Customer Reviews

The Life You've Always Wanted Participant's Guide: Six Sessions on Spiritual Disciplines for Ordinary People (Groupware)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

When our small group decided to study together John Ortberg's "The Life You've Always Wanted," we couldn't decide whether to read the book or watch the DVD with companion study guide. So, we decided to do both.

Though there was understandable repetition between these two resources from the same author about the same topics, that was actually a good thing for us, as the principles were more fully embedded each week. Ortberg is a great teacher, so his teaching segments on the DVD were solid. In addition, the accompanying study guide provided a host of solid questions to use in response to the teaching time.

My greatest critique of the participant's guide in conjunction with the DVD was that it left me wanting more each week. Especially because we were reading the book at the same time, I was aware of how much more Ortberg had to say than he was able to include in 13 minutes of video teaching. And it was very common for our discussion to center around the text in the book that we had read earlier in the week more than the video that we had just watched.

I found this participant's guide to be fully functional and ultimately worthwhile. However, if I were to recommend "The Life You've Always Wanted," I would suggest that you just read the book. It provides much more content and the questions in the back still allow for groups to study it together. In any case, Ortberg has provided the church with a great contemporary resource about spiritual disciplines, regardless of which format you choose.

Our small group just started this lesson. The DVD messages are only about 15 monutes long. THe bulk of your small group time is spent looking up verses to discuss. There is also homework to do between meetings which is nice. BTW- You MUST get these books if you are doing the DVD study- the DVD references the book, and you really cannot do the study without this book.

I initially wrote a review for this product thinking I was reveiwing the Hardback book. I truly think this participants guide is unnecessary. The book itself has discussion questions and stuff in it. This is really just a lot of duplication (I personally would not buy again.) Save your money here and just buy the book.

This book has some good discussion questions, and the DVD that goes with the study is pretty good, but I would definitely suggest looking through the first lesson and deciding which parts to do. I am in a small group, and we decided that some of the sections should be done as homework beforehand so that the sessions don't run so long. The questions about related Bible verses are not so much discussion questions as they are short answer, and those seemed a little elementary. However, it was nice to see a group study that incorporated the Bible a little more than others. I do recommend getting this book, if you are willing to do a little planning before beginning it. I definitely recommend getting the leader's guide, and the DVD is required for the group study.

I am using this book and video in an adult Bible study with 17 participants. It is a good study which shows you how to live and love like Jesus did. John Ortberg uses humor and touching stories to get his point across. Another thing that I like is that you are referred to scripture to see how Jesus faced the same problems that we face in our daily lives.

Great Book - we are studying the book at our church with about 100 participants. It is a wonderful, thought-provoking book and we have really enjoyed studying it together.

There are some reviews of the DVD saying that you don't need the participant's guide. I don't know what they were thinking. The guide has questions you need to lead a thoughful discussion of the material after watching each DVD's 10-15 minute session. If you don't have this guide, you'll be stuck because the video will instruct you to pause it and discuss certain questions. The questions are found in this guide.

What I would say though, is you don't need a participant's guide for all the participants. Just buy one DVD, and one of these guides for the leader to use in guiding the discussion time. If the participants want more, have them buy the actual book, which is much more in-depth.

I had a few group members who would read the book chapters ahead of time, then the DVD at the group meeting was basically supplemental. I had other group members who didn't want to read the book, so the DVD and discussion at the group meeting were all they got.

As the group leader, I would recommend you buy the DVD The Life You've Always Wanted: Six Sessions on Spiritual Disciplines for Ordinary People, one of these participant guides (for the leader to use), and encourage your group members to each buy the book for themselves. The Life You've Always Wanted: Spiritual Disciplines for Ordinary People The material of all it was good, prompted great discussions, and people connected with the material, and John's relatable style.

I am a pastor at a church of about 80 and am using this study as a part of our discipleship plan for our church. The topics are good and the series is well written with good biblical basis and great "homework assignments" that will make a difference in one's spiritual growth if the participant is engaged in the process.
The only complaint that I have is that the lessons are way too packed with information. There is no way that a group could get through each session in one sitting and adequately do justice to the topics at hand (it seemed rather hypocritical to have to hurry through the section on "slowing down :) We have modified the lessons to finish each section in (2) one-hour long sessions.
Other than that, great series. Highly recommend!

I ordered this book the same time as I ordered the hardcopy of the original book and the DVD course. Of the three things I ordered this one did not make it. They did send to me a note 2 days after the order was made to cancel the order as it was unavailable and my charge card was credited for the purchase price. Disappointed that a product advertized was not available and that it was two days later that I learned that.

Ortberg puts together six studies on the Spiritual Discipline without making the Christian life seem like one chore after another. He points out why believers need to study the Bible, pray, be joyful, serve, etc in a way that does not weigh down the faithful.
I have gone through this study twice in my church and plan to lead it again. Good solid material.