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“Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” Acts‬ ‭1‬:‭11‬ ‭NIV‬‬ At Jesus’ ascension, two men dressed in white appeared and made this announcement…

When I surrender the lordship of my life to Jesus, I experience freedom.— Sandy Mason The idea of surrender sounds un-American to most of us.  We are told to never surrender, to never quit, to keep fighting, even if the odds are stacked against us.  I wholeheartedly agree when we are talking about sports, competition,…

As we conclude our  journey through the characteristics of a disciple together, I am abundantly aware of the fact that, in order for us to be Christlike disciple makers, we too must continually be discipled. From the beginning of my walk with Christ, I was incredibly blessed to be discipled by my pastor’s wife, though…

The question comes up over and over again – why are movements happening all over the globe but not here in America? Is it possible that we have some cultural issues that prevent us from some of the prerequisites for movements to happen? There is an outstanding video outlining 7 barriers to disciple making movements…

I recently posted a question on Facebook asking for the essential steps in discipleship. I received dozens of responses, and many were insightful. Interestingly, the greatest insight I gained wasn’t found in what respondents shared but in what they didn’t share. Several described a grand vision for discipleship, but few could articulate the steps needed…

We like to look back on the previous year, as the new one begins, to note the things that stood out to us and the things we want to remember. So we want stop early in 2023 to note the top blogs that appeared on discipleship.org in 2022. Our list is based upon a strict…

The longer I am in ministry, the more clearly I notice the differences between true disciple making and Christian education. There are many people in church leadership today who think Christian education is the same thing as Jesus-style disciple making. They are not the same thing! Let me attempt to summarize the difference. First, Christian…

Silence. Although it was just over 10 years ago, I remember vividly the absolute silence surrounded me. Sitting on a log, I contemplated the walk through the snow back to my truck. I had spent the morning deer hunting and found myself less interested in the hunt and more wanting to hear from God. So,…

Jesus’ words have an urgency about them The New Living Translation picks up on it. “We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent us. The night is coming, and then no one can work,” (John 9.4, NLT). We must quickly be about this business. Why? Because night is coming, soon no man can…

God’s intentionality in my life never ceases to amaze me. Seasons of transition and change are never easy, and this season began with my wife and I feeling released from our old church: the church where we thought we’d grow old. We were both on staff at that church, and we had been dreaming of…

“Why is every donut shop in California the same?” That was a question I asked multiple people after moving my family to SoCal in 2015 to plant a church.  It was an honest question that came from my experience of visiting multiple independently owned Mom and Pop donut shops. Here’s what I observed in my…

Kade* is a new follower of Jesus among the Moko* people. He lives in a large village of about 2,000 people. He is probably the only follower of Jesus in his village, and there are almost no Christians among his language group of 70,000 people. But almost two years ago, an African Vineyard church planter…