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This weekly conversation is designed to equip and resource youth to build a healthy life group community that studies God's word, practices spiritual rhythms, and changes the world together. Hey group leaders. Welcome to our new episode of our Black Group Leader podcast. My name's Scott and I'm the Discipleship Master here at Irvine and I'm here with Linda Vino, the Discipleship Master over Marriage.
Thanks Linda for this conversation and looking forward to kicking off this new series, Genesis. I know, I know. We just finished Genesis. We just did.
We're now moving into captivity. Yes, we're moving into captivity. What is the subtitle for this right here? In English, Bloody Doorposts, Pardon See, Bread From Heaven and Your New Life.
Love it, love it. Yes. I love these book studies and I hope all of you like group leaders who are going through this are enjoying it as well and hopefully you can go through it in the summer whether it's with your group or even individually as well if your groups are taking a little break. Yeah, hopefully you pick up your books at the Worship Center.
You can grab this for everybody in your group. Yes. So do it. They are here.
All right, so let's dig in with that starter question to lean in. So Linda, did you ever get lost when you were a kid? Yeah. I was wondering, I was in the grocery store and I think I was in the freezer section.
I remember that. I was trying to turn around and there was nobody and I completely lost my mind. So it's just that panic running around trying to find and then you find your mom and you're like, oh, the relief of it. Yeah.
So it's very scary. It's a very panicked situation. How old were you? I think it was eight.
Yeah. Yeah. So it's not a good feeling for sure. Yeah, for me.
I love hiking and anytime I go someplace else like other than California. I was in Georgia for a leadership conference. I decided to just go by myself into the woods and hike and I got lost in some forest and I didn't know how to get back. There was no one around.
I was hoping that I would put some break problems or something like that. Don't be whole. Long story short, I somehow made my way back, but it literally took me all day. I was going to say, how many miles and hours was that?
A long time. It was kind of scared because it started to get dark and I thought I was going to be in the local news. Oh, yeah. Lost in the forest here in Georgia.
Yes, did you see him? Yeah. Please notify us. That was quite terrifying.
But anyways, with the starter question, something that we do in our live group is like, we really want to get as many people involved. Not just the talkers, but even those that are a bit quiet, reticent sight to get them engaged. It could be not even your own story, but maybe if you have kids or siblings or whoever you know that had gotten lost. I always say if you've lost anything.
Oh, that's good. It's kind of with that. We can lose something. Yeah.
Right? Or gotten something stolen. So I always ask that question and we go around in the circle in my life group and make sure everyone shares. That's good.
One of the things I want to do in this podcast is just to give some learnings because I'm always learning as I'm facilitating. Yeah. And to be able to give some of the ways that we learn from our mistakes and some tips as well to discuss in the facilitator's discussion. And I guess the first thing you brought up is asking kind of follow up questions.
When you ask a question and maybe no one really responds or one person responds, ask a follow up question. Just like what you need to do right then and there. So we get more people involved and engaged. All right.
So I'm going to turn it down into the text. Obviously in your life group read through the text before looking down into these questions. We won't do that for time sake. No, but I like to do different translations too.
So I have people in the group read different translations. That's great. Yeah. So like that first section of Exodus chapter 1 verse 8 to 13, what changed about the Israelites lives in Egypt when the new kings started to reign?
Yeah, you ask me. Yes, I am asking you. What changed? Well, they were in slavery.
They were in slavery. Yeah. Yeah. And then they changed about their lives.
Yeah. One of the things I do, like these are more of those questions. Like it's kind of a one word answer or there's like a specific answer to it. One of the things I do is what do other people think?
You know, and then that kind of brings other people into the conversation as well too. Right, right. Or how many of you agree with that answer? Yeah.
And like I said, some of the things are right in the text so they can answer it and we can look down. Right. Well, that's why I read the text first and then ask the questions so that at least everybody feels competent in their answers. Yeah.
But it's nice that the verses in here on page 24 too. Yeah. That's right. In page 20 so they could just look there as well.
But I like to use different translations. So let's look at the other questions. What do we learn about the person of God in these verses? What do you see?
I see provision. I see sovereignty. I see protection. There's a lot that I see.
Yeah. But I want to answer the whole question. I want you to get other people an opportunity. I love it.
I love it. Yeah. I mean, I think it's right during the text. Like he's self-existing.
He's always been. He's the God of yesterday, today and forever. So he's eternal. He's unchangeable.
All those different things. And I think it's great. Some group members will just name off one or two things. And once again, getting more and more people involved, engaging the whole group I think is so critical.
Yes. All right. So let's look at looking out questions here. I like this question.
In the early parts of Exodus, we see God's people being oppressed and persecuted. Are God's people still oppressed and persecuted today? How and where? And we're living in some uncertain times right now.
And this can go in a lot of directions. First of all, I think one thing people will start bringing up is the current war crisis that is going on between Israel and Iran in the Middle East. Because that's how they were, for God's people, the Israelites. How would you navigate through some of that if people start bringing up the current events?
Let's just stick with what the question is asking. We know that people have opinions about subject matter that's happening or political opinions. So let's just keep that to ourselves. And let's just focus on what we're doing right now in some groups.
Is that what you mean? Yeah. He's an interesting time though. When I think of the Israelites back then in Old Testament, that it's a nation that they have this day.
It's not crazy. It's not crazy. Nations have been wiped out. And obviously when you look at the life of the Jews, they've gone through a lot.
Not just over the past hundred years, but thousands of years. I guess what I love what you were saying though, God's people being oppressed and persecuted today, we see that God's people are all Christ-wellers, all Christians. And the reality is that we're seeing immense persecution all throughout the world, especially like some Middle East countries or dictatorships. I don't think we sometimes understand how prevalent it is because we live in the US where we don't quite see that.
I was just reading. I mean, I understand. There are some people that are experiencing that. Protestant and aware of what's happening.
So I don't want to minimize that. But this is what I read in the BBC article. It's at the intern reports that the main impact of genocidal acts against Christians is excess and that Christianity faced being wiped out quote unquote wiped out from parts of the Middle East. It warned a religion is at risk of disappearing in some parts of the world pointing to figures which claim Christians in Palestine represent less than 1.5% of the population.
One Iraq they had fallen from 1.5 million before 2003 to less than 120,000. Wow. And it says, in some regions, the level of nature of persecution is arguably coming close to meeting the international definition of genocide according to that adopted by the UN. When I read that, I was like, wow.
That's a big deal. It is a big deal, right? There is persecution going on toward Christians that we are not always cognizant of. Right.
And so, in case, that's something I was thinking about as I was looking at this question. But the follow up to that question was like, how do we see God respond to his people when they are oppressed? How do we see that? Well, he comforts us, he guides us, he protects us.
He says in his word that if you follow me, you will be persecuted and there's always going to be a broken world where there's going to be oppression and persecution and war and for anything. If you take it to the very minimal level of even things in the US that people are attacking us for thinking or believing as neighbors, calling us crazy. I know it's not nearly what they're experiencing, but we do. We experience persecution at the church.
What's the church doing? And I don't trust what they're doing. There's all kinds of naysayers out there, right? That's true.
Against believers. Yeah, that is so true. And I think it's a different level, obviously a very, very minimal level, but it still feels like it's oppression and persecution. That is so true.
I think it gives us hope to know that the same God who heard the cries of the Israelites while they were in Egypt and enslaved hears our cries, hears our pleas as we were enslaved in many ways to our sand through our addictions and our choices, but to know that there's hope that we can cry out to him, the rest of you. Well, it's not forever home, right? That our forever home's in heaven, that this world is broken. And he says in his word that in this world you will have many trials.
You're not over on the world, right? So anybody who thinks that they're living here and life's going to be super easy, it's just not the case because we live in a broken world. And what ways have you seen God work in difficult times in your life? I am such an advocate of prayer.
I believe it's a connection. And I believe that God responds to prayer. I've seen him respond. So I continually tap into the Holy Spirit if I'm going into a conversation or talking with my group or talking with kids or engaging in a difficult conversation.
And that's just been helpful for me to be dependent on him. You know, that he's not just something I do on the side, but that he's in my life constantly. Yeah, that's so good. I think personally for me, it's like, I remember a difficult point in my life was when we were in transitions between jobs.
And just the fear of not knowing when that next check and the income, if we're going to have enough, was so frightening. Oh, yeah. And I remember there was a part of me was like, gosh, I've got to do something about it. I've got to figure it out.
And there was this worry and fear that was gripping me. And I still remember going into God's word in prayer and surrendering. Surrendering that he is the same God who's provided and who's been faithful to our family in the past is the same God that I can trust today to lead and guide me. And of course, I had to do my part of the diligent and disciplined, but ultimately to have that peace that he is my father.
He is sovereign and he's good. And so, yeah. He knows the end from the beginning. And I know even for me, I can look back and whether it's been praying for a portable son or a job situation or a home.
And I mean, I remember fasting for an entire week and it not until the Friday afternoon is when the email came in. And you're just like thinking, are you there, God? Hello? And then sure enough, because we have to remember that he's removing boundaries and bulldozers and he's working with humans.
And so it does take a process. But that was just such a relief. And I wasn't angry about the time it took. I was just grateful for the answer that he helped us.
That's good. Man, I love this. I just want to encourage the life group leaders, all of you listening. I think sometimes as a leader, you want to control how the discussion goes.
There is an element of that when things are going in a different direction, where people are getting distracted by not focusing on the scripture. But I think sometimes we just can't be so controlling of everyone's responses. That it's okay that people disagree on things as well too. What I do at the very end though is I really think through how I can wrap up and summarize what the main point of the takeaway is, so that if they're working that people have said, I can bring it all together to the point of the message and what that next step, what that application can be.
And that could be kind of the teaching moment. We don't want our life group leaders to teach. We want leaders to facilitate, not be teachers. The teaching comes in weekend services.
But at that very last section of your life, what I do, and this is just me, is that that's two or three minutes is a wrap up time, summarize, pointing to that next step. So yeah, what do you do kind of. We pray and then I pray, Lord help us to remember that you are the provider, you are sovereign. I don't know what everybody is bringing to this group or this circle, but God would help us to remember to focus on you, to trust in what you've done in the past that this is not our final home.
And so just kind of praying through what we learned over the group. That's great. Well, Linda, maybe you could close us up in order to pray or for our leaders, for their gatherings, for the group meetings that they will be led by the spirit and not other flesh that the group meetings will truly be Christ honoring. Right.
If you can go on the faith and connect with the relationship as well. Okay. Oh, Lord, God, we just thank you for these leaders and what they do, what they step into. God just give them instruction, give them guidance.
Keep them safe, Lord Jesus, as they enter into discussions, would you help them to facilitate discussion in a way that is honoring and glorifying to you. Lord, would you give them your Holy Spirit wisdom as they lead and direct conversations. And as they pull things from your word, Lord, would it just sit so well and just be so, carry them through the week, Lord Jesus. I pray for the people who are coming that they prioritize their small group that they make this part of their, their rhythm in life, that they do not want to miss their life group, that they find it a very important element of their week.
And God just, again, empower, protect and leave these leaders. It's in your name, we pray. Amen. Thanks for that.
Thank you, leaders, for joining in. Thank you. Thank you.