Josh Hunt's blog

What is the one quality that trumps everything we have talked about so far? What one quality is more important than teaching skill or how many people you have involved, or visitation, or giving Friday nights to Jesus or organizational ability or anything else? Spiritual Vibrancy. Spiritual vibrancy trumps just about everything else. As Gomer Pile used to say, "Surprise, surprise, surprise!" Jesus said it would be true. Here is a verse I am meditating on and re-memorizing (you have to re-memorize after 50!): "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." John 15:5 (NIV) If you remain in Christ you will bear much fruit. You can take it to the bank. That is the promise of God. What causes what? One of the issues with statistics is that it cannot prove cause. It can only prove that two things occur together. You can

For parts 1, 2,& 3, see: www.joshhunt.com/mail252.htm www.joshhunt.com/mail253.htm www.joshhunt.com/mail254.htm #3 People skills Teachers with good people skills were two and a half times (147%) more likely to be growing than those with bad people skills. People skills matter more than participation in visitation, how many parties you have or don't have, how you spend your time, what your purpose is, or how many people you have on your team helping you. If you have ever read a John Maxwell book on leadership you know this. Turns out, John Maxwell is right. People skills matter. It matters a lot. What are good people skills? It starts on the inside If you want to get along well with people, it helps to like them. Really like them. Not pretend to like them. Not act like you like them. Really like them. Think kind thoughts about them. Think kindly of them. Cultivate a heart that loves them. This

For parts 1 and 2, see: www.joshhunt.com/mail252.htm www.joshhunt.com/mail253.htm Four things made it into the "this really matters" list. What does it take to make it into the "this really matters" list? I set the criteria at 100% difference between the bottom group and the top. The teachers who practice these practices were twice as likely (or more) to be doubling as the ones who were not practicing these things. #1: Fellowship matters I asked teachers how many fellowships they have. Now, if you have ever heard me speak or read anything I have written, you know the drill: Invite every member and every prospect to every fellowship every month. I didn't actually ask about that. I didn't ask if the groups invited every member and every prospect; I just asked if they had a party. More specifically, I asked how many parties they have: 4. How many fellowships do you have a year? 0 - 4

I have just completed three months of asking 1031 teachers thirteen question designed to help us understand what makes groups grow. This article is the second in a series of reports on this survey. I divided the findings into four sections: Things that didn't matter hardly at all. (Less than 10% difference in likelihood of growth in the bottom and top group) Things that only mattered a little. (Between 11% and 100% difference likelihood of growth in the bottom and top groups.) Things that mattered a lot. (If you are in the top group in these factors you are twice as likely--or more--to be growing than if you are in the bottom group. Between 101% and 1000% difference in likelihood of growth in the bottom and top groups.) Things that matter most. (If this is true of you, you are almost 11 times more likely to be growing than if it is not. More than 1000% difference in likelihood of growth between the top group and the botto

I have just completed three months of asking 1031 teachers thirteen questions designed to help us understand what makes groups grow. This article is the first in series that summarize my findings. Before I begin, allow me to say something. (I have always found that line humorous, but you kind of have to think about it.) I don't like some of the answers I found in this survey. I have taught the exact opposite of what this survey reveals at some points. I disagree with some of these findings. But, the facts are the facts and I am going to report them just as they are. If you disagree with the findings, please don't shoot me, I am only the messenger. I asked thirteen questions. The first one was 1. Would you describe your class as. . . declining stable growing growing rapidly This question was used as a point of comparison with all the rest. For example, the next question (which was really four questions) read

Guess when this was written-- By the time he came out of his Hanoi prison, John McCain had learned the power of stories. He had been raised on them. The son and grandson of admirals forever at sea, he had spent more time with their legends than with the men themselves. Among the POWs, he was the prison storyteller, the one who helped pass the days by retelling, scene by scene, his favorite Marlon Brando movies, who offered a course he called A History of the World from the Beginning, the one who was allowed 10 minutes with a Bible one Christmas so he could refresh his memory of Bethlehem and lead a service in their cell. But it was not until he was home, a famous, crippled war hero, that he met Ronald Reagan and learned from the master that he now had the ultimate political weapon. The Story. You could argue that the story of McCain's remarkable rise, to the point where he now has a chance of snatching the G.O.P. nomination away fr

Jason said to me, "Disciplemaking Teachers out to be required." I had just conducted the Disciplemaking Teachers seminar at his church. I had done the Double Your Class Seminar in their church sometime back. They had seen some results. I sensed two frustrations: Many teachers were slow to get on board. They didn't want to double. Where we did attract new people, Jason wasn't sure we were making disciples of them all that well. I think Jason's point is well taken. I do about 100 conferences a year. About 90 of them are on You Can Double Your Class in Two Years or Less. I love that seminar. But, the more I present it, the more I have the nagging feeling that figuring out how to double is not our problem. The problem is, we don't want to. Why? We have not made meat-eating, fired up, sold-out disciples. We need Disciplemaking Teachers. I so resonate with this quote from Robert Coleman's Master Plan of Discipleship. It all started with Jesus c

I was privileged to visit Northpoint's new Browns Bridge Campus a few months back. This is an amazing story--brand new 3,000 seat auditorium filled twice on Sunday morning. How do they do that? Part of the answer, or course, is that a whole lot of people came from the main campus at Northpoint. They live in this area. They get Northpoint and it is closer. But, I have been to the main campus in the last year as well. It looked full too. How do they do that? Here is an amazing thing. At Browns Bridge, they don't even have a preacher. Six thousand people show up every weekend (my estimate) to watch Andy on a big screen. Go figure. How do they do that? Now, it is a really cool big screen. Three big screens, actually. One huge screen of the entire stage that duplicates the stage at Northpoint. It is very nearly life size. I think if Andy were standing on the stage he would be within an inch or two of the size of that image. Then, there are t