Skip to main content

Posts

What's Your First Step in Discipleship?

In Matthew 28:19-20 God called the church to make disciples. Other than teaching them to obey all that Christ taught, there is no other information in Matthew 28 on how to make these disciples. So, the church must develop its own approach. Below is my first attempt at developing a discipleship process. I have broken it down into a few steps. Here are steps 2-5. Basics - Learning how to read and study the Bible, pray, and to share their faith. Community - Making church attendance a habit and joining a Bible study group. Service - Finding a place to serve. Spiritual Disciplines - Practicing Bible-based spiritual disciplines. I will cover these in greater detail in follow-on posts. Today, let's focus on the first step, which is Assign a Mentor. Assign a Mentor To help a believer navigate the basics, community, service, and the disciplines, it's important to assign a mentor. What is mentoring? Mentoring is a relationship between an experienced person (mentor) and a less experience
Recent posts

Changing How You Preach

If there is one thing I constantly change, it's my preaching. The changes are small, and maybe to the listeners, unnoticed. But to me they're important. For instance, over the years I have reduced the length of my sermons by about 10 minutes. What used to last 45 minutes is now 35. I reduced the time because of my congregation. I noticed that their ability to focus dropped dramatically after the 30-minute mark. I have since learned that what you can say in 45 minutes, you can say in 35 minutes or less. Recently, an article by David Prince changed my preaching. The article is A Simple Guide to Reading the Bible with Jesus as the Hero . His ideas have dramatically changed how I preach Old Testament based sermons. Now I am working on how to layer the gospel within the body of the message. Rather than tacking it on the end, I want the person and work of Jesus to be evident throughout. A resource that has helped me with this is Preaching the Truth as it is in Jesus: A Reader on Andr

10 Books Every Christian Should Read

I've been putting together a list of books that I feel every Christian should read. My current list is just below. Knowing God by J. I. Packer Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer Through the Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom The Insanity of God by Nik Ripken and Gregg Lewis Heaven by Randy Alcorn The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan How Should We Then Live? by Francis A. Schaeffer The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel Pastors, who are a part of my weekly text group, submitted the titles below. Some I have read, many I have not. They do look like some great choices. Thanks to all of you who participated. The Imperfect Disciple, Grace for People Who Can't Get Their Act Together by Jared C. Wilson Trusting God by Jerry Bridges Conformed to His Image by Ken Boa The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, How to Stay Emotionally Healthy and Spiritually Alive in the Chaos of the Modern World by John Ma

Developing Leaders in the Workplace and in Church

Today we sit down with Dr. Gene Herndon. Dr. Herndon is a business leader, a coach, an author of numerous books, and the pastor of Stone Point Community Church in Glendale Arizona. Dr. Herndon spoke about: Leadership Development How to use millennials as leaders How to repurpose your sermons to reach more people Monday Morning Masterminds  and his leadership training for business and church leaders. I really appreciate the time that Dr. Herndon gave to Coaching Christian Leaders. I learned so much from him and I am sure you will as well. Resources www.GeneHerndon.com www.m4.geneherndon.com www.stonepointcc.org His most recent book - The Elephant in the Room Please share this episode with others!

Discipleship Produces Leadership

Last week you evaluated your people and determined where they stood as disciples. If you haven't done this, look back at previous post for more information. Today, let's start with a question. Is your discipleship program producing laborers & leaders? Many churches offer Sunday School or Small Groups. People faithfully attend and learn. But in the end what is accomplised? A lot of information is given but little development occurs. For a discipleship progam to be successful it should be intentional as it matures disciples and builds leaders and laborers.   Right Intent - Wrong Question I am a pastor of a small church. Recently, I met with the elders, and one raised a concern. He asked, “Where are we going to find more Sunday School teachers?” No sooner did he ask that question than another asked, “And we’re not getting any younger. Where are we going to get some younger men to be elders?” These questions were sincere, but they were the wrong questions. You don’t find Sunday

How to Move Your People On

As a believer, one of your greatest responsibilities is to build up other believers. God has called you to make disciples; to move believers along in their faith. So how do you do that? I think the first step is to know where they're at.  One way to know this is to label them. There are many labels we can use, but I want to keep it simple, so here are four. Unbeliever New Believer Mature Believer Laborer or Leader Let's try this out.  Who is the first person you think of when you think of someone in your church?  Write their name down. Now how would you label them using one of the above four labels? Let's do it again. This time instead of thinking of a person and then labeling them, pick a label and then identify someone in your church that matches that label. Really, for these labels to have any value it is important that you determine how you can move someone from one position to another. Recently, I led a young man to Christ. We met after church. He had some great questi

Developing Leaders on the Mission Field

How do you develop trusted leaders to take the work forward - even in your absence? Adam Hussey shares his expertise in leadership development. Today we sit down with Adam Hussey. Adam is a missionary with Action International. He and his wife Alei serve in the Philippines. Much of their work is centered around developing local church leaders.  Also, Adam has some unique ideas on how missionaries can raise financial support in these tough times.  Contact Info The best way to contact Adam and to learn more about his work is to visit his website.  You will find Adam at www.actioninternational.org/missionary/hussey.   There you can email Adam and read more about his ministry. Also, check out his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/TeamFaithHopeLove Closing Thoughts Thanks for listening to Coaching Christian Leaders . You should subscribe to this podcast so that you’ll never miss an episode. You can find this podcast in just about any podcast app. We are on Apple Podcasts , Deezer ,