Evolve!

Today and tomorrow I'm at the Evolve Conference at Mountain Lake Church in Cumming, GA. Very good so far. I began at the pre-conference session on small groups and connecting people. One thing MLC does is that they focus on one curriculum, namely the weekly message. They are very protective of their groups and have asked folks to leave leadership or the church who weren't onboard. Yes, we can and sometimes should do this. The supporting text is Matthew 18. But that is the negative exception. The key thing is moving people into "growth groups" using a simple process. They emphasize having a calendar and regular events, so that all the groups are on the same page. Regular leadership training and record keeping by the leaders round out their approach.