moving, painting, yard work, light construction, grocery shopping, and house work and includes a spiritual component.
    • Groups Open: Matt and Tara Law and Luis Valentin
    • Matt and Tara shared that they start with sharing and praying and then help someone. The first person they helped was a single mom who needed to move out of her apartment due to a mold issue.  After they moved the couch in they were able to pray over the family and ended up going with her children to the park.  They said that they were so blessed to be able to see the joy of the children and to know that this single mom was able to be more connected with us. Using the abilities and skills that the Lord has given them is a blessing.  They have been building their group up through group texts and an outing to the Big Apple in Wrentham.   They have been able to minister to their team through prayer and have seen God open people’s hearts of those who would not necessarily be comfortable sharing in a small group situation.
    • MaryAnn gave them some yard tools as a gift.
    • There is a link to fill out for Action Group needs.
    • We need Action Group Leaders. There are 1200-1500 regular attendees and 600 in small group.
    • Nathan and Robin Johnston are the Action Group Coaches
  • eFam Groups
    • eFam Groups use Facebook messenger, Zoom, and Google Hangouts to study the message online together through video chat.
    • One of the great things is that you don’t have to have people in your home or even be home for that matter.
    • Paul & Dulcina Jorge are one of the Leaders and Paul came up to give a testimony. Paul said they had a small group for a little while and it slowly faded.  He said that their first meeting did not go so well because of technical challenges on the attendee’s behalf.  However, now they are starting to get people and are exploring new online platforms so they are very hopeful that this will soon expand.
    • MaryAnn gave Paul a journal to track their journey as eFam Leaders
    • There are many people who many not be able to attend a small group in person or perhaps are online watchers and eFam is the perfect platform for that. They are being pushed online to the audience and we have a video introduction to them that is going out this weekend.
    • Those who would like to be leaders are even trained online.
    • Colin and Ashley Chaloux are the eFam Coaches,

RE: New Campuses

  • Fall River
    • We are really looking for people in those areas who can be leaders in both Small Groups and Action Groups
  • Woonsocket
    • We are still looking for leaders, particularly in Action Groups and Small Groups in this area

RE: Team Night

  • Meets 3rd Wednesday of every month with the purpose of helping people connect and find out where they belong. There is always food provided, usually form Chik-fil-A and we open with a warm-up game. 
  • It is a great way to get new Small Group members too!
  • Right now, we do break-out workshops for different ministries in the church and coming soon we will be offering outside classes to benefit people’s lives such as baby sitting certifications and CPR training.
  • MaryAnn related that she had a breakout session last month with a focus on Family Group tips.
  • This month is a breakout on Life Groups: What is it?
  • Coming in January will be “How to handle sticky situations” and will be open to SGL members as well
  • Team Night will now have child care available in the Waters Early Learning Center area

RE:  Coaches

  • Please use your Coaches. They are here to reach out to you and connect with you.  They are instructed to meet with you regularly and email or text you regularly.  It’s common courtesy to respond back to them.  Don’t wait until an issue snowballs or let an issue go by. 
  • They are a great resource for information.
  • They will relay important announcements to you

RE: SGL Guides

  • It’s important to check them each week even if you are not meeting to get important updates.
  • Oftentimes there are scavenger hunts with prizes if you do certain things

RE: Meeting Schedule

  • Be consistent; group needs to meet 3 times a month.
  • Also, if someone is not able to attend due to sickness, have them join you online

RE: Getting New Members

  • Do a cell phone video and send it to MaryAnn for posting on Social Media

RE: Habitation Night

  • Night of practicing peace with God on this Sunday night (November 10) at 6:30 pm.

Prayer Request:

In closing, Colin and Ashley brought forth a special prayer request from the Small Group.  Dustin is an active duty officer in the Air Force and his wife, Fay, is here from England. Even though they believe they have followed all the immigration rules, her visa has been revoked and she is in danger of being deported within 30 days without the ability to return to the U.S.  They have engaged JAG officers for help and the appeals process is very costly.  Dustin is able to be relocated to England however they wish to remain in the U.S.  The couple is under a great deal of stress and are asking for prayer for God’s favor in this situation.  Colin and Ashley were prayed over in proxy for the couple.

Testimony:

Jarred and Jessica:  Jared spoke about how 1 Peter 3: 15 Always have an answer for the hope that you have has touched him.  For most of their lives they have had a lot of anxiety.  They discussed that challenges can make us hopeful because they are not just matched but just surpassed by the work of Christ.  Jarred relate that whenever a challenge arises, they would just go into prayer.  After just taking Financial Peace, they totaled their car. They had also just gone through the Above and Beyond message but had never tithed 10%.  They had high student loans  as well.  Then they decided to do money God’s way and started to tithe and as of this year they paid off over $38,000 of student loan debt. Praise God!

The meeting was closed in prayer by Jim.

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