Chapter 6 (Part 2) Discipling Others – Following Jesus’ Example
The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
(2 Timothy 2:2)
I have been involved in a focused, discipleship relationship in one form or another for 53 years. Such discipleship is effective and fruit-bearing. The kingdom of God has been expanded, men and women have grown spiritually, the church has been strengthened, marriages have been saved, the hungry have been fed, the orphans have grown to adulthood, lives have been touched, and souls have been saved.
The fields are ripe for the harvest, but the workers are few. It’s time for the believers in Jesus to awaken and do the work set before them by their Lord.
WHO SHALL LEAD THEM?
Who shall lead new believers? Simply put – you. Jesus’ Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) commands the entire church – all of us – to go, baptize, and teach. The “you” in the verse is plural – y’all! These verses make the job of discipling others the role of every person in the church who believes in Jesus. This was not a job assigned to only the apostles, or making disciples would have ended at the end of the first century. This is not a job reserved for just the preachers and church leaders.
This has been a weak point in the church for decades, if not centuries. The European church took a wrong turn hundreds of years ago and established the clergy as the “religious experts” and “the holy ones.” Though European believers fled to the Americas for religious freedom, it was not long before the North American church followed suit. As our culture became more industrialized and specialized, we started thinking that pastors should specialize and do all the work of discipling. Leadership assumed that the people in the church are under-qualified to do such work. Churchgoers slowly transformed into little more than God’s spectators. Sunday became the day for church. People put on their best clothes, sat, and listened to a sermon, attended a Sunday school class where they ate donuts and drank coffee and listened to a lesson or watched a video, and the rest of the week they did regular stuff that had nothing to do with church, or other believers, or God our Father or Jesus our Savior or the Spirit our power. Out of this dichotomy of belief, we designated holiness for Sunday, compartmentalized our experience with God, and magnified our thinking in terms of sacred and secular.
Pay attention to this truth: It is not the pastor’s or bishop’s job to disciple the entire church, the believers in Jesus, on a one-to-one basis.
One author’s reluctance to describe discipleship as something personal and focused began with a bad assumption that Coleman’s book (and others like his book) meant the pastor was the one to disciple each member of his congregation. “People have come to me actually bitter because their former pastors ‘did not disciple’ them. What people usually mean by this is that these pastors didn’t spend one-on-one time with them.”[i] These “bitter” people made two mistakes about discipleship. First, they assumed that they were the ones who needed to be discipled. The opposite is true. Flip it around. The complainers are the ones who need to be discipling others. Second, they assumed that pastors are the ones who do the discipling. Flip this around, too. Pastors prepare the church to do the discipling – and this cannot be done on a one-to-one basis. Pastors are too busy to disciple the entire church one-to-one! The people in the church do the discipling. To excuse an entire approach to discipleship based on a person’s misunderstanding of discipleship is preposterous. (However, the author goes on to make another mistake by saying one person cannot “disciple” another person any more than you can “Christian” a person. Sheesh! Such statements are misleading and certainly incorrect. This is what happen when you interpret passages based on exegesis done in English instead of the original Greek. I explained this in depth in Chapter 3. And selling books may be a motivation here, too, by trying to say something new about an age-old practice.) “To disciple” means baptizing and teaching,” and, YES, one person can “disciple” another, but discipleship is so much more than this.
Your role in the church is not to be discipled. Your role is to disciple others. It is a command from Jesus. Your pastor’s role is to equip YOU to do the work of discipleship. Too many people read books on discipleship and make an incorrect assumption that because one-to-one relational discipleship is what Jesus did, then that is what the pastor should do for them. They conclude that since Jesus discipled his followers, they want to be discipled by the best, the professional. And who is the best? Why, it’s the pastor! So, they schedule a meeting with the pastor and place one more burden on his or her already filled To-Do list. (Truthfully, few people are available to follow the pastor around for the 18 hours he works each day, get up in the middle of the night to make an ER visit, or sit with a grieving family over the loss of a child. Few people want to visit a grieving widow who has just lost her husband after a battle with cancer. Few people will ever get buzzed through an iron door to visit a prisoner in jail.)
Pay attention to this: The pastors, bishops, deacons, and elders of your church have their own work to do. They are charged with building up the church – the “edification” of the church. And the church is YOU. Their work is to prepare YOU to do your work. The command to “make disciples” is a command for YOU. The work of discipleship falls upon every believer in the church, including YOU.
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BUT, BUT, BUT…
I’ve stated this before, but many believers hesitate at Jesus’ command to disciple others. They say, “But I’m not qualified to teach others. I don’t know enough to teach others. I don’t lead the kind of life anyone would want to follow! And what if they ask me a question, and I don’t know the answer.” (And the excuses continue…) To these believers, I say: There’s a reason that Jesus said that he would be with us until the end of the age, and there is a reason that Holy Spirit lives in you to provide power. Holy Spirit is a teacher. Learn from him.
To you who are hesitant to disciple others because you think you don’t know enough, please allow me to ask you this: What in the world have you been doing for years on Sunday mornings? The pastor has been teaching you what the Bible says for years. What did you do with it? Did you take notes? If you did, did you file them? I guarantee that after you understand what Jesus’ commands actually mean and you start discipling others, the Sunday sermon will have new meaning for you because you have been charged by Jesus to pass these things to others. What did you do in Sunday school? Did you retain it? You have been commissioned to teach others by Jesus. You now have a greater motivation to pay attention to what is taught on Sunday. And once those being discipled ask questions, you will listen for the answers.
Let all of you make a few changes right now to get prepared – even if you are not discipling anyone:
- First, start by bringing your printed Bible to church; bring some pens and highlighters to take notes on the sermon. Bring a notebook. You will need to pass this skill on to others. If you use a digital Bible, bring a laptop or tablet. Take notes. Drop the habit of making your smartphone your Bible. It’s too hard to take notes on it.
- Second, start applying what you hear on Sunday to how you live during the week. The Christian life does not end when you walk out the door of the church on Sunday. Start living like you are a Christian. You will need to pass this skill on to others.
- Third, start memorizing Bible verses. Start with the small verses you read in this book. You will need to pass this skill on to others.
- If you have a question that needs to be answered, drop a note in the offering basket (or however they collect it at your church.) Or start asking someone you know who knows more about the Bible and the Christian walk than you do.
- Finally, realize that the great thing about discipleship is that it goes both ways. The discipleship relationship is reciprocal. Disciplers and the ones they disciple teach each other.
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WHO DO I DISCIPLE?
Did these verses slip by you for all these years? Look at the commands for older believers to teach younger believers. Older men teach younger men as sons; older women teach younger women as daughters.
“Older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible, sound in faith, in love, in perseverance. Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, so that they may instruct the young women in sensibility: to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be slandered. Likewise, urge the younger men to be sensible; in all things show yourself to be a model of good works, with purity in doctrine, dignified, sound in word which is irreproachable, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us.” (Titus 2:2-6)
This is not to say that older men cannot disciple older men nor younger men disciple younger men. Likewise, younger women can disciple younger women. Younger men and women can also disciple each other in a co-ed setting.
But here is an important point about discipleship: It works best within genders – men with men, women with women. Co-ed Bible studies have their place, but if you really want to get down to the hard problems we face daily, and if you wish to hold each other accountable for a godly walk of faith, it’s mandatory that men meet with men and women with women.
As I stated before, my first discipleship group met at 6 a.m. at a donut shop when I was 20. That was 53 years ago. Since that time, I have made every effort to be in a group of men discipling each other. My present group started as a music team discipleship group to answer some theological questions which arose at a worship team retreat. During that retreat, some men decided that meeting weekly would be a good idea. Our ministry would deepen, and we could hold each other accountable for our spiritual walk throughout the week. That group has evolved since our initial meetings with men coming and going, but Kevin and I have been meeting together for over twenty years. We now meet in the corner of a restaurant for two hours each Friday morning. It’s been a good run (and we are better men for it!) We also attend church services, serve in other areas in the church and in the community, and several men also involve themselves in a weekly couples Bible study.
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THE GOD F.A.C.T.O.R.
Be smart about who you disciple. You want to make the most of the time that God has given you. Good stewardship of time is always a factor to consider. When finding and determining individuals who would be good candidates for the time you are going to spend together, consider the “God F.A.C.T.O.R.”
Look for people who are:
FAITHFUL – Search for people who show up and don’t make excuses.
AVAILABLE – Find people that want to grow in their faith. They will make time to be there. Some people are too busy, too committed, too burdened, too unwilling to make the time for God. Do not focus on them.
COURAGEOUS – Look for people who will try something new. This is very different than “old church.”
TEACHABLE – Find people that are willing to learn things about God. Avoid people that just want to argue about everything. It’s a waste of time.
OPTIMISTIC – The people who are optimistic about what God can do are the people you want. These people walk by faith. Remember the twelve spies? Find the Joshuas and Calebs.
RESPONSIBLE – This sums up all the other attributes. Find people that are willing to be accountable for their spiritual growth. They are going to grow.
(These six words form the acrostic – FACTOR. God is the subject. It’s a good way to remember it.)
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FOCUS ON MEN FIRST
This section has a condition regarding available time. (Please, do not take these comments out of context.) Pastors, if you have limited resources – people and time – and you have to make a choice about where to put your energy, start with the men in your church.
Coleman, up to his 30th printing of The Master Plan of Evangelism, stated that the priority of discipleship was to be men. (His later printings, in an editorial effort to be inclusive, changed this to “People are the Priority.” Duh! Who else would be the priority?) A clear and practical reason exists for a focus on men. The church needs more male leadership. Women are self-sufficient, self-initiators, and self-motivated. Men, on the other hand, make a lot of excuses, tend to wait for someone else to lead them, and are, for the most part, complacent when it comes to spiritual things. God himself said “It is not good for the man to be alone.” (Genesis 2:18)
This has nothing to do with equality; it has to do with the nature of men. At my church, for over 20 years, the prayer ministry has been organized by women, sustained by women, and motivated by women. Meals are usually provided by women to families in need. No one tells them to do this. They simply do it. If a church does not provide a Bible study for women, they will organize it, publicize it, and facilitate it with no one’s direction but their own. I do not think that my church is the only church like this. So, if a pastor has only a few willing persons to be discipled, and if he or she has limited resources to accomplish the task, focus on the men first.
Now, on its face, this statement appears to be old-fashioned. But it is far from it, and more so, it has some biblical basis. Let’s look at three issues here. First, Jesus never called any women to follow him. He only called men, and he only called twelve men at that. Twelve men to carry out his mission to reach the world with the gospel. And his success rate with men, even being fully God, was 92%. Even though he called no women to follow him, women followed him throughout his ministry. He did not need to call them to follow him; they merely followed him. The women that traveled with Jesus were self-initiators and self-motivated. He did not ask Joanna to support his ministry; she did it herself. The men needed to be called to follow Jesus. Secondly, Jesus, though he did not call the women, he did commission them to do important work because he knew they would do it. The women got up before the dawn and were at the grave on Sunday morning; the men were hiding or asleep. The women that followed Jesus became the first evangelists of the gospel. They were the first to see the empty tomb. They were the first to hear the words of angels declaring that he had risen. They were the first to see him risen from the dead. They were the first to share the good news of his resurrection. Bear in mind, the men who followed Jesus for over three years thought the women were telling tales, making it up! (Luke 24:11) Mary of Magdela later earned the nickname Apostle to the Apostles. After Jesus’ ascension, Lydia became one of the first church planters in Philippi. Finally, and this is the reason that men are the priority, men have a tendency to be spiritually complacent. While women will be the first to form a Bible study group, a prayer meeting, or a meal train, men tend to hang back. If you gather with a group of people for prayer and ask someone to lead out in verbal prayer, nine times out of ten a woman will be the first one to pray.
Look at the disciples in the Gethsemane. Sleepers – all of them. Look at Adam in the garden. Complacency has been a problem since the beginning of time. Eve gets a lot of grief for being the one who was deceived and eating the forbidden fruit, but Adam bears the responsibility for being the first one to introduce sin into the world. The reason for that is that he was there during the entire exchange with the serpent – and did nothing. Complacent! After she ate the fruit, she turned to her husband and offered him some.
“When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.” (Genesis 3:6, bold added)
Eve didn’t go look for Adam and find him somewhere else or call out his name. She merely turned; he was right next to her. He remained silent the entire time.
Pastors, if you have limited resources, men being a priority of discipleship is necessary. Disciple the men first; the women will take care of themselves.
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HOW MANY DO I DISCIPLE?
Robert Coleman’s book, though titled The Master Plan of Evangelism, is really a book about discipleship and following the patterns that Jesus used when he discipled his followers.[ii] Coleman proposes a small group to be discipled and further proposes a principle that the smaller the number, the better – that Jesus had subgroups within his greater group of twelve.
“All of this certainly impresses one with the deliberate way that Jesus proportioned his life to those he wanted to train. It also graphically illustrates a fundamental principle of teaching: that other things being equal, the more concentrated the size of the group being taught, the greater the opportunity for effective instruction.”[iii]
Larry Crabb puts discipleship in terms of “turning our chairs toward each other” and says that more than six makes his difficult to effectively communicate with each other. In order for believers to reach a deeper level of spirituality, communication must exceed the superficial levels of most church programs. In a portion of his book, he writes about a woman who is disillusioned with her relationship with her church.
‘There is no older woman or man [Maria] trusts [in her church] to provide her with wisdom, at least none that are available to her.
It could be so different.
The church needs many things. But it will properly prioritize its needs only when it gets its purpose straight. Its purpose is to draw people into Christ, to mirror Christ to one another, to show Christ to others by the way we live.
That happens only when a community of people on a journey to God, only in a group of people who turn their chairs toward one another. Spiritual friends and spiritual directors are people filled with Christ’s energy who have turned their chairs, who pour out their passions into each other and invite others to join them on the porch. But not many people, particularly not many men, have one truly spiritual friend. Even fewer have access to a spiritual director.” [iv]
I, personally, have always preferred to meet with between four and six men. I like this size because it’s practical. First, in a group this size no one can hide. Everyone has something to offer, and it allows men to share their ideas. Even if one of the men has something deep to share, the others are still able to absorb his weights and burdens and still have time to share their ideas. Second, when sharing prayer requests, everyone has time to share. When the group is larger, someone always seems to get left out. Third, because I usually meet at a restaurant or coffee shop, there is always a table that can seat six men, and if the table is in a back corner, all the better. Fourth, in a group of six you can hear each other. The older I get, the harder it is to hear above the noise of a restaurant. In a group larger than six, someone on the end will have trouble hearing, especially if you have old rock ‘n rollers in the group. I played in a country band for 31 years. Of the five men in the country music group when I retired, three used hearing aids. Hearing goes first… or so I’m told. Finally, if someone has another commitment, or if two or three men are absent, you still have a group of three or four. And if you have golfers in the group, you can always pull a foursome together.
If some of the men feel like they need a more focused time, they can always break off and meet again during the week at another venue. Many of the men are involved in co-ed Bible studies during the week. All attend church on Sundays, and all are involved in some sort of service ministry outside of their job.
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HOW OFTEN DO I MEET? WHEN DO I MEET?
How often should you meet as a discipleship group? Weekly. Weekly. Weekly. When the span of time is longer than a week, it seems like too much is lost. On a weekly basis, you are constantly keeping that person in mind. When you think of them more often, you pray for them more often. Weekly, you can update your prayer requests. And most importantly, weekly accountability for thoughts and actions is so much more effective than meeting bi-weekly or monthly.
My suggestion is to meet anytime you can. Mornings work well for some. I know a group that met every Wednesday at 4:30 a.m. (Too early for my blood-shot eyes.) Evenings work well for some. Meeting on Sunday before or after the worship service is a good time, too. However, I found that meeting after work is a little too much of a challenge. For younger dads, those kids have been anxiously waiting to see Dad, and you do not want to lose that precious time. And if your wife is a stay-at-home mom, she probably needs a break (and she wants to see her husband!) My weekly discipleship group meets on Friday mornings at 7 at a local restaurant. We meet for two hours. We do not meet the day after Thanksgiving, the weeks around Christmas and New Year, or if we are golfing on a Friday.
Some discipleship groups have substituted discipleship meetings during what used to be Sunday school time. I have found very few that are disappointed with the substitution. Wouldn’t it be great if the entire church, instead of going to a Sunday school class following the church service, broke into small groups of four to six people and met with each other to discuss the sermon, for accountability, and for prayer? It could happen in your church.
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WHAT DO WE STUDY TOGETHER?
What to study is not as important as you think it might be (as long as it is reputable material.) Whatever will serve as a catalyst to discuss spiritual matters is what you need to use. If the material points you to God, use it.
FOR MEN
In my present group, it’s a little difficult to say what is most important – our time together as friends, our time looking at a topic related to spiritual life, our time sharing prayer requests, our time eating together, or our time giving each other advice about fishing, camping, woodworking, house repair, and cars. My point is this: Spending time together as friends is just as important as the time talking about God and spiritual topics. Right now, we are discussing topics presented by Promise Keepers, a men’s organization dedicated to seeing men spiritually grow. However, over our 20 years together, we have read books such as Pilgrim’s Progress and Point Man together and discussed them; we have read and completed fill-in-the-blank studies like those by Max Lucado; we have memorized verses; and we have discussed the sermon of the week.
When I was living and ministering in Portland, Oregon, a ball of lightning blew through Western Theological Seminary in the form of a man named Steve Farrar. Steve had a heart for discipling men to be leaders in their households and to act faithfully to their spouses. Not long after that he wrote his first book, Point Man. The book became one of the catalysts for the Promise Keepers movement. Years later, after I had moved to southern California, I stood with thousands of men in the Los Angeles Coliseum pledging to be the men God had called us to be. Part of the reason I was there was the work of Steve Farrar. I think any of Steve’s books would benefit men in your church. Finishing Strong was his last book aimed at those who had walked with God throughout their lives. Steve went to his Creator at the age of 72, but left quite a legacy in his wake. Point Man deserves to be on your top twenty-five reads of all time.
Promise Keepers is a men’s movement that swelled up in 1990 in the state of Colorado under the leadership of Bill McCartney, head football coach of CU Boulder. The organization focuses on men being the head of their households, marriage fidelity, and positive mentorship of children. Any material associated with PK is a good addition to materials for discipleship.
Max Lucado, a pastor in San Antonio, Texas, has a number of study guides for books of the Bible that are easily adapted for discipleship groups. His read and fill-in-the-blank format is familiar to most men, and the weekly work is not burdensome.
FOR WOMEN
A great number of discipleship materials exists for women. Find materials by Priscilla Shire. Recently, a good book titled Encountering God by Kelly Minter has provided some excellent material for discipleship.
Remember the young mother who wanted to get back to how it used to be? She had never been introduced to the MOMS Club – a gathering of young mothers which is a support group designed just for the stay-at-home mother. The group is aimed at mothers who are interested in the world around them, provide a variety of activities for mothers and their children, and support the at-home mothering for families. And the support group is run by young mothers. The young mother joined MOMS the day after my concert, and as she met with them, she was discipled, taught, mentored, grand-mothered, and finally had a group with whom she related and with whom she grew in Jesus.
Here is an idea: Read a book of the Bible together. Start with either John or Proverbs. Read a verse or a paragraph to get the context. Find the main idea of the passage (It’s just like school!) What does it teach you about God? What does it teach you about yourself? What can you do differently this week than you are doing right now? It’s not quite a Bible study in the classic sense of the study. There are no workbooks to fill out; there is no video to watch. These things are fine to use as long as you get to the real issues of daily walking with Jesus.
Pay attention to this truth: It’s not as important what you study together (the Bible, a book, a handout) as it is that you simply meet together to discuss spiritual things and pray for one another. (Be sure your material is biblical and theologically correct for your denomination.)
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A WARNING
Resist the strong push by some church veterans (these are the churchy people in your church) to make this time solely a Bible study. For most believers, especially older ones, Bible studies have been the only meetings they have attended at church. It is their tradition. Even Sunday school classes have been Bible study-centered.
The purpose of a focused discipleship meeting is different. This meeting serves to move you closer to God than you were. This meeting demands accountability. Some of the meeting time is content-based. Some of it is action-based. Some of it is prayer-based. All of it is relationship-based.
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WHAT DO I DO IF I’VE GONE TO CHURCH ALL MY LIFE, AND I DON’T FEEL LIKE I’VE BEEN DISCIPLED BY ANYONE?
You probably have not been discipled in the sense of it being both focused and personal. Church services, weekly sermons, and even Bible studies can only go so far to move a person closer to God. Believe it or not, many Christians who have attended church services and Bible studies all their life still feel like they could have a closer walk with God. They’ve faithfully been involved in their churches, but they want something more, something deeper, something more meaningful. I mentioned a couple of such situations earlier. I could take a poll of people walking out of church services and ask church attenders questions like this:
- Do you feel closer to God after being here? How do you feel about God on Wednesday?
- What will you do tomorrow to get closer to God and will anyone help you do it?
- Who is there in your life that holds you accountable to walk with God?
- How many times do you spend focused time with God during the week?
If they are honest, many of them will pause before answering these questions, and their answers will be ones of overall disappointment with their current walk with God – and this is after being in a church service. (If you want to be shocked, ask them how they know they are going to heaven. In many churches, those attending services will say something like, “Because I’m a good person and do good things” or “Because I go to church every Sunday.”)
I learned this lesson long ago: If you want to be more like Jesus, surround yourself with people who want to be more like Jesus. These people will help you walk closer with God just by being there.
Change your view toward discipleship today. Do not go to church to be discipled. Do not go to church to get your needs met. Go to church to worship God. Go to church to get prepared to disciple others. Go to church to serve others. (And stop church-hopping! There is no perfect church.)
To start discipling someone, first, find someone who is new in their faith with Jesus. Ask them to meet with you to pray for each other. Write down the requests and pray for them during the week. Keep a prayer journal. Take the initiative. Be the leader. From there, find something to study together. Then, just keep at it. Rain or shine. Hard times or good.
If you feel like you are not qualified, or you feel like you could never be the one who initiates something like that, find someone to meet with you and disciple each other. You will have to ask them. The person you are looking for is not psychic.
To find these people, first start looking within your church for people who are close to Jesus. These people are the ones who faithfully serve in the church. They do not need to be Bible study leaders, and do not include the pastors or elders. (They are certainly godly, but they are busy.) Look for people who quietly serve God in the background – ushers, children’s Sunday school volunteers, ones who work in the nursery, people who set up chairs for events, people in charge of ministries for widows. Look for people who do not draw attention to themselves. Look within your own gender, and look for people who are older or the same age as you are who have been a believer for at least a year.
Next, ask them to meet with you once a week for thirty minutes to answer your questions about God and following God. Settle for thirty minutes; it will grow into a longer time. Tell them honestly about your desire to be more like Jesus and that you want them to help you do that. The person you ask may brush away your request by saying they are not qualified to help you. This is exactly the person you want to disciple you. Just tell them they seem like a person that knows more about following Jesus than you do. Meet them on their terms at a location they suggest.
Finally, prepare for the meeting. Come with a Bible, a notebook and an attitude to learn. Formulate five questions about anything to ask them. Here are some suggestions: How did you meet Jesus? What changed in your life? How do you keep your relationship with Jesus fresh and vital? What does the Bible mean to you? Do you have any daily devotional time with God? Have you ever memorized verses in the Bible? Why do you keep following God even when times get difficult in your life? These questions ought to get you started.
If the person you ask turns you down, do not take it personally. Most people in the church have never discipled another person and very few are prepared to do it. The person may actually feel inadequate to teach you about God. See if they might be interested in getting to know Jesus better with you by meeting thirty minutes a week. If you do this, now you are discipling others the way Jesus intended it to be. If they still turn you down, find another person. Be diligent. Don’t give up.
I’ve had several men approach me at church and ask me things like “Do you know of any men’s groups that meet?” or “Do you meet with other men during the week?” It’s interesting that the group I meet with weekly is not an “official” group that is promoted or listed by my church in any materials. Because we have been meeting for over twenty years, we have “out-lived” about five small group leaders in our church, and, somewhere along the line, we just got dropped off the “official list.” Be sure to check in with your church and let them know you exist.
Do not limit your definition of discipleship. It takes a lot of forms. (After all I’ve said about not burdening your pastor…) When I was twenty-seven, I got to know my pastor pretty well and asked him to help me get closer to God. He was probably the wisest man I knew then. He had served as a missionary to South America for years, and he had served as a pastor in a town with a seminary for years. He had seen seminary students and Bible college students come and go from his ministry. When I asked him to teach me, instead of rolling his eyes or saying, “I’m too busy” or “Let me put you in touch with someone who has more time,” he said, “Great! Come up with a list of questions we can talk about, and I’ll meet with you thirty minutes each week.” He put the meeting in my court. And we did meet. At the end of six weeks, he did something that surprised me. He had learned during our time together that I wrote songs and that I loved Jesus. He gave me one of the most satisfying discipleship assignments I have ever received. For about six months, he gave me the topic and the Bible passage for the message he was going to give for the last Sunday night service of the month, and asked to write a song for it that I would sing right before he spoke. And I got to it! One month, the topic for the service was “Jesus is the Bread of Life” from John. I sang the song “Bread of Life” I had crafted over the month, and I received one of the highest compliments from him I have ever received. After hearing the song, he walked to the platform and said, “Well, that wraps up our message for tonight! Goodnight!” I put that song on my first album. That was discipleship in action!
Jesus called us all to disciple others. Let’s get to it! Onward, forward!
[i] John Mark Comer, Practicing the Way. Colorado Springs: Waterbrook, 2024. P. 12.
[ii] Robert E. Coleman, The Master Plan of Evangelism. Tarrytown: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1964.
[iii] Ibid., 26-27.
[iv] Larry Crabb. Becoming a True Spiritual Community. Nashville: Thomas Nelson. 1999, 183.