We are pleased to announce the newest addition to the Life Lessons message series catalog: Breathing Room.

Deadlines . . . Traffic . . . Flights to catch . . . Bills to pay . . .

Emails . . . Carpool . . . Tennis . . . Dinner . . . Homework . . . Ever feel like you can’t catch your breath?
Perhaps you need some . . . [inhale] . . . breathing room . . . [exhale]. We all do.

In our attempt to get the most out of life, it’s easy to lose control of our lives. For most of us, breathing room feels more like a luxury than a necessity. In this four-part message series, Andy Stanley shows us how to create breathing room in our schedules, our finances, and our relationships. After all, life is better with breathing room.

Wait, this sounds familiar.

You’re absolutely right.
We now have three series that deal with the issue of “margin.” Most of you are familiar with Guardrails, a six-part series from 2010. Before that, there was Take It To The Limit, a six-part series from 2002.

So, how are these different from one another?

Today is Ash Wednesday, so with Lent underway, it’s time to start thinking about Easter.

• Three Shadows of the Passion (2004, 3 parts) – In this series, Andy looks at three characters from the Easter story and contrasts the self-centeredness of their motives with the selfless sacrifice of Jesus.


• Playing God (2007, 4 parts) – This series, which looks at power and how we use it, is not an Easter series, per se. However, Part 4 of this series (“The Script”) was the Easter message at North Point in 2007. The message was a bit shorter than most (29:50) because it was accompanied by a couple of special openers as well as 2 closing songs. The DVD version of part 4 does not include these additional elements, just the “Playing God” title package and the message. If you want to see how this played on Easter, you can stream video of it here. If you plan this series for Easter, then if your audience is open to it, your environment/equipment allows it, and you wouldn’t be compromising promises you made to HR/management, you might consider playing part 4′s intro via the web, then switching to DVD for the message.

• The Final Hours (2009) — Today, crosses are an important part of cultures around the world. We see them on the tops of buildings, we wear them as jewelry, and we celebrate them in art and fashion. So, how did the cross go from an unmistakable symbol of suffering and shame in the ancient world to a definitive symbol of hope and salvation in ours? In this message, Andy Stanley explores that question by examining Jesus’ choice to die on a cross.
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• The Resurrection: It’s Essential (2012) — Do unto others. Love is patient, love is kind. Turn the other cheek. It’s easy to appreciate Jesus’ teachings. But then the Bible writers tell us that he rose from the dead. And a man rising from the dead is harder to believe; for some, it’s so hard to believe that they cherry-pick the teachings and refute the resurrection. In this message, Andy Stanley recounts the truth about Jesus’ life and death that Paul says is “of first importance.”
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We are excited to announce that two new series, Climate Change and Free, are now available in our Life Lessons Over Lunch Curriculum!

Climate Change addresses the idea that we all bring certain climates to our relationships, be it warm and sunny, stormy, or even icy. Many times, we have no idea what kind of emotional climate we carry around with us. In this 4-part series, Jeff Henderson addresses how to recognize our climates and, therefore, predict our relational forecast for the future. He poses a simple, yet profound question we can ask that may radically change the way we relate to others, and help us have a more favorable forecast for the future. Originally, Climate Change was not going to be produced as a DVD, but due to its positive feedback and high demand, it is now available for your LLOL group!

Andy’s 4-part series, Free, centers around verse EVERYONE can relate to: “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate, I do…For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out” (Romans 7:15,18). While this series may be a bit more theological in nature than what some of your LLOL groups are used to, it may also be one of the most relatable. None of us ever live up to what we “ought” to do, even when we have the most sincere of intentions and we give it our best effort. In this series, Andy unpacks some of the most complex and life-changing verses in all of Scripture, and breathes life and freedom into the areas of our lives that feel broken and chained.

We hope you will check out these new series on our Curriculum Page, and leave feedback after your group completes them. As always, let us know if there’s anything we can do to help you!

Now that 2012 has wrapped up, and the results are in, it’s time to share with you the most-requested Life Lessons DVDs of the year.

We shipped well over 600 DVDs to Life Lessons groups in 2012. Not surprisingly, the four DVDs released between 4Q2011 and 3Q2012 were all among the top five most-requested message series for Life Lessons groups. Sitting at the top is The Comparison Trap, with 36 orders. I remember sitting in church with my wife last February, as The Comparison Trap was presented live, and we looked at each other saying, “This is going to be huge for Life Lessons groups!”

By the way, most of the newer DVDs on this list have had very few ratings or comments so far. If you’ve done one of these in your group, would you take a minute to rate it and/or offer your comments on the series page? Your feedback really helps your fellow leaders, who are considering which series to show in their groups.

Here’s the list of the Top 10 most-requested Life Lessons DVDs of 2012.

Rank	Chg.	Message Series	2012 Orders	2011 Rank	Ratings	Comments
1.		Comparison Trap	36	[new]	1	1
T-2.		When God?	26	[new]	1	1
T-2.		Life Apps	26	#5	8	3
4.		Recovery Road	24	#12*	6	3
5.		Christian: It’s Not What You Think	23	[new]	1	1
6.		Destinations/Boulevard of Broken Dreams	22	T-#6	15	15
T-7.		Game Plan	14	#3	7	3
T-7.		Guardrails	14	#5	19	16
T-9.		White Flag	13	T-#13	3	3
T-9.		Time of Your Life	13	#1	8	4

* Recovery Road was only available for the last 10 weeks of 2011, yet it still managed to rank 12th for that year. If all of the Recovery Road requests for its first 12 months of release were counted, its 38 would place it above Comparison Trap, and would be the 2nd-highest 12-month total, trailing only the 45 requests for Time of Your Life in its first 12 months. Of course, Comparison Trap still has two months to go in its first year of release, so it could still break Time of Your Life‘s record.

What about you? Which have been your favorite series? Add your comments here.

We are excited to offer Andy Stanley’s newest sermon series, Future Family, for your Life Lessons group!

Life Lessons Over Lunch hasn’t had an offering on family in years, and we hear many of our leaders asking for this type of message to show to their LLOL groups. This series touches on marriage, children, parenting, and our families of origin. With such applicable content, Future Family has the potential to be one of the most impactful sermon series you ever offer.

No matter your background, belief system, socioeconomic or relationship status, we all have two things in common when it comes to family. One, we didn’t have any choice in the matter when it comes to our family of origin, and, two, family is difficult. In one way or another, our families impact us all.

In Future Family, Andy’s messages overflow with practical wisdom, including one question that has the potential to totally change the dynamic of our families and our lives. He addresses conflict and awkward family relationships, and he and his wife, Sandra, share everything they have learned about parenting their three children. Christians and non-Christians alike will walk away empowered to make their future family better than their past.

Click here to order Future Family for your LLOL group.

Late July/early August is the time when
many Life Lessons groups plan their fall message series calendars.

If your group is like most, meeting every other week or twice a month, the Labor-Day-to-Christmas corridor gives you 7 or 8 meetings for which you need messages. Sounds like the perfect time for a 6-part fall series, followed by 1 or 2 stand-alone Christmas messages to close out the year.

By tapping into some seasonal interest, you may be able to draw some new faces into your group, and give more people an opportunity to here practical Biblical principles and consider issues of faith. Here are some great options:

6-part Fall Message Series:

• Game Plan: Andy Stanley and Jeff Henderson tag-team this 2010 series on discovering God’s plan for our lives. Its football-themed intros and analogies make it perfectly timed for the fall.
• Recovery Road: In the run-up to the U.S. Presidential election, the state of the nation and its economy will be front-and-center in many people’s minds.
• Five Things God Uses to Grow Your Faith: The beginning of a new school year is a natural time to focus on growth, and the “fall color palette” and tree motif in the theme work nicely this time of year.

Stand-alone Christmas Messages:

• My Make-Believe Christmas (2005): The dysfunctional people and relationships that make Christmas so difficult? They’re the reason for the season!
• Footnote (2007): Andy explains the historical context of the first Christmas.
• An Invitation to Christmas (2009): Introduces us to a few of these colorful characters in Jesus’ family tree and how their roles in the Christmas story give hope to us all.
• Uncomplicating Christmas (2011): The story of Christmas—God’s most important message to mankind—shouldn’t be complicated.
• A Random Christmas (2011): Andy challenges us to respond to the seemingly random curve balls in our lives the same way Mary did to God’s biggest curve ball ever.

What about you? What is your Life Lessons group planning to show this fall? Add your comments here.

Looking for a specific series and can’t find it?

We sometimes hear from our leaders looking for certain messages to use for their groups. We want to address why some series may not be available to Life Lessons groups. The following are some general reasons as to why some message series are not available.

The series was not developed as a DVD.Not all message series are developed into DVD format.  Typically multi-part series are the ones that generate enough sales to justify the cost of producing the DVD.  Some examples are The Immeasurable Life, The Shocking Statements of Jesus, and Amazing Stories. Please note that some stand-alone messages have been made available as single-message DVD-Rs.

The series is out of print. Some series were previously available on DVD but have sold out their initial run and haven’t been re-ordered.  Examples include Heroes, Dealing with Doubt, Choosing Christmas and others.

The series is available on DVD, but is not in the Life Lessons catalog.  Typically, messages series are excluded because they not a good fit for Life Lessons Over Lunch.  Some are too insider focused (Big Church) or not well suited for a workplace environment (New Rules for Love, Sex, & Dating).  We do consider making these available on a case by case basis.  Others in this category include On Location and Indescribable.

Our goal is to make sure that our leaders are well resourced and that it is an easy, streamlined process when it comes to ordering and showing your DVDs.  Our hope is that we can equip you with the most effective approach to bridging your faith at work while creating opportunities for those who are far from God to draw near.