About Kit:  Kit became a believer in October of 1981, at a Terry Talbot concert while attending college.  He was involved in small group Bible studies all through college, and these were instrumental in his growth as a new believer.  Kit and Jane were married 25 years ago this June.  After graduating from Tennesee Tech University in Mechancial Engineering, they moved to Nashville.  Kit has worked as a manufacturing equipment design engineer for several different companies, and for Bridgestone for the last 15 years. Kit and Jane have seven children, who range from 8 to 22 years old.  Their oldest son, Michael, is assistant manager at Gamestop.  Their oldest daughters, Kristen and Stephanie, are both in college.  The other four children, David, Mary, Matt and Josh, are homeschooled.  Kit and Jane love their 5 year old Dachshund, Pepper, who is spoiled rotten.  Kit loves to play golf, play the guitar, and do basically anything involving cars (scale models, car shows, racing slot cars, etc.).  Jane enjoys scrapbooking, cooking and devouring books, especially the classics.  As a family, they enjoy hiking and going to parks and historical sites.
What they enjoy about leading a life group:  Kit says he enjoys having a group of friends to live life together, loving each other unconditionally and supporting each other.
Encouragement for other life group leaders: Try not to be overwhelmed with the task of being a life group leader.  Life happens: kids get sick, cars break down, neighbors have needs.  But in the midst of these circumstances, God is at work. Enjoy and participate in the normal daily lives of each other, encouraging one another daily in the work of the Lord as it happens.
Favorite Bible verses:  One of Kit's favorite Bible verses, particularly as it relates to life in the church, is Hebrews 10:23-25: Kit says, "I love the picture that this verse brings to my mind.  Provoking here is not a negative thing, but a positive!"

Vision:  We believe that God's vision for the life group ministry here at LCF is to spread the gospel in the greater Nashville area. 
Strategy:  In order to see this vision become reality, life groups must reach out to their surrounding communities.  As a result of reaching out, life groups will grow and multiply.  Our goal is to go from the current total of 21 life groups to a total of 40 life groups in 2010.
Action Steps:  How will your group help make this vision a reality?  You need a plan!  To develop your group's plan:

1. Each life group leader should discuss the vision and strategy with their life group members and decide on specific action steps they will take as a group to accomplish the goal.
2. Then, each member of the group should plan specific action steps for himself or herself to help the group accomplish the goal.

Some examples of action steps are hosting a neighborhood block party, inviting people in your neighborhood to a men's or women's movie or game night, having dinner with your neighbors, etc. 
Don't forget to make this discussion a priority in your life group meeting!

In mid-January, we will be starting a new sermon series on Sunday mornings.  This new series will cover LCF's core values, including some of what we've been learning in Total Church.  In addition, we'll be promoting the new year's resolution to join a life group in 2010. 

In order to help people get connected with a life group, we would like for all life group leaders to be available at the end of our Sunday morning meetings to talk with people who have questions and/or would like to join a group.  We'll give you more details on this soon.  Please let us know if you'll be able to help us in this way.

Please announce this each week in your life group meetings this month!

What:  Church-wide potluck meal.  Launch for the life group ministry in 2010, a chance to connect people to life groups, brief training for leaders.  Please have each family in your group bring a main dish, side dish, and dessert.

Who:  EVERYONE at Lighthouse, regardless of participation in life groups.  It's important that every life group is fully represented at this event!

When:  Wednesday, January 20, 2010 at 6:30 - 8:30pm

Where:  Lighthouse Gym

Important: Please note that this event will take the place of regular life group meetings that week.  Please be sure to strongly encourage all your life group members to attend this event!

This spring we will be having our first annual 'To the City' Conference!  It will take place on March 5 - 7, 2010.  During this conference, we'll be casting vision for reaching and redeeming the city of Antioch for Jesus.  The conference will place special emphasis on life groups.  We'll be equipping individuals and life groups for reaching the city, and we'll be helping life groups partner with key stakeholders in the community.

Please begin discussing this conference in your life group on a regular basis.  Our hope is that each life group will take ownership of this conference and the vision for reaching Antioch.  The first step in that process is life group leaders getting on board and encouraging their group members to do the same.  We appreciate your help in this!

We've done a lot of work over the past two months to develop the life groups section of the Lighthouse website.  Please feel free to visit and let us know what you think!   We have added the following features:

• Life Groups- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
• List and map of current life groups at LCF
• Study questions from our sermon series
• Upcoming events
• Explanation of our three core values
• Leadership resources
  

We welcome your feedback and suggestions as we continue to develop this website.