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Okay, these are in no particular order, but here's my thoughts.

#0 (because it comes before #1). Pray on this, constantly. Not just "God, can we do this?", but "God, what do You want us to talk about? What words do You want us to use?" Put His plans first.

#1. Make sure you and your roommate are, if not viewing things identically, at least at peace regarding your differences. I speak from experience here. When I was in college, some friends and I tried something similar. I'm a Methodist, one was a Pentecostal, another Southern Baptist ... you get the idea. There were plenty of subjects on which we agreed, there were more than a few on which we passively disagreed, but there were also subjects on which we aggressively disagreed. That was our mistake. We should have accepted certain differences and moved on, rather than letting those differences take over at times.

Oh, don't misunderstand me; difference is good. But don't get so hung up on differences that they get in the way of unity.

#2. This is just me, but ... I'd say "pick a theme", at least for the short-term. I mean, if you just get a bunch of folks together and say "let's talk about something Biblical", you're going to get a lot of blank stares. But, if you say "what do we know about the End Times other than what's in Revelation?", you'll get people flipping over to Daniel and the Gospels, looking for stuff. And it's good to keep a theme going for a while.

I don't know how often you plan on doing this ... I'm going to guess once a week, just for simplicity. If people know you're going to be discussing the same thing next week, that gives them time to flip through their concordance or whatever and get ideas or organize their thoughts. If you use a new topic every week, then nobody (aside from you and your roommate) get in-depth involved. It degenerates to you giving your personal sermon, and them sitting there wondering when you're going to pass the plate.

On the other hand, if someone wants to talk about something else Biblical, be prepared to abandon your plan and run with theirs. It's not likely, at least at first, but it does happen.

#3. If you and your roommate are going to be the leaders of this, the moderators xp , then you're going to have to do your homework, tripled. Not enough to ask a question; you have to have a handful of answers ready, even if they're not answers you yourself like.

Just for example, and going with our End Times bit from above ...

"Where's the Rapture in Revelation?"

"It's not there ... exactly. There's a verse that talks of the believers being caught up to Heaven, but that's in First Thessalonians. And there's three different views as to when it'll actually happen: before, during, or after the Tribulation. I lean towards before, but there's a lot of evidence to go for any view. But the Rapture isn't mentioned in Revelation ... and, in fact, the word 'rapture' isn't used in the Bible. That's a fairly recent label."

#4. Guide a discussion, but don't railroad it. Think of some of the discussions you've seen in our forum. I'll admit, I'm one of the worst for staying on topic, but I'm also one of the first to say, "hey, we were talking about your avatar, not the price of rice in China". Keep it on subject, but keep it where others feel free to talk.

#5. Catering. Yes, I'm serious. This is a get-together, so it wouldn't hurt much if (say, once a month) you periodically had your Bible study with a pizza party. Heck, just invest in some 2-liters and pass around the cups. People feel more comfortable, thus more chatty, if they've something to focus on other than the subject at hand ... and maybe you can get some to chip in on the whole thing.

#6. Make sure what you study really is Biblical. I mean, cults are important to know about, but there's not a lot you can do in the way of Bible study regarding them ... unless you've got a Bible that has certain "debunking" passages marked already. Even then, it's assuming that whoever you're talking to already knows a bit about the cult in question. Most people won't. So unless you feel like teaching 'em all about Mormonism, from both sides, don't try to tackle that one.

One work-around for this is (again, assuming you know your cults well enough) mentioning non-Christian views when you study a Christian topic. For example, if you're talking about the Trinity, you can say, "Now, there's some people -- like the Jehovah's Witnesses -- who don't believe in the Trinity. We do. They don't like the idea of a three-headed god, and they turn the Holy Spirit to an 'impersonal active force'. But here's the passages we use to call the Spirit a person, and why we believe in the Trinity."

#7. Getting people in: good luck. No matter how led by the Lord you may be, things are going to be slow at first ... you'll be lucky to have a half-dozen regular attendees. Be patient, trust Him, and don't give up too soon ... but if it becomes obvious that nobody's going to show up for the third week in a row, accept it.

#8. Music. Well, it doesn't always hurt to have a little instrumental background music ... though my martial arts teacher doesn't really understand the concept of "background", and I have to remind him to turn it down. And it might not be a bad idea for your group to try a hymn or two, but don't force it; make the suggestion.

#9. Let the Lord lead. Easy to say, hard to do, but time will come when He'll make His intentions obvious. When that happens, go with it, even if it is away from the subject you had planned.

That's all I can come up with right now ... then again, that's probably more than enough. I know people don't like my long posts.

Hmm ... one possibility for organizing is to pick a subject, make sure everone knows it, then one person leads the discussion ... but before you disband for the night, get a volunteer to lead the next week's discussion (which might be a different view on the same subject, or a new topic entirely). Ideally, make sure everybody knows the next week's topic before the night is out, so they can do their homework.

Of course, it might be a good ice-breaker if you and your roommate ran the first night's discussion; it wouldn't put your visitors on the spot right away. However you want to play it.

And really, I only meant music as Muzak in the background, or maybe something playing softly while waiting for the last people to arrive. But, of course, that's purely by choice.