The Breakout Breakdown
With your registration for the conference, you get a full day of breakout sessions led by a variety of group life experts. Many come from Outreach magazine’s recent list of the most innovative and influential churches. Some are members of the Willow Creek family.
One-third of this year’s speakers are fresh new voices at our conference, with the rest representing “best of” speakers from prior conferences. All of them will help you meet everyday challenges with creative, hands-on application, and provide concrete ways to strengthen existing groups, ministries, and leaders.
For Everyone:
Featured Breakouts
When you register for the Group Life Conference, you are automatically registered for our Featured Breakouts. Outstanding speakers and universally applicable topics are what make our featured breakouts a safe choice for all conference guests. See the Friday schedule for Featured Breakout descriptions and speaker bios.
General Breakouts
You may switch a Featured Breakout registration to any of over 50 other General Breakouts until end of day on October 1, 2008.
Do you have a particular area of interest or a specific role within your small group ministry? Here are some suggested breakout tracks to get you started. Feel free to mix and match tracks to get the breakouts you want:
Small Group Leadership 101
Just getting started in Small Group Leadership? Here is the place to begin. Learn how to start new groups, ask great questions, and what makes a community "Biblical." Show me more.
Small Group Leadership 201
Ready to take your leadership to the next level? Find out how to go deeper, grow organically, and experience community all week long. Show me more.
Leadership Development
Got all the leaders you need? That's what we thought. Learn how to find and launch new leaders, and get both strategic and practical in your leadership training. Show me more.
Coaching Leaders
Coaching expert Tony Stoltzfus (Coach22) shows how to avoid common mistakes and Author and Senior Pastor Mike Hurt shows how to develop a coaching model. Dave Auda gives a look at how real-world coaching works at Mosaic. Show me more.
Spiritual Formation
Mindy Caliguire (SoulCare), Mike Bischoff (SOULeader Resources) and author Greg Ogden open up spiritual formation and discipleship for both group members and leaders. Beth Leonard and Rex Minor show you how to create life-changing environments and how heart transformation happens. Show me more.
Missional Small Groups
Author Scott Boren shows how to lead a missional small group, and Alan Danielson shows how Lifechurch.tv maintains an outward focus. Ben Lockyer shows how one Canadian church reaches the homeless through community. Show me more.
Leading Group Ministry
Leading your Group Life ministry but don't need the extended Point Leader Sessions? This track shows you how to start a small group ministry from nothing, launch groups all year long, and create self-assimilating groups. Tough topics like removing and restoring leaders and meeting God in transition are also available. Show me more.
Group Life
Everything else you wanted to know about Group Life, from caring for problem people to talking about money in groups. Learn how to make small groups simple, use inductive bible study, leverage technology and mix affinity and neighborhood groups. Show me more.
Group Evangelism
Author and Speaker Garry Poole tells how to create great groups for explorers, and Sharina Husted shows how you can mix believers and seekers in the same group. Learn how to use short films as discussion-generators. Show me more.
Postmodern Group Life
Working with Postmoderns? Learn from Jon Peacock (Willow: Axis), Heather Zempel (National Community Church), Scot McKnight (The Jesus Creed), and Don Everts (Author and Speaker). Show me more.
Curriculum and Training
When we say our two labs are “hands-on,” we mean it. You’ll actually get to use the curriculum being discussed or try an online test drive. Prolific curriculum authors Kevin and Sherry Harney tell you how to choose and use curriculum that works, and the creators of The Liquid Curriculum show you how to get the most out of a video-based series. Show me more.
For Point Leaders:
Group ministry leaders often face unique challenges that differ substantially from those of their staff and volunteers. We recognize this and offer exclusive Point Leader content specifically designed to address these issues. Point Leaders will have the chance to personally interact with some of the foremost small group practitioners in extended-length, add-on Point Leader Breakouts available only to those who are leading your church’s group life ministry.