A few episodes back when we were talking with our friend Pastor Kristin about her journey embedding a Discipleship Pathway culture in her church over the past 7 years, she mentioned speaking to “spectators” in the congregation.

When pastors and the leadership team seek to implement change such as a new culture of discipleship, what do we do about the spectators? I mean, they don’t work for change but they don’t work against change either, they just sit it out. Is that ok? What is our response to the apparent apathy of the spectators in our churches?

Hear Charla and Mark explore ideas around engaging the spectators in your congregation.

In Episode 46, we continue our conversation with Dr. Leonard Sweet about his most recent book, Designer Jesus. Len shares with us his thoughts on how we are designed to be like Jesus. Our human identity comes from Jesus as he shows us how we are to be “fully human.” As followers of Jesus we have to be like trackers looking for fresh footprints to follow because Jesus is alive and in the world. We look for his fresh prints, where he is healing and saving people and join him in his work. Let’s continue our conversation with Len Sweet…

In this episode, we are privileged to talk with one of the great Christian minds of our generation, Dr. Leonard Sweet. Len’s two most recent books, Jesus Human and Designer Jesus combine to paint a picture for Christians how we are to be faithful humans and disciples. Jesus Human - Primer for a Common Humanity, explores how Jesus, in showing us the way to God, shows us the way to ourselves and the way to be human. Listen to the first half of our conversation with Dr. Leonard Sweet…

In this episode, we are going to discuss how the discipleship culture has grown at Forest Hills UMC and how she has bridged the perception gap about discipleship in the congregation. A critical point Kristin raises is that most church goers and even members don’t know how to be participants. The question our mission as the Church should be addressing is how do we as church leaders help spectators in our congregations become participants?

We are continuing our conversation with Rev. Kristin Clark-Banks and her work embedding a discipleship culture at her church. In this episode, we are going to talk about how we keep bridging the discipleship communication and perception gap in the congregation, 7 years into the process. Plus, we know the saying “what gets measured, get’s done.'' How does Forest Hills measure their effectiveness in their discipleship mission?

In our last couple of episodes, we talked about what discipleship looks like from the pew, or from the perspective of members, attenders, and visitors. In today’s episode, we will look at 4 ways that we can embed a discipleship culture in the local church and not only bridge the perception gap, but get people walking over the bridge!

Today, I would like to build on the conversation we started in Episode 40 and talk about ways to bridge the perception gap between the laity and the church about what is discipleship. We roughly estimate 10-20 per cent have a clear view of discipleship and are actively engaged in discipleship.

It would be an interesting exercise for a pastor or lay leader in the church to ask people of all ages in the church, “How do you define discipleship? What does it look like for you to engage in discipleship?” What else can we do as church leaders to bridge that gap…

Starting in this episode, Charla and I want to spend the next few episodes looking at discipleship from the pew, so to speak, from the perspectives of the member, attender, and even a visitor.

It’s a fuzzy view. It’s a concept more than a Jesus directive that impacts our daily lives in what we say and do. It’s not like we don’t want to engage in discipleship. It’s that we don’t know what discipleship looks like or it’s not on our radar. How does the church help clarify the laity's view of discipleship and translate it into their own lives?

Today we are going to talk about why we as church congregants should be investing in our own, proactive discipleship journey. The Church is full of people who came to know Jesus as Savior, yet were never taught what it means to actually follow Him. So I think we should start with what Jesus tells us about how we benefit from following in his path.

In today's episode we continue talking about how Jesus used his encounters with people to make disciples and those outcomes. And we segue to the Apostle Paul's conversion and his process for making disciples on his journeys. What was Paul's strategy that helped the Gospel message spread throughout the world?

In today's episode, Charla and I want to explore Jesus’ disciple making process which was very proactive. We will look at the how, where, and when of Jesus' disciple making as well as the outcomes. Some examples we will discuss are Jesus calling Simon Peter, interacting with the Samaritan woman at the well, and with the Pharisee Nicodemus.

In today's episode, Charla and I discuss the obstacles that pastors and churches face when it comes to making more disciples. Charla shares her perspective as a retired UMC Pastor as well as a new perspective on two familiar New Testament stories.

In today's episode we talk to retired UMC Pastor Charla Shebakoff about life/career transitions. We extrapolate her experience to the challenges our congregants face in traversing their own transitions. We discuss the questions: what are the challenges you face? Where do I belong? Has my purpose that gives meaning to life changed or am I supposed to live it out differently?

Today’s episode is a little different from our normal show. I had the honor and privilege of sharing a message with a client church, Second United Methodist in Knoxville. The pastor, a dear friend, was retiring and asked me to fill in a Sunday before the new pastor started. So, I spoke on what I know best, football, er no, discipleship in the church. Check out my sermon…

In today’s episode we will meet a new colleague and friend of mine, Jessie Cruickshank. Jessie is a Harvard educated, neuroscientist, theologian, and outdoor adventurist.

In today’s episode we will discuss her passion for disciple making and the connection between her work in neuroscience education and discipleship.

So, we have talked about what Proactive Disciple Making is, and we have discussed the three components of the strategy - connecting, engaging, and guiding. In today’s episode, we are going to talk about how we begin to implement this strategy in real life.

The Checklist is a list of 10 steps to guide you through implementing this strategy. We won’t go through each step in detail, but we will discuss the 3 groups of tasks that make up the list. Listen to learn more about the implementation phase…

The third component of the Proactive Disciple Making strategy is Guiding. I feel it is the most important part of the process. Because let’s face it, when faced with a little adversity or difficulty, we humans are wired to quit and go in another direction, usually backwards.

Disciple Making Guides in the proactive strategy are relationship builders, first and foremost. That is why I so confidently stated that you don’t have to be a Biblical scholar to guide others on their spiritual journey…

In this episode, we are talking about the second phase of our Proactive Disciple Making Strategy. The Engaging phase has two primary objectives. First, it is identifying how best to help the newly connected disciples formulate their growth and fulfillment plan and take their logical, first step on that journey.

The second objective of our Engaging phase is to build personal relationships with disciples…

How do we connect with people inside and outside our churches to develop a deeper relationship? The answer goes back to the myth the church has been telling its people for years that we discussed last episode - we will meet you where you are? How do I know this is a myth, you ask...

Today's episode is the first of a series of episodes that will define and describe the Proactive Disciple Making Process. This first episode is an introduction to the process and will give you an insight to why being proactive in our disciple making is critical to church vitality and growth.