In scanning through a book by Andrew Davis, Revitalize: Biblical Keys to Helping Your Church Come Alive Again, I was reminded of the two journeys of disciple-making: The work of disciple-making is taught in the New Testament in the language of two journeys: the internal journey of growth into full…
In life, humans seem to struggle with the middle of the pendulum swing. What I mean is that we tend to lean toward the left or right extreme of the pendulum swing. Too often balance is delicate and fleeting. Like faith and works (see James), head knowledge and behavior are…
There are many questions being asked by potential disciple-makers. Sadly, the lack of answers to these questions have produced much indecisiveness and immobility. Too often the result is no start and no disciple-making. How do we break through this potential roadblock? Prayerful decisiveness and activity. In the case of the…
Is your discipleship group stuck? Does there seem to be an anchor in leading participants in your group toward greater maturity? The question came to me when reading a blog post by my friend, David Francis, entitled Three Levels of Community in Groups. Is it possible that the level of…
Too frequently I find church leaders complicating the simple. Disciple-making is one place where I see complexity too often. Keep it simple! I want to suggest four simple steps for a disciple-maker to invest in his disciple(s) one-on-one or in D-groups (discipleship groups no larger than 5 including the leader).…
In their book, Designed to Lead: The Church and Leadership Development, Eric Geiger and Kevin Peck focus on the importance of leadership in and through the church. They believe leadership development requires a strong conviction to develop leaders, a healthy culture for leadership development, and helpful constructs to build leaders…
My book, Disciple-Making Encounters: Revolutionary Sunday School, released today. What does a book about Sunday School have to do with discipleship? Sunday School and small groups are a natural part of a church’s discipleship strategy. We should strive to lead our groups to be as effective as possible in making…
After nearly 2000 years, churches still have work to do on their discipleship strategy. Many churches today have no strategy. Or if they have a strategy, it is simply come and choose from what we have to offer. The problem there too often is the lack of intentional development. On…
Sometimes I read books, articles, or posts that need to be shared. Kandi Gallaty (Robby’s wife) wrote a great blog post on LifeWay Women. I want to encourage you to read her entire post at What Is Discipleship? The following five paragraphs launch her post. Let them whet your appetite…
I want to invite you and your team to meet and hear Dann Spader as he talks about his book, 4 Chair Discipling: Growing a Movement of Disciple-Makers. He will be live at the Kentucky Baptist Convention (Louisville, KY) and webcast to Paducah, Lexington, and Bowling Green (see addresses below).…
Two encounters are critical. First, the leader encounters God in His Word and is changed. Second, the leader guides the group to have a life-changing encounter.
In John 13:34-35, three times Jesus said, “Love one another.” Your group is the ideal place to practice and launch the kind of love for one another that shows the world that we are His disciples.