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November 3, 2009

A New Day for the Blog

You know how in some families there will be one kid that has a bunch of problems and takes up most of the parents' attention? And then the other kids get the short end of the stick a little bit because they behave normally, which means the parents let them do their own thing and don't spend a lot of energy on them?

Well, that kind of summarizes the relationship between www.SmallGroups.com and this blog in the past year. SmallGroups.com is the older child, and while it contains the lion's share of the features and resources, it has also generated a great deal of problems that have absorbed just about all of my time and attention. Which means I haven't had a lot of energy to focus on this blog.

But things are changing! We are gradually working the bugs out of SmallGroups.com, and I am going to make a conscious effort to give this blog more of the time and attention it deserves.

Starting with this new schedule for regular features and posts:

Monday: Dot Com(unity) [starting in January]
Tuesday: LiveBooking
Wednesday: Question of the Week
Thursday: Video of the Week
Friday: Friday Flashback

I'll explain some of these terms in more detail after the jump below, but I also want to emphasize that these will not be the only posts added to the blog each week. We'll still have regular, article-length posts from myself, Dan Lentz, and the other authors you've come to know and love over the past year—all focused on helping you grow as small-group leaders.

Now let's explain some of those terms from the schedule.

Dot Com(unity)
This has been a regular feature since the blog was launched, although we are currently taking a break until January, when I will start again with a new study. You can learn more by clicking here.

LiveBooking
You've probably all heard of LiveBlogging by now. It's when someone attends a conference or event and then writes blog posts about speakers or experiences as they are happening. I recently had some fun LiveBlogging from the Willow Creek Small Groups Conference, for example, and you can see some examples of it here, here, here, and http://blog.smallgroups.com/2009/10/group_life_heather_zempel.html.

So what is LiveBooking, you ask? Well, I had so much fun at the Willow conference that I asked myself, How can I do this more often? My answer was books. There are a great many books that intersect with small-groups ministry and the spiritual formation/growth of individual believers. And I know that group leaders often don't have time to read them all, just like most group leaders don't have the time or money to attend a lot of conferences.

So, I will spend a good chunk of time each week reading through a book that I think will benefit regular small-group leaders. And then I'll write about what I've read, both summarizing and giving my opinion. It will be kind of like "Cliff's Notes," but for group leaders! And then you can all add in your opinions and experiences, and we could have a real opportunity for learning and growth each week.

Question of the Week
This one is pretty self explanatory—I'll come up with a new question each week, find someone to give an opening salvo of an answer, and then turn to all of you for additional information. Sometimes I will be the first to answer the question, and sometimes I will seek the advice of others.

Video of the Week
I'm looking forward to this one. I will just hunt through the web each week to find a video that is inspiring, interesting, kooky, or challenging—but that applies directly to you, the small-group leader. Sometimes these will be professionally done, other times we'll feature volunteer productions from churches and other sources. Should be fun!

Friday Flashback
I understand that all of you probably don't read every blog post we add here every week. There's only so much time in a day! So every Friday I will look back in our archive of posts and re-feature something that you may not have seen originally, but still has value.

posted by Sam O'Neal on November 3, 2009 9:45 AM