Encounter Self
Before you begin
You cannot expect to lead people some place you are unwilling to go yourself. Invest in yourself. Be willing to make the journey.
Redefine Success: Coachability and faithfulness
Objectives
To be able to articulate what a Kairos moment is, recognize several in your life, and anticipate some in your upcoming ministry.
To value “repentance and belief” as vital to staying coachable by the Holy Spirit and by wise godly mentors.
To demonstrate how you have (or will) walk through the Learning Circle with a specific situation.
equipment
Download: Learning Circle Notes
Workout
Watch the following videos and answer the associated discussion questions
Discussion Questions
Because the Learning Circle is best walked through in the context of community, PLEASE discuss the following with a trusted, godly, wise friend. Processing in community often provides wisdom, clarity, objectivity, revelation, and accountability:
Coachability: Rand mentioned Proverbs 12:1. What does it look like for you to be coachable and to love discipline? Are there any areas in which you need to become more coachable and love discipline? What specific action(s) will you take towards that?
Learning Circle: Name several Kairos moments that you have had. Did you recognize them in the moment? How can a person recognize Kairos moments- even as they occur? How does a person know what God is saying to them (repent side of circle)? How does a person know what God has for them to do in response (believe side of circle)?
Replay
How do you measure success? When considering that Jesus said “Well done good and faithful servant” (Mt 25:21), we can conclude that Success = Faithfulness. So how do we measure Faithfulness? When we read Matthew 7:21-27, we see that Faithfulness can really be measured by listening and obeying. So may we judge our success in life, leading, and ministry by our coachability and loving discipline.
The Learning Circle is a framework to think about this. When a person has a Kairos moment, they have the choice to keep moving through time or enter the Learning Circle- where they become coachable (reordering how they think) and love discipline (obedience through action).
Lab
Demonstrate how you have walked or will walk through the Learning Circle with a specific situation. You can pick an actual situation in your past, an imagined one in your future (personal or ministry related), or a real time one right now.
If you prefer to put pen to paper: Draw your own Learning Circle and walk through the process. Write 1-2 sentence summaries each for observe, reflect, discuss, plan, support, and act.
If you prefer to talk it through: record yourself walking through the Learning Circle much like Rand did.
Debrief
Your choice: You can either 1- turn in the written copy of your Learning Circle, 2- upload the video clip to Dropbox or 3- Write a paragraph explaining in a more general fashion what you learned going through the lab. Turn in here.
Overtime
Read: Building a Discipling Culture- Mike Breen
Establishing Healthy Rhythms: Sabbath
Objectives
To understand the Biblical basis for Sabbath, rest, and how that impacts your relationship with God, yourself, others, and your work.
To recognize the pendulum swing in yourself between work and rest.
To develop and practice a plan for your Sabbath day.
To implement Sabbath rhythms into your life on a daily, weekly, monthly and annual basis.
equipment
Download: None…Just be ready to take good notes!
Workout
Watch the following video and answer the associated discussion questions:
Discussion Questions
How would you describe the rhythm of your life? List a few adjectives. Adam and Eve’s first experience of the garden was the Sabbath. Do you tend to “rest from your work” or “work from your rest”? Look at Exodus 20:2-17 - verse 2 says “you once were slave, now you’re free and verses 3-17 online how they can stay free. Sabbath is within the Ten Commandments. How might living the Sabbath bring more freedom to your life?
Why would God want to prune things in you that do bear some fruit? Why would He want to cut off things that don’t bear fruit? Why would He want you to rest? What does this say about His character and love for you?
You may not think that you have a daily or weekly routine, but whatever your habits are point to the fact that you do. What does your current morning/evening and weekly routine look like? How does each support the concept of Sabbath? How does each impair the concept of Sabbath?
What has a Sabbath Day looked like for you traditionally? Is there anything you desire to alter about it?
replay
In Western American culture, we can be prone to feeling success from “getting things done” and working hard. In Scripture, we see that God wove a work/rest rhythm into creation and that rest was actually Adam and Eve’s first experience of God’s great creation. John 15 speaks to this rhythm of Rest leading to Fruitfulness, then full fledged Word peeling back into Pruning so that we will eventually “bear much fruit”.
Sabbath Rhythms are daily (morning and evening routines), weekly (a Sabbath Day), monthly (a “seek week”), and yearly (restful and fun vacation). Ideas for your Sabbath Day can come from the acronym PRUNE: Pray, Reflect, Unify, Notice, Enjoy.
Lab
This lab is going to take a little longer, but be amazingly fruitful. Please set aside about 30 minutes to go through the Lab Part 1. You will also be prompted to truly take a 24-hr Sabbath Day and then complete the Lab Part 2. Please honor the full Sabbath by waiting until a day or two later to complete the Lab Part 2.
Debrief
Overtime
prayer is the work of the ministry
Objectives
To know the scriptural foundation as to why prayer is vital.
To value the character traits of the God you are talking to and see why those character traits would drive us to pray both in general and for our ministry.
To try several resources that could assist in further developing a prayer life.
equipment
Download: Handout for taking notes
Workout
Watch the following video and answer the associated discussion questions:
Discussion Questions
How do you truly feel about prayer? What makes it easy or hard for you to pray? Why do you suppose that is the case? What are some practical steps you can take to overcome these hurdles? Who might you share those steps with who can help you take them?
Saidat referenced how communication is integral to having ANY relationship. Look up Psalm 18:6, Jeremiah 29:12, and Jeremiah 33:3. What do these passages have to say about our communication with God? Can you think of any other Scripture that speak about our communication with God?
Read Mark 9:14-29 and Ephesians 6:12. Of all the ways we could fight an enemy, why do you suppose prayer is the prescribed way? What does God hope to accomplish in you and through you because of prayer? Keep reading in Ephesians 6 all the way down to verse 20. What are some other truths to be considered about prayer?
The Lord’s Prayer can be really familiar if we grew up in church or heard it a long time ago. Jesus said that God knows what we need before we ask Him- so why then do we need to be taught how to pray? How can you use this prayer as a model to hit difference aspects of prayer? Why do you suppose this model prayer contains all of these aspects? Look up the passages associated with these seven aspects of prayer. What are any key take-aways for you?
Do you really believe that God would want to speak to you too in prayer? What is your comfort level and/or experience with listening in prayer? What about “listening prayer” is exciting to you? Uncomfortable to you? What steps could you take to incorporate it more?
Saidat gave several suggestions on how you can make prayer more of an intentional rhythm in your life. Which one(s) resonate with you most? What are you going to do about it?
replay
WHY pray? - God’s character traits draw us. Prayer reminds us of what is real about who we are, who He is, and realigns us with Him. Relationships, by definition, require communication. We need God’s to fight with and for us in the Spiritual battles we face
HOW pray? - Continually. Considering the Lord’s Prayer as a model, different aspects of prayer are: praise, surrender, petition/intercession, repentance, forgiveness, and spiritual warfare. Prayer is also listening. But how do I know if the thoughts in my head are Him speaking or my thoughts? Push it through the filter of Scripture in context and seek confirmation from godly wise counsel who are familiar with and faithful to Scripture.
WHAT does it look like? - You have an audience with the God of the Universe. What is it NOT: Prayer can be so much more than a pre-meal blessing or bedtime thank you. Prayer is not something we remember to bookend our planning or ministry events with. What prayer IS: Prayer IS the WORK of the ministry! Prayer is the lifeline for guidance, wisdom and direction for ministry. Prayer begs for His work in other peoples’ lives. Prayer informs your choices. Without prayer- you might be building your own Kingdom instead of His. Practically speaking, this preeminence of prayer can be facilitated through: scheduling a prayer day, doing a prayer walk, and/or fasting.
Lab
Set aside a day go on a prayer walk. Use this document to guide your time. It has been constructed with the college campus and athletic department in mind.
Debrief
Write a debrief of your time in two sections. In part 1, recount how the day went. What did you do? See? Experience? In part 2, recount what you learned. What did God show you about Himself, yourself, prayer, your campus, etc? Turn in here.
Overtime
Book: Fervent - Priscilla Shirer (book inspired by the movie War Room)
Book: The Art of Listening Prayer - Seth Barnes. Watch a 2 min book trailer of him explaining. Simply explains the Biblical basis for listening in prayer and guides you through incorporating it.
Booklet: Miracle Hour - Linda Schubert. Succinct and practical guide for prayer that pulls heavily from Scripture. There are 12 movement of prayer that the author explains and then provides a prewritten prayer that is almost straight Scripture. You can pray verbatim, or make them your own.
Article: Infographic- How is your prayer life? 3 minute read. Crossway did a survey on prayer habits of Christians. In this article, find yourself and helpful food for thought regarding prayer.