I hope you’ve had a great week. I spent 3 days leading part of a Pastor’s Essentials Conference sponsored by LifeWay Christian Resources. The team met with a group of pastors in central Mississippi and had a wonderful time talking, training, and discussing how to become better disciple-makers in our churches. I’d like to welcome aboard many of those pastors who’ve subscribed to the blog this week!

Here are some hot links for your weekend reading. These are from friends and colleagues I trust to speak truth about church leadership, Bible study groups, and other topics that may be important to you and your church. Happy reading, and thanks as always for supporting and following this blog!

Shoulder to shoulder,

Ken Braddy

BlOG POSTS YOU MAY LIKE:

• 3 levels of community in groups (by David Francis, LifeWay’s Sunday School Director)
• Encouraging those who never or rarely attend to engage daily with the Bible (by Dr. Dwayne McCrary, team leader for LifeWay’s Explore The Bible…and a group leader, too!)
• 8 essential items for your church’s FAQ page (from Dr. Thom Rainer’s blog)
• 8 signs your church may be closing soon
• 6 keys to building a bridge to someone (by Dr. Lynn Pryor, team leader for LifeWay’s Bible Studies For Life series…and a group leader, too!)
• 5 questions to help Millennials grow into leadership (from friend Dr. Ron Edmonson’s blog)

PODCASTS YOU MAY LIKE:

• How churches can break growth barriers

This past week, 74 new people subscribed to the blog! That includes some new friends at Versailles Baptist Church in Versailles, KY. Thanks, Jonathan Berry, for being a great host and having me come up and train your group leaders on Thursday night!

Here are some links to posts and podcasts from trusted sources. I hope these will help you as you continue to lead your group or your church’s entire groups ministry!

Shoulder to shoulder,

Ken Braddy

Posts You Might Like:

• They’re sitting right next to you (a post from friend Dr. Lynn Pryor on the marginalized in our churches)
• Leading with control Vs. leading with influence (from friend Ron Edmonson’s blog)
• 3 mistakes many small group leaders make
• 8 major changes in churches over the past 10 years (Dr. Thom Rainer’s blog)
• 3 critical leadership lessons we need to learn from the past 

Podcasts you might like:

• When to pull the plug on a ministry, and other leader questions (Dr. Thom Rainer)

Happy Cinco de Mayo. Enjoy some good Tex-Mex for lunch (I am), and enjoy these Hot Links to other blog posts and podcasts from friends and others I trust.

Also, welcome aboard to another 73 new subscribers to the blog, including some new friends at Northcrest Baptist Church in Meridian, MS. We had a great weekend of training last Friday night and Saturday morning – I’m glad many of you have followed the blog this week!

If you’re reading this post but aren’t following the blog, just go to kenbraddy.com and sign up in a minute with only your email address.

Shoulder to shoulder,

Ken Braddy

Blog Posts You Might Like:

• Don’t be afraid to provoke your brothers
• Should groups stop in the summer?
• When Mother’s Day Hurts (I shared this one last week, and thought if you missed it you might take a look since Mother’s Day is fast approaching)
• 10 Ways to Add Value to People as a Leader
• 3 Big Mistakes of Small Group Leaders

Podcasts You Might Like:

• 6 Statements that could Kill a Church
• Reaching Out to Guests

I’d like to officially welcome almost another 100 new subscribers to the blog, including a group of education pastors who participated in LifeWay’s recent M.E. Essentials Conference.

I’ve added a new tab on the home page of the blog for all of you who use LifeWay curriculum in your Bible teaching ministry. The new tab is “LifeWay Teacher Helps” and this page contains links to teacher helps each week. There are sermon outlines, extra discussion questions, and video training sessions – all free. Why would I add this particular page? Because almost 3M people a week use LifeWay’s “ongoing” Bible study curriculum, and teachers are always looking for ways to save time – and oh yeah…my teams create the stuff!  I hope you’ll enjoy this new resource page. If you teach from Explore the Bible, Bible Studies for Life, or The Gospel Project, come here each week and save some time with these helpful free resources! You might want to share kenbraddy.com with  your group leaders if you haven’t already and invite them to come to the site and get these free helps.

Now – the hot links! As you know, I post links to articles and podcasts from trusted sources around the web. Happy reading this weekend. May the Lord continue to bless you, your group, and your church as you teach His Word!

Shoulder to shoulder,

Ken Braddy

Blog Posts You Might Like:

• 5 Secrets That Can Make You a Better Leader
• 7 Ways to Deal With Gnats in Ministry
• Consumer Mentality in the Church
• When to Stop Chasing Your Dreams

Podcasts You Might Like:

• Reaching out to Guests

It’s been another great week on the blog…about 70 new subscribers have signed up to receive daily posts – welcome aboard you newbies!

I hope you have a restful and worshipful weekend as we celebrate Jesus’ life, death, and especially His resurrection. Because of Him, we do what we do. May He continue to bless you, your groups, and your churches!

I’ve included some blog posts and podcasts from trusted friends and sources, and something new this week because of Easter – a video clip of Tim Keller’s “True and Better” – I really encourage you to watch it…it’s short…and it’s powerful. Dr. Keller blazes his way through the Old Testament in about two minutes and points out how Jesus was the fulfillment of the Old Testament…how the stories point to Him and foreshadow His life and ministry. Worth a watch!

He is risen!

Ken Braddy

Blog Posts You Might Like:

• Why discipleship?
• Did Jesus really rise from the dead?
• 7 statements leaders need to use regularly
• 5 lessons from fallen pastors

Podcasts You Might Like:

• Christian Thinkers Society (episode 41 of the Groups Matter Podcast)
• 8 Easter-related trends in the church

Videos you Might Like:

• Tim Keller’s “True and Better”

And for all you Star Wars fans…in honor of Rogue One’s release this week:

• The Force Awakens – A bad lip reading (hilarious lip-sync of selected scenes from The Force Awakens)

Happy Friday everyone – I hope it’s been a great week for you. I’ve put together some links to some really great posts and podcasts from around the web – from people I know and trust. I hope you enjoy reading or listening to some of these in the days ahead!

Ken Braddy

Posts you might like:

• 4 ways to connect people into groups after Easter
• The number one reason people resist change
• 9 changes we must make, or die

Podcasts you might like:

• Developing small-group leaders
• Engaging daily in the Bible
• Introducing the Christian Standard Bible