The Power of Disciple-making Made Manifest

Okay, so that was a pretty grandiose title for a post that will not be great in length, but makes up for it in gravitas.

Nearly five months ago, God gave me a vision for tweaking our Wednesday night program known as RE:generation. After much prayer and vision casting, I began to seek out students to be a part of this process. For the past three months, I targeted a group of students to form a disciple team. This team of students, varying in age from 13 to 18, meets with me regularly for prayer and training. Exactly one week ago, they led their first small group discussions during RE:generation.

This past Sunday, I met with them to prepare for tonight’s session. It was vital that we meet then because later Sunday afternoon I headed to Jackson, TN for the Tennessee Baptist Convention and was not going to be able to be at RE:generation tonight.  Even though I left the main teaching session in the capable hands of one of my adult volunteers (many thanks, Mr. Bill), the bulk of the substantive discussion would be in the hands of my disciple team.

At the time things were getting started at RE:generation tonight, I was breezing through Cookeville and decided to try to call in and check on things. Paige “just happened” to be there and she put me on speaker phone at a microphone and I was able to address all my kids. I reminded them I loved them and had been praying for them and that I was excited that they were getting ready to get started without me.  When I hung up I went to the the throne, even as I was bearing down on Crossville, and prayed.

After a pit stop at a west Knoxville Starbucks for a grande skinny café mocha and a trickle of petrol (in the car, not the coffee), the texts started hitting my phone. A young man named Bobby, whose first visit was just last week, had prayed to receive Christ with one of my students.

Here is the moral of the story. For the minister, ministry volunteer, teacher and anyone else striving to be obedient to the command and commission of our Lord— I am about to free you up! It is not about you.  It is all about Jesus. It is about letting Him be all that he can be in your life and in the lives of others. Let go of the thought or the felt-need that you have to be the one that makes things happen. Create opportunities to invest in others so that they may be prepared to make a Kingdom impact.  Make disciples! I have had the honor of being present when God knocked on the heart of hundreds of people and the feeling from that is overwhelming indeed. But when you get word that someone you have discipled has shared the Gospel and has seen another come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior, well... let me just say that I could have saved money on the coffee because I was higher than caffeine would ever take me.

Blessed be the name of the Lord!

“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12

Posted via email from Tiger's (Pre)Posterous Ponderings