A few weeks ago we got into a discussion at the BASIC office about the semester starting and the growth we’d like to see at our groups. During that conversation Greg Best, BASIC’s Worship Arts Coordinator, mentioned that in some ways our groups should look like the BASIC conferences.
That statement made me stop and think. Afterwards I asked him a couple more questions about this topic to pick his brain more. Here are the questions I asked and his responses.
Can you talk a little bit more about how weekly meetings for our groups should look like the BASIC conferences?
My opinion is that there should be just as much organization involved with setting up your group, the same amount of effort we put into setting up a conference, just on a smaller scale. It should have the right vibe, energy, and atmosphere. It should be inviting and have the effect of drawing people in. It should be a place where your senses are anticipating something and where you don’t feel distracted. It should be easy for you to focus on God when you walk in the room.
You said something about how groups shouldn’t live off the conference. Can you expand on that a little?
When I think about the conference I think about it being a place where all the groups come together to celebrate God on just a larger scale. I don’t feel like the conference is a place where people should get a “spiritual high” and then feel like they can live off that for the rest of the week or the semester. I think that people should look forward to the excitement and well-known bands and speakers at the conferences, but that doesn’t mean that because we have more well-known people that they bring something that’s “better” spiritually or more advanced.
It’s more of the fact that we’re doing it on a bigger scale. I think of the BASIC conference as being like a family reunion with your family you don’t see all the time, but it shouldn’t be just hype and an emotional experience. Obviously the conferences are going to impact and change your life, but we don’t want people to live off of that moment. We want people to live off the fact that God has called them to reach their campus and change people’s lives.
How can a group successfully do this while combining it with their church culture?
I think that the conference has a lot of excellence and a lot of direction. I feel like every BASIC group needs direction and they should execute their meetings with excellence. I also feel like the service plan is a great example from our conference of what a group can have. Maybe they get ideas from the workshops, different social things we do, or by learning preaching techniques from a preacher they hear. But the church provides the heartbeat for what that group should look like.
The church’s heart for people should drive what the group is doing. The church should be pumping the blood for the group, getting the nutrients into the body, and also covering the group in prayer. Students can’t go to a conference every week, but they can grow in your church every week. Sunday is the first day of the week and that’s why you go to church that day to get fed and be ready for that week. If you’re cut off from that then it’s obvious that your group won’t thrive. They need a pastor and someone who cares for them involved in their lives.
Do you have any other thoughts on this?
We’re culture definers, not culture conformers. College is either the place where students can do what everyone else does or they can get creative with their lives. College is a place where God will inspire people the most because they’re opening themselves up to learn so much.