Josh Hunt's Blog, page 263

Would you like a free Sunday School DVD ?

Would you like a free Sunday School DVD ? Do you want to be a better Sunday School teacher ? Are you pinched for time in your preparation to teach ? Would you like some help digging out the deeper truths of this week’s scripture passage ? Do you struggle with making scripture relevant to today’s culture […]

Why so many questions?

I had someone email me recently asking why my Bible lessons have some many questions. He observed—rightly—that if the group really discussed well, it would take two or three weeks to go through one lesson. Well, the reason my lessons are so long is based on a little insecurity of mine. I have a paranoia […]

Not just a friendly church; friends

The leaders at the Scottsdale church had created an environment conducive to the development of relationships. Over the years many of the members of that church became highly intentional about developing relationships with men and women who visited the church and, especially, the unchurched who had never visited the church before. Tammy was an unchurched […]

Belonging comes before believing

My cautious conclusions about how most people become Christians were reinforced by a more empirical study sponsored by the United Bible Societies in Great Britain, led and written by John Finney. A research team received 360 completed questionnaires from converts, and they interviewed 151 converts. These 511 converts represented the range of denominations in England, […]

Ziglar, you are a real pane!

Once in the early years of my speaking career I was invited to fill in for Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, who was taken ill. The audience was obviously disappointed that they had to listen to me instead of the famous Dr. Peale, but I tried my best to fill his shoes. After my speech, an […]

How to deal with someone who talks too much in group

People shifted in their seats, looking first at each other, then down at their Bibles. Janice didn’t seem to notice. She just kept on talking, answering almost every question in the guide before anyone else could speak. As the group members shuffled out after the study, Martha, the hostess, gave encouraging looks, as if to […]

How loving is your group

One of my follow-up surveys related directly to the issue of people skills. There were three interesting findings that came out of that survey. Take advantage of them all. Cell-phone use. I asked leaders how many members’ phone numbers they had programmed into their cell phones. My suspicion was this: Leaders of growing groups would […]

The goal is not to make smarter sinners

If we are to make disciples, we must teach for application. We must teach them to obey everything Jesus commanded. We are not out to make smarter sinners. Andy Stanley has a great description of this: Jesus taught for a response. He taught for life change. He didn’t come to simply dispense information. We rarely […]

You must come to love the Christian life, or you will never come to live the Christian life

You can force yourself into obedience for a while. You can force yourself to stay on the diet, quit watching porn, read your Bible, go to church, quit swearing, and so forth. You can force yourself for a while. But, you either find reward in that or you quit. You must come to love the […]

The “With Him” principle

Jesus’ method of making disciples–a method we should all follow–is set forth in this short verse: He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach Mark 3:14 (NIV2011) Robert Coleman explains Jesus’ methodology this way: Having called his men, Jesus made a practice of being with […]