New Year, Great Start!

If your group seemed to slump over the holiday, welcome to the club. Every group I have been a part of has had to make drastic adjustment to its schedule over the Christmas season. The key to getting back on track it to start strong in January. Here are a few tips that can help you do that successfully:

1) Schedule a meeting and communicate it! Get back on track right away. If you were meeting on the second and fourth Fridays of the month--call or email your group and let them know that you are back on. If you meet every Tuesday, get it going right away. Don't give your group members a chance to fill that night with something else.

2)Revise the study for your first meeting! If you are continuing a study from the last time you met, take a night and recap where you have been. It has probably been a few weeks since people have looked at their books so the refesher will bring everyone back to speed. When people feel lost or get behind they are more likely to stop showing up all together.

3) Reconnect and Report! People are going to be really talkative the first time back together. This is a great time to catch up with what is happening in each other's lives and to let other's know how the Holiday went for you. Build this in to your first meeting and don't stress over getting less study accomplished. Remember, connecting is a good thing!

4) Add more people to your group! This is a great time of year to include new people in your group. If you are starting a new study or if you are restarting an old one, invite someone else to join you. Two great ways to do this are personal invite or be a part of the GroupLink on January 17th.

This is a really important time for your group. Easter will be here before you know it (April 6th this year) and summer is not too far behind that. That makes the most important times of year for most groups to be January to Easter and September to Christmas. Get the year started out right and lead your group through this important time!

Brian