What is Your Vision?

We all have things that drive us. We all have goals and pursuits, morals and guidelines in our lives. The problem is that we rarely focus on them. We abstractly think about values such as "hard work" or "honor," but how often to we think practically about how we can apply them to our lives? How often do we ponder about what our personal and professional goals are, and then try to figure out how best to accomplish them?

It's similar to driving on vacation. Let's say I am going out of town and I hop in the car and head toward the beach. Where am I going? Based off of what I just said, I don't truly know. I just vaguely am headed to "the beach." Similarly, we often want "success" or "better relationships," but do not actually know where we are going with it.

What we need is a plan. If I were going to the beach, I wouldn't just go (although that may be fun once in a while!). Instead, I would plan to go to a certain beach and then plug it into my phone so I would know how to get there. For instance, if I were headed to Ormond Beach, Florida, I would start on I-75, then go to I-275, and so on until I ended up on Highway 1, headed south along the Atlantic coast. I have a desired location (Ormond Beach, FL) with direct steps to help me achieve that (directions, knowledge of gas stations and food along the way, etc.).

Our personal lives should have this kind of structure, as well. How will we ever improve and grow as a person and as a follower of Christ without some sort of plan. We may have a vague idea of where to go, but it is much harder to pull that off without a plan. This plan is what is known as a vision.

A vision is a plan, but more than just a stale plan. There are several other things that must coincide with our vision to make it more than a plan and help us live our lives based upon it:

• Passion: what excites you? If your vision doesn't excite you, you will never follow through. If I made a vision for myself based upon living a life that focused on math, it would be a pointless vision. I would never actually want to live a life that was focused on math. I hate it. I am not passionate about mathematics in any way, shape or form. Thus, our vision must reflect what we are passionate about.
• Motivation: what drives you? Often our passion ends up motivating us, but they are not the same in all cases. Where passion is what excites us about a vision, motivation is what makes us push harder into a vision. It may be providing for your family, growing as a person or honoring God, for example. Motivation is the thing that makes us get up and get to work when nothing else does.
• Direction: where are you headed? If you don't know where you are headed, you'll likely never get there. In order to develop a true vision, you must have some sort of heading to aim for. 

 What is your passion? What is your motivation? What is your direction? Before we can really dive into your specific vision, let's figure out these three things first. What excites and drives you, and where do these things make you want to head for? Where do you want to be in a week, a month, a year or more from now? What do you want to improve on and what is it that you want to accomplish?

Once you get these three things finished, you'll be better able to start figuring out your vision. The next step is to determine your overarching mission or purpose. That, my friends, is what we will explore next week.

*This post is heavily influenced by the teaching of Jason Cummins. Look him up. Dude is awesome.

Rebuke and Guide: Jesus on Disciples and Their Failures

"Jesus replied, 'You unbelieving and rebellious generation! How long will I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him here to Me.' Then Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and from that moment the boy was healed.
Then the disciples approached Jesus privately and said, 'Why couldn’t we drive it out?'

'Because of your little faith,' He told them. 'For I assure you: If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, "Move from here to there," and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.'" -Matthew 17:17-20, HCSB

Have you ever just wanted to smack a friend? They continue doing something dumb, and can't seem to get it. Finally, they act a fool one last time, and you tell them (rather bluntly) how they are screwing up.

Jesus had one of those moments here. Over and over He calls His disciples out for their faith, and over and over again His disciples show how little their faith is. This time, however, He goes a bit deeper.

Jesus proceeds to explain how their failure at driving out a demon is due to how little their faith is, but if they were to have greater faith, they would be able to do great things. Notice how Jesus handled His disciples in this scenario, and let's see if we can glean some guidance for our own discipleship efforts.

1. He wasn't afraid to rebuke them. How often have we wanted to say how a fellow Christ follower is not walking on the right path, but then chickened out and didn't tell them? Me too, but Jesus didn't chicken out. He saw His disciples failing in their spiritual growth, and He called them on it. We must also be willing to do this. If we are never willing to correct our disciples, then how will they ever grow?

2. He guided them closer to God. Jesus didn't stop with a rebuke, though. He followed up with spiritual guidance and pushed them closer to God. He explained why things weren't working, and helped them see how to do better.

We must be willing to do both of these steps with our disciples. We mustn't be afraid to call people on their shortcomings, but if we aren't willing to lovingly and calmly come alongside and guide them to a new understanding, what good does that do? They'll never know how to correct their actions!

Let us be willing to rebuke, and let us be willing to guide. Our disciples look to us for spiritual leadership; we must act our part.

A Word to Young Ladies...From the Christ-Following Guys Out Here

This post is written to all of those young Christian ladies out there, from the point of view of a young Christian man. Hopefully, some of the young ladies that are following God out there will see this and be helped to see where the heart of many Christian dudes my age (college-aged) is. I don't tend to write more personal posts like this one, but it's really on my heart today, so enjoy. It's about to get real up in here.

Dear Ladies,

There is a massive problem on our college campuses (and in the world as a whole): the idea of a biblical man is becoming a rarer and rarer goal for guys our age (I'm sure I just got an "amen" from some of you). Dudes are simply not willing to man up and be the spiritual leader anymore. In fact, being a spiritual man isn't all that popular, in general.

However, there isn't only bad news. The God-fearing man is not extinct, and in many ways, is making a comeback. Many college-aged guys are striving to follow God in a more real and serious manner these days. While the total number of us may be few, there is a population of young men that are trying to follow after God with all their heart, mind, soul and strength.

Yes, we stumble. We fail. We don't always have it together. We may even fall in front of you. Yet, we exist. While many of us are growing in Christ, we are also not meant to be alone. This is where you come in.

This same group of men is looking for you. Ok, not you specifically. That would be creepy. We are looking, however, for a woman that is truly running after her Lord and Savior. We are searching for a girl who has sold out and given all that her heart can give to Christ and her walk with Him. We are in pursuit of a woman that sounds like the words of Solomon in Proverbs:

"Charm is deceptive and beauty

is fleeting,

but a woman who fears the Lord

will be praised."

-Proverbs 31:30, HCSB

You see, a nice appearance is great. This is not a letter suggesting that you swap the gym for the couch. No, I'm instead encouraging you to go deeper and deeper in your walk with God. Fear the Lord. Love Him. Be passionate about His mission, reflect His heart and walk in His grace.

All of this is to say: ladies, your Christian walk is important to us, as well. Not every guy is into yoga pants and low-cut shirts; some guys are into a woman with a bible in her hand and prayers on her lips. If you want to truly attract a God-fearing man, reflect the words of Proverbs 31 instead of Cosmo.

Don't be afraid to be that kind of woman. Encourage us to be the men of God that we should be. If both men and women in the Church would encourage the other sex to follow the Lord with all their heart, and help each other do so, there could be a lot of happy young men and women, all serving the Lord with all they have.

My prayer is that my generation would grab hold of this. I pray that young men would step up and take their walk seriously, becoming the spiritual leaders they are made to be. I pray that young women would put aside the opinions of the world and run headlong after their Savior, becoming the God-fearing woman of Proverbs 31. I pray that men and women of the Church would come together and serve our King in His mission, and I pray that y'all are praying for this, as well.

Ladies, stay steadfast. The biblically-based man is out there. I promise.

Sincerely,
A young man in search of the Proverbs 31 woman

Dear Mr. President

Dear President Obama,

Congrats on your victory! It was a close, hard-fought race, and you prevailed. I cannot imagine the grind that is the life of an American presidential candidate. If I had to guess, you are probably very tired and relieved. If I had to guess, you're probably just glad the election is over. I know I would be.

Yet, the rest will not be long (if you're even able to breathe for a day or two). Before you know it, your second term will start, and all eyes will be on you to move "forward," as your campaign stated the goal is. The American economy is still sputtering, with 7.1% of the nation unemployed and 48% considering themselves to be either "struggling" or "suffering," according to Gallup. The national debt is over sixteen trillion dollars, and climbing. Iran is regularly threatening us, and the Middle East continues to be consumed with war.

Our schools are struggling to keep extracurriculars, and college tuition is rising as jobs for these college grads are disappearing. Global temperatures are rising and ice caps are melting. Gay rights, abortion and marijuana use are among the social issues that our nation is currently divided over.

Not only is our nation divided, but our Congress is, as well. The Senate is controlled by your Democratic party, while the House belongs to the Republicans. This election, each part of Congress only fell under a stronger majority. Thus, our legislative branch is likely to be even more gridlocked now than during your first term.

This is just a snapshot of what awaits your second term. The American people want you to "fix" all of this, and more. Sure, you're not super-human. It would be hard for you to do even half of that, much less all of it. Yet, the expectations will be there.

As you look to move forward, we will all either agree or disagree with you and your decisions. You'll do some things I agree with, and you'll do some things I disagree with. Yet, regardless of your decisions or political party or how liberal or conservative you are, I will pray for you. In fact, Mr. President, I'll be praying for you a lot.

I'll be praying for you as you face expectations. I'll pray that you are able to manage the pressure and stress, and I'll pray for you to make decisions based on what needs to happen, and not based on other people's expectations.

I'll be praying for your family. I'll pray that they are also able to handle pressure and expectations. People say some cruel things, so I'll pray that they (and you, as well) are shielded as much as possible from the hateful, awful venom that people will spew.

I'll be praying for you to have wisdom. I'll pray that Ecclesiastes 7:25 would apply, and that you'll "[turn your] heart to know and search out and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things." 

I'll be praying that you are able to rally this nation and lead us to unity with each other. I'll be praying that our nation would be able to look to you as our leader, our face and our voice to the rest of the world.

I'll be praying that you would be honest and truthful, straight-forward and direct with us. We need a leader that will be real with us right now, not a guy that beats around the bush.

Most importantly, I'll be praying for your heart, Mr. President. Ultimately, this next term will end in four years and then you will never be president again. Therefore, I will pray most of all for something that will affect your life now and for eternity. I do not know if you are a Christian; some people say you are, some say you aren't. Therefore, I'll simply pray for your heart to be drawn closer and closer to God's. If you are already a follower of our God, then I pray that you continue growing closer to Him. If you aren't already saved by the grace of God, then I pray that you would be, and that our God would wrap you in His arms, making you into the man of God you need to be.

This country needs you, Mr. President. Since we're both basketball fans, I'll lay it out like this: it's the fourth quarter. The Lakers are trailing to the Heat, 99-101, with 0:50 left. Kobe has the ball. He needs to lead his team down the court and be the leader to get them to overtime, or better, the win. Mr. President, we're losing in the fourth. We need you to be our Kobe, and I pray that you lean on God to give you the strength to do just that.

 

Praying for you,
Bryan Watts
Jesus Follower and American with a keyboard

"First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all those who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity."



-1 Timothy 2:1-2, HCSB

Discipleship, Part Five: Conclusion

So, this is the fifth part and seventh post in my Discipleship series. If you've stayed with me the whole way through, congrats! I'm not positive I'd read seven posts that some goober on the Internet machine wrote, regardless of topic. Alas, today we draw to a close on this series. Our final topic for the series feeds off of my post from last week, Discipleship, Part Four: Teaching. We will look briefly at one question today: how do you balance teaching with the other three aspects of discipleship? As a refresher, let's re-cap the four elements of discipleship, then we'll dive in.

4 Elements of Discipleship

1. Commitment: be personally invested in your disciple
2. Modeling: you set a good example for your disciple
3. Personal Attention: you pay direct attention and care to your disciple
4. Teaching: teaching biblical knowledge, doctrine and life to your disciple

OK, so how does one balance these? We learned that both are necessary to discipleship last week, so we have to have both. But just how important are they? A few points to close out the series:

-Biblical knowledge isn't the key to spirituality: We looked at this last week. You have to do more discipling than just teaching; if knowledge-giving was the key to discipleship, then the best advice I could give would be to send my disciple to [insert your local Christian book store] to get a few commentaries and such, then watch 'em go. Obviously, the first three elements are needed along with the fourth.

Additionally, the personal side of discipleship is needed, as one can teach without discipling. When I preach on occasion, I may have 150-200 people listening to me. I am not discipling 150 people. I may be teaching, as well as aiding their spiritual walk, but that is not direct discipleship. Jesus preached to a lot of people in His ministry, but had a significantly smaller amount of disciples.

-Non-teaching isn't good enough to stand alone: Ponder with me for a moment. If I wanted to be a doctor, how would I go about it? What if I had a skilled doctor that cared about me, was dedicated to leading me, showed me how he does his job, and kept up with me on a day-to-day basis? Am I any closer to being a doctor? Of course. In my time watching and being around this doctor, I have gotten glimpses of what being a doctor is all about. I've learned some things, and probably have a pretty good idea of what this whole doctor lifestyle looks like.

Yet, what happens if I take that and try to become a practicing doctor? Will I be able to be licenced? The obvious answer is no. Why is that? I have no medical school diploma, which would be the evidence that I have knowledge in the area of medicine. I would be familiar with things I had seen with my doctor-mentor, and I would have a general idea of some different things. But what happens when I run into a disease I have never seen, or I need to prescribe a medicine that I have never heard of? The results would be disastrous.

The same goes for discipleship. Our disciples can learn by watching and being with us, no doubt, but a lack of real, intense teaching will prove disasturous for them in their walk. We won't always be their for them when they run into something they've never learned about. Also, guess what: we may model something contrary to God's Word. Even with the best intentions, we are still imperfect, sin-scarred beings that will be that way until we die and resurrect to be with God. We will mess up, and we will show them the wrong thing to do at some point.

There must be teaching, as the Word of God is essential to discipleship, and you are not capable of true discipleship without it.

-A balance must be found: In our very first post in this series, I referred to discipleship as spiritual parenting. A good parent will have commitment to their child, will model how to live life to their child, show their child personal attention and have concern for their child learning about life. Think about a parent that does the first three without teaching: the child will not survive once it moves out, as the parent never told it how to live. If the parent teaches, but never shows love or commitment or care, the child may go on to physically live, but it will be a socially warped human, having never seen how someone shows commitment, love and compassion for another human.

We must have a healthy balance. Nutritionists suggest a balanced meal; too much bread will leave you with a protein deficiency, while too much meat will leave you with no energy from carbohydrates (yes, I simplified all of that a lot. Bear with me, science geeks.). The ideal meal features elements of both, and so should discipleship. Keep the Gospel/Great Commission as the focus, apply the Scripture that went along with each element of discipleship as needed, and you are on your way to spiritual parenting.

Being a parent is never easy, and you'll mess up along the way (and like biological kids, they may very well tell you so). Don't let that scare you; you've got the Spirit of God inside you, and He will make sure you are capable to do this work. He wouldn't have sent us on this mission otherwise.

Discipleship, Part Four: Teaching

We have finally arrived at the fourth and final portion of discipleship: teaching. This is, interestingly, the aspect of discipleship that most people often think of first, and yet also feel the most incapable of done. Perhaps this is why there is a thorough lack of discipleship in the Church today. Today, we will briefly look at the teaching aspect of discipleship, and hopefully answer a few questions:

-How important is biblical training/truth?
-Can you be mature without knowledge?
-Can you be knowledgeable without maturity?


1. Knowledge is important, but not everything

The Bible is the Word of God. It is the most reliable and consistent way for us to know about Him and what He has to say. Thus, we absolutely must do everything we can to dive into His Word and learn, soaking up knowledge like a sponge. But...

"Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that 'We all possess knowledge.' But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know" -1 Corinthians 8:1-2, NIV

As we see here in 1 Corinthians, knowledge can only get you so far. If you know how to build an engine, that's great. But if you don't use this knowledge, what good does it do you? The same principle applies to biblical knowledge: you can be an authority on the life of Christ, but if you never live your live in a way that reflects that, then your knowledge is wasted.

We will look more into this next week in our Discipleship series conclusion, but I will just state a short preview: in discipleship, you must balance your teaching with the intangible, other three aspects.

2. Maturity comes through knowledge

"So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work." -Ephesians 4:11-16, NIV

This passage begins by telling us that God gifts people with the ability to teach. This we know; some people are better teachers than others. Yet, did you catch why? Paul writes that the reasoning behind having teachers is so that the Church will become mature.

Think about it: if you don't know how to live like Christ, then how can you? It is through knowledge of God and His Word that we get to achieve a greater maturity in Him.


3. You can have knowledge that doesn't lead to maturity

"But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both nowand to the day of eternity. Amen" -2 Peter 3:18, HCSB

Knowledge isn't the only goal in our discipleship. Look at the Pharisees in Jesus' life: they were experts on the laws of God. They knew them in and out. Yet, Jesus blasted them regularly. Maybe the best example of this is in Matthew 5, where Jesus outlines multiple laws, and then takes them to a new, more internal, heart-based meaning.

You see, if we simply fill our disciples with knowledge, we are only making Pharisees: people that know about God, but not how to conform to Him (Romans 8:29) and live live like Him. Our goal is to lead people to be like Christ, not just know what he said. As Peter so eloquently said in the passage above, we are to grow in both grace and knowledge. Knowledge is good and important, I cannot underscore that enough. But without growing in grace, without growing in the love and joy and peace of Christ, we are not being disciples of Christ. We are merely reference machines. We must approach the knowledge of God like this, and likewise, lead our disciples down the same path.  

Discipleship, Part Three: Personal Attention

So far in our discipleship mission, we have looked at the commitment and modeling to disciple. Today, we look at a third component: personal attention.

"So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears." -Acts 20:31, NIV

We are briefly going to look at two lessons from this verse, as applies to discipleship:

1. "Each of you": Paul was talking to the Ephesian elders in this verse, and he reminded them that for three years, he constantly warned every single one of them against people with false teaching. This idea of warning and caring for each one shows that he didn't see the Ephesian church as just a body of believers, but as individual lives. Each one of these elders had Paul's attention, and he explicitly warned them against these things that could damage their walk with Jesus. We do the same; we don't get to just lump our disciples together as a group, and only address them as a group. Our disciples require individual care from us. Everyone has different needs in their walk with Christ, and must be treated as individuals in that walk. Your disciples will not all be at the same place in their walk, with the same level of growth. Everyone takes an individual focus from their discipler. Give it to them.

2. "Night and day with tears": Paul didn't just warn each of them, but he warned them at all times of the day, and with plenty of emotion. He maintained this emotional, personal care at all times, no matter the time of day. Every person we disciple will need our compassion and care at different times, just as the Ephesian elders did. We must be willing to give anyone our personal attention at anytime, and earnestly mean it. If your disciple needs you, you must genuinely give them your attention, no matter when. This isn't about when discipleship is convenient for you; Paul didn't mention his office hours with the Ephesian elders here. He didn't say "I warned all of you every other Tuesday, from 5-6 and at an occasional lunch meeting." No, he warned them all the time, as he was always looking out for each of his people at all times, all the while holding a passion for them and their well-being. People don't cry unless they care at a deep level.

Everyone is different. They have different lives, different problems, different sin struggles, different walks with God and different needs. The biblical discipler gives each of them the individual, personal attention that reflects this variation in needs and people.

Discipleship, Part Two: Modeling

Commitment to your discipleship of someone is vastly important, as the last two posts in this series have shown. Commitment is only a pierce of the puzzle, though. Today we will look into a second part: modeling.

"For you can have 10,000 instructors in Christ, but you can’t have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. Therefore I urge you to imitate me... Imitate me, as I also imitate Christ... Join in imitating me, brothers, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us... Do what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you... and you became imitators of us and of the Lord when, in spite of severe persecution, you welcomed the message with joy from the Holy Spirit. As a result, you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia... For you yourselves know how you must imitate us: We were not irresponsible among you; we did not eat anyone’s food free of charge; instead, we labored and struggled, working night and day, so that we would not be a burden to any of you. It is not that we don’t have the right to support, but we did it to make ourselves an example to you so that you would imitate us." -1 Corinthians 4:15, 11:1; Philippians 3:17, 4:9; 1 Thessalonians 1:6-7; 2 Thessalonians 3:7-9 (HCSB)

Noticing a theme here? Paul really wanted his disciples to imitate him as he imitated Christ. He wanted them to look at him and mirror how he walked with God. But just what about our lives should we model for our disciples? I'm glad you asked, because Paul has that answer, too.

"Let no one despise your youth; instead, you should be an example to the believers in speech, in conduct, in love,  in faith, in purity." -1 Timothy 4:12, HCSB

So, basically, everything. Your words? Yep. The way you act with people and tasks? Yep. The amount you love God and people? Yep. The depth of your faith in the Lord? Yep. Your purity in your day-to-day life? Yep. All of it. Their eyes are on you, and you are to live in a way that they can reflect those things as they see them in you in their own lives. No pressure.

To close, I want to remind you: you will screw up. At some point, you will fail to be a perfect model. When you do, admit it. The apostle John did as much in 1 John 1:8, when he said that we deceive ourselves if we pretend we are perfect.

Your disciples need you to be real with them. I don't mean that you sin to relate or "increase your ability to disciple." We never sin for any kind of "good" reason (see Romans 6:15). Instead, be honest. You aren't perfect. Confess and repent, so your disciples can mirror that, too.

Discipleship and Church Strategy: What Is Your Focus?

"Then Jesus came near and said to them, 'All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age." -Matthew 28:18-20, HCSB

This is the famous Great Commission passage, which happens to be the exact passage I opened up with my recent post, Discipleship: An Introduction, with. On Tuesday, I continued this series on discipleship, which is at the core of everything the Christian should be doing. Our primary concern should be to make disciples. It is the command Christ gave us to accomplish while waiting for His return (the end of the age).

This also applies to the Church as a whole. The mission of the Church should be discipleship. Not huddle groups and bible classes; discipleship is the job of every believer, not just a few "teachers." Every single Christian is to "go."

I've noticed an interesting thing, though. We almost always leave verse 18 off when we are talking about the Great Commission. If the last command of Christ is so important, why not include all of it? Sure, verse 18 isn't directly a command. However, it may be even more important, as it gives Christ's reasoning for verses 19-20.

The entire reason that Christians share the gospel, lead people to Christ and assist in the convert's journey into discipleship is because Christ has all authority in heaven and on earth. He is the supreme Lord and King over all. Everything we do is to glorify this King. He runs the show, and we lift Him up the whole way.

We can disciple and strategize and teach all day, and never accomplish the Great Commission. You see, if we forget that the entire reason for discipleship and church growth is the glory of our Lord, we are nothing more than a group of pagan idol worshippers, recruiting people to worship ourselves and our ideas.

We keep God and His Word at the center of everything we do, and we especially keep the very focus of God's Word (the gospel) at the forefront of what we are doing. If we remove the bright torch that is the glorious gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ from our focus, we will be left to be devoured by wolves and trip over our own feet in the darkness of this world.

The gospel, and the glory it brings God, is why we disciple. Without the gospel, you are simply leading people down a path of which even you cannot see. If you are leading people without a focus on their salvation in Christ and the glory of God in that, then you are leading people for an eternity away from God. That, my friends, is not a good direction to be headed.

Discipleship: An Introduction

Moses did it. John the Baptist did, too. Pharisees did, and almost everyone knows Jesus did. In fact, Christ even told us to do it. What is it?

"Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations..." -Matthew 28:19a, HCSB

All Christians are commanded to make disciples. Questions abound when I make that statement. Questions like...

1) What is a disciple?
     The word "disciple" comes from the Greek word for "learner" or "pupil."

So, if a disciple is a learner, the next question is...

2) How do we make disciples? What is discipleship?
     This is a harder question than it should be, purely because I personally believe that few churches are adaquately teaching their congregations what discipleship is. The fact that I have grown up in church, as have several of my friends, and none of us had a very good idea of how to disciple speaks volumes to me. Furthermore, when I wanted to lead a discipleship training, it was rather hard to actually find material on how to actually disciple people. Fortunately, I found www.disciplers.org. This website had an excellent presentation of what discipleship is, directly from the Word.

I will be basing my Tuesday posts off of this website and their model for disicpleship, which they refer to as "spiritual parenting." Spiritual parenting has four distinct aspects that we will look at over the next few weeks, in hopes that we can all become better at fulfilling the Great Commission.

September 4: Discipleship: An Introduction
September 11: Aspect 1- Commitment
September 18: Aspect 2- Modeling
September 25: Aspect 3- Personal Attention
October 2: Aspect 4- Teaching
October 9: The Dangers of Example-based Discipleship v. The Dangers of Teaching-based Discipleship