In 1995 a group of 70 churches in Boise, Idaho were coordinated by our ministry, Mission Media, to present a series of presentations on video taught by Gary Smalley. We rented our local convention center and recruited local radio and television to help with the cause. Over 1000 people attended each week for four weeks. We then took the concept to a deeper level. We organized 14 small groups that would offer follow-up to those who attended the video presentations. Each small group leader was trained ahead of time. We handed out the information to all who attended and over 350 people followed through in joining a small group. All of those groups were lead by leaders from the 70 churches. Since that time we have created two other big events using Gary Smalley's teaching and each time we followed them up with small groups. We have found this method very effective for a community our size! (Boise has a population of 250,000) We used the Smalley curriculum for our series. Some works better with seeker audiences (such as the Keys to Loving Relationships or The Secrets series) and that is our primary target.

Michael Boerner
Executive Director
Mission Media
Boise, Idaho

Strategy for Smaller Communities

In 1998, our organization, Silver Dollar City Foundation, continued to take on the challenge to provide in our community the resources that strengthen family relationships while enhancing and growing communities centered in Christian values and ethics. We wanted to do this one family at a time! We organized a group of churches to join with us in presenting a "Family Enrichment Crusade" and we called it, MAPS - Developing Marriage and Parenting Skills. We launched the crusade with a big event to draw interest in the project. We then offered small group workshops to the community using Gary Smalley's various series on relationships, both marriage and parenting. Our big event attracted about 600. The number participating in the small groups was about 250. Now we have done this strategy with three big events followed by our small groups. So far over 800 have been in one of our small groups all led by local churches! We are committed to this project for the long haul. We have about 50,000 in our community … The key to it is to see it as a long-term commitment of working with other churches and helping each church be successful. We do a lot of follow-up phone calls and meetings. But it is truly worth it. We have used all of the Smalley small group series so far so that churches have a choice on what curriculum to use. Our community loves how practical this material is.

John Baltes
Director of Silver Dollar City Foundation
Branson, Missouri

Strategy for a Church Working with Members

In 1993, our church, First Assembly of God, Winston-Salem, NC purchased a series by Gary Smalley titled, Homes of Honor. Our congregation averages about 3000 in attendance each week. We had no idea the impact that this one series would have in the life of our church. Now, we have over 700 presently involved in a small group and over 1000 have gone through the series, Homes of Honor. We even offer it as a Sunday morning class to our members.

As a growing church we are coming to terms with the fact that information alone often fails to produce the lasting change we all desire. A small group format like yours offers practical solutions to addressing this challenge. Thus far we have used your material as a quarterly curriculum for ongoing small groups, as well as offering the Homes of Honor material in regular Support Group rotations as a Marriage Enrichment tool. In addition, we have used the material in our Adult Education classes and also with our Discipleship leadership base as a renewal component for leadership. Thanks for making a great investment in relationships through your materials.

Barry Sink
Small Group Pastor
First Assembly of God
Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Strategy for a Church Outreach

In 1992, our church sent me to start a mission church in our community to reach the unchurched. We began Parkway Baptist Church with 39 people meeting in the local mall. Our strategy was to develop our church through small groups. We began three groups using the Homes of Honor Series by Gary Smalley. First of all, watching those videos for the first time was life changing. Everyone expected me, the pastor, to be perfect in our marriage. But as they realized that I was not perfect, it helped make the group more transparent and authentic. Since the inception of those 39 people, we now have grown to 2000 people at Parkway. So, Parkway Church has endeavored to be a church of small groups not just a church with small groups. We truly believe in the Biblical ministry method of using small groups to reach people. Everyone wants a place where it is safe to be "real". Everyone wants encouragement and everyone wants to belong to something significant. Small groups can meet those needs. The key to our seeker success is that these videos by Gary Smalley are hitting the marriage/relationship topic which everyone relates to. We use that bridge to share our own testimonies and our lives with these people. They then respond to the gospel...

Scott Weatherford
Senior Pastor
Parkway Baptist Church
Victoria, Texas

© Copyright 2003 Smalley Relationship Center

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