I was nervous about this 3rd and last mainstage session … but it ended up as strong as any session.
We had two great speakers and thinkers – but they are very different.
Mark Moore is a teaching pastor at Christ Church of the Valley in Phoenix, Arizona which has had an average attendance of 35,000 in 2019. Drew Hyun is the founding pastor of Hope Church, New York City, a movement of nine house/organic churches. Mark is a Ph.D. biblical Scholar and Drew is a Berkeley grad with a background in rhetoric.
It was a great conversation on the combination of social justice and disciple making.
Mark made a passionate case for surrendering to the mission of King Jesus as described in Luke 4:14-22, with an emphasis on verses 18-19: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Mark contended that loving people in this way must be an integral part of disciple making.
Drew agreed. He commented on how their churches were so different and yet they were both strong advocates that disciple making, as Jesus showed us, is their shared mandate. Drew then made an equally passionate case for our personal exposure and need to surrender to King Jesus. He quoted a poem by Sarah Bourns, a New York member of his congregation describing what they were learning during the peak of the New York death toll.
“We’ve all been exposed.”
Not necessarily to the virus. (Maybe … who even knows?)
We’ve all been exposed BY the virus.
Corona is exposing us.
Exposing our weak sides.
Exposing our dark sides.
Exposing what normally lays far beneath the surface of our souls, hidden by the invisible masks we wear.
Now exposed by the paper masks we can’t hide far enough behind.
Corona is exposing our addiction to comfort.
Our obsession with control.
Our compulsion to hoard.
Our protection of self …
(See the rest of the poem here.)
….
The panel discussion on the combination of these two topics was riveting. They ended up strongly agreeing with each other … and becoming friends.
They both passionately called us to surrender to King Jesus and his mandate.
The most interesting part about the great conversation for me personally was not what was said on the main stage. It was when the mainstage conversation ended. In the “virtual green room” three of us were left together – myself and two video tech people. They both turned to me and simultaneously said: “I really liked that conversation.” The most interesting part was the impact the session had on the tech person who was not a Christian. It rocked him, in a really good way.
Both of the tech people said it was a life changing conversation.
If you missed any sessions from the 2020 National Disciple Making Forum, you can purchase the Digital Access Pass recordings and get all 37 hours of disciple making content on demand to share with your family, friends, and church.