Home-grown and Trained Men

[S] Genesis 14:14-16 --

 ¹⁴When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he led out his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and went in pursuit as far as Dan.
 ¹⁵He divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and defeated them, and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus.
 ¹⁶He brought back all the goods, and also brought back his relative Lot with his possessions, and also the women, and the people.

[O] This passage seems to describe our current small group ministry initiative.  We've just begun with some "trained" leaders.  We have a clear purpose to divide and conquer the crowd God sent to our church into small groups so each group will mature to be spiritually vibrant groups in order not to lose any to the enemy.  I see that we must continue to train our home-grown leaders and hopefully more will come -- it's not just about having lots of leaders but despite the numbers, we must have committed leaders who are not afraid to stand their posts and together with our unity and God's anointing, we can move forward with an awesome power.

[A] Devote my efforts to train the small group leaders as God instructs me to.  Stay deep rooted in God's word at all times.

[P] Dear God, just like how Abram went on this challenging task only with 318 trained men, may our small group ministry also advance with those leaders whom You have sent.  Thank You for encouraging message from this section of the Bible and we will bring back those who are lost away from You into Your Kingdom.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.