Toby DeHay Testimony
Multiplication: We are starting to see the fruit of multiplication through discipleship. Multiplication does not happen until the third generation and we have seen some of that at Concord. We have several men and women who have been discipled, and have discipled, or are now discipling, someone else. We are doing our best to instill a value of multiplication right from the start with new Christians.
When I meet with a new believer and we begin going through Biblical basics and personal disciplines, I encourage them to begin praying for someone who they can share their faith with and eventually disciple. In an established church that is almost 180 years old, this idea of multiplying oneself is a hard sell at times, but is Biblical and needed.
Intentional Prayer
We have seen the culture of prayer change at Concord. I believe it is because people are being discipled and taught about the importance of prayer throughout the day and in worship. I encourage the church to pray for people as they go throughout their day. Let me share an example. We use a 3-6-9 prayer card. We write the names of 3, 6, or 9 lost or unchurched people on two cards (one for the person praying and one for me so I can pray along with them), and we pray for those on our cards as we do our daily Bible reading.
Another example is the impact of discipleship on prayer is spontaneous prayer. A church member might meet someone at the store or a restaurant who is struggling with an issue. Concord members are great at stopping right then and praying for that person. Many times, this leads to an evangelistic conversation.
Focused Evangelism
A culture of intentional discipleship/making has led to a more focused evangelistic church. We’ve trained our disciple-makers to ask their “Timothy’s” how they’ve shared their faith in the last week. This is helpful to cultivate a culture of evangelism right from the beginning. Not only is the disciple-maker holding their Timothy accountable, they are modeling evangelism themselves. They’ll share an evangelistic encounter from the past week, meet at a restaurant to disciple and while there share with the wait staff.
This year we’ve done something a little different to encourage the entire church to be more evangelistic. I put up a big desk calendar on the wall in the hallway close to the sanctuary with a banner above it saying, “Concord Baptist Reaching 2,017 in 2017.” We need to make 183 Gospel connections a month to reach our goal. When people make a Gospel contact, they mark it on the calendar. So far we are ahead of schedule. People are excited and are grabbing various materials to use throughout the week. We mostly use Dr. Charles Brock’s Good News For You! study in the Gospel of John. They cost $1 each and people always receive it gladly.
In Part 2, Toby will share discipleship impact in High View of Scripture, Encouraging Local Churches, Higher Expectations of Church Members, and Heightened Community Focus.
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Toby DeHay serves as the pastor of Concord Missionary Baptist Church in White Plains, Kentucky.
