The Shape of a Circle | Everyday Discipleship: Recent Episodes
Brian Hofmeister, Cammie Hronek
For Disciple Makers: those who are intentional about the commission of Jesus in everyday life, those who want to extend their transformation in Jesus into transformation for others in their everyday circles of relationship, those who want to push the envelope of what it means to gather small groups and missional communities into discipleship. Expect super short equipping episodes on how everyday discipleship is shaped by your everyday relationships.
The best worship is an everyday life lived for Jesus, so lets take a look at those choices we make every day, and look at how to look at those choices.
It's where you've gone wrong, but also where you've not gone with God. We feel so helpless to truely save ourselves, and that should drive us into a deeper understanding who Jesus is as savior, and what his cross does everyday.
Practicing surrender can fit into your Daily 20 with the help of Saint Ignatious of Loyola and a practice he advocated for - Examen.
Our boys need a lot more from us than the traditional "birds and bees" talk. Boys need dads who take on the big topic of sexuality as a series of age-specific conversations, not just one fire hose experience in fifth grade! What do all these funny words mean when I start hearing on the school bus? How should I use all these new drives and hormones to get closer to a girl relationally and respectively? When I've been dating for a while, how will I know how far is too far?
Dads and guardians of any son age 10-20, this Journeymen conversation is for you.
**OUTLINE & DISCUSSION STARTERS
Talk#1 Introduction. What is “Sex?”**
3rd-5th Grade. “What are we talking about?”
- Have you had your first talk? If so, tell us how it went. If not, talk about why you think it can be hard for us fellas to start the first sex talk.
- What would be your way of making these talks more fun for you and your son to talk man to man?
Talk#2 Definitions. All the Words You Have or Will Hear.
5th-6th Grade. “Does my Dad know more than my punk friends on the bus?”
Talk#3 Relationships. Connecting the Dots between Physical Attraction and RelationalProgression.
6th-8th Grade. “I’m noticing girls and might even talk to one someday soon.”
- Talks 2 & 3 are a lot about discussing “logic” with your boy, so let’s pass our best advice and logic as we’d like to give it to our sons. What’s your best explanation on why learning to relate to a girl is/will be worth your son’s time? What’s your best logic on how porn will be destructive to our boys’ sexuality? What’s your best logic on how sex is best saved for marriage?
Talk#4 Boundaries. How far is too far?
8th-11th Grade. “I have a girlfriend. It’s lasted a few months. I’m getting comfortable with her and she’s getting comfortable with me.”
- Offer your thoughts on balancing the following:
- Parenting a high value for young ladies and their bodies but also parenting the caution that she might be the one leading you down the wrong path.
- Parenting your son to take the lead on the right choices but also parenting them to read and respect her choices.
- Parenting directly on Bible values but honestly admitting where the Bible is unclear and entrusting him with to participate in the setting of values.
Talk#5 “Dad, I’m getting married.”
20’s-30’s. “I don’t want to be an idiot in bed. I don’t want porn to be my tutorial. Please don’t assume that I’ve learned everything I need to know on my own by now.”
- What insight on sexuality do you wish someone gave you for the early years of marriage?
"False-Self" is a term with clinical roots and discipleship outlets. It's kind of hard to get a quick one line explanation of what it is, but if you trust the process you'll find a piece by piece discovery of what we made that's other than what God made our self to be, which opens for you a deeper journey of surrendering your whole self to him.
Maybe you're not used to journaling, so Brian and Cammie talk out where, why, and how to start as part of your discipleship with Jesus. It's not as feminine as you may think! Promise.
Surrender is hard, especially when you're not in touch with the inner part of you that most needs to be surrendered. Cammie and Brian open a 13-Week Journey of self examination and surrender to identify the false self and return to the true with Jesus.
Blake Lives Matter. Blue Lives Matter. All Lives Matter. There's a war of inflammatory language that's stirring tension, and losing the message. In this week's really white question for a black guy, we ask him what the message is that he feels most needs to be heard, and what he thinks about all the other messages.
A not-so-clearly articulated but heavily-fought-for concern by white parents is whether American history is being retaught in a way that their children will carry shame for our country's racist failures.
Is the concern by these white parents founded? Do black parents, and other parents of color, have a more accurate take on history that deserves its place in classrooms? Does the Gospel have any place for creating understanding?
It makes a difference what kind of literature you are reading. You wouldn’t read Romeo & Juliet the same way you read National Graphic, or a Presidential address the same way you hear a love song, or listen to Anne Frank the same way you do with Harry Potter, so don’t read all the books in the Bible the same way. There are a least five major literary genres in Scripture to be aware of. More than a scholastic study tool to master, Cammie and Brian use this episode to tell stories of how they use Bible genres in their Daily 20 meeting with Jesus.
If white people don't get a clear straight forward answer to our last really white question, "What do you want me to do?" then the next question that spins off of that is something to the effect of, "Are you just Angry at me for being White and Rich?"
Rich white men are branded as the chief problem for minorities of nearly every circle. Is it true? Are they the problem? What is the most constructive way for rich white men to listen to and respond to the problem? What is the most constructive way for anyone under-privileged to voice their position to those with privledge?
One of the big starting white questions for black questions is, "What do you want me to do?" What's the solution? What's the plan? What's practical?
Is that question as productive as get-to-the-point white people think it is?
Is it even a fair question?
Ed Cook is joining Brian and Cammie on the Shape of a Circle Podcast more often now. It's not a new series, as much as it is an ongoing topic we'll return to called "Really White Questions for a Black Guy." We'll get into the overly assumptive and underly "correct" questions that most white people are thinking. Let's see what Ed has to say about it, and how the Gospel of Jesus in everyday life furthers it.
Ed Cook joined Cammie and Brian for a Residency in Church Planting over a year ago. It was a wild mix of city and suburb, black and white, and there's no good reason that it should have worked aside from Jesus and his Gospel being in the middle. Enjoy the stories and impressions in this episode of how different races came together as one church, to plant another.
After loving, relating, listening, giving, and gospeling? What do you do if people want more? How do you feel when it's not having the exact same impact you thought it would?
It's not about canned presentations and quirky transitions. It's knowing God's story, your story, and wanting to talk about it.
Gospel is good news even if people don't believe it. Brian and Cammie challenge you to see what good you can do for anyone anytime this Summer.
Everyday Gospel happens in everyday relationships, so let's talk about the kind of spaces and conversations that best roll out the carpet for that.
Summer brings people out and relationships together. May it's God who's brought those relationships into your life for a reason; a gospel reason. Brian and Cammie kick off a new series of episodes on growing a gospel-centric Summer for you and your everyday relationships.
We usually learn and lesson our way through Scripture. Retreat allows us to hear the voice of God fresh for today in our reading.
If you're anything like us, there's a long list of questions and prayers for God, that deserve more focused time. Retreat, is your time, to give it that time. Another quick tutorial from Brian and Cammie will get you a sense of how to unpack your biggest prayer in quiet ways on retreat.
What do you do on retreat? You get quiet. You listen.
A very quick tutorial on today's episodes will help you get and stay completely quiet with God, without feeling like you're doing nothing.
Retreat gives space for your soul to come out of hiding. Lean back as Brian and Cammie walk you through noticing just that in this episode.
Cammie and Brian give you a practical field guide on where/when/how to prepare for your spiritual retreat. It's more realistic than you think, with a little intentionality.
They promised a special list of Milwaukee area places to retreat, so here you go:
- Retreat Centers, Hotels, Cabins.
- Brian goes to St. Mary's of the Lake near Gurnee as a retreat center. Cammie loves Fort Wilderness near Rhinelander.
- Hotels in Lake Geneva & Cedarburg are quaint locations.
- Find a friend with a lake cabin, or search for a Vrbo. You might be surprised what you can find and fall in love with!
- Parks & Public Places
- Milwaukee Area classics are Seven Bridges at Grant Park or Whintall Park. Pro Tip: If you walk the space North of Grant Park Beach or South of Seven Bridges, you can pretty much find a spot where you'll have Lake Michigan all to yourself.
- Lesser known gems for public parks are Minooka (Waukesha), South Shore Park (Bay View).
- Brian frequents the Milwaukee Public Art Museum, or wanders for a street bench in the Third Ward.
- Cammie loves Starbucks coffee in Lake Geneva. Brian prefers coffee in Walker Point. Both recommend Collectivo Tosa.
Getting away from everyone and everything else seems impossible, even if it's for getting with God. We're too busy. We don't know what we'd do when we get there. We feel quiet is uncomfortable. We think it sounds too selfish.
In this episode, Brian and Cammie give an earnest look at why forming a rhythm of retreat could be so important to the closeness you have with Jesus.
Just one final episode for now about marriage between the Hroneks and Hofmeisters. Navigating life stages. Sharing discipleship. Getting into gospel to get back into each other. This episode is a smattering of topics on "everything else" we've got time to talk about.
When people want to talk about Divorce, Jesus wants to talk marriage. Brian & Melissa and Cammie & Justin talk both in this episode. What theology is there behind getting a divorce? What real-life situations make it so hopelessly complicated? Why is Jesus and our scriptures so muddy on all the conditions for considering a divorce, but so vividly inspiring on the conditions for a great marriage?
Two Couples and a big talk on the discipleship of marriage. How do we constructively put a topic on the table between us, that also welcomes Jesus and his gospel to have a seat at the table.
Self-Discipline is a dreaded concept that we just prefer not to face. Cammie and Brian make it simpler and Spirit-led in this episode.
Thoughts in our head are, well, in our head. To move your one world into the world around you, it starts with putting it into words.
A simple New Year's tradition of hearing one word from God for the year can make all the difference in your everyday discipleship. Special thanks to Life Church for creating the original content we're working off in this series of episodes.
Brian and Cammie just celebrated Lakepoint Church's 10th Anniversary. More than "we made it" or arriving at a set of goals, the real fruit in longevity is what grows from the values that a community holds together.
Brian and Cammie report back on 10 Days of Prayer and Fasting. What was it like, what would they do again, what would this look like in group discipleship settings.
Cammie and Brian talk about dedicating an hour of prayer, daily, for a week, when your restlessness drives you there.
Cammie is back! She rested, retreated, and refreshed for an eight week sabbatical. Here's the story of what she did, what God did in her, and how it carries forward from here.
Big questions happen all the time. Questions about self. Questions to understand others. Questions about leadership and how to navigate what's in front of us. The bigger the question, the quieter the space we need to be to hold that into Jesus.
"White Privilege" is regular vocabulary to some and inflammatory words for others! To talk race, we've got to talk about the terms. What does that word mean coming out of real life experiences, and into seeking a real expanded circle of relationships? Ed Cook joins Brian and Cammie for a Candid Conversation on Race that's sure to become a staple on the Shape of a Circle Podcast.
Just a few months ago, Ed Cook of Revive Church closed shop in the central city of Milwaukee, to bring his predominantly black church out to the suburbs for a year long connection with a the predominantly white Lakepoint Church. Why? How's it going? What's everybody learning? And how much are you looking forward to regular appearances from Ed on the Shape of a Circle podcast!
While Summers often scatter group discipleship and reduce it to a few back yard hangouts, summer time, can actually be the best time, for discipleship one on one. Brian and Cammie offer a simple framework for making those one on one times count.
Mike Francisco of 1128 Community joins Brian and Cammie to talk about rules. Rules and religious burdens are so big of a concern to Mike that he planted a church most specifically aimed and breaking the rules and doing life different. He gets to share his heart on that in this episode, and specifically what his church is doing on that front 6 months in.
There are outlines and formats for us to follow and pray, but this week, just put your headphones on and take a prayer walk with us!
This disciple-making episode is about helping people stay afloat, without getting sucked under yourself.
This might be our best episode yet on what Covid-19 and other difficulties have done to groups of disciples.
Whether it's the world around you, circumstances you are personally in, or the leadership direction at hand, we all as disciple-makers have to lead through difficult seasons. This episode is about where do you go when you can't get away.
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." -Philippians 4.6It's at all time and in all things that our community of disciples can respond and in prayer, and proactively seek pray spaces as well.
Some have been praying personally or corporately for some time now, but even still there's a push into maturing that many of us need.
Some people just aren't familiar with prayer at all. It might feel like community settings would be the last place they'd want to try it, but we can turn things around and make it the first.
We all know prayer is a big part of discipleship; but why then does it feel so awkward and unnatural to start praying within a community of other disciples? Brian and Cammie tell stories on how they've made a push into prayer in their disciple-making settings.
Hearing from God can be as simple as starting with one word that lasts for one year. A lot can be built from there. And your community of disciples will help.
Alright Disciple-Makers, how do you gather a disciples together, and then get them alone into practicing solitude? Sounds like oil and water doesn't it? Brian and Cammie get into a simple exercise you can practice with your group, that disciples them into starting solitude as a personal practice from there.
Solitude sounds like an Introverts' dream and an Extrovert's nightmare! Not so the case. Cammie and Brian get into what Extrovert's get out of their "people time" with just Jesus, and what Introverts get to take back to others from that time as well.
When you get a date night with someone you love, you're glad you did, the relationship is better because you did, but the only reason you did is because you carved out time for it to happen. Solitude with Jesus is the same. It doesn't just happen. You don't have to over script a plan. The heart will move and spontaneity will happen. But you've got to be intentional about making the space, and brining a starting point.
Why get away instead of getting more done? Why was it that, "Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed," (Luke 5:16). Came and Brian open a series of episodes on "Solitude," something that goes way beyond a 20 minute "quiet time," and set your soul up for knowing it's met with and heard from God.
One good discipleship gathering deserves another; and another and another after that. Cammie and Brian offer some nuts and bolts for multiplying what you've been doing, and also a vision for how multiplying can be an every-disciple thing (not just a "leadership" thing) that saturates whole cities with the gospel.
Cammie and Brian open the full fruit laden picture of what Mission and Discipleship can look like when you're Community really comes together in 12-24 months.
At 4-12 months, it should start feeling normal. Discussion is open, meaningful relationship is felt, discipleship starts growing. We're not necessarily fruit yet, but everyone has a part to play, and they're playing it.
It's weird. That's the honest truth about grouping a handful of people to start discipling each other. Cammie and Brian have some tips to get you started on the right foot, and keep stepping through your first four months.
Cammie and Brian break down the prayer and prep work that goes into starting a brand new discipleship gathering.
As Cammie and Brian have been leading Lakepoint Church for nine years now, there certainly has been some clarity that has come forward on the process, plan, and resources used for making disciple. In this episode they lay out a three year plan for all new MC's in wholistic discipleship, and what to do if you been leading one for years already.
Making room for making disciples in group setting is a job that is part pastor, part group leader. Cammie and Brian talk out who can be doing what so that the next person has space to be discipled.
At the turn of every Fall, Churches get reorganized and ready for ministry. Setting a cadence for connecting with leaders is a big part of that, especially for those leading discipleship in group settings. Cammie and Brian talk through Lakepoint Church's cadence for connecting with leader for Fall 2021.
This is the big one. Love changes everything you know about sin, and yourself/others as sinners.
You get a good picture of what a sin-less life looks like, if you can help each other picture what satisfies you (not thrills you).
A Sin-Less life doesn't happen by using the Bible like a bat (hitting harder on what you should and shouldn't do). You have to read it for the core issue.
One of the big sins, that compounds yours sin, is thinking you're supposed to be the one to be able to fix it. Fruit only comes by abiding.
We're told that Jesus has dealt with our sin, that sin is dead now and we're dead to it, and that we're new creations! Whey then do we keep on sinning? More importantly, what do we do about it?
This episode opens a series of episodes on what it means to shape ourselves and circles with a sin-less life.
Discipleship is what you do. Not what you say you'll do. And Jesus is pretty pointed on making that point.
Not all questions are created equal. A really good topic with really bad questions isn't going to grow you much. Brian and Cammie talk you through the art of good question asking in this episode.
Sometimes group discipleship setting can go stale and stalled, leaving you wondering how to engage everyone quietly staring at you! Cammie and Brian get you a good list of angles you can come from to maximize engagement in this episode.
We're guessing every disciple-maker know how important baptism is, but do you know how important it is to for you yourself to be the baptizer? Cammie and Brian cover the what, how, and why.
Why does Jesus say that Love is the Big and Basic direction that does it all in discipleship, but then say so much about the importance of Faith as well?
Jesus said love sums up all the law, all the prophets, and every direction he has for you as a disciple and and disciple-maker.
If Jesus saves from sin, why do we keep sinning? And what do we do about it. Getting more sin out and more gospel in is one of the bigs and basics of discipleship.
Anyone can open the Bible and ask questions... and everyone needs to as a disciple and disciple-maker.
What's a disciple? Why is it so hard to define? What does a disciple do? The big definition is the most basic definition.
Troy Loether (Lead Pastor of Kettlebrook Church) and Brian have had a longstanding friendship and conversations around making-disciples - not as pastors - but in empowering every believer to make disciples. In this extended Shape of a Circle podcast, Troy and Brian let you in on what these conversations between pastors are like.
The Bible is a really long book and it's not organized chronologically. Here's the fastest overview of the story Brian knows how to give.
I'm not sure where modern evangelism came up with the idea that a tight consistent gospel presentation always needs to be on hand in your back pocket. That's not how Jesus did it.
If you've got enough friends that you're personally discipling, maybe it's time to group them into something new that would keep everyone growing, and add the fun of doing it together.
Jesus so often started discipleship with the words, "Come to me," or "Come follow me." He didn't tell them everything they needed to know and do. Discipleship was just the invitation to join him and learn along the way.
While we're not Jesus, we can say confidently like Paul did, "Follow me, as I follow Christ." Some the best discipleship you can offer a friend, is simply to invite them to join you in what you're already doing as a growing disciple of Jesus.
After telling someone the gospel of Jesus, it's easy to ask yourself, "Did that work?" Brian and Cammie explain how some seeds grow slow, sometimes not at all, and that's it's really exciting when they do.
**Yes, St Francis of Assisi was right when he said 800 years ago: “Preach the gospel at all times, if necessary use words.” But not fully right. Romans 10:14-15 says "How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent?”
We have to be the sent ones that say something. So let's all take a gulp, and say some gospel!**
Your story in the Gospel gets crafted by telling your Fall (what was wrong/missing without Jesus), your Freedom (where life is going now with Jesus), and the Hero's moment of Forgiveness & Faith (where and how Jesus first got ahold of you).
Jesus came that we'd have life to the full, not rules and requirements to the overload. Mike Francisco joins Brian in this episode to look at a freer walk with Jesus that does life different.
The second of four words that lay out the gospel is forgiveness. It's the powerful internal transformation that covers your fall and earns your freedom; and the great lengths God went in providing it for you.
Continuing from yesterday's overview, we start digging into each of the four words of the gospel in more detail. Every bit of brokenness and problems before us is a FALL away from goodness as God made it, and ultimately a fall away from God himself. To see gospel everywhere in everyday life, you've got see every issue as a fall issue.
If God has really done something good, then it's really worth talking about. This episode equips you to talk Gospel with readily with four repeatable and hard to forget words.
Fellas and ladies approach this very differently, but the power of a physical touch is that it bridges the space between one soul and another.
Justin Hronek shares how the "love language" of serving has helped him bring gospel connections to his workplace.
Kicking off a full week of Episodes, Brian and Melissa give you the overview of the Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman. It's way more than your favorite book about marriage. It teaches you how do relationships, with meaningful love wherever you go in your everyday circle.
Stay tuned all week as we'll break each of the five down with its own episode.
A little home hospitality goes a long way when you're making meaningful connections in your everyday circle. Cammie gives some tips on how to make this stress free so you can keep saying without reservation, "Hey, why don't you come over."
Brian and Cammie teach how hard it can be to hold your tongue. To just keep listening, until you really learn about people as they are, instead of jumping toward judging or fixing.
The speed of trust can move slow between women. Melissa Hofmeister and Cammie Hronek guide you on how to get there, and help you see the gospel opportunities that have begun when that's where you are.
Brian and Cammie discovering that opening a beverage opens up people as they really are, and therefor shows you the open door to where the gospel can enter.
Justin Hronek and Matt Timmons share laughs and real life stories of what it's like making gospel connections in the workplace over noon hour.
The gospel starts opening up when relationships open up over a plate of food. For your neighborhoods, Brian tells story about the power of a backyard BBQ.
It's starts as organically as swapping names. I needs to get as intentional as writing those names down and remembering their story.
Everyone is busy. Nobody has time to schedule one more thing. How am I ever going to do outreach if I don't have time to add it? How on earth am I ever going to find time to make a disciple?! Cammie Hronek shares some starting principles for making disciples in everyday life.
This episodes kicks off a nine-week series of podcast extras to Brian, Cammie, and Justin's newly published book - Everyday Gospel.
Maybe you've been friends forever, or maybe you've got a list of strangers that signed up to be part of a group at your place. Either way, relationships are one of the big four to start well with in group discipleship.
Brian and Mike talk around stories of ICNU conversations, and making room for leaders to multiply around you from there.
Don't make the common mistake of letting outreach be the last thing you start in your discipleship group, make it the first.
Are you going to pick up a book, study guide, or the Bible itself? All have their place in creating discipleship content for your group discipleship, but we'll give you the pros, cons, and tips for each.
You don't have to buy a material or create your own questions every time you have a formative discussion around scripture. These five questions can work anywhere in the Bible, and it'll leave the disciples you work with with a framework for learning on their own as well.
When you're getting started it helps to set the ground rules for what to expect and how we'll interact together.
From getting started to getting another one started, here's what to expect and when to expect it in discipleship settings.
Churches can help. Sign up forms can help. The best people to join your circle to be discipled though are the ones who are already in it.
Lakepoint Children's Pastor Cammie Hronek uses the story of Abraham & Lot and Sodom & Gomorah as example prayers that remain in persistence and remain in boldness.
Intercessory prayer is the real deal, God is listening, and it will change what he does next.
1128 Church Planter Colleen Francisco shares her thoughts on making space for God with your prayers, fresh off of participating in a Women's Prayer weekend.
Ever been in that room where you felt you're the only one who's no good at praying is you? Mike Francisco relates the "Lords Prayer" to a road map that anyone can use anytime to guide their prayers.
Mike is the planter of soon to launch 1128 Community Church in Oak Creek, and one of the coolest dads and pastors you'll ever meet!
Prayers without polish that really hash out with God where you're at - Brian talks it out with Matt Timmons.
Lakepoint Students Pastor Jason Eeten Shares his thoughts on how our heart is shaped by the act of prayer.
There's a lot of ways you could choose to organize your typical gathering. Here's mine.
Serving (normally thought to be an outreach) has more to do with shaping our discipleship.
2's & 3's or 3's and 5's might be the best way around Covid-19, but might also be the best way to make discipleship more personal in your circle.
In group settings, here's how to summarize and move on when someone is talking too long.
It's hard to shape discipleship in your relationships without identifying where they're at. This simple diagram and exercise will get you started.
If you're hungry for change and tired for talking about the same old issues, this is the question you need to pull desire from the heart.
Whether new to Jesus or walking with him for decades, people need to know that everyday discipleship is shaped by a cross on their back.
The 2nd and 3rd century church's response to pandemics is a lesson in loving like you've lost it. And by such a love, the kingdom of Jesus went across the known world.
Brother Lawrence contributed a lot to understanding what it means to "practice the presence of God." Here's one of his more memorable quotes, and a three-part framework for understanding union with God.
If someone in your circle said, "Tell me everything I need to know about Jesus," what would you say? Your response can be shaped as simple as ABC.
We'd love to shape our circles with real conversations all the time. We'll experience moments like that all along the way, but to live there it takes trust, and to shape your circle with trust you need conversational consistency.
Conversations that get real get below the surface. But how do you get there? The doorways of Hopes and Hurts are what opens the way.
"I don't have time!" That might be the biggest reason people shy away from trying outreach - the can't imagine fitting one more thing into their already busy lives. Shaping your circle doesn't have to take more time, but you just have to be more intentional where you're already spending your time.
Reaching out to people in your Everyday Circle doesn't have to be complicated or intimidating. It simply starts with swapping names.
Turning your listening ear into words for your mouth... with prayers holding everything together in-between.
Someone's going saying something real from their place of pain, and create a pin drop moment in the group. How are you going to respond as a leader?
Relationship. Discipleship. Outreach. Multiplication. Your circle isn't experiencing full discipleship without aiming at all four.
Does our preparation in gathering people for discipleship, reflect an appreciation that some sacred space is about to be entered?
The Discipleship exetent Groups and House Gatherings can't be limited to study, connections, or personal growth. This is the other half of "Church."
This podcast is short 3-5 minute trainings to help disciple-makers push the envelope of what it means to gather their circle in discipleship.