G-Force: Taking Your Relationship with God to a New Level
By Bo Boshers and John Ortberg
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About this ebook
Bo Boshers
Bo Boshers is President of LEAD222, a coaching and mentoring ministry to youth leaders. Bo is recognized as a national leader and influencer of youth ministry around the world. He served as Executive Director of Student Ministries at Willow Creek Community Church and the Willow Creek Association, which influences over 20,000 churches. He is a best-selling author, motivational speaker and trainer. His passion is coaching and mentoring youth leaders in professional skills and personal character.
Read more from Bo Boshers
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G-Force - Bo Boshers
G-Force
Bo Boshers
Taking Your Relationship with God to a New Level
publisher logoThis book is dedicated to all the shepherd leaders who understand the importance of building authentic community in small groups with this generation. I applaud your commitment to provide a healthy spiritual, emotional, and relational environment for students by not trying to fix, change, or judge them. Truth spoken in love, correction given in love, reproof received in the spirit of love, and grace given in love will have a life-changing impact on this generation.
My prayer is that this book will assist you as you lead this generation down a path of full devotion to Christ. May God bless you.
Table of Contents
Cover Page
Title Page
Dedication
Foreword by john ortberg
Introduction
Fully Devoted
Group Study
SESSION ONE Fully Devoted
Devotion One Giving Your All
Devotion Two A Marathon, Not a Sprint
Devotion Three Graduation
Devotion Four A Walk with God
Devotion Five Be Yourself
GRACE, Part I: A True Gift
GROUP TWO GROUP STUDY
SESSION TWO DAILY DEVOTIONS
Devotion One Accepting the Gift
Devotion Two A Gift of Freedom
Devotion Three Noticing the Gift
Devotion Four Living with the Gift Every Day
Devotion Five An Everlasting Gift
GRACE, Part 2: Sharing the Gift
GROUP THREE GROUP STUDY
SESSION THREE DAILY DEVOTIONS
Devotion One Being Real
Devotion Two You Have a Story
Devotion Three Telling Your Story
Devotion Four Growing in Compassion
Devotion Five One Life at a Time
GROWTH. Part I: Loving God
GROUP FOUR GROUP STUDY
SESSION FOUR DAILY DEVOTIONS
Devotion One Training Smarter vs. Harder
Devotion Two Be Silent, and Know That I Am God!
Devotion Three A Breath Prayer
Devotion Four Bible Meditation
Devotion Five Dream Big
GROWTH. Part 2: Loving Others
GROUP FIVE GROUP STUDY
SESSION FIVE DAILY DEVOTIONS
Devotion One Servant Leader
Devotion Two The Power of Encouragement
Devotion Three 2:14 Attitude
Devotion Four The Gossip Challenge
Devotion Five Love of a Different Kind
GROUPS. Part I: Building Authentic Community
GROUP SIX GROUP STUDY
SESSION SIX DAILY DEVOTIONS
Devotion One The Giver vs. the Taker
Devotion Two A Giver’s Gift: A Listening Ear
Devotion Three It Ain’t Easy to Forgive
Devotion Four Radical Love
Devotion Five Speaking the Truth in Love
GROUPS. Part 2: Receiving Love
GROUP SEVEN GROUP STUDY
SESSION SEVEN DAILY DEVOTIONS
Devotion One No One Stands Alone
Devotion Two Let Yourself Be Known
Devotion Three Hide-and-Seek
Devotion Four Community Breakers
Devotion Five Having the Right Expectations
GIFTS Part I: Discovering Your Gifts
GROUP EIGHT GROUP STUDY
SESSION EIGHT DAILY DEVOTIONS
Devotion One Use Me
Devotion Two Putting the Pieces Together
Devotion Three Finding the Right Gift
Devotion Four Who Am I?
Devotion Five Celebrating Others’ Gifts
GIFTS, Part 2: Using Your Gifts
GROUP NINE GROUP STUDY
SESSION NINE DAILY DEVOTIONS
Devotion One The Right Purpose
Devotion Two The Right Gift
Devotion Three The Right Attitude
Devotion Four The Right Attitude
Devotion Five The Church—The Hope of the World
GOOD STEWARDSHIP Part I: Show Me the Money
GROUP TEN GROUP STUDY
SESSION TEN DAILY DEVOTIONS
Devotion One Whose Money Is It?
Devotion Two Debt Free
Devotion Three Living Large
Devotion Four Being a Cheerful Giver
Devotion Five The Blessing
GOOD STEWARDSHIP Part 2: All I Have Is Yours, God
GROUP ELEVEN GROUP STUDY
SESSION ELEVEN DAILY DEVOTIONS
Devotion One Having More Than I Need
Devotion Two Time Out
Devotion Three The Perfect Body
Devotion Four Talented Humility
Devotion Five Being a Good Trustee
Afterword
Leader’s Notes
Also By Bo Boshers
Acknowledgments
Copyright Page
About the Publisher
Share Your Thoughts
Foreword by john ortberg
a word TO STUDENTS…
As a pastor, coworker, and parent, the world of students at Willow Creek is a matter of urgent importance to me. No one carries the history and passion for that world with more enthusiasm than Bo Boshers. I wish you could experience his energy personally, but until you do this resource is a great asset. It has the potential to fuel enormous growth for any student with an open heart. When I think about the kind of planet you are inheriting, I am particularly grateful for the promise that with God’s presence you do not face today or tomorrow alone.
Bo has served the local church effectively in the area of student ministries for many years and has for the past seven years trained, equipped, and cheered on student ministries and their leaders at churches all over the world. He is uniquely gifted and qualified to serve you as a spiritual guide.
You are, right now, a potent force in your world—for better or for worse. And in the years to come, your impact will only grow greater. Many students I meet have a deep passion to know God, grow in faith, serve the poor—but they want to know how. In G-Force, Bo lays out how discipleship can become a concrete reality. In a world of guilt, you can be immersed in grace. In place of stagnation, you can know growth. Instead of isolation, you can live in groups and community. You can discover emerging gifts that will impact your church and world, and in an era of mall-culture, you can be a good steward at the beginning of your financial life.
G-Force shows how you can become the difference-maker God made you to be. As you walk through daily devotions and talk in small groups about what you’re learning, you’ll begin to see what God has planned for your life and you will gain courage to take bold steps to become more like Christ.
a word TO STUDENT MINISTRY LEADERS AND VOLUNTEERS…
As I think about this generation of young students, I am particularly grateful to student ministry workers who have devoted themselves to teaching, training, and loving the young men and women who will one day inherit this world. After all, what could matter more than this next generation of Christ-followers? G-Force provides a clear path to help you equip and shape students into the Christ-followers who will become our future. So read on, and get ready to see your student ministry transformed!
John Ortberg
Introduction
Five-G Living
what DOES IT MEAN TO BE A STRONG CHRISTIAN?
Be careful how you answer that question. You could find yourself following rules and pursuing activities that make your spiritual life boring—or worse, harmful. On the other hand, if you answer the question another way, you could end up on an exciting adventure—a life of freedom and fulfillment, of becoming a difference-maker
to be used by God.
G-Force was written for your generation of young Christ-followers who want to pursue authentic spiritual transformation. It involves having a real, life-changing experience with God. Each week you will be challenged to think about what you really believe and learn how to experience a deeper relationship with God and with others. You may find that being spiritual is not what you thought, and that being a Christ-follower is more exciting and rewarding than you could ever have imagined!
how DOES IT WORK?
So how does spiritual transformation work? It starts with a group of people who will commit to going on this journey together. While it is certainly possible to go through this guide on your own, it is designed to be a group journey because God often teaches us best in groups.
If you have a group leader, there are Leader’s Notes in the back for any preparation work or guidance that may be needed for the studies.
Each session begins with a Group Study that introduces a subject to be explored. The Group Study is followed by five Daily Devotions that everyone in the group does on his or her own during the time in between the Group Studies.
The topics focus on the Five Gs—Grace, Growth, Groups, Gifts, and Good Stewardship—with two sessions devoted to each G.
These Gs are markers in our spiritual journey to show us the progress we have made in our becoming more like Christ. The journey will not be complete by the end of this book. Spiritual transformation takes a lifetime. But the Five Gs are what you will need for this lifelong journey.
equipment
Be sure you have a good modern translation of the Bible, such as the New Living Translation, Today’s New Intemational Version, the New Revised StandardVersion, or one of the many others. Choose a Bible you’ll feel comfortable writing in. You’ll be invited to really wrestle with the issues in each study and part of that will involve underlining or highlighting passages in your Bible.
It is up to you to make this journey successful. Your group leader is not there to lecture you. The questions are open-ended and need your participation to work. And not only do you discuss questions, each Group Study and Daily Devotion has an Experience It Yourself component where you get to practice applying what you are studying.
If you want to learn how living the Christian life can be a daily adventure, G-Force is just for you.
Fully Devoted
Group Study
opening up
1. Describe the most spiritual person you can imagine. What would that person be like?
2. Now describe the most fun person you can imagine. What would that person be like?
3. What do you think it would have been like to hang out with Jesus when he walked the earth? Would he have been more like your ideal spiritual person or your ideal fun person?
read TOGETHER
Read these verses aloud and discuss them as a group:
explore TOGETHER
1. According to John’s first letter, how should we measure what it means to be godly
or spiritual
?
>>1 John 2:6
Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Christ did.
>> colossians 3:17
Whatever you do or say, let it be as a representative of the Lord Jesus.
>> mark 12:29-31
[Jesus speaking] The most important commandment is this: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.
2. According to the apostle Paul’s letter to the Colossians (a local church in Colosse, a city in what is now the country Turkey), in what part of our lives should we strive to be spiritual
like Jesus?
3. If we are to imitate how Jesus lived, then what do Jesus’ words in Mark tell us about what guiding values shaped his life?
discuss TOGETHER
1. From God’s perspective, your spiritual life is simply your whole life—every minute and detail of it. There is no part of your life that is not God’s or where you don’t have to live by God’s standard: to imitate Jesus in what you do and say. Reread Paul’s words in Colossians 3:17 on page 16. Have each person pick one activity below, and explain how it would be different if they were to live like Jesus would:
Based on your discussion, where do you need to be challenged to think about how you live each moment as someone who has Jesus as their leader?
2. Take a moment and have someone write on a white board or flip chart all the rules you’ve been taught about spirituality (for example, to have a daily quiet time, read the Bible, and so on).
Now have the same person write down another list marked real spirituality.
Under that heading, have the person write freedom.
Since spirituality is really a love relationship with God that is expressed by loving others rather than following a list of rules, discuss the real motivations for doing some of the rules
in the first list.
MY PROMISE
I,
____________________
[your name], promise to explore what it means to become a fully devoted Christ-follower and enter into a journey of spiritual transformation. I pledge to do my best to fully participate in the Daily Devotions and in the eleven Group Studies. I will do my best to open up my heart, soul, and mind to what God wants to teach me on this journey.
_______________ _______
Signature Date
3. The best way to see if we are imitating Jesus is to ask ourselves this simple question: Am I becoming more loving toward God and others? Is this true for you? Have you become more loving since you became a Christian? How would those who know you best—family members, teachers, coaches, friends—answer that question?
experience IT TOGETHER
Everyone should read to themselves the Ten Core Values (page 19) and the promise below. After you finish reading the statement silently, sign and date the pledge as a commitment to help each other on this journey of spiritual transformation.
Now choose someone to be your accountability partner. This is the person you will encourage and pray for to stay committed, and they will do the same for you. You will Signature Date ask each other how the Daily Devotions and spiritual exercises are going. Exchange email addresses and phone numbers and commit to contacting each other often.
ten CORE VALUES
community TIME
Talk about what your hopes are for this group during this journey. What do you personally hope to learn and experience in the upcoming weeks? Do you have any doubts or fears about this?
After everyone shares their hopes and personal goals, take out a candle and light it. The light represents God’s presence (see John 1:9, where Jesus is described as the true light
who gives light to everyone
) as you commit yourself to this eleven-week process. Pray that God blesses this adventure and that everybody’s goals would be fulfilled. Also ask God to