Josh Hunt's blog

I think it is a fair statement to say that I am obsessed with the idea of doubling groups. I think about it all the time. It is 1:00 a.m. and I am writing because I can't sleep due to some new insight about doubling groups has been rattling around in my brain for a few days and I can't sleep till I get at least a little of it on "paper. " I think about it all the time. I thought of it numerous times today between celebrating a birthday for a nephew and family barbeque and a few sets of tennis-my mind always drifts to this subject of doubling groups. I feel I may have figured out the missing piece. Not that this will be the last missing piece. I likely will keep thinking about this for the rest of my life. It is my calling, my magnificent obsession. I have had dozens of days like today when I could think of nothing but some new insight about doubling groups. Before I get into today's insight, let me review. Doubling groups is fascinating to me for four reasons:...

A perennial problem in many mega-churches is the gap between worship attendance and group attendance. Often, there are four or five times as many people attending worship as are attending groups. If you believe that church life is lived out in relationship, this is a real problem. And, it is not just a problem with mega churches. Many medium sized churches have twice as many people in worship as in groups.  There is a danger of inoculating people against the gospel rather than infecting them with the real disease. (The metaphor is a little negative, I know: the disease of the gospel.) Just as a shot can give us a very small dose of a disease, and thus build up our immunity against it, so a small dose of church can give us the feeling that we have a little bit of religion and that is enough. This false self-confidence prevents us from the poor in spirit attitude necessary to enter the kingdom. Getting people in an occasional worship servi...

I read a verse in my quiet time today that I think is the key to just about everything. It is the key to getting out of debt and having a regular quiet time. It is the key to finding the motivation to double your class or not. It is the key to motivation in virtually every arena. And motivation is the key to just about everything. Here is the verse: Crave pure spiritual milk. 1 Peter 2.2 The key to just about everything is, you gotta love it. You gotta crave it. You gotta want it. You gotta like it. You must come to love the Christian life or you will never come to live the Christian life. I do a lot of writing. Most of it not too profound. But that, my friend, is profound. Read it out loud, will you? You must come to love the Christian life or you will never come to live the Christian life. Success in Christian living is all about managing your cravings. It is all about cultivating a craving for the right thing and not craving the wro...

Do you know what a mystery shopper is? The idea is this. A retailer pays someone to shop. (My wife would love this job!) They shop and then report to management about their experience--how helpful and courteous the staff, how clean the restrooms, and so forth. Of course, at the time they are shopping, no one knows that they are actually an employee of the company. They pose as a regular shopper. It is a mystery who these people are. When Jim Henderson was a pastor he used to do this regularly as a means of improving his church. He wanted to get a feel for what it was like to visit his church, so he hired "mystery worshippers" to  visit and then report to him on their findings--how friendly the people are, how clean the rest rooms are, and what is an outsider's perspective on the music and preaching. Maybe you should do the same. Maybe you should hire people to come to your church and give you feedback on how you could improve. ...

My favorite magazine is called Outreach . Recently, they published their fourth annual Outreach Resource of the Year Award. This year's winner: Bill Hybels' book Just Walk Across the Room Why I love Bill Hybels I quote Bill Hybels occasionally and occasionally someone has come up to me afterwards and said, "I appreciated everything you had to say except one thing. You quoted Bill Hybels. I was a part of a church once and the pastor went to Willowcreek and came home and terrible things happened." I don't doubt that it is true. I just doubt that it is Bill Hybels's fault. I think it is a little unfair to blame Bill Hybels for every bad thing that someone who comes home from a Willowcreek conference does. But still, I am not a fan of Bill Hybels for the reasons most people are, or the reason you might think. I am not actually a big fan of the seeker service or the W...

Skilled communicators know that telling stories is one of the most effective ways to communicate. Story telling is modeled for us by the Master-Teacher and is widely used by effective communicators. But, ever heard a story that didn't work? Ever heard a story that left you yawning and wondering when it would ever end? Ever heard a sermon and found yourself reading through the bulletin because you were not that engaged? Ever heard a lesson that found you continually checking your watch? (Is it stopped?) Ever hear a story that didn't work? What makes a story work? What makes a story fall flat? How can stories be used to communicate truth effectively? And, how can we keep stories from being boring? One of the best ways to answer this question is to look at movies. Movies tell a story. Good movies tell a story effectively. What does a good love story, a good action film, or a good comedy have in common with all other good love stories, a...

Chris Thixton has created four classes since 1999. He is a poster teacher for the Double Your Class philosophy. His adaptation of the plan is Pizza on Sunday He grew his class, the first time I met him, from 4 to 40 in nine months. How did he do it? Pizza on Sunday. Then, I came back a second time. He had just started a new class–he and his wife and two other couples. I asked him to check in with me, "When you get this group doubled, send me an email." Six months later, he sent me an email. "Just checking in. Next month we will send out 25 people to start a new class. We will have 35 in our class." He went from 6 to 60 in 6 months. How did he do it? Pizza on Sunday. He called me summer before last. "I am back up to 40 again. I want to divide my class, but here is the deal. We are having a hard time finding preschool and children’s workers." (Sound familiar?) "So, here is what I want to do. Instea...