Practicum Report #8

To: Stephen Howlett
From: Kevin Aaron
Subject: Practicum Report #8
Time: 3 hours (1 Prep, 1 SS, 1 Service)
Preparation: The lesson for this coming week was the next step in our series and came from Mark 1:29-39. I read the passage over a few times over again and studied the questions. Then I began thinking about creative ways to lead the study differently from in the past. I could not come up with anything wild and crazy so I settled on relying on the chalkboard and forcing group discussion.
Study: As I try to do with my studies, I opened with a prayer for the group. Then I had Caleb read the passage aloud a couple times. As usual I had to keep Adam awake. I quickly began asking questions following the reading. I got the group discussing stress in their lives and how Jesus must have felt having to deal with the demands of the large crowd. Dan, the newcomer of the group this week, offered that he often dealt with stress by spending time alone and that Jesus was simply trying to do the same. The group quickly agreed with Dan hoping to take pressure off them from having to answer questions. I continued to press for discussion by asking how they deal with stress and if there are better ways they think they could go about dealing with stress. Adam spoke about how he usually just takes naps since he sleeps so often as it is. Chelsea said she usually talks to her boyfriend Steven about her stress, unless of course it deals with him. Then she usually just vents to a friend. Then I used the chalkboard. Hopefully I could get the group loosened up by making lists on the board and having fun with it. They began spewing out ways to deal with stress and the things in life that stress them out. Many of the answers were meant to be goofy, but it got the group talking. That was a victory in and of itself. The group came to the consensus that the point of the passage was that we need to take time out of busy lives to be alone with God. That time can recharge us and help us get through all the stress in our lives. After this, we took prayer requests and prayed to close out the study.
Questions:
1 Is it a good idea to let the group get goofy and silly even though it helps get conversation going?
2 Would incentives like donuts and juice help attendance and keeping everyone awake and involved?