September 13th, 2011 
alandanielson In 2005 when I started as the LifeGroups pastor on LifeChurch.tv’s biggest campus we were running about 5500 people and had 181 LifeGroups. 22 months later we were running about 6000 people and had 544 LifeGroups. After that I became the Executive Director of LifeGroups and was responsible for all group ministries on all 13 [...]
August 31st, 2011 alandanielson Yes, I used strong language in the title of this post. No, I don’t hate missional small groups. What I hate are small group mission projects. Why? Because they’re PROJECTS. What’s a project? It’s a short-term activity designed to accomplish a goal. There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with a small group mission project, after all they serve people [...]
August 15th, 2011 alandanielson While I was at LifeChurch.tv I got to experience 8 church-wide small group campaigns…it was awesome and we learned a TON!! Because so many people return to churches all over the world in September and January, many churches run their small group campaigns during those months. If your church is one of those, below are [...]
July 22nd, 2011 alandanielson Originally posted 04-14-2009. Reposted 07-22-2011. ———————————– Almost every small group has “that person”. You know, the one who talks too much, interrupts other people, never brings snacks, eats all the snacks, causes drama, has all the answers to your problems but none for theirs, and generally raises everyone else’s blood pressure. ”That person” makes others [...]
Posted in Small Groups, Spiritual Growth 
Tags: difficult, group, groups, help, kick, out, people, small, throw, uninvite 
4 Comments » July 20th, 2011 alandanielson Groupon and Living Social are two super-hot websites that allow consumers to get great deals on products and services. Similarly, Only144 is a new site that offers incredible deals to churches. I’m writing about them today because they are having an amazing sale on some great small group curriculum. Mark Driscoll, Tommy Nelson, and Matt [...]
July 13th, 2011 alandanielson Guest Post by Dr. Bill Donahue ————————————— When individuals are able to make a meaningful contribution, feel a sense of belonging and connect significantly with others, the result is community. Ideally, small groups should provide a fertile environment for life change, but that’s only going to happen as the church rediscovers the centrality of community. [...]
July 7th, 2011 alandanielson Guest post by Stephen Blandino One of the most frequent questions in small group world is, “How do I recruit more leaders?” Whether your church is just launching groups or you’re many years into the journey, the recruitment of leaders is more often than not a front burner issue. And it’s easy to get discouraged [...]
July 6th, 2011 alandanielson My name is Kirby Holmes and I am one of the Growth and Groups pastors at Gateway Church in Austin, TX. Alan and I have been friends for 3+ years. He has been a big supporter of mine and I am grateful for his encouragement. Thanks Alan for letting me share some of my musings [...]
June 23rd, 2011 alandanielson Okay, so the title of this post is a stretch; I realize there is no “perfect” small group. That said, here are four principles below that truly contribute to a great small group experience. 1. Be Prepared Small group members should be prepared when they arrive for their group. Many people will think this applies [...]
May 4th, 2011 alandanielson Affinity small groups: common-interest groups, kinship groups, attraction groups, activity groups, Churches have called them all sorts of names. They are groups that are formed around one thing that every group member shares in common: Basketball Knitting Bicycling Movies Camping Books Video games Star Wars You get the picture. Pastors and church leaders form these [...]
