What First?

If you were one of the 3,000 people in attendance at the 2010 Celebrate Recovery Summit, you’re probably on information overload. In fact, you may even feel like you don’t know what your first step should be when you get home and settled in. I thought I’d give you my two cents.

If you’re just starting a Celebrate Recovery, I think the first thing you should do is make sure you follow the 90 day start up plan. Don’t rush ahead in your excitement to get the program started. Take the time to make sure you have as many of the Seven Keys in place as possible before you kick off. Then again, don’t wait too long. I’ve seen groups get in a constant state of “just about ready to kick off” that never seem to get off the ground.

If you’ve been going for a while now, you may have a sense of something that needs to be changed. Maybe you’ve become aware of an area that doesn’t reflect the model, or maybe you’ve seen that one of the Seven Keys needs a bit more attention. If so, take the necessary steps to address the issue. I’d encourage you to break it down into a series of smaller, bite sized steps. Say for instance, you find that you haven’t been doing fellowship events, and now you’re ready to start. Don’t feel like you have to have a BBQ with a full menu of options by your next meeting. Instead, begin forming a group of leaders and volunteers to head up the event. Maybe this week, announce that you’ll start the BBQ in the next few weeks. See if someone has a grill they can donate to the ministry. Figure out how much you’ll need to charge in order to break even, after you factor in the cost of food, plates, drinks, charcoal etc. I think it’s probably best to start with one or two menu options. Almost everybody loves, or at least likes, hotdogs. Then, as more people begin to attend, you can add different items to the menu.

Whatever you do, just do things slowly. Don’t feel like you need to do everything you’ve learned all at once. Take it one step at a time.

I feel like I’ve heard that somewhere before.

Johnny

Comments

[Adele]

I love how God works! Its amazing how he knows exactly what I need to hear, when I need to hear it. Thank you Johnny for your blog. I tend to be a get reved up and run type person. Thanks for the reminder of one day at a time, one step at a time, even down to the microscopic level if need be.