What would it be like for your church to have more than 1,000 cell groups?
That is no longer a distant dream for Victory Christian Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The first quarter of this year, Victory passed the 1,000 cells mark.
Senior Pastor Billy Joe Daugherty places high value on leadership training. From 1983 until October of 2000, Victory has trained more than 4,000 people who started cell groups. By July of 2000, Victory reported more people in their weekly cell groups (7,344) than in their four Sunday worship services. Many in their cell groups are not Victory members, and may not yet have attended Victory . . . part of their aggressive focus on winning the lost. Have Victory's cells been effective in reaching the lost?
Most definitely. During the 12 months of 2000, there were a reported 6,149 salvation's through Victory's cell groups. In June of 2000 alone, Victory's cells reported 512 salvation's and 32 healings.
What are some principles that help explain Victory's cell success? What insights can we use in our own groups?
Consider these four.
Victory's cell system expanded with a new and needed emphasis on diversity and reaching specific untouched segments of people. Victory added target cells of all types, which target a particular type person, as their new and growing focus. Target cells sprang up in battered and homeless shelters, in American Airlines to reach mechanics and agents, in downtown high rise buildings, in factories, in athletic involvements and in different specific professions.
Target cell leaders also went into new areas as diverse as businesses and factories with the goal of targeting the people in that area. All types of people attended the newly established "target cells," rich and poor, with some groups reporting participants as different as Catholics, Buddhists, Muslims, and atheists-each given an opportunity to hear the Gospel.
Currently, Victory has 35+ varieties of cell groups, with a wide variety of meeting places - all teaching at least a nugget from Victory's designated cell lesson for that week - which fit Victory's common definition of a cell group.
PRAY, PRAY, PRAY!
No matter which Victory cell one examines, each has a strong focus on prayer. Victory challenges all leaders to have strong daily devotional and prayer lives, to pray fervently before a group meeting and to make prayer and ministry core activities in cell meetings. Victory even has "prayer fellowship cells" which meet weekly, with many spotlighting specific concerns like missions, praying for outreaches in other nations and for prayer requests sent in by missionaries.
Daugherty explained Victory's view this way: "You can have a beautiful car, but unless that engine has fuel in it, you're not going anywhere. You can have a perfect model for your cell system, but unless you have the fuel of prayer, your groups aren't going anywhere."
GROW YOUR OWN DEDICATED AND UNIFIED CELL LEADERS AND STAFF
Pastoral staff are the vital "link" who largely determine whether the vision will become reality. They do the actual hands-on training. They carry out the daily grind that make or break the "cell church dream." Victory currently has 31 full-time pastoral staff members, each who oversees or helps with the cell groups in his department or area of ministry.
If you talk with Jerry and Lynn Popenhagen, the dedicated directors of Victory's Pastoral Care Department, it won't be long before they mention the term "house vision." They repeatedly stress that the cell leaders and staff are not to have a separate agenda, but are to stay in line with the vision God has given their senior pastor. Much of this is made possible by Victory hiring staff who have "grown up" in ministry through successful experience in their cell system.
Consider the Shouses. For the two years Howard and Cheryl Shouse served as area coordinators (both leading their own group and supervising others), they multiplied their group 19 times. During that time the Shouses saw five marriages restored, nine people without transportation given cars, multiple salvations and healings, and 100 people find jobs. They were later brought on Victory's staff as "Care Pastors," serving 359 families and 55 cells involving 700 people.
JUST DO IT!
Ruthie - Billy Joe and Sharon Daugherty's second daughter - has been in groups much of her life. When she was asked how to start a cell group, this 'next generation' female explained, "Sometimes you have to aggressively recruit people to come to your cell. But often there are people around you so hungry for God and something more in their lives that all you have to do is simply invite them. If God has put a particular cell focus or location on your heart, just step out and do it."
As a cell leader, you may wonder how all this applies to you. Think for a moments. Do your outreach cell events need to be more targeted, focusing on reaching a specific kind of person? Consider these ideas:
- Superbowl parties for men
- "Annointed shopping" for women
- Prayer groups
- Play days at the park for parents
Challenge your cell members to "think outside the box" and launch their own groups. Rise to the challenge of full-time ministry when the time is right! If you sense God has put something in your heart, respect leadership, then just step out and do it!
Karen Hurston is an international consultant to cell churches based in Gulf Breeze, FL. She is currently writing a book on Victory's cell system to be released by TOUCH Publications. Visit her website: www.hurstonministries.org
-- Randall Neighbour President, TOUCH Outreach Ministries, Inc.
14925 Memorial Dr., Suite 101 Houston, TX 77079 USA Ph. 281-497-7901 Fx. 281-497-0904 http://www.touchusa.org
Cell Group Journal Volume10, Number 2 Spring 2001;