Small Groups and Monday Night Football

We had our second small group session last night. Our small group is awesome. Here's what we do. We record the first half hour of the Monday night football game and everyone meets at 6:00PM. We have food and watch the first half commercial free. We pause the game at half then do the Bible study. The Bible study is based off the message from the weekend service, discussion questions are printed on the notes each week. We pray for each other and then watch the second half commercial free.

We have a point system we've developed to add a little extra to the game. Prior to Monday night everybody emails their picks and we record the predictions like...1. who wins the coin toss, 2. 1st catch 3. 1st points 4. 1st Touchdown 5. score at end of each quarter 6. and score at the end of the game. 7. Who wins the game., etc. We are keeping a running tally and the winner will receive a MNF Bible Study trophy...and bragging rights for the rest of the year.

Small groups are vital in churches but I think especially in a new church. It really helps people get connected and put down roots and grow. God uses small groups to help each of us learn from others. And, when the group is doing the study based off the message from the weekend it helps everyone take the message deeper. Studies show that people forget 95% of what they hear within 72 hours...bummer for preachers when we take all week to prepare something people are only going to remember 5% of at best. So, this is another way to help people really "get" the message and take it to the next level.