Kyrios and Small Group

Kyrios has been up and down so far. You can really tell how passionate the teens are, but sometimes they just need to be reined in. Most of the programs have been organized well, but sometimes we make some avoidable mistakes. Some of it comes with experience--e.g. Clinton and I served in Kyrios when we were in high school, so we're familiar with what works--but other situations might have been avoided altogether if we had simply consulted each other first. The teens have some amazing ideas that I would have never thought of, but there are times where it would have been prudent to think it through and 'filter' first. The challenging part is knowing when to step in as a counsellor/advisor and when to just give the teen leaders some autonomy and learn from their mistakes.

My small group has been really good though. I think I've been able to connect with Janice and Josh (the small group leaders) pretty well, so we're usually on the same page. :) Our small group got together last week to make some dinner and bake some cookies. We also tried to make some fondue, but I don't think we bought the right chocolate. Still, I'm hoping that our future small group nights are a little more organized. Although it was a fun night, I'd like to see us do some more things on the 'spiritual' side. (The teens wanted to do something more relaxing 'cause the last few Kyrios programs had been too 'intense'--bible study, prayer walk, workshop.) One thing that I learned from last year was that it's better to do something meaningful, at the sacrifice of some 'fun'. Cooking, eating out, playing games, watching movies last year were all good times, but at the end of the year, it seemed like some of the small group members wished they had gotten more out of our gatherings. Understandably, teens don't like to have things 'serious' all the time, but I think this is where I have to encourage the group a bit more to make sure there's a good balance. Recently, I've been looking for some material for us to study together. The difficult part though has been trying to find something that will satisfy the whole group. We seem to be pretty diverse and some are seekers too. Anybody have any suggestions?