Radical Discipleship

Inspired by Replicate Ministries

When someone is discipled by David Platt, they’ll likely be radical in some way or another, but Robby Gallaty’s story was radical long before he met Platt. As a non-Christian in college, he blared his music into the air of his college campus listening to the unedited version of Tupac Shakur from his two 10-inch subwoofer speakers. That gives insight into where his heart was during that season of his life. He was consumed with drugs and the like.

His conversion

Then, the Lord entered his life, and Robby had a radical conversion to Christ. Soon after his conversion, he was discipled by David Platt and others like Tim LaFleur, who was featured in Robby’s episode in The Disciple Maker’s Podcast. His new life of following Christ flourished and multiplied into what is now Replicate Ministries, which is currently based in Long Hollow Baptist Church.

Robby’s radical conversion and discipleship journey serve as an inspiration for those who follow Christ—that God saves all types of people.

Is it really radical, though?

It’s funny, though, that we use the word “radical” for stories like Robby’s. The truth is that conversion is always radical, and discipleship after the ways of Jesus is always radical. But that’s only in comparison to the world. Discipleship is normal for believers — or at least it was intended to be normal. “Radical” usually means that something’s unusual, but if Robby’s message for the church is anything, it’s that everyday Christians can follow after Christ.

Mere discipleship

In fact, Robby’s not only set up Replicate’s ministry structure accordingly, but also the church he pastors is set up to support discipleship on the megachurch level.

The truth is that radical discipleship is not really a thing; it’s a redundancy. What happened with Robby is mere discipleship, but sometimes it takes people like Robby, whom God gets ahold of in dramatic ways, to remind us of the everydayness of discipleship.

Following Jesus is for you and for me — it’s for us.

Written by Chad Harrington

Image credit: Shutterstock