Excerpt
Gradually Then Suddenly Study Guide
Session 1Sixteen Miles UpstreamBased on chapter 1 of Gradually Then Suddenly
Start with ScriptureJesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he gave the bread to the disciples, who distributed it to the people. They all ate as much as they wanted, and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftovers. About 5,000 men were fed that day, in addition to all the women and children! —Matthew 14:19–21, NLT
Dare to DreamHave you ever had a God-sized dream? By definition, God-sized dreams will always be beyond your education, beyond your ability, beyond your resources. You can’t do it, but God can. God makes big people by giving them big dreams!
When I was twenty-two, we attempted to start a church on the north shore of Chicago. As that first attempt at church planting failed, it was discouraging and disorienting. But that failure is what opened us up to other options. It’s how God got us to make the move from Chicago to DC.
I also learned a valuable lesson along the way: The cure for the fear of failure is not success, it’s failure in small enough doses that you build up an immunity to it. We discovered that God was there to pick us up, dust us off, and give us a second chance.
Almost every dream I’ve ever had has gone through death and resurrection. And I might add, detours and delays. The best laid plans of mice and men fall short of God’s good, pleasing, and perfect will. The good news? God’s vision for your life is bigger and better than yours. God has blessings for you in categories you can’t conceive of.
After that failed church plant attempt in Chicago, we packed all our earthly belongings into a fifteen-foot U-Haul and made the move to DC. We didn’t go there to plant another church, but God often has ulterior motives. What seemed like a setback was actually a setup.
On January 14, 1996, nineteen people gathered in a DC public school. We averaged about twenty-five people that first year. Our total income was $2,000 a month, and it cost $1,600 to rent the school where we met. That left $400 for my salary and all other expenses.
The early returns on our church plant were nothing to write home about, but I’ve learned not to despise the day of small beginnings. Our first Easter, we had forty-three people show up. I was over the moon because we’d never broken thirty, let alone forty. Fast-forward thirty years and we have the joy of hosting the Easter sunrise service at the Lincoln Memorial, where a few more than forty-three show up.
What God-sized dreams have you pursued or thought about pursuing? List a few failures and successes, as well as future dreams.
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How did you handle the dreams that failed or faltered? How did you see God’s plan and purpose through the process?
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Every dream has a genesis story, as does every dreamer.
Make a DecisionYou are one decision away from a totally different life.
When I graduated from high school, I got a full-ride scholarship to the University of Chicago. On paper it was the perfect situation. The U of C was one of the top-ranked universities in the country, and I had a starting position on the basketball team going into my sophomore season. That’s when I took a prayer walk through a cow pasture in Alexandria, Minnesota, that changed the trajectory of my life.
At the time, I was a PERL major—politics, economics, rhetoric, and law. But I heard the inaudible yet unmistakable voice of God calling me into ministry. I could have stayed at the University of Chicago and graduated debt-free, but I made the decision to transfer to Central Bible College.
Walking into the admissions office and telling them they could have their full-ride scholarship back was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made. It was also one of the best. If I had stayed at the U of C, I think I would have second-guessed it for the rest of my life. The net result would have been an inaction regret.
That decision doubled as a grand gesture—a defining decision that changed the course of my life.
What are some of the biggest and hardest decisions you have ever had to make? How did these change your life for better or for worse?
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Which direction are you moving and why? How have good and bad decisions you’ve made impacted your future dreams?
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Live the StoryIf you want to bless a city, you have to go sixteen years upstream. . . . For better or for worse, what’s happening downstream is always the byproduct of what happened upstream. And that’s true in big and small ways. —Mark Batterson,
Gradually Then SuddenlyLong vision is a vision that is beyond your resources, beyond your ability, beyond your death date. We have a hard time believing God for cities, but God says, “Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance.”1 God’s vision is always bigger and better than ours!
In the Gospels, there is a story about a little boy who gave his brown-bag lunch to Jesus.2 In our hands, 5 + 2 = 7. But if you give your five loaves and two fish to God, 5 + 2 = 5,000. In God’s hands, it doesn’t just add up. It multiplies into a miracle for five thousand people. And there’s more left over—twelve baskets—than you started with.
Gradually then suddenly is doing little things like they’re big things. And when we do, God has a way of doing big things like they’re little things. He can turn your five loaves and two fish into a miracle for five thousand.
I hope this study guide inspires long vision, long obedience, and long legacy. But make no mistake, doubt and discouragement will ding-dong ditch you as long as you live. No one bats a thousand. But just as poorly managed success leads to failure, well-managed failure leads to success.
Success is often two steps forward, one step back. But you can’t have a comeback without a setback—without the Crucifixion there is no resurrection. God has a way of turning small steps into giant leaps. How? You should know by now—gradually then suddenly!
What can we learn about Jesus from the story of the loaves and the fishes? Have you ever had a loaves-and-fishes miracle happen in your life?
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When you think of the concept of gradually then suddenly, how can you apply that to your life?
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What are some specific ways you can begin to think “sixteen miles upstream” this week?
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Is all that we see or seem but a dream within a dream? —Edgar Allan Poe, “A Dream Within a Dream”
ReminderRead chapter 2 of Gradually Then Suddenly before engaging in session 2 of this study guide.
