Listened to an amazing sermon today by John Piper. Seriously check it out. You can even download it and you can listen to it while you're on your way to class! =) A big plug for John Piper (not that he needs it)... the website Desiring God and the blog are both huuuuge encouragements to me when I'm at work and reading and starting to feel lazy or anything. The blog is written by different authors, but still, the entire ministry is flourishing and really feeding me when I sometimes can't feed myself.

The sermon is about how the early church (in the Book of Acts) was an example of an explosive fellowship. John Piper goes on to name events in which this happens. And basically, it's not just about being a bigger group than the last year or adding to our numbers but WHAT are we exploding with? joy? love? encouragement? worship? music? dance? hugs?

He really focuses on small groups. I think that's a weak point in Koinonia but I can already sense changes happening! =) How small groups praying can make a giant difference. It all starts there. Koinonia didn't start out with 50 people.. but only 10. It didn't originate at Case, but in a church located 40 minutes away. And it certainly didn't start out perfect, and we are nowhere near perfect now, but by prayer all things can happen for the glory of God.

"I pray that everything that happens in the small groups will be explosive—will produce explosives or ignite the fuse of explosives or toss explosives. I hope that the mindset of every small group is to serve an explosion of love and compassion and truth and joy and worship and power and ministry." -John Piper
I'm never a huge fan of ginormous groups anyway. So focusing on small groups is my thing. I'm really excited for our small group leaders: Jess, Bo-Young, Robert, Chris, and Alex. God is SO going to bless them and reward them this year. I hope they're ready. =)

Today we had our first large group and worship was seriously EXPLOSIVE. The speaker, Conrad, said that he got goosebumps during worship. So did I !~

So if you're involved in a fellowship and/or church and you're apprehensive about small groups... know that small groups are not just intimate times of studying the Bible together with brothers & sisters, but times where encouragement flows, love lives, and hope stirs. AH! I like small groups. =)