Tidings From the North... The Denton GROW Group

This is a synopsis of the Denton campus GROW group by the co-leader, Carol Wolfram. What an amazing thing God is doing with them!!

Hi! I am Carol Wolfram, the lesser co-leader of the Denton Campus GROW Group. Our brave and courageous leader is Terri Gilliatt, who, despite her reticence and misgivings about public speaking, is our marvelous lead teacher for our current study, Choosing to Change. Of course, she is doing a wonderful job!

We started our group as a mini-mester for the month of April. Since we were new, we decided that we all needed to get to know each other better, and try and create a more intimate and trust filled atmosphere for our ladies. As a result, five of us shared "our story" of how the Lord brought us to Him in forthright, brazenly honest terms. Because we were willing to share our foibles, I believe it helped open the door for our group to feel welcome, not matter what, and to gain excitement that we have God given hope -- the confident expectation of the future fulfillment of a present promise -- and that "He who began a good work in [us] will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Phil 1:16 (one of our memory verses).

The original plan was to cease further meetings after April, and then start a more in depth Bible study in the Fall. God, however, did not want to wait to fellowship with us! A good bunch of our group was eager to continue meeting every week. We all prayed, considered a number of options, and chose to engage on a 2-3 month study called Choosing to Change. This study explores from the Word our choices to move toward God in an authentic way, and allow Him through His Holy Spirit and His Word to transform our lives.

Our thematic memory verse is Romans 12:2 -- "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is -- His good, pleasing and perfect will." Each week we have a new memory verse, which Terri hands out so we can tape it up in some prominent place at home or work and read it all week so we can learn it.

Choosing to Change is an eight week study, although we are in reality taking a little longer because sometimes the Lord has other plans. This week, we will be on Week Three. We meet at 6:30 on Wednesday nights, usually in the Garage at the Denton Campus CT Kids Building. We are supposed to be finished at 8:00. although sometimes we run over.

One of the most precious gifts each of us has received through this group is our group prayer life. Each member of the group has made a covenant promise to each other that what we share in the group stays in the group, unless express permission is given to share outside the group. As a result, we have been open to intimate and sometimes gut wrenching sharing and prayer requests. A prayer chain update praise report and prayer request email is sent out to the group, usually the following day which details answers to prayer, continued prayer requests, and new prayer requests. It is an awesome God thing!

When we get through Choosing to Change, we anticipate starting another study. There is a good possibility that we will elect a Beth Moore study. We are encouraging our class to participate in the church Fall Retreat.

We do have a need for child care, if that is possible.

We do have a need for a morning GROW Group, as a number of our group cannot meet at night, but wants to be involved actively in a GROW Group. They have requested that I send their plea along to the powers that be. The ladies who would help start the core morning group are awesome, and would be great mentors for some of the newer Christians who would join up.

I can say confidently that our GROW Group is a God experience. It is such a blessing for each of us, not just on Wednesday, but throughout the week. We get emails periodically during the week from class members, giving us updates, and asking for mid-week prayer requests. Just the fact that Terri and I are the co-leaders is incredible. We had not met each other before our group started, but we have discovered that both of us have daughters named Laura Beth, who sometimes go by LB, who both want to be teachers, etc. It is eerie how our family lives on other matters have such common factors. How cool is God for that?

Well, I hope that you have a glimpse into what our GROW Group is about here in Denton. If you need further information, just holler!

Carol Wolfram