As we look to another great year of making disciples in 2015, we took a look back at 2014 and picked out our most popular posts. Did you miss any of them?
I Thought I Had Developed Good Habits until I Found Out About This One…
If you came up to me and said that you wanted to lose 50 pounds in 2015 because you found an advertisement for a “skinny pill” that would take it off in a week, I’d tell you that you should reconsider the time frame and the method by which you’ll use the weight. If you want to shave 50 pounds in 2015, you must start with modifications to your diet, workout, and sleep patterns, not simply look for the quick fix. If you desire better grades in school, you must devote time for study at night instead of wasting it on video games and Netflix.
In fact, your future doesn’t change by dramatic turns later; it begins with incremental changes today. Minor adjustments today yield long-term dividends. The exact same is true with your spiritual life. You will not wake up tomorrow and be a perpetually-happy 4am riser.
How Does a Senior Pastor Disciple His Staff?
If you are a pastor starting your discipleship ministry? How can you possibly start discipling your staff? How do you begin? Learning how I discipled my entire staff at Brainerd.
The Book That Sparked Personal Devotion
Martin Luther may have constructed the reformation vehicle with his revolutionary 95 Theses nailed to the door of a church in Wittenberg, but it was Thomas Cranmer, along with a few others, who paved the road for fleshing out its implications.Cranmer is the author of The Book of Common Prayer, one of the first devotional resources for the common man.
A Band Aid for the Church
Even casual conversations with fellow pastors inevitably turn to the increasingly crucial topic of discipleship. While engaged in one of these with a fellow pastor of a larger church, he spoke about how he was indeed personally discipling a group of men in his church, but beyond that, church wide disciple-making was non-existent. His executive pastor then added his understanding of how to go about making disciples as well: “Discipleship should be organic and not intentional. It should not be planned or prepared.” The executive pastor served previously at a church where the pastor adopted the concrete stance: “If you get people to church, then I will disciple them.”
“Unfortunately, Jesus never left discipleship to chance,” was my simple reply. “He was intentional and calculative from the beginning.” Moreover, Jesus’s disciple-making ministry was five things: Intentional, Size-Specific, Transparent, Accountable, and Reproducible.
One Resource Every Disciplemaker Must Have
As we think back over this year of ministry at Brainerd Baptist Church, we see discipleship at the catalyst for growth, both spiritually and numerically. It has been the difference that has made the difference. Discipleship isn’t A ministry of our church, it is THE ministry of our church.
You know well that making disciples is easier said than done. This is why we have encapsulated the entire process into a handy reference tool you can refer to for years to come. The Discipleship Pathway takes the guesswork out of the process.
Can you do me a Favor? If these ideas resonate with you, would you:
• REACT. Do something.
• RESPOND. Leave a comment on this post.
• REPOST. Repost this link on Twitter, Facebook or your blog.
If you came up to me and said that you wanted to lose 50 pounds in 2015 because you found an advertisement for a “skinny pill” that would take it off in a week, I’d tell you that you should reconsider the time frame and the method by which you’ll use the weight. If you want to shave 50 pounds in 2015, you must start with modifications to your diet, workout, and sleep patterns, not simply look for the quick fix. If you desire better grades in school, you must devote time for study at night instead of wasting it on video games and Netflix.
In fact, your future doesn’t change by dramatic turns later; it begins with incremental changes today. Minor adjustments today yield long-term dividends. The exact same is true with your spiritual life. You will not wake up tomorrow and be a perpetually-happy 4am riser.
How Does a Senior Pastor Disciple His Staff?
If you are a pastor starting your discipleship ministry? How can you possibly start discipling your staff? How do you begin? Learning how I discipled my entire staff at Brainerd.
The Book That Sparked Personal Devotion
Martin Luther may have constructed the reformation vehicle with his revolutionary 95 Theses nailed to the door of a church in Wittenberg, but it was Thomas Cranmer, along with a few others, who paved the road for fleshing out its implications.Cranmer is the author of The Book of Common Prayer, one of the first devotional resources for the common man.
A Band Aid for the Church
Even casual conversations with fellow pastors inevitably turn to the increasingly crucial topic of discipleship. While engaged in one of these with a fellow pastor of a larger church, he spoke about how he was indeed personally discipling a group of men in his church, but beyond that, church wide disciple-making was non-existent. His executive pastor then added his understanding of how to go about making disciples as well: “Discipleship should be organic and not intentional. It should not be planned or prepared.” The executive pastor served previously at a church where the pastor adopted the concrete stance: “If you get people to church, then I will disciple them.”
“Unfortunately, Jesus never left discipleship to chance,” was my simple reply. “He was intentional and calculative from the beginning.” Moreover, Jesus’s disciple-making ministry was five things: Intentional, Size-Specific, Transparent, Accountable, and Reproducible.
One Resource Every Disciplemaker Must Have
As we think back over this year of ministry at Brainerd Baptist Church, we see discipleship at the catalyst for growth, both spiritually and numerically. It has been the difference that has made the difference. Discipleship isn’t A ministry of our church, it is THE ministry of our church.
You know well that making disciples is easier said than done. This is why we have encapsulated the entire process into a handy reference tool you can refer to for years to come. The Discipleship Pathway takes the guesswork out of the process.
Can you do me a Favor? If these ideas resonate with you, would you:
• REACT. Do something.
• RESPOND. Leave a comment on this post.
• REPOST. Repost this link on Twitter, Facebook or your blog.
