Studies for Your Group

Dangerous Surrender
with Kay Warren

Surrender. It is not an inviting concept, is it? Yielding. Relinquishing. Our very nature resists these concepts.

Intimacy with God. Now that is far more appealing. Don’t we all long for a deeper personal experience of God’s presence?

Kay Warren takes us on a startling adventure, across the globe and over the backyard fence, bringing us face to face with the powerful and mysterious link between surrender and intimacy with God. This wasn’t a journey she intended, but once she took the first step there was no turning back. Her world—your world—will never be the same again.

Now Kay Warren invites you—compels you—to explore living a life fully surrendered to God. You will enter the stories of men, women and children that will forever alter your understanding of God. You will come face to face with truths that will forever alter your understanding of yourself. You will be challenged to attempt the impossible and discover in the process that God is far deeper, far wider, far closer than you ever dared to dream.

This is a 3-session Small Group Teaching DVD by Kay Warren and Small Group Study Guide. If you've ever struggled with knowing and doing God's will, this video-based small group study is for you.

* Session One: Become Dangerously Surendered
* Session Two: Expose Evil
* Session Three: Do Good in Jesus' Name




Wide Angle: Framing Your World View
with Rick Warren and Chuck Colson

Everything you think about life is shaped by your worldview. It determines your view on God, yourself and other people. It determines how you think about relationships, your time, and your money.

In this six-week video-based small group study, Rick Warren and Chuck Colson examine worldviews as they relate to the most important questions of our day. They explore such key issues as truth, tolerance, terrorism, creationism vs. Darwinism, sin and suffering, and the purpose of life.

This curriculum is video-based. Each small group will need one DVD (which provides the teaching), and one study guide for each participant. One copy of The Good Life for each participant is also recommended.

Six-Week Study




S.H.A.P.E.: Finding and Fulfilling Your Unique Purpose For Life
with Erik Rees

Rick Warren’s bestselling book, The Purpose Driven Life, described God’s five purposes for every Christian. Now Erik Rees helps you discover God’s unique purpose for your life based on the way God has shaped you. He made you marvelously unique for a reason. Tap into that reason and into the secrets of your own deeply personal makeup—the remarkable ensemble of passions, talents, experiences, temperament, and other components that work together to make you who you are—and you’ll discover the path to a life of unimagined purpose, impact, and fulfillment.

Based on the purpose of ministry outlined in The Purpose Driven Life, this inspiring study gives you the tools to:

* Unlock your God-given potential
* Uncover your specific kingdom purpose
* Unfold a kingdom plan for your life

Filled with Scripture and real-life stories, S.H.A.P.E. presents a series of challenges that will guide you through the process of discovering your S.H.A.P.E.—your personal blend of Spiritual Gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality, and Experiences. You’ll learn how to apply these attributes in ways that bring confidence, freedom, clarity, and significance that can only come from your Creator.
This small group study is designed specifically to take you to that next level of purpose—to reveal how God has designed you, and help see how that fits the intention for which you were created.

In these six lessons, Erik Rees unpacks for you the five elements of God’s blueprints for creating you. Each session includes tools that help bring clarity to your future goals and show you how to have the most fulfilling life possible—a life lived for God’s Purposes, by God’s design.

This curriculum is video-based. Each small group will need one DVD (which provides the teaching), and one study guide for each participant. One copy of the book, S.H.A.P.E.: Finding and Fulfilling Your Unique Purpose For Life, is also recommended for each participant.

Six-Week Study




I Promise
with Dr. Gary Smalley

Based on 5 years of research by Drs. Gary and Greg Smalley, this small group study will help you to develop a marriage where you both have the freedom to be open & secure without fear of being criticized, blamed or judged by each other. Learn how to make your marriage a safe place where your relationship grows deeper naturally.

This six-week small group study you and your spouse will:

* Discover five core promises that will double your security and marriage satisfaction in one week!
* Learn three powerful ways to improve your relationship with God.
* Learn the biggest marriage mistake that most couples make.
* Find out why marital trials and irritations are the secret to intimacy.
* Develop six levels of communication (most couples only get to the second & third level).
* Find three ways to help your spouse win every argument...while you win.
* Discover a new way to serve your spouse by identifying their key needs.

This curriculum is video-based. Each small group will need one DVD (which provides the teaching), and one study guide for each participant. One copy of the book, I Promise, is also recommended for each participant.

Six-Week Study



Managing Our Finances God’s Way
with Rick Warren, Chip Ingram, Ron Blue, Howard Dayton, Chuck Bentley

One out of every six verses in Matthew, Mark, and Luke is about material possession, and nearly half of Jesus’ parables are about possessions. Managing Our Finances God’s Way is a 7-week, video-based small group study that will inspire your members to live debt-free and/or manage their finances in a way that enables them to respond to God’s calling on their lives in a way that will honor Him.

Each small group study features a 20-minute video lesson on the subject of biblical financial management. Lesson topics include:

* The Big Picture—Rick Warren
* Dedicate it All to God—Chip Ingram
* Plan Your Spending—Ron Blue
* Giving as an Act of Worship—Chip Ingram
* Saving and Investing—Ron Blue
* God’s Solution to Debt—Howard Dayton
* Enjoy What God Has Given You—Chuck Bentley

Along with the DVD teaching curriculum, group study lessons include these easy-to-use tools and resources:

* Study Guide and Workbook with seven study lessons
* Resource CD containing digital versions of all worksheets that perform calculations automatically
* Contact information for help with answering questions
* Resources for keeping financial plans on track and making them lifelong habits

Participants in the study do not share financial information with each other, but keep each other accountable to do the work and to follow through with their personal commitments.

The study guide, sold separately, accompanies the DVD. In the study guide, you’ll find a workbook with seven study lessons, tools, and resources including a CD with digital versions of all worksheets. Contact information for help with questions and other resources are also included in the study guide.

Seven-Week Study




The Way of a Worshiper
with Buddy Owens

Are you looking for God? The pursuit of God is the chase of a life time. In fact, it's been going on since the day you were born. The question is: Have you been the hunter or the prey?

This small group study is not about music. It's not even about going to church. It's about living your life as an offering of worship to God. It's about tapping into the source of power to live the Christian life. And it's about discovering the secret to friendship with God.

In this four-week study, Buddy Owens, author and teacher, will help you understand the meaning of worship. Through his very practical, engaging, and at times surprising insights, Buddy shares truths from Scripture and from life that will help you understand in a new and deeper way just what it means to be a worshiper.

God is looking for worshipers. His invitation to friendship is open and genuine. Will you take him up on his offer? Will you give yourself to him in worship? Then come walk the Way of a Worshiper and discover the secret to friendship with God.

This DVD includes all four video lessons and accompanies the small group study guide. The DVD also includes an audio CD with 10 worship songs.

Each small group will need one DVD (which includes all four video lessons), and one study guide for each participant. Your study of this material will be greatly enhanced by reading the book, The Way of a Worshiper: Discover the Secret to Friendship with God.

Six-Week Study




40 Days of Purpose
with Rick Warren

You are about to embark on a journey of discovery. Throughout this six-session video-based study taught by Rick Warren you are going to discover the answer to life's most fundamental question: "What on earth am I here for?" and here's a clue to the answer "It's not about you..."

You were created by God and for God, and until you understand that, life will never make sense. It is only in God that we discover our origin, our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance, and our destiny. Every other path leads to a dead end."

The Purpose Driven Life DVD, is designed to be used with The Purpose Driven Life DVD Study Guide. Whether you are going to experience this adventure with a small group or on your own, this six-session video-based study will change your life.

The six sessions include:

* What on earth am I here for?
* Worship—You were planned for God's pleasure
* Fellowship—You were formed for God's family
* Discipleship—You were created to become like Christ
* Ministry—You were shaped for serving God
* Evangelism—You were made for a mission

Six-Week Study




Inside Out Living
with Lance Witt

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven” so begins the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus’ longest sermon in the New Testament. And with these words, Jesus introduces us to a whole new way of living—inside out living!

The Sermon on the Mount is a blueprint for building the Christian life that covers three chapters of the book of Matthew, and includes the Beatitudes, the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus’ teachings about worry, forgiveness, integrity, loving our enemies, storing up treasures in Heaven, and many other topics. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus reaches beneath our actions to the attitudes that motivate us. He teaches us how to stop living for ourselves, and how to start living beyond ourselves. And that kind of living is inside out living.

Volume One: Living a Blessed Life (Six Sessions)
In this volume Lance Witt will engage groups in an enriching, verse-by-verse discussion of the Beatitudes, and living as salt and light, as found in Matthew 5:1–16.

Volume Two : Living Beyond Yourself (Seven Sessions)
The primary focus of this volume is relationships, and it includes Jesus’ teaching on anger management, faithfulness in marriage, being both truthful and trustworthy, and loving our enemies.

Volume Three: Living in Pursuit of God (Seven Sessions)
This volume discusses Jesus’ teaching on the Lord’s Prayer, fasting, materialism, and storing up treasures in Heaven.




A Spiritual Road Map in a Mixed Up World
with Lance Witt

Life happens fast. Each and every day you make decisions regarding who and what will receive your time, money, and attention. At some point you have realized there is not enough of you for all the demands and, if you are like many of us, you have probably anticipated eternity more than ever during these moments. But what if life is meant to be more than simply waiting for eternity? What if it is meant to be a journey toward eternity?

In A Spiritual Road Map in a Mixed Up World, a study of 1 Thessalonians taught by Pastor Lance Witt, small group participants will work through thought-provoking questions and discussion prompting them to unpack the spiritual road map prepared for the Thessalonians and engage the group in deeper study, application, and prayer.

Volume One (Six Sessions)
In this first series of A Spiritual Road Map in a Mixed Up World, small groups will begin seeing the map by unpacking topics such as spiritual growth, discipleship, pure motives, spiritual reproduction, and loving people that are outlined in the first three chapters of 1 Thessalonians. Participants will develop a firm understanding of the direction of the spiritual road map and build a practical application of the topics as they relate to their personal lives.

Volume Two (Six Sessions)
The second series of A Spiritual Road Map in a Mixed Up World, continues laying out the map begun in series one by leading small groups through the last two chapters of 1 Thessalonians. Participants will engage topics such as living a life of sexual purity, living as insiders while reaching outsiders, spiritual laziness, small group living, and preparing for the return of Jesus Christ.

This curriculum is video-based. Each small group will need one DVD (which provides the teaching), and one study guide for each participant.




Developing a Faith that Works
with Rick Warren

Pastor Rick teaches on the five marks of maturity in this verse by verse study through the book of James. Explore how to be positive under the pressure of problems, how to make wise decisions, how to deal with temptation and how to be blessed by the Bible. Learn how to treat people right, how to have real faith, how to manage your mouth, how to relate wisely to others and how to avoid arguments. Understand why it is our nature to judge others and how to break that habit, learn the common mistakes we make in facing our future and how to avoid them, and how to be wise with our wealth. Look at when, why and how to develop patience, and finally how to pray about our problems.

Volume One (Six Sessions)
Join Pastor Rick Warren as he examines James 1:1-2:20 in the first of this two-volume small group study. The study guide is designed to follow along with each video lesson and contains study questions as well.

Volume Two (Six Sessions)
Join Pastor Rick Warren as he examines James 3:1-5:20 in the second of this two-volume small group study. The study guide, like the first volume, is designed to follow along with each video lesson and contains study questions as well




Foundations
with Tom Holladay and Kay Warren

Foundations is a fresh, innovative small group series by Tom Holladay and Kay Warren about the essential truths of the Christian faith and how these truths are to be lived out in your relationships, your character and your work.

Foundations is a series of eleven individual four-week studies, with participant’s guides and teaching DVDs by Tom Holladay and Kay Warren. The first six studies are currently available, with the other five soon to be published. Focus on the topic your group wishes to explore. Current topics include:

GOD: This study on God focuses on getting to know him - his character, his values and his love - and in the process come to experience him in a more powerful and personal way. As you begin this journey, expect that God will use this study to reveal more of himself to you and your group.

THE BIBLE: This study on The Bible focuses on helping you to develop confidence that God's Word can be trusted above and beyond your own feelings, values, opinions, and culture. You will also discover how God has made it possible for you to read and study the Bible and, within its pages, find life-changing truth.

JESUS: This study on Jesus is all about relationships. As you look at what the Bible says about the person of Christ, you are doing so as one who is developing a lifelong relationship with Jesus.

HOLY SPIRIT: This study on the Holy Spirit focuses on building confidence in your relationship with God based on the presence of the Holy Spriit in your life. You will see with eyes of faith just how the Holy Spirit is at work in your daiy life and how you can be filled with the Holy Spirit each day.

CREATION: This study on Creation focuses on how each of us was personally created by a loving God. While we will not shy away from the great scientific and theological arguments that surround the creation/evolution debate, the goal of this study is to deepen the awareness of God as your creator.

SALVATION: This study on Salvation focuses on God's solutions to people's need for salvation and their understanding of what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross. God's love and provision in salvation offers each of us assurance and security.



Go Fish
with Andy Stanley

Tell Faith-Filled Fish Tales.

We've all heard them. "It was this big." "You should have seen the one that got away." People love to tell stories of their fishing adventures. When it comes to faith, however, most people clam up. Why is it we can't talk about what God has done in our life as naturally as we can spin fishing tales? This six-part DVD explores the motivation behind sharing our faith and how it can become a natural part of our lives. This study by Andy Stanley will take the struggle out of sharing your faith—offering a new perception of the word "evangelism". Its companion study guide is complete with a leader's guide and six lessons, including conversation-starting exercises, discussion questions, and application steps.

The sessions include:

* We Were All Fish Once
* Why Fish?
* Fish Guts
* Fishing Buddies
* Muddy Water
* The One That Got Away

Six-Week Study