Small Group Discussion Guide

"The Preacher Factor"

Based on the Teaching of Pastor Mirek Hufton

1. SERMON RECAP

Pastor Mirek Hufton walked the group through Romans 10:13-15, unpacking the four foundational questions the Apostle Paul raises about how lost people actually come to salvation. He challenged the congregation to recognize that God has placed the responsibility of the harvest squarely on the shoulders of believers, through either going to the nations themselves or faithfully sending and supporting those who do. He reminded the church that missions is not a peripheral program of the Christian life but the central mandate given by Jesus to every born-again believer.

2. KEY SCRIPTURE

Mark 16:15 (NKJV)

"And He said to them, 'Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.'"

3. ICE BREAKER

What is the farthest from home you have ever traveled, and what surprised you most about the people or place you encountered there?

4. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Pastor Mirek walked through Paul's four "how" questions in Romans 10: how shall they call, believe, hear, and preach, and pointed out that God has placed the chain of responsibility on us as believers. Where does that idea sit with you personally? Does it feel like a burden, an honor, or something in between, and why?

2. Pastor Mirek made the point that missions begins with sending, and that every born-again believer has been sent whether they travel internationally or not. He described a cross-cultural encounter as any moment one culture invades another with the gospel, including inner-city neighborhoods, rural communities, or even a different part of your own city. Do you agree with that definition? How does it change the way you think about your own daily life as a potential mission field?

3. He described the staggering number of unreached people groups still in the world today, particularly in places like Papua New Guinea, Brazil, India, and Australia, and shared stories of missionaries reaching villages where no outsider had ever set foot. When you hear statistics like 7,000 unreached people groups or accounts of entire communities that have never once heard the name of Jesus, what stirs inside you? What, if anything, holds you back from responding to that reality?

4. Pastor Mirek drew a clear line between spreading our resources across many good causes and keeping the primary focus on what Jesus himself identified as the main thing, preaching the gospel to every creature. In your honest experience, how easy is it for a local church, or for you personally, to let good things crowd out the best thing? What does it look like practically to keep the Great Commission at the center?

5. He noted that the Pentecostal movement is currently the fastest-growing spiritual force on earth, with an estimated 35,000 people coming to faith and being filled with the Holy Spirit every single day. How does knowing that encourage your own faith? How might that reality change the way your small group prays together week to week?

6. Pastor Mirek closed with a "warning" of sorts, that sitting under consistent teaching about missions has a way of changing a person. He said the call to go or send has a habit of getting inside you the longer you stay near people who are living it out. Has there been a moment in your life when a message, a person, or an experience shifted something in you regarding your responsibility to the world around you? What happened, and where did it lead you?

5. APPLICATION CHALLENGE

Before the group meets again next week, each member should choose one specific person in their everyday world, a coworker, neighbor, family member, or regular acquaintance, who, to the best of their knowledge, has not yet heard or responded to the gospel. Write that person's name down somewhere you will see it daily, commit to praying for them by name each morning this week, and look for one natural, unhurried opportunity to ask them a genuine question about their life or spiritual background. Come back next week ready to share what you noticed or what door may have opened.

6. PRAYER POINTS

1. Pray specifically for the unreached people groups in Papua New Guinea, Brazil, India, and other nations where entire communities have never once heard the name of Jesus, ask God to raise up and protect the missionaries already working in those places and to open doors for new workers to enter.

2. Pray for the members of this small group by name, that the Holy Spirit would do the work Pastor Mirek described, getting the vision of the Great Commission so deep into each person's heart that they cannot sit still, and that each one would find their specific and faithful role in going or sending.

3. Pray for those affected by the hurricane damage in Jamaica and the Bahamas, and for the relief efforts underway, that practical help would open hearts and that the gospel would go forth even in the middle of crisis and suffering.

7. MEMORY VERSE

Romans 10:14 (NKJV)

"How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?"

Volunteer Leader Note: You do not need to cover every question. Read your group, follow the conversation where the Spirit leads, and leave enough time for the application challenge and prayer. The goal is not to finish the guide — it is to see each person leave one step closer to saying yes to their part in the harvest.