Posts tagged ‘Andy Stanley’

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15 February, 2012

Small Group Bible Study Sessions on Marriage

by cubfann

We have some great small group Bible studies on the topic of love and marriage from some of the best communicators – Gary Thomas, Andy Stanley, Les and Leslie Parrot, and John and Stasi Eldredge.  We’ve put many of our small group Bible study sessions up on YouTube.  Now, we’ve separated out the ones on love and marriage on their own playlist – group bible studies on marriage.  Watch the first session of Saving Your Marriage Before it Starts, Staying in Love, Sacred Marriage, Your Time-Starved Marriage, and more.

My wife and I have gone through each of these together at some point in our 9 years together and really appreciated each one.  Most recently, we went through Sacred Marriage together.  In this small group Bible study, Gary Thomas helps you discover a deeper intimacy with God through your marriage.  He asks the question, “What if God designed marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy?”  Here is session 1:

How do you react to the idea that God may have designed marriage to make us holy even more than to make us happy?

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15 February, 2012

The Winner of the Valentine’s Giveaway is…

by cubfann

Thanks to all who posted comments!  These are all very important things to remember.  These are things that are key whether you have been married 5 minutes or 50 years.  I plan on putting this list inside my Bible and every day pray that I am able to live these to my wife and model them to my two boys.

Most all the comments fell into 10 things to remember so you stay in love (in order of number of comments):

  1. Sacrificial love
  2. Put Jesus first
  3. Maintain a friendship
  4. Communicate
  5. Develop a forgiving spirit
  6. Make a lasting commitment
  7. Regard one another with mutual respect
  8. Be open and honest with one another
  9. Maintain a sense of individuality
  10. Get naked
The random winner is Allen Jerkins!
Grace. I wish I had something more lengthy to say, but that is it- the ability to remember how much Christ has forgiven you, then to extend that over and over to your spouse.

 

Thank you all for reading.  Here is the first full session of Staying in Love by Andy Stanley:

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13 February, 2012

Valentine’s Giveaway: Staying in Love and $100 AMEX Gift Card

by cubfann

Last night, my wife and I went out to a valentine’s dinner with our small group to a local place called Mangiamo.  We were serenaded by an accordionist named Mike to some Italian and French tunes, had wonderful food, and great conversation.  Kate and I have been married 10 years this coming June and have weathered our fair share of storms, but through it all we have stayed friends and stayed in love.

In honor of the holiday who’s mascot is the chubby cherub, we are going to do a giveaway for curriculum pack (1 DVD and 2 Participant’s Guides) of Staying in Love by Andy Stanley, and a $100 American Express gift card.  This way you and your spouse can come together and learn from pastor Andy Stanley how to stay in love once you fall in love, and go out together for a lovely date night (babysitting not provided, sorry).

My wife and I went through the Staying in Love curriculum about 18 months ago and found it quite helpful.  Here is a short clip from session two about treating one another with respect and as the most valuable person in the world followed by a quote from the participant’s guide:

While falling in love only requires a pulse, staying in love requires a plan.  Do you have one?  Most of us don’t, so we can be grateful the Bible offers a set of helpful guidelines for exactly such a plan.  It’s the kind of strategy that requires something from us every day, something that touches on all our decisions and attitudes and actions.  It may also require some radical new ways of thinking about yourself and about your spouse.

Okay, to win the Staying in Love curriculum pack with $100 American Express gift card, just answer this question in the comments below.  On Tuesday we will pick a random comment as the winner.

Think about the marriages of people you know best.  What elements contributed to lasting, long-term marriages?

UPDATE: winner will be chosen at 8 AM EST February 15.  Come back to see if you won!

Posted in Curriculum, Giveaways | 183 Comments »

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24 January, 2012

Keep the Bible in Your Bible Study

by cubfann

I read a great article on reformation21 (HT:Challies) about Effective Group Bible Study.  My main focus at Zondervan is to tell the world about our fabulous small group curriculum, so naturally I was interested in how to help people have an effective small group.  Pastor William Boekestein, who wrote the article, has some great points about effective group study, but one that really rose to the surface for me was to keep the Bible first.  Now this sounds like a given, but  too often in our groups, we rely on the study material and use the Bible as extra credit work.

Scripture studies are almost always aided by a well-written guide. Some of the best guides are commentaries, especially those that began as a sermon series. Homiletical commentaries combine the best of careful exegesis and pastoral application.(1)

One of the dangers, though, of using a study guide is that the Bible can become eclipsed by a lesser book. It is easy to subconsciously begin to treat the Bible as the “raw materials” and the study guide as the “finished product,” favoring the latter.
To avoid misusing supplemental materials, make them the last part of your preparation for the group study. First, work through the scripture passage in focus. Ask questions about the text. Note observations and applications. Use the study questions to stimulate thought before turning to the “answers” in the commentary. In this way the commentary becomes a sounding board for your ideas and conclusions rather than a source book. The Bereans took such an approach. They “…received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true” (Acts 17:11).
A related principle is that group discussions should be guided by Scripture not by personal opinion. This does not mean that a question or comment is inappropriate just because it is an opinion. It does mean that conclusions that are reached and counsel that is given should be biblically based.

Much of the curriculum we produce has been used as sermon material that was preached in the pastors church:

What I appreciate about our video curriculum is that each teacher grounds what s/he has to say in the Bible.  Our participant’s guides have Scripture discussion, and point people to the Bible.  But in our groups, we cannot view that as bonus or “if we have time”.  No matter how good a communicator the teacher is, or how well written the participant’s guide is, they are all just commentary on the Bible.  The Bible must remain the central focus in all our small groups and Bible studies.
In addition to what Pastor Boekestein mentions in his article, here are some other thoughts:
  • make sure everyone in your group brings a Bible to small group
  • read all the recommended passages in the participant’s guides
  • consider standing as you read Scripture as a reminder of the weight of it’s words
  • before you share an opinion, know how you would back it up with Scripture

*Above I have linked the full first sessions for those curriculum.  To see more full first sessions on YouTube, go to the curriculum playlist here: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL592D0CEC3F56A982

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6 January, 2012

Watch full sessions from Zondervan curriculum

by cubfann

Have you ever watched a trailer for a movie and then watched the movie and realized that the trailer was either the best part of the movie, or that it told you nothing of the real plot of the movie?  well, curriculum trailers are not like that, but sometimes watching the 90-120 second trailer isn’t just enough to know if you want to spend 4-12 weeks with an author, topic, or study.

However, the first session is a good indicator of what the rest of the curriculum will be like, so we are making the first sessions of our video-based curriculum available for free on YouTube.  As of today we have 17 different full sessions loaded on a playlist and will be adding more and more until they are all available.

Watch curriculum sessions from bestselling authors like John Ortberg, Bill Hybels, Jim Cymbala, Craig Groeschel, Andy Stanley, Lysa TerKeurst, and others.  Then, if you like what you see, you can visit Amazon, CBD.com, BN.com or your local retailer and get the DVD and Participant’s Guides for yourself or your small group.

Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL592D0CEC3F56A982

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7 October, 2011

Andy Stanley at Catalyst 2011

by Andrew Rogers

I was blessed to attend the Catalyst Lab Day this year, and the first day of the Catalyst Conference. The opening session was Andy Stanley.

Chris Fann (sometimes-contributor here at EC) and I heard him speak together and have been buzzing about it since. Others have typed up more detailed posts here, here, and especially here, so I won’t bother to do that now.

But I do want to pass on the two big ideas that blew me away:

1) “Do for one what you wish you could do for everyone.”
2) “When you do for one, you often end up doing for more than just one.”

Regardless of your employment, I assume your work is like mine: an overload of connections, distractions, and opportunities to serve other people. Andy talked about how we tend to drift towards one of two opposite extremes when we become overwhelmed, we either try to help everyone and burn out; or we shut ourselves away and serve no one.

That’s where the above statements come into play. We need to be wise, discerning, and prayerful about who we pour ourselves into. If we serve where God would have us serve he will often end up blessing many more people as a result of our faithful service to just the one we originally set out

Catalyst Conferenceto serve.

That’s it in a nutshell. Andy was more eloquent in his delivery, of course.

I was thankful to be there and hear that message.

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