Welcome to week five of the Help for Host podcast for the Dream Now series. I'm your friend, James Browning, and this week we will be talking about dreaming now for our world. Today we're joined by another special guest and friend, our online community campus, pastor
Hello everybody. My name's Carissa, and I'm the online community Pastor.
Uh, Carissa is the online community pastor, but she's new to this role because Where did you come from before?
I was on the online team previously as the engagement coordinator and also previously as the groups coordinator. And now I've recently stepped into this campus pastor position,
right, so we've got people from the top with groups experience here for you today.
We love small groups.
All right, so all that to say, host, congratulations. We are at the finish line, week five. We do encourage you to do one more week next week, but as a celebration, why don't you tell us some tips for host who might wanna be doing a celebration.
Absolutely Week six celebration. I think it's super important as we've walked through Dream now together to take a moment before we step out of it, to really just take a moment to reflect on what God has done or taught you guys taught us through this series and through this small group study, and to take a moment to acknowledge and celebrate the commitments that we've made together as, as individuals and as a group.
So if you don't have any plans to celebrate next week, I encourage you, finalize those plans, talk about it as a group this week, and then maybe plan to do something fun next week.
That's a great idea. If you, uh, have not yet finalized plans, this is your last chance to do so. Don't leave it up to the last minute. Remember, we've been talking a lot about the primary job of the host is to be prepared, not necessarily an expert, so just guide the conversation to figuring out what your next steps are.
and.
We've been saying it for the past few weeks. What should the next steps for your group be beyond dream? Now, if you have an existing group, hopefully you've decided what you're gonna study next. As we've said before, we've got the what's in the name series or the mark journey. And if you're a new group, we hope that your group has considered becoming a small group. Ongoing. If you'll continue, make sure you let your campus group team know on the weekend.
Go to the hub and let someone know you'd like to discuss next steps. Or you can email your campus, uh, person at small groups@saddleback.com, or you can go to saddleback.com/small groups. And click the starter group button again, we recommend Basecamp as a series for a new group that can be found at saddleback.com/studies. And the mark journey can be found on your Saddleback Companion app. If you'll not continue together, encourage everyone to find a group that will work best for the schedule.
After all, we are better together. If you're an on-campus host. this Is a great opportunity to remind your table to consider becoming a small group ongoing. Carissa, that was a big info dump. There's a lot of information. If someone were in a group that started during this series, what would you recommend for next steps?
If you are a group that just started during the series, I encourage you, highly encourage you to keep going together. You've already been meeting for six weeks. You might as well keep going. If it's a time that all works for you guys to keep meeting, keep doing it. You can even encourage other people to join your group if you want to, and open it up to others.
Um, share with your friends or your family about how impactful this series has been for you, and encourage them to get into a small group themselves or maybe invite someone else to join your small group too.
One of the things I'd like to ask you is how can a small group make an impact for. world shared vision for our world or have a burden for our world. What's some of the tips or suggestions that you would recommend for a small group host to pass along to their group?
Yeah. I think what's really unique about small groups is that every individual has different stories, a different background, different workplaces that they're stepping into, and so there's a really awesome impact that we can have in multiplication and going into our communities and our workforces. Whatever it may be.
And we come together as a small group to encourage one another, to build one another up, to dive deep into the word and, and be rooted in Christ so that we can go out and make that impact in the world together. And so I like to think of my small group as, as this place that we can get encouraged and equipped so that we can go out into the world, um, and make an impact for, for the Lord.
I love it. Carissa and I, I think you're right small groups are honestly a great opportunity to be evangelistic and to be the hands and feet of Christ throughout the world. I read a statistic in a missions class in seminary that if every Christian had a hundred percent success rate in sharing the gospel with everyone that they knew. That a third of the world would still have never heard the gospel.
And the point that they were trying to make in sharing that is that we tend to have our individual circles, and for us to truly reach the world, we need to be willing to step outside of our. Our own personal bubbles of relationships and friendships and reach a handout to someone else, and your small group is such an easy step for someone who doesn't have any connection with Christianity or anything else because you're just inviting them over to spend some time with a few friends.
And that is such an easy ask and such a welcoming ask to many people who are looking for that kind of community.
Yeah, that's awesome James. I think it's so important and we get to have the opportunity to welcome people into our groups and, and be that maybe first step into knowing their first step into church or their first step into hearing the gospel. Um, it's a place that people can come together for fellowship, but then get to meet Jesus for maybe the first time.
Thank you, Carissa, and if any of you have any stories from Dream Now or even from Immerse, please feel free to send them to us at small groups@saddleback.com and if you have any questions. Don't forget to contact us at small groups@saddleback.com. And once again, thank you for joining us in the Dream Now series. Thank you, Carissa.
Thanks for having me. Let's get ready to party.