by Jeff Tunnell
“Habits are like supervisors that you don’t notice.” Hannes Messemer
During the Skins game in 1987 professional golfer, Lee Trevino, hit a 6 iron 167 yards on the 17th for a hole-in-one worth $175,000 USD! (see it here) He commented that the shot “just happened”. Not quite; I believe he had used the same iron and practiced the stroke more than 1,000 times during the week leading up to the match! He trained his entire body to perform by habit.
Dave Earley’s book, The 8 Habits of Effective Small Group Leaders, is a well established part of our training track materials. His capture of the subject is excellent and his dispensing of the information can be transformational. Dream, Pray, Invite, Contact, Prepare, Mentor, Fellowship & Grow are the listed habits and each one is detailed very well. These are the habits of a leader who is relationally engaged with his/her cell group BETWEEN meetings. While it is necessary to have great cell meetings, I appreciate the guidance and coaching Dave gives us for the activities that occur during the rest of the week. This book, along with Joel’s How to Lead a Great Cell Group Meeting, are two essentials for every cell leader.
Develop these habits and you will see great improvement in your ministry and fruitfulness. (easier than a hole-in-one!)
I plan to play a round of golf today and would love a hole-in-one! We use Dave Early’s book the Eight Habits as a key component of our equipping track. As a coach I am taking my cell leaders through these habits and holding them accountable to practice them.
Recently I began to add a “Share the Vision” time into our weekly cell edification sheet. (cell agenda) In this five minute “Share the Vision” time I highlight one of the eight habits or one of the cell definition components so all cell members can better understand and hopefully begin to practice and embrace these habits and components of a healthy cell.
I highly recommend Dave Early’s books. His new book The Small Group Leaders Toolkit is a keeper as well. In it he gives ten powerful tools for personal leadership development.
This morning, along with Jeff’s insight message was this from Gary Collins on modelling: http://www.garyrcollins.com/newsletter.php
Except for our staff members who are salaried to be our models and can choose their friends and activities, we coaches work jobs, schmooze ungodly clients, and coach others who are often busier than we ourselves.
This we really appreciate good tools that describe methods that work in the field. Thanks!