Living and Leaving a Legacy
There are two pressing topics that always must be addressed and two related essential questions that must be answered: 1. What is left of our life- How will we live our remaining days? 2. Our legacy: What will we leave behind?
Amato Family Time-a Strategy for Praying Parents
Is it possible for a family with adult kids, living under their own roofs, to be on “the same page of prayer?” Consider what one family does to affirm that “The family that prays together stays together.”
Mid-Size Group Leadership
How does one lead a mid-size group? How does one build a team of core leaders for the group? What should happen during a meeting of the group? How does one conduct a leadership group meeting? How does one grow a group quantitatively and qualitatively? Strategies that work and don’t work.
Growing From Boys to Men
Growth in Communication
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Growth in Communication
Normally men are never accused of being very communicative creatures. What is good about the way boys and men communicate? What is not so good about the way boys and men communicate? What is the goal for all of our communication?
How are Your Sheep?
How would you like to move beyond the strict definition of a “teacher” (“one who gives instruction and knowledge”) to the “pastor-teacher” referenced in the book of Ephesians (“a ‘shepherd’ nurturing a ‘flock’”)? What might happen if you moved beyond a “teacher-student” relationship to a “shepherd-sheep” relationship? What are you doing about the “straying and other challenging sheep” you are called to teach? What is a shepherd’s “classroom”? What is a shepherd’s “teaching time”? Do you hear your students? Isn’t that bleating?
Teaching Wouldn’t be so Hard if it Wasn’t for the Students
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You all have some or all of them in your group. At times, if you were honest about it, you would rather they not show up or even worse, you’d like to “nuke” them! But they are part of your group and God has called you to teach them, shepherd them, even love them! You know who they are. I call them the students brought to you by the letter “D”: “The Distracted”, “The Detour”, “The Dominator” and “The Destroyer”. Come learn general and specific strategies for dealing with each.
Creative Teaching
When was the last time you were bored with a teacher’s presentation of the Word of God? Notice I said “when” not “Have you ever been”. We all can recall that “worst student nightmare”. Should not the teaching be that of a “Master Teacher”? Should not the teaching of the Word of God be creative, like God the Father, the teacher of the nation Israel and choice saints, who “In the beginning…created…”? Should not the teaching of the Word of God be creative like Jesus, “the Word who became flesh”, the teacher of disciples, religious leaders and the multitude? Come learn “The Amato Dozen”, creative tools to be used for the glory of God in presenting a Bible Study.
Seven Days in the Life of a Weekly Bible Lesson
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When do you start preparing for your weekly Bible lesson? The night before you teach or right after you teach? Where do you prepare for your weekly Bible lesson? In your study or in your shower? How do you prepare for your weekly Bible lesson? Just enough or never enough? Come consider what might happen during those seven days.
I’ve Got a Question for You
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Of all the teaching techniques, what do you think is the most effective? What is a good way to determine if your students are learning from you and connecting with you? Do you know how many questions Jesus asked that are recorded in the Bible? Why do you think Jesus asked so many questions? What do questions communicate about the teacher? What do questions communicate to the students? What are good and bad questions?
Mentoring and Replicating Teachers
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Just like Apollos needed Priscilla and Aquila to enhance his ministry to the Jews of the early Church, the teachers in your church need someone to mentor them and be replicated. This is more “fellow traveling”, so check out that page on this website and apply it to your teachers.
