Courageous Living Bible Study
By Michael Catt, Stephen Kendrick, Alex Kendrick

A review by Lee Vaughn

The Courageous Living Bible Study is a dynamic 4-week study that helps lead men toward living more courageously in four key areas: responsibility, priorities, legacy, and faith.

Each week’s study has four components: READ – includes a story of a modern day hero; WATCH – review a clip from the film; STUDY – dig into passages of Joshua; & LIVE – put what you are studying into practice.

Our 8 week men’s group was made up of married and singles, young and old, with varying degrees of spiritual maturity. We met during the fall of 2011 right when Courageous, the movie was opening up in theaters. God used this study to draw us together as a group and to go deep with each other and God’s call on our lives as men. The illustrations from the movie, the modern day heroes within the study and the scriptures themselves fostered open discussions and real relationships within the group.

The format we followed to incorporated this 4-week study into our 8 week commitment:

• Week 1: Large focus on getting to know one another, shared testimonies, and a word study on “courageous” in the scriptures.
• Week 2: We watched the movie as a group, short time of connection and prayer.
• Weeks 3-7: Followed the study guide dividing the 4th lesson into two parts; more shared testimonies.
• Week 8: Summary lesson, sharing impacts from the study and next steps.

There was strong positive feedback from the men who participated in the study – movie was powerful – the openness and the prayers of the various men was encouraging – a close bond was built among men who previously had not known each other.

A Woman After God’s Own Heart
by Elizabeth George

A review by Trisha Hicks

A Woman After God’s Own Heart is a book that walks through scripture to discover what God says about who He created us to be. There are 24 short chapters in the book. I recommend reading 2 chapters a week and making it a 12 week study, or combining some of the similar chapters into 10 weeks. There is also a workbook that walks through more scripture, practical application and discussion questions for the small group. Unless you enjoy creating your own questions, I recommend getting the workbook to help guide your time together as a group.

This is a very scriptural based book that dives into God’s priorities concerning our walk with the Lord, our ministry, our home, our husband and our children. If you have women in your group who are not married or don’t have children, it still has valuable principles that can be applied to any stage of life, but I would make sure everyone in the group is at a place where they are ready to learn more about being a godly wife and mother.

Elizabeth’s suggestions are sometimes bigger than life, but remember as the leader to always bring it back to scripture and the underlying principles. I thought a few times while reading that she sets the bar too high, but don’t let her ideas overwhelm you, everyone needs to start somewhere and everyone has room to grow. Have the group focus on evaluating where they are in their relationship with God and others and focus on taking it to the next level. Keep in mind that each woman’s next step may not look like the examples Elizabeth gives or like the next step of the other women in the group.

Overall, it’s a challenging book with scripture-based principles.

Twelve Ordinary Men
by John MacArthur

A review by Adam Schwenk

John MacArthur’s Twelve Ordinary Men explores the lives of the twelve disciples in fascinating detail. MacArthur combines Scripture with historical data to create a detailed biography of each disciple, but goes beyond information and discusses practical application for your life. For instance, while discussing Peter, MacArthur gives principles to being a strong leader in your Christian community. Overall, your small group will learn how God can do great things with normal people.

While the book contains a lot of information, we have a ten week study guide (download PDF here) for leaders to use in small group discussion. This guide synthesizes all the information for each chapter to ask four discussion questions and a reflective question for the group. We found the book fascinating, but would not use it in a small group without the study guide. The guide will help you focus so that the content in the book is not overwhelming. Twelve Ordinary Men is definitely worth checking out, especially if your group desires to do a study with heavier content.

Training vs Trying – Pursuing Spiritual Transformation
by John Ortberg, Laurie Pederson & Judson Poling

A review by Carol Tran

We all can use a refresher course once in awhile, even on those things we know well. When we’re forced back to the “basics” we have the opportunity to realign ourselves, recalibrate and get recharged. Training vs Trying is a refresher course in the Spiritual Disciplines. We can all fall prey to practicing those areas in our spiritual lives that we enjoy or come easily to us. Ortberg challenges the reader to not only “try”, as the word instructs, but to “train” just as an athlete trains for a marathon. Practice and repetition is the method that the authors suggest to make the disciplines come to life.

This study is seven sessions/weeks. In the study you’re given “Spiritual Exercises” to work on during the week. These exercises along with the discussion questions in the back of the book bring practical application to each lesson. Use Training vs Trying with your group to get back to the “basics” and get recharged for the Lord.

This book is one of a seven booklet series, Pursuing Spiritual Transformation, by Willow Creek Association.

In 1961 five families in the small town of Tysons Corner, VA formed a church where the Bible would be taught and the Gospel shared with those living in and around Washington, DC.

Fast forward 50 years later to today. As a small group leader at McLean Bible Church, you are carrying on that legacy of faith by inspiring your group members to grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ, connect in Biblical community, serve in their God-given ministry, and share the Gospel.

Join the entire MBC family on Friday, March 16, as we celebrate God’s faithfulness over the last 50 years to McLean Bible Church through leaders like you. Bring your entire small group and enjoy dinner from 6–8 pm, worship and prayer from 8–9:30 pm, and dessert, coffee and fellowship from 9:30–10:30 pm.

For more information and to pre-purchase dinner, please visit mcleanbible.org/50.

Community by Andy Stanley

A review by Trisha Hicks

If your small group is new or needs a refresher on the importance of being in biblical community, Community by Andy Stanley is a great option for you. This study will inspire group members to desire authentic community. It is a series of 3, 20 minute sermons from Andy Stanley followed by questions for your small group. Andy covers essential topics for being in genuine community. He addresses the importance of being intentional and committed to being in relationship with other believers. He also addresses how easily sin can deceive us and the need for doing life with others so they can point out self-deception in our lives.
As the leader, it would be helpful to view the sermon and questions before your small group meets. This way, you can have answers ready for the questions in case you need to get the ball rolling during the discussion. Side note: There is a reference to MySpace in the second session, so it is a little outdated, but the principles are still relevant.
The Small Groups Team at Tysons has copies of this DVD available for rent. Please contact Trisha at trisha.hicks@mcleanbible.org, if you are interested.

Community: Building Relationships Within God’s Family by Bill Hybels

A review by Colleen Hunter

This is a great study to help your group understand what Biblical Community is and engage each person personally and corporately. This is a highly practical and biblically grounded study broken into six sessions. The sessions themselves are well organized. As a leader, you can choose to linger in some places and move quicker through other parts. Some parts of the session are designed for personal reflection to prepare for discussion while other parts provide a great entry point for discussion no matter what past experiences have been. I have used this study more than once in the early stages of a small group to establish our expectations, fears and realities and found it extremely helpful! The thoughtful questions make for stimulating discussion and honest dialogue. I would also recommend this to a group that may not be in the early life stage but needs to go back to the practices of Biblical community. The cover may seem cheesy or outdated but do not judge this book by its cover!

The Courageous Living Bible Study is a dynamic 4-week study that helps lead men toward living more courageously in four key areas: responsibility, priorities, legacy, and faith. 

Each week’s study has four components: READ – includes a story of a modern day hero; WATCH – review a clip from the film; STUDY – dig into passages of Joshua; & LIVE – put what you are studying into practice.

This is a biblically based, in depth study on how the Gospel is to be lived out in all areas of your life.  Each session contains an inductive Bible study on the theme, discussion questions based on the DVD, and home studies consisting of exercises, projects, readings, questions, and quotations to help you dig deeper into the topic at hand. A very helpful extensive section of notes is included for those who lead the small group through this study.

This book is a great tool for helping your small group understand discipleship in their own lives and how they can disciple others.  There are 24 sections under 3 parts: Growing up in Christ, Understanding the Message of Christ, and Becoming Like Christ.

Sleigh bells ring, are you listening?

It’s that time of year again! Thankfully we haven’t had any snowstorms yet (except the freak October snow), and with the Christmas season comes a few tips in leading your small group well. Here are some ideas to integrate this month:

1. Reflect on Christ’s mission. While Christ’s birth is a cute story in our culture, we need to remind ourselves of why Jesus came and how His salvation has impacted each of us. (Romans 5:18 “Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.”)
2. Rest. Many of you have already decided to break for the holidays, but for those who haven’t, consider taking a few weeks off because of extra work in the office and traveling.
3. Celebrate together. Find a time to gather as a group to celebrate what God has done in your group this year. What have been the greatest memories? How has He answered prayer? What is one thing He taught you this year?

You should use this season of Christmas to intentionally lead your group in reflection, rest, and celebration. We hope you have a great season of gathering with friends and family, and we’ll be praying for you as you lead your group!