Spirit Walk S.W.A.P. Framework Phone Wallpaper

I just finished reading Spirit Walk by Steve Smith. It's one of those books you wish you had read a few years earlier. 

Steve gives a simple framework, S.W.A.P., to help you recenter your life (or your day... or this moment) on walking with the Holy Spirit.

I'd highly recommend the book, but I also know I need some daily reminders to walk in the spirit. Here's a simple phone wallpaper to remind me to SWAP my control for God's control.

You can download the original file here.

My only request is that if (when) you make a better background, you take a minute to share it with me.

Spiritual Interest Survey - Pekin Community High School

We recently engaged local high school students with the following questions:

• Do you have any spiritual beliefs?
• Which of these best describes your belief about God?
• Which of the following describes your opinion of Jesus Christ?
• Which of the following describes what you believe happens after people die?
• If you could know God personally would you be interested?

Here are the results that surprised me:

• 74% of students want to know God personally (and equally as many gave us contact information to follow up with them).
• Over half of students believe that people go to heaven or hell after they die.
• Only 1/3 of students described Jesus as "the only Son of God"
• Only 15% of students have a Biblical worldview.

Let me know if you want more details on this survey.

If you or your church would like help gauging the spiritual interest in your community or in a specific demographic, please contact me.

Prayer Calendar

A prayer calendar is a simple way to pray for the lost in your life. Check out this video to make your own.

How do you do at praying for the lost in your life? Do you have any tools or resources that help you?

Check out this podcast episode for more on prayer.

Tool for Trainers: Event Training Checklist

If you're running an event training it's important to follow some best practices to get the absolute most out of the time.

An event training is just an excuse for what happens afterwards. We want the training to give us and those that are trained clear next steps: opportunities to practice sharing the Gospel, a feedback loop for future training or discipleship, and most importantly a passion and vision to reach our own people with the Gospel.

Here's my go-to checklist when I'm prepping for a training:

• Promote!
• Work with the host church or ministry to make sure the word is spread far and wide about the event. 
• Share about the training through your own channels as well: Support teams, prayer teams, social media, EventBrite, blogs etc.
• Invite.
• First, as soon as possible, invite fellow practitioners to Swarm train. 
• Second, a few weeks before the event, personally invite 5 people to the training. They may have already heard about it on social media or in an email blast, but a personal "I thought of you and wanted to invite you to this training" can help people engage.) 
• (Why do we invite others, both to help us train and to be trained? We're looking to see the Kingdom of God grow beyond the borders of single church or organization. The more we can get people together from a variety of churches the more we can grab the kingdom mindset of No Place Left for a people group or geographic area.)
• Put a schedule together
• You can find some great sample schedules here.
• If you have swarm trainers, divide up the modules. 
• Get together with those trainers at some point before the training to practice! (This could be a week or two before if you live close together or the day before if you're traveling to the training.) You can also do this on a video call if needed.
• However you do it, be sure to practice your parts out loud before the event. Remind your swarm trainers to do the same.
• A week before the event...
• Confirm details with the event host. Don't forget the basics like: whiteboard, markers, pens, index cards, paper, etc.
• Confirm details with any swarm trainers.
• Prayer Walk the location of the training and where you will go out in the harvest. If you can't get there before hand to prayer walk, spend some specific time in prayer for the event.
• At the event...
• Make your contact information readily available.
• Whatever level your training, whether it is a short 3 Circles training or a full-day Gospel Conversation Training, leave a follow-up path. (For example: "We didn't cover how to lead a Discovery Bible Study today, so contact me if you to learn how to do that." OR "You can find the Commands of Christ at www.obeychrist.com, I'd also love to model those commands for you, let me know if you're interested.")
• Have attendees set specific next-step goals, and match them up with an accountability partner for those goals.
• Share about the next training that will be available (either through their church or a different one that you're holding.)
• After the event...
• Follow up with your main contact. 
• Ask for stories to look for people that were obedient. 
• Confirm details for your next training (and restart this checklist!)
• Follow up with anyone you made a personal connection with at the training.

I set this up as a checklist on Trello: Go here and you can copy that card to your own board. Or if you'd prefer a printable checklist, here is a Google doc.

How much lostness is in my area?

Sometimes (oftentimes) we get into our life-bubble and let the days, weeks and months pass without stopping to look around.  One way I keep myself centered on our task to share the Gospel and make disciples is making sure I have a realistic picture of lostness.

How many people do not have a personal saving relationship with Jesus Christ in my area?

Here's a tool to help you figure that out on your own.

Youtube Video Link: 

https://youtu.be/GboDam43cjA

Link to Google Sheet: 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17dJv8w0sO_Nex5lojJ48a1DVADkTAHf5Cepxp-89tE4/edit?usp=sharing

If you calculate the lostness in your area, please send me the link to the spreadsheet you created.