Frequently asked questions about the StrongFamilies Class 100 DVD Series
- Help! What if i’ve never led a group before?
- When is the “best time” of year to launch a class, and is there
a “best size” group or “best setting” for the material?
When is the best time of year to start a class?
- Is there a recommended “group size” or “best setting” to
shoot for?
- Why does each person have to purchase their own Leading From Your Strengths
Online Assessment?
- So how do you order passcodes?
- Can we shorten the course? We simply don’t have eight
weeks in a row?
- Just what is a StrongFamilies Coach?
- Each StrongFamily Coach is part of an “Open Architecture” Innovtion
Alliance. What is this “open architecture” thing?
- What does it mean to “launch a family ministry program?”
Help! What if i’ve never led a group before?
Relax! You’ve probably got people who have never been in a small group study either, so they’re going to think you’re an expert no matter what you do! And you’re already close to being an expert, since your primary responsibility is just being there to smile and welcome folks, turn on the DVD, and then lead a guided discussion at the end of the class (spelled out for you in detail in your “Week-by-Week instructions sheet”). Your StrongFamilies Coach on the DVD will do the hard work by teaching the content part of each session. How easy is that! In short, your main duty is to keep praying for and being there to encourage the folks, friends and family attending your class – not to have a “perfect” family. We all struggle at times, and yes, you may even have an argument one night just before the doorbell rings announcing people coming over for the class! Again, put your trust in the Lord and realize that we all fall short and need a loving, forgiving Savior.
If you do get stuck or run into a question or situation and you need to make a “lifeline” call or email for some help, please feel free to contact, Jeff Thibault, our National Director of Training. You can reach Jeff and his team at jefft@strongfamilies.com. They’ll be able to make suggestions for your unique setting or situation. Most of all, keep in mind that it is “God who causes the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:6) and know that before the first session even begins, Jesus has already gone before you, will be round about you during each session, and will be actively at work through His Spirit and Word long after each class is over. We believe in you and know you’ll do a great job! Just lean on His strength and enjoy the class along with everyone else!
When is the “best time” of year to launch a class, and is there a “best size” group or “best setting” for the material? When is the best time of year to start a class?
If you’ll think about it, there are natural times of the year when people are ready to “do something new” or try again to make positive changes. For example, the start of a school year (even if people don’t have children) in late August or early September can be a great natural launching pad for a class. Or you may decide to launch the class in October by publicizing, “Get ready for the stress of the Holidays that are almost here by attending the StrongFamilies Class 100!” Or anytime after New Years is always a great time to launch a class. Not to mention the dead of winter (when people want to be inside, but still do things with others) or the heat of summer. (Don’t listen to people who say summer studies don’t work. Summer is a great time to do a Class 100 when babysitters are plentiful and people who don’t own a cabin are ready to do something with others!). In other words – almost anytime is a great time of year to launch your class. If you come up with a clever, cool, innovative way of promoting your class in a special season or way – then let us know and give us permission to share your posters, skit or other idea with others).
Is there a recommended “group size” or “best setting” to shoot for?
If you thought the last answer was the equivalent of choosing, “All the above,” you’re going to feel the same way about this answer! In other words, the material in this DVD series has worked well in numerous settings, with groups of literally all sizes. It’s a great small group study in a home with as few as two couples, or it’s effective in Sunday school classes of well over 200! You can facilitate it over lunch once a week in a conference room at the office, or as a Summer Sunday Night series. All eight or selected sessions are great for a MOP’s class or a Woman’s Ministry breakout course, and of course it works well in an early morning men’s meeting or during a weekday evening class. We’ve had seminary professors use these topics as part of a marriage and family survey class, premarital couples go through each session before the pastor would marry them, and military officers and their wives use five of the sessions in a weekend retreat setting! So, if you’ve got a group – from small to large or in a home, office, church or any other setting, this series can be used to help build strong relationships!
Why does each person have to purchase their own Leading From Your Strengths Online Assessment?
We look at each person taking the online assessment as a course requirement, not an elective or option. Here’s why. While there are many outstanding instruments to help people better understanding themselves, this is the best tool I know of to help someone quickly and easily discover their unique, God-given strengths. Not only that, but it’s a great way to help each person better understand and value others in their home and learn to blend differences as well. What’s more, this online report only takes only five to seven minutes to complete online – and then when you’re done will instantly email you back a 28 page strengths assessment! That’s 28 pages of how valuable you are – all in understandable English (No psycho-babble or having to have a trained expert at your shoulder to go over your results!)
Yes, there is a cost for each passcode and that cost is not built into the DVD series.
Remember, we’ve kept the cost of this series as low as we can, and we’ve given you the workbook to have printed off for each person, to keep down the cost as well. We don’t even require a course textbook (even though we will tell you which book goes with which session if people want to go deeper on a certain topic). But when it comes to having each person purchase a passcode, we’re not embarrassed to say we feel this is something you should require, period. In other words, we feel it’s vitally important that each person to start off the class off by understanding their unique, God-given strengths – and this is the best tool we know of to help you and the people in your group (of any size) do just that.
So how do you order passcodes?
Two ways.
First, you can have each person go online individually and order their own passcode at a significant discount. They can do this by going to www.strongfamilies.com and clicking on the button that says “Order Passcodes for My Family or My Class.” Any coach or participant can go online anytime and purchase a Leading From Your Strengths online assessment for $19.95 – that’s much less than the regular $26.95 cost.
The second way is to collect funds from class members and place a group order for even larger discounts, bringing the cost of each report down even more. Here’s the group discounts we negotiated for our coaches and participants (And by the way, StrongFamilies does not make a cent on any of these passcodes. We’ve passed on every bit of the discount we negotiated on the report to our coaches and participants, again in an attempt to keep the price per person for the course as low as possible).
- 1 – 9 reports at $19.95 each (That’s down from $26.95 cost)
- A
10 Pak of Passcodes can be purchased for a $18. 95 – which is a 30% discount
- A 25 Pack of Passcodes can be purchased for $17.95 each – which is almost $10.00 off each report. And if you have a really large group, you’ll find additional packs available in groups of 50, 100 and 250 that take the cost of each report down even lower. Again, these discounts are available to our coaches and participants by going to www.strongfamilies.com and clicking on “Order Passcodes for My Family or Class.”
Special note on “Additional” passcodes for family or friends:
Every time the course is taught, once people have taken their report, you’ll have people who want family members, friends, or even workplace teammates to take the report as well. Actually, it’s a great tool for older children (age 12 and over), and for teenagers or college age men and women as well (giving them 28 pages of why they’re so valuable – and they can’t say, “Yeah, but you have to say that! You’re my Mother or Father!”). So if you do have people in your class who want friends, family or business associates to purchase passcodes – no problem! We have permission for any coach or person attending the class to go back to the StrongFamilies website at any time (even after the course) and purchase passcodes at our discounted prices, as long as we’re offering the report.
Can we shorten the course? We simply don’t have eight weeks in a row?
We used to measure time with a sundial. Today time is measured in nanoseconds – and every nano counts! We understand that in your setting, you may not have the eight weeks, back-to-back to complete the entire course. So, what to do? IMPROVISE! For example, you can do like Northridge Community Church in Cave Creek, Arizona, who decided to take 40 small groups through the StrongFamilies Class 100 course following a 40 Days of Outreach focus in the pulpit by their Senior Pastor, Michael Burnidge. After the whole church had been taught, prayed and focused on outreach for 40 Days – they used the StrongFamilies Class 100 Course as a way of helping people actually “reach out” and do outreach! Their thinking was, “What’s a way we can actually reach out to non-believers?” And the answer came back, “Why not have our members ask a friend or family member to come to a StrongFamilies Class 100 class?” The problem was there were only five weeks that the church could do classes -- so they picked five sessions out of the eight part series and built their course around those five.
Yes, there is a progression of thought and training in the course, meaning these are not just eight “random” or totally “stand alone” sessions. However, do what’s best for your group setting, and if it means cutting down on sessions to make the study fit your needs, you certainly have our blessing! But also keep something in mind. Adapting can be good. For example, another church decided to turn this eight-week series into a four week study done in small groups in people’s homes. At the end of that four-week home-based focus on building strong families, people in each small group were told that the four sessions they hadn’t seen were going to be shown at the church. For four Sundays in a row, an existing Sunday school class agreed to host the series so people could come and fill the class to see the “missing” sessions!
Just what is a StrongFamilies Coach?
Our coaches are couples, singles, single-parents, parents and grandparents who come from all walks of life and from churches large and small. Each has a deep desire to strengthen their own family first, as well as sense of calling to work with Families and couples in their home church. WE STRESS TWO THINGS: STRONGFAMILY COACHES ARE INNOVATORS AND IMPLEMENTORS.
“Innovators” in that our coaches are part of a national “Innovations Alliance” of church-to-church “open architecture” sharing (see below) that puts them at the very front edge of ideas making the greatest impact in families across the country. (Plus, it’s a blast to get to be part of a group of positive, future oriented, biblically based, lay leaders and pastors committed to building StrongFamilies!). And not only do our coaches get great ideas from this networks of Coaches and innovators nationwide, but they also are “implementers” who teach a continually improving “StrongFamilies Class 100” course at their church that passes down biblical basics to families – and they are the starting point for implementing those new ideas from the “Innovations Alliance” that seem like the best fit in their unique church setting.
Each StrongFamily Coach is part of an “Open Architecture” Innovtion Alliance. What is this “open architecture” thing?
Briefly, think about a computer program you may have purchased like Microsoft Word. That is a “locked” program – meaning if they catch you trying to hack into the inner-working of the program, you go to jail! But there are also programs available that are called “shareware.” The difference is that shareware programs almost always post the “code” or DNA of the program right on the webpage where you download it! Meaning, if you know about programming – and you come up with a really cool addition (or correction) to the program –- you can submit your “patch” to an editorial committee or person that decides if it’s a really good upgrade or fix. If it is, then on the next version of the software – guess what? There’s a “Special thanks!” section where they thank the person who submitted the helpful “patch,” and his or her suggestion now helps everyone using the program!
That’s our philosophy at The Center for StrongFamilies and with this StrongFamilies Class 100 course! We’re “shareware!” We want those using our training tools to help us make it even better. Not by sharing silly things like, “Dr. Trent needs to use Grecian Formula and get rid of his grey hair.” At least I still have hair! But good, helpful suggestions that in the days to come, we’re convinced, will help the coach look very different and be even better because of outstanding “patches,” ideas and suggestions from our StrongFamilies Coaches nationwide.
What does it mean to “launch a family ministry program?”
Most churches can’t afford to hire a full-time family pastor. As a result, marriage and family events often are just that. Single events that can be very helpful (like having an out of town speaker in for a weekend) but have limited follow-up potential. Our StrongFamily Coaches are primarily lay leaders, and they’re trained and encouraged to be long-term champions for families at their local church. Their goal will be to see couples and families build strong, God-honoring relationships and for parents to become intentional and effective at passing down their faith to their children. Each StrongFamily Coach is trained to facilitate our StrongFamilies Class 100 Course, as well as draw on an extensive range of other courses and programs that can specifically help both couples and families at their home church.
