Cana to Capernaum

I hadn’t calculated it before, but Cana to Capernaum would have been quite a walk! At our English Bible study a few weeks ago, we were studying Jesus’ miracle of changing water into wine. Jesus and crew started in Cana of Galilee (John 2:1, 11) and then hoofed it over to Capernaum for a few days (v. 12). You can do the math…

I don’t know if many of you knew, but, on February 28th, I ran my first “super” half-marathon (24 km; 14.9 mi). I had ran a regular half-marathon (21 km; 13 mi) two Thanksgivings ago, but those extra 3 kilometers really killed me this time. I only had three goals for the race:

1. finish in under 2 hours
2. don’t walk
3. finish!

I only accomplished the last one, coming in at #830 overall, with a time of 2:40:11. It was all I could do just to step from the road to the sidewalk when that race was over! I have slowly recovered and am grateful to have experienced even a little bit of what it might have been like to travel around in the 1st Century (but, of course, they did this almost every week!).

Here are a few pics:

Tips to Avoiding Small Group Burnout

English Cell Group, Chia Cheng Church (Dashe, Taiwan)

Is your small group smoldering? Do you wish it was on fire like it used to be? Here are a few practical tips to keep your small group–and you–from sitting in the ashes.

• Meet every second week. Having a week reprieve may be just the break you and your group needs.
• Plan a game night in lieu of the regular small group meeting. Bible study is necessary and great, but some brainless hangout time can be a huge encouragement, especially if you and your friends find it hard to schedule any other time for this.
• Share leadership. Try divvying up responsibilities among your group members. As a leader, you may just end up working yourself out of a job! In doing so, you facilitate opportunities for others to serve and take ownership in the group. You can’t get much more biblical than that.

I pray that one or more of these tips are helpful to you and your ministry. Keep in mind that, like everything else, small groups have a season (cf. Ecclesiastes 3). Don’t be afraid to let your group run its course. And don’t be afraid to pass your group onto others so that you can go start another one.

~Matt