A Guided Path to Spiritual Maturity

Ignite enthusiasm through surprising experiences in your small group or adult Sunday school class with The Growing Out series.

Learning to grow spiritually is a lifelong adventure. The Growing Out series was developed to guide each participant on that journey of personal spiritual growth. Each of the six seasons (books) in the series contains 13 lessons. Each season builds on the previous one and helps equip new and long-time Christians to prepare and then reach out to people in their congregation, neighborhood, and workplace.

• Explore your spiritual gifts, passions, and talents.
• Develop a deeper sense of "servant leadership."
• Learn how to balance and manage time in your spiritual and personal life.
• Recognize the importance of prayer in discovering God's purpose for your life.
• Uncover how God wants to use your gifts in your church, community, and world.

http://www.christianbook.com/growing-in-leadership-season-5/carl-simmons/9780764440069/pd/440063

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Author: Carl Simmons
Located in: Loveland, CO
Submitted: July 10, 2010

    Tell us a little about yourself.  Hey, all. I'm the author of Growing Out: From Disciples to Disciplers, a six-season (quarter) series for small groups, Sunday Schools, and 1-on-1 discipleship. I've been smallGroup Editor for Group Publishing for the past 5 years, and editor of smallgroupministry.com for 4 of them. Prior to that, served as editor for LexisNexis, the U.S. Chess Federation, AB Bookman's Weekly, and a bunch of newspapers back in New Jersey. I've been a small-group leader and Sunday-School teacher for more than 20 years, and was a founding member (in our house -- can't get too much more founding than that :)) and later assistant pastor of Living Word Church (C&MA) in West Milford, NJ.

    What was your motivation behind this project?  It's simple -- the American church hasn't done a good job of discipleship. We get 'em in the door, introduce them to Jesus, and leave them with no idea how to develop that relationship. Growing Out is intended to help people walk through that together, in a format that's relational enough to be inviting and challenging enough to make a difference.

    What do you hope folks will gain from this project?  Simply, that they'll grow their relationships with Jesus, and then be able to turn around and help others walk through the same challenges they faced. Thus, the subtitle (and my original title), "From Disciples to Disciplers."

    How were you personally impacted by working on this project?  Anyone who's preached, taught or led a small group knows that the person who learns the most is the teacher. Put yourself under a microscope, bring everything God's taught you over 25+ years out in the open, beg Him to show you the stuff you still don't know... how can you NOT be changed?

    Who are your influences, sources of inspiration or favorite authors / artists?  Man, where to start? Although if you flip through GO, you'll find a whole lot of references. For now: Watchman Nee, John Piper, Shane Claiborne, Chris Heuertz, Bonhoeffer, Neil Cole, Dallas Willard, Richard Foster.... last real good book read: Whole Life Transformation by Keith Meyer.

    Anything else you'd like readers / listeners to know:  That's up to them. But drop me a line at csimmons@group.com and I'll be happy to talk. You can also find more info about Growing Out at growingout.group.com.

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