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Ice Breaker – Summer Reading List
Each week on The Stretched Blog, I ask an ice breaker question. The questions are designed to help us get to know each other here in The Stretched Community. I’ll provide my answer to the question here in the post, and then you can leave your response in the comments. While you’re in the comments section, see how others answered the ice breaker question.
(I’m always looking for Ice Breaker question ideas. If you have an idea, send me an email at jon@jonstolpe.com. If I use your question, I’ll give you credit and share your links.)
Question: What’s on your summer reading list?
My Answer: I reviewed two books this week – Talk Like TED and The Disciplined Leader. I’m also reading Think and Grow Rich
Answer this week’s ice breaker question by leaving a comment. I look forward to reading your response! (As always, feel free to share links.) And keep Stretching!
Ice Breaker – Summer Bucket List
Each week on The Stretched Blog, I ask an ice breaker question. The questions are designed to help us get to know each other here in The Stretched Community. I’ll provide my answer to the question here in the post, and then you can leave your response in the comments. While you’re in the comments section, see how others answered the ice breaker question.
(I’m always looking for Ice Breaker question ideas. If you have an idea, send me an email at jon@jonstolpe.com. If I use your question, I’ll give you credit and share your links.)
Today marks the beginning of August. For most of us, this means it’s time to start thinking about school and the start of fall. While summer officially ends in late September, many consider Labor Day the official end of summer. This means we have one month left of summer. There are so many things I want to do with this rest of this season. Today’s Ice Breaker should get you thinking about how you want to spend the rest of your summer. At the beginning of the summer, our family created a summer bucket list. I’m happy to say we’ve accomplished most of the things on the list.
Question: What is one thing you would like to do or accomplish before the end of the summer?
My Answer: This year, our garden did not get very good attention. As a result, our vegetable production is very low and our weed production is very high. Looking out into our garden last night, I said to Leanne “It’s time for a garden makeover.” During the rest of the summer (and probably into fall), I’d like to redesign, reorganize, and redo our garden. This is the perfect time to get things in order for next year’s growing season. This will involve several truck loads of manure, many hours of weed pulling and excavation, and the installation of a higher (and more attractive) fence. I’m excited to start dreaming about what our garden may look like next year. After doing some research, I may even make it a little smaller which is probably a good thing.
Answer this week’s ice breaker question by leaving a comment. I look forward to reading your response! (As always, feel free to share links.) And keep STRETCHING!
On Track – Life Lessons from the Track & Field is now available on Amazon in paperback and for Kindle. Click the link below to get your copy today.
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Ice Breaker – Vacation Plans
Each week on The Stretched Blog, I ask an ice breaker question. The questions are designed to help us get to know each other here in The Stretched Community. I’ll provide my answer to the question here in the post, and then you can leave your response in the comments. While you’re in the comments section, see how others answered the ice breaker question.
For many, next weekend marks the beginning of summer. People start traveling and taking time off from work to enjoy a break and to spend time with family and friends. This week’s question will get you thinking about the summer ahead and will remind you of summer days of the past.
Question: What are your vacation plans for this summer? What’s one of the best vacations that you have ever experienced?
My Answer: If you have been reading along for a little while, you’ll know our family is planning to go to Guatemala later this summer on a short-term missions trip to the village of Xenacoj. Besides that, we are planning to take a swing through the Midwest (Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota) to visit my family who live in that area. In between visits with family, we’re also hoping to hit one of the water parks in the Wisconsin Dells.
As for best vacations experienced, I would say that I really enjoyed the trip that Leanne and I took to France to celebrate our tenth anniversary. We stayed in Paris for two days, the Louvre Valley for two days, the Bordeaux region for two days, near Marseilles for two days, and Lyon for two days. It was wonderful to see the various sites of this beautiful country, and it was refreshing to spend uninterrupted time together with my bride.
Answer this week’s ice breaker question by leaving a comment. I look forward to reading your response! (As always, feel free to share links.)
Ice Breaker – Picnic
Happy Friday!
Friday means Ice Breaker here on the Stretched blog. Each week, I ask a question designed to help us learn a little bit about the Stretched Community. I answer the question in the post, and you answer the question in the comments. This is also a great opportunity to interact with other readers by commenting on their answers. Since we’re heading into the summer season, I thought it would be fun to pick a question that relates to a fun summertime activity. Here goes!
Question: What is your favorite picnic food or activity?
Answer: I love picnics and potlucks. I love picnic foods like watermelon, hamburgers, and pasta salad. But my favorite picnic food is probably homemade guacamole. I realize you can have quack mole any time of the year, but our recipe came to us during a picnic in the early years of our marriage. The recipe calls for avocados, red onion, tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, salt, and lime juice. Dipping nacho chips in this guacamole is so delicious.
As for picnic activities, I love sitting around and relaxing with friends, but I also love picnic games – especially lawn games like horseshoes, bocce ball, and croquet. I have great memories of playing all three of these games at past picnics.
Okay, now it’s your turn. Answer this week’s ice breaker question in the comments.
(It’s not to late to get in on the giveaway that I announced on Monday!)
Summer Small Group Suggestions
Last night, our small group (H.O.P.E.) celebrated the start of the summer season with an end of school year picnic/barbecue. It was a great way to celebrate a wonderful year together serving others and growing closer to each other. I have thorough enjoyed watching our kids connect with the kids from the other families in our group, and I have enjoyed bonding with the other adults. I’ve also enjoyed serving together with these wonderful families. Over the paste year, we have made crafts and spent time with the seniors at the Colonnade of Schwenksville nursing home, made a holiday meal for international students at Montgomery County Community College, cleaned up the backyard at the Norristown Community House, packaged books at Cradles to Crayons, served breakfast at the Ronald McDonald House, made packages for cancer patient siblings at the Phoenixville Hospital, stuffed eggs for a local Easter egg hunt, and made cards for soldiers. We have had a great year together!
As we approach summer, we’ve decided to take a couple of months off while we all enjoy our summer vacations and summer schedule.
The summer often presents a crossroads for many small groups. Should they keep meeting regularly throughout the summer or should they scale back until the fall? This is a great question. Here are my ideas for how to approach this season.
1. Consider meeting regularly. If your group has enough mass, you might be able to get away with continuing right through the summer. If you decide to do this, I would recommend selecting a study topic that allows for group members to come and go. Many group members will likely miss a few meetings, and it’s a good idea to use a study topic that people can jump into at any time.
2. Consider meeting once a month. This is a great opportunity to keep the group going with a few social events. Picnics, swim parties, and outdoor meet-ups are great ways to stay connected during the summer months.
3. Consider taking a break. From the introduction above, you can see the this is what our group, has decided to do. We are all pretty busy over the summer, and this break will provide some time to focus on our families. Having said this, I’m already looking forward to meeting again in the fall.
4. Consider using the summer as a natural end to your group. Sometimes, it can be awkward to stop a group and start over. The summer can provide a natural time to transition from one group to another. This can also be a great time to release a leader who needs a break from small group leadership.
If you’re not in a small group, this may not make sense. I’m praying that you find a small group to call home – to connect – and to find the right balance of grace and truth. If you’re already in a group, I hope this is helpful as your group approaches the summer.
Are you in a small group? How does your group approach the summer? What other suggestions do you have for summer small groups?