THE SKIT GUYS-GOD'S CHISEL

The ultimate goal of discipleship is to be re-formed into the image of God. The Skis Guys have a classic video that you should have in your library. I encourage you to visit their site for more great videos. VISIT

THIS IS DISCIPLING

THE BIBLE IN COMMUNITY

Jamie Arpin-Ricci with “We Never Come to the Bible Alone” from the blog, THE COST OF COMMUNITY

“We do not come to Scripture alone, but do so with the Holy Spirit who helps us discern God’s truth and will within.  We do so through our brokenness and thus get it wrong time and again, but with humility, chastened certainty and the grace of a forgiving God, we continue to pursue Him.  This isn’t a formula or '5-easy-steps', but it is a path upon which we will discover more of God and His truth. This same Holy Spirit is the Spirit who unites us as One Body in Christ.  Therefore, the Spirit quickens our understanding of Scripture as we seek to discern together as community.  And that communal discernment engages the diversity and multiplicity of gifts within that community without condescending against some strength or privileging others.  We are mutually interdependent on one another through the Spirit.  In many ways, this unity and interdependence should provide an impetus for a humble, yet passionate engagement of mission.  After all, each person who comes into the Body of Christ brings with them absolutely unique expressions of gifting, perspective, etc.  In fact, it is often in those who are most other that bring us the most essential understanding to become more like Christ together.”

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO DROP?

BY STEVE DUNN 

I teach a seminar called Bridgebuilders-Helping Traditional Churches Reach Their Unchurched Neighbors. A key to achieving this goal is to see themselves as sent.  The church needs to learn to go rather than to always expect people to come.  Another key is to build redemptive relationships with unchurched people. This means the church needs to take the time to go and build those relationships.

Part of the problem with this is that we still think of going to church instead of being the church.  And what keeps us from going as the church is that we have too many programs or we spend too much time taking care of the church's needs (and each other) that we have little time or energy left to go and make disciples of the nations that have not yet (and may not) come through our front door.

I love this quote on the MAKING DISCIPLES Facebook page. "With a view to making disciples, Jesus dropped his hammer and the disciples dropped their nets. What do you need to drop?"

So here is the challenge.  We need to make a relentless missional inventory and decide what we need to drop.  If the disciples had not dropped their nets, they never would have become fishers of men.  If they had not dropped their nets, the people might have continued to be well fed; but the citizens of Jerusalem, Samaria, and the ends of the earth might have continued dead in their sin--lost people.

 

 

DALLAS WILLARD ON HELPING NEW BELIEVERS

WHAT IS A DISCIPLE?

BY STEPHEN DUNN

About a year ago we made a fundamental shift in the language of the congregation that I serve as Lead Pastor. We began speaking of disciples instead of members.  The latter tends to be an exclusive and organizational word.  And thanks to Mastercard and other marketers, membership has come to connote privileges rather than responsibilities.

Disciple on the other hand is a more organic term and it infers lifestyle and learning.  A disciple has not arrived, they continue to become as they learn to think, act and be like the One of whom they are a disciple.  It was in a Finance Commission meeting where we were discussing how to get members to give their fair share, to measure up to the expectations and needs of the Church.  Tithing, of course, was part of this conversation.  It was then when one of our older members said, "This is not a membership issue, it's a discipleship issue." He went on to note that members think in terms of what is necessary to be in good standing. Disciples give. It is who they are.

Profound, isn't it?

It's more than semantics.  It is a religious world view.

Now at the church we teach discipleship and form groups of people on mission with Jesus.  We have Membership Orientations to describe the formal needs of the organization.

We also use this definition of disciple.

A DISCIPLE IS A PERSON WHO LIVES IN DAILY OBEDIENCE TO THE WILL AND PURPOSE OF GOD, COMMITTED TO BEARING FRUIT FOR THE KINGDOM.

This linguistic change is helping us make a cultural shift from membership to discipleship.  It is moving us beyond maintaining the organization to mobilizing for mission.

(C) 2012 by Stephen L Dunn

EXTREME MAKEOVER:; DISCIPLESHIP EDITION

I tend to detest reality shows but I am huge fan of EXTREME MAKEOVER: HOME EDITION.

On the show's page on the ABC web site, you read this testimony.

Keep a box of tissues handy for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition because…

A)  The tears of joy WILL flow.

B)   You may need to plug your ears when Ty Pennington belts out his famed "Move that bus!!!!"

We don’t know about you, but it is what’s lurking behind that big bus which keeps us absolutely riveted from week-to-week: a house pimped out to the extreme. It's extremely uplifting, as the renovated home always belongs to a deserving family. It's extreme transformation. And it’s extremely community-oriented.

You’ll see dingy kitchens get completely tricked out, spa-inspired bathrooms built where icky ones once were, and olympic-sized swimming pools installed in what were once shabby overgrown yards. It's stuff we know you’d want at your own pad—and then some. And Ty and his crew do it from the ground up, adding five-star luxuries and the occasional theme park attraction.

From the moment he gives his “Good Morning” wakeup call, Ty is bent on bringing neighbors together—one environmentally-friendly brick at a time. It’s a race against time on a project that would normally span several months, involving a team of designers, contractors and hundreds of workers who all have just seven days to totally rebuild an entire house!

Before you start getting all jealous, the lucky homeowners always have a heartening back-story: Heroes, community leaders, and a plethora of inspirational families are truly the heart and soul of the show. There's that saying, "home is where the heart is," and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition puts the heart right where it belongs.

*Sniff*

 Now excuse us while we have a good cry.

Have you thought lately about another EXTREME MAKEOVER?  The one I am talking about is the makeover from the man who is slave to sin to the man who is free to serve God.

That makeover begins with a cosmic intervention by the God of all the Universe, the one and only Holy One.  We have just finished the celebration of His work on the Cross by which we are given a new life.
We are given a life that was God's intention for us when he created us, but was lost when sin became our landlord.  It took his death and burial in the grave to eradicate the sin in which had to live. But on the first day of the week all of heaven shouted, "Move that stone!" And we beheld our new dwelling and new life when the Risen Savior emerged from the Tomb. What that divine demolition team had completed its work, God's construction team created a new life for each and every one of us.

So what comes next? How do we open the door on our new life and take possession of the keys?

"... to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—  children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God." John 1:12-14

And then we have to begin thinking like a new person. We are no longer living in the toxic, broken down house of sin. We are living in the life-affirming Temple of God.  So we respond to this new life as Paul taught:  "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12.1-2

Good Friday is over. Easter has come.  Now it's time to say "Move that stone."