I Got Chopped
ADOPTING THE ACTS MODEL:
AC T S 2 : 4 6 – 4 7 : Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
By no means can we take credit for the results, all is for the glory of His name. We can’t even take credit for the idea, it wasn’t ours. We are not responsible for the growth, only He can change a heart. But it was the spurring of the Spirit to begin home groups two years ago. We knew our students needed something more, something different, something to belong to.
The leaders of the ministry used the early church in Acts as their model. Our goal was to create an environment where our students didn’t feel like they needed to hide anything or be someone they weren’t. It’s easy to blend into a group of 250 people, it’s a lot harder to do it with 50. Our passion was to help our students encounter God differently and see Him as the light of life. When one sees God in that light there is no turning back. We started out by launching three “house churches.” Whatever was going to happen at the houses would be Divine, for all we wanted was for God to show up and our students to see Him.
I have had the privilege of being a house leader for over a year-and-a-half and this past year I watched our house group grow from 40 to 80 high school students—not because of some special program I was running but because God was encountered. I saw teenagers—who previously cared more about their looks and the person they
showed up with than God—be grabbed by the truth of the Word and have their lives shaken so hard by God that they could no longer deny Him as their Creator and Savior. The same God who changes lives in great and beautiful cathedrals also changes lives in homes across the Valley.
His idea, His vision, our passion—what a wonderful combination.
—Chris Smith, High School intern
Here is what I actually wrote.
Back To Where We Started
Acts 2:46-47
Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
By no means can we take credit for the results, all is for the glory of His name. We can’t even take credit for the idea, it wasn’t ours. We are not responsible for the growth, only He can change a heart. But it was our passion, it was the spurning of the Spirit to scorch our hearts with the passion to return home, rather, to homes. Over 2 years ago the high school ministry decided that numbers were overrated and intimacy was undervalued. We knew the hearts of our students and knew they needed something more, something different, something they belonged to.
Two years ago the leaders of the ministry decided to return to our roots, we looked at the early church in Acts, and decided to return to homes. Our goal was to create an environment where ours students didn’t feel like they needed to hide anything or be someone they weren’t. It’s easy to blend in to a group of 250 people, it’s a lot harder to do it with 50. We took our Wednesday weekly meeting off the main SBC campus and put it into three different houses located close to SBC but more importantly close to local schools. Our passion was to help our students encounter God differently, and see him as the light of life. When one sees God in that light there is no turning back.
Against suggestions that we would be making a mistake, we “launched” 3 house churches. Whatever was going to happen at the houses would be Divine, for all we wanted was God to show up and our students to see Him. Of course God showed up and then so did the students. I have had the privilege of being a house leader for over a year and a half and this past year I watched our house group grow from 40 to 80 high school students. Not because of some special program I was running but because God was encountered. I saw teenagers who cared more about their looks and the person they showed up with than God, be grabbed by the truth of the word, and have their lives shaken so hard by God that they could no longer deny him as their creator and savior. The same God who changes lives in great and beautiful cathedrals also changes lives in small broken homes.
His idea, His vision, our passion, what a wonderful home.
By: Chris Smith
AC T S 2 : 4 6 – 4 7 : Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
By no means can we take credit for the results, all is for the glory of His name. We can’t even take credit for the idea, it wasn’t ours. We are not responsible for the growth, only He can change a heart. But it was the spurring of the Spirit to begin home groups two years ago. We knew our students needed something more, something different, something to belong to.
The leaders of the ministry used the early church in Acts as their model. Our goal was to create an environment where our students didn’t feel like they needed to hide anything or be someone they weren’t. It’s easy to blend into a group of 250 people, it’s a lot harder to do it with 50. Our passion was to help our students encounter God differently and see Him as the light of life. When one sees God in that light there is no turning back. We started out by launching three “house churches.” Whatever was going to happen at the houses would be Divine, for all we wanted was for God to show up and our students to see Him.
I have had the privilege of being a house leader for over a year-and-a-half and this past year I watched our house group grow from 40 to 80 high school students—not because of some special program I was running but because God was encountered. I saw teenagers—who previously cared more about their looks and the person they
showed up with than God—be grabbed by the truth of the Word and have their lives shaken so hard by God that they could no longer deny Him as their Creator and Savior. The same God who changes lives in great and beautiful cathedrals also changes lives in homes across the Valley.
His idea, His vision, our passion—what a wonderful combination.
—Chris Smith, High School intern
Here is what I actually wrote.
Back To Where We Started
Acts 2:46-47
Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
By no means can we take credit for the results, all is for the glory of His name. We can’t even take credit for the idea, it wasn’t ours. We are not responsible for the growth, only He can change a heart. But it was our passion, it was the spurning of the Spirit to scorch our hearts with the passion to return home, rather, to homes. Over 2 years ago the high school ministry decided that numbers were overrated and intimacy was undervalued. We knew the hearts of our students and knew they needed something more, something different, something they belonged to.
Two years ago the leaders of the ministry decided to return to our roots, we looked at the early church in Acts, and decided to return to homes. Our goal was to create an environment where ours students didn’t feel like they needed to hide anything or be someone they weren’t. It’s easy to blend in to a group of 250 people, it’s a lot harder to do it with 50. We took our Wednesday weekly meeting off the main SBC campus and put it into three different houses located close to SBC but more importantly close to local schools. Our passion was to help our students encounter God differently, and see him as the light of life. When one sees God in that light there is no turning back.
Against suggestions that we would be making a mistake, we “launched” 3 house churches. Whatever was going to happen at the houses would be Divine, for all we wanted was God to show up and our students to see Him. Of course God showed up and then so did the students. I have had the privilege of being a house leader for over a year and a half and this past year I watched our house group grow from 40 to 80 high school students. Not because of some special program I was running but because God was encountered. I saw teenagers who cared more about their looks and the person they showed up with than God, be grabbed by the truth of the word, and have their lives shaken so hard by God that they could no longer deny him as their creator and savior. The same God who changes lives in great and beautiful cathedrals also changes lives in small broken homes.
His idea, His vision, our passion, what a wonderful home.
By: Chris Smith
posted by palmercat at 9:50 AM
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