Ep 17 | Inside the Discipleship Program: A Georgetown Church Experience

As we get diving into that , I'm looking forward to even my own personal study time in that and then as we study in the church . But I'm also really excited about this podcast . So this is our first like 2.0 podcast .

So if you have not listened to our discipleship podcast , you can go back and listen to that , where we just talk about man , what does it mean to be a disciple ? And we kind of talk about what we do as the church .

But as we talk about it again , we're going to be talking about just where we have come since that last podcast and then just more qualifications of like , hey , man , what does it mean to be a disciple ?

So if you want to check out that podcast before you listen here , I'm giving you time to pause it go listen to that and come back and listen to this one . But I'm really excited . So this is just discipleship 2.0 . So , Jake , how's our discipleship been going in our church ? Well , it's .

It was not a streamlined type of thing , it was just men that were invited , our deacons went through it and some other men , and those groups met for a couple months and then we started seeing some smaller groups meet from the men that were originally discipled and we saw a group of women go through it and then we saw some small groups based out of that

Wasn't just people from Georgetown , it was some people that live here in Potsboro , and that was kind of the first initial thrust of it . But then what has happened ?

We started streamlining it and hopefully you remember me standing in front of the church and saying that we're going to offer a strand discipleship class on Wednesday nights for men and then there has been a Friday morning group that's met with Sheila Badget .

So we've been doing that and currently we have 14 men that are going through strand discipleship and I do not know the amount of women that are going through it . But I have gotten to the point where I can't count it anymore .

Yeah , you know I try to count who has been discipled in our church , who is discipling more people , and we are at about the 80 to 100 range of the people in our church that have gone through what we call strand discipleship . But the fruit that has come from that is number one . People are feeling equipped to go and meet people in their life to disciple .

And that's the ultimate goal is we want people to have a tool in their hand to be able to go and do what Jesus called us to do in Matthew 28 , verse 19 . And but the second part that has been really fruitful is we're starting to see people join the church over it .

Yes , you know , we had a Sunday where two young men who are in our Wednesday night discipleship group , both 24 years old , came forward and said I want to join the church . And that's the goal is we're wanting people to feel called by name , to understand what does it mean to follow Jesus and to begin to identify . Who am I in this ?

And that's the whole goal of this . And we don't expect every member of our church to be discipled , but we want every member of our church to have the opportunity for it to make that personal decision . I know that you have discipled teenagers and some college students , kind of . What does that result in ?

And then I go through the strand discipleship and as I'm going through it , it was answered prayer . It wasn't like , oh , the pastor's doing this , I want to fall alongside . No , it was like I've been searching through curriculum .

I mean , I still have some of the stacks of books I have in my office that I was just searching through and and nothing was what I where . I thought we were heading in the discipleship .

And as I'm going through the strand discipleship , it was just answered prayer and I like this is what our students need to be doing and , honestly , this is what I need to be going through as well . Luckily , I was going through it . Now it's just time for step two .

So last fall I took about eight kids , eight youth , through discipleship and , man , it just went so well . So well , I mean , it was , it was a choice to go through .

I , I , I put out a piece of paper that explained a little bit about what this discipleship was going to and we had about 10 start and then we had to drop out because it was a commitment . And you know it's crazy . The two that dropped out as soon as we finished they were like when are you doing that again ? I need to be a part of that .

And so we're about to do it again . I've discipled some college students on a different way , more one-on-one kind of way , still through the strand , just meeting at my house or a restaurant or something like that , and just what it has done to amplify the youth and what it has done to amplify the college students is just amazing .

It's I know that's a simple word , but it's just amazing . You're seeing it . Just like Jesus called on his disciples , he gave them a choice hey , come follow me , I'm going to teach you . And we're adapting a similar model and we're seeing just the fruit of it , because people are choosing to be discipled , and it's just been fantastic .

But we live in a world and we talked about this a few podcasts back where biblical teaching , biblical understanding is getting smaller and people are joining churches and they don't exactly know you know , just those basic , fundamental , fundamental characteristics of being a member of God's kingdom .

And you know we have people that they'll say I want to be baptized and we'll ask the question okay , well , you know , I'm so glad you want to be baptized , so can you tell me ? You know , when did you become a Christian ? And you know we can't assume people understand that and discipleship is not something that it's like we put .

It's not like we put a ribbon on your shirt and you're just a little bit better than everybody else in the church . No discipleship is what we were all designed for , to be given the blueprints of following Jesus , to to know what we know and you know as a pastor .

We have people that show up to worship and it would be great if we just identified our success on the amount of people that come into the room .

But , honestly , the most powerful effect of a worship service is the conclusion of the service , when people who have been built up and taught how to follow Jesus leave that service and go out into the mission field , which is their lives and make an impact . Yeah we're , you know , we we roughly have , you know , 325 to 400 and worship .

It kind of changes throughout the seasons . The effect is when that group of people walk out realizing that they're just as much called to ministry as you and I and Brett and Ryan are . And that's the point of this . You don't have to be a professor of religion to be a disciple . You don't have to be a pastor . You don't have to be any of those things .

In fact , the original disciples were a ragtag bunch that the people in the community probably would have thought out . Of all the people you chose , you chose these guys . So if you've ever felt that feeling of I'm not qualified or I'm not worthy , you're in the perfect position to be a disciple of Jesus . And we want to .

We want to take a sledgehammer to the , the moniker that we build up that that those that follow Jesus are these perfect people . No , they're normal , regular people like you and me , that that have the tools to make a difference in the world .

And reality , the people who've gone through discipleship , if they've done it right , but I know most of them have more servant minded . They are what helped my youth group so much was , um , our Wednesday nights . Man , they're outreach . If you've been a part of it , you , you know there's outreach .

There's going to be a clear and present gospel message every single Wednesday night and what I love about discipling the youth is they know that . And so at the end of youth it looks almost the exact same as the end of Sunday service .

When people get up they don't leave , they're talking and fellowshiping and and they're making connections with the , with the news youth that have been there and they're they're talking . We had a girl get saved on a Wednesday night based on a conversation .

Of course the lesson helped , but then some girl founder that been discipled and just talked with her and it was just fantastic and it's not like those kids are better They've . Just being a disciple makes you more servant-minded , because being more like Christ makes you more like Christ , and Christ came to Serve , not to be served .

And so it's just been awesome to see that in a church I have two friends of mine , two of the closest friends I have .

I have three close , close friends and two of them are being discipled In that men's group on Wednesday nights , and I believe they're the two two , one of the youngest , they're the same age as me , there's 24 and I believe the oldest in that is correct me 80 .

And that's the whole point , y'all is , we don't have to make this difficult , we just set our minds to it . And just a quick story before we kind of talk about the qualifications of a disciple . I love movies and One of my favorite things to do as a person that loves movies is show someone a movie that I like .

My son Landry's 12 and he's starting to Uh , I'm starting to be able to unpeel that for him , to the chagrin of my wife of some of the silly comedy movies , and I have discovered that I love watching Landry watch a movie for the first time and he's watching the screen and I'm watching him and I'm watching him laugh at something that made me laugh , you know ,

20 years ago . It's the same way for these men in discipleship . I'm not even teaching the class now , just in Wheatley's teaching it , but I'm in the room and I'm watching the men Take in what they , what I was taught back in 2014 and just being blown away at seeing God work over and over and over and

over again . So you know , maverick , we , we talk a little bit about qualifications of disciples . You know , we , we go to men and we say , hey , we'd like you to join this group for the next couple of months and we have a little bit of a criteria for that .

And you know , faithful simply means you're not a Christian today and then a Buddhist tomorrow , that you are grounded in the God that you worship . It's difficult to disciple a person that is struggling to even simply believe in the God that we worship . Um , you know . So if you're not , if you struggle with that , then that's where we start .

But , then you know . The second one is really simple available . We're in a very busy culture and you simply can't lead if you're not around . You know , if you can't carve out an hour of your week , it is very challenging to be able to disciple you . So we tell people you know , if it means we need to wake up early in the morning to meet , let's do it .

If we need to meet late at night , let's do it , because some things are just worth it . And so we ask people that . And then teachable and the verse that we use to describe teachable comes from Psalm 51-8 , where , you know , david is confessing a great sin to God and he says let me hear joy and gladness . Let the bones you have crushed rejoice .

Why in the world would we rejoice when our bones are being crushed ? Well , basically , david was talking about a soldier who has been at battle that broke his arm in the battlefield and enough time has gone by that his bone has started to heal itself . But his arm was not made straight .

So he's basically disabled in his right or left arm , and the only way that you can fix that is you have to be willing to let that bone be replaced . And if anybody's ever had to endure that , whether you were put in or put out .

You know it's important to know that that's painful , but if you want use of that limb , you've got to be willing to do that .

And I think one of the most important characteristics of a person that wants to follow Jesus is we're willing to learn , we're willing to walk through something that we've struggled with in the past to be able to be fixed , to be made better .

So you know , if you're thinking that you've got to walk up with this perfect life , no , but once you put yourself under the hand of the Lord , the Lord's going to refine you , he's going to purge you , he's going to prune you .

But on the other end of that y'all , there is a healthy follower of Jesus , and I cannot describe to you the power that's in that .

You know , I played sports and what it means to be coachable is , yeah , I'm going to praise you when you do well , but I'm also going to point out what you're lacking . So I was a big basketball player . The most common thing that you hear as a basketball player is dribble with your left hand .

If you're right handed , you know , dribble with that left hand , shoot a left handed layup with your left hand . You know why ? Because you're not doing it . I'm going to point out your weakness , and if the opponent sees that you can't dribble with your left hand , guess what way they're going to make you go to your weak side .

And so Satan does the same thing . He sees your weak points and guess what he's going to tempt you with your weak points . And so if you're able to be coachable and you're not ashamed , if you're willing to be like yeah , that is my weak point , man , what can I do to be better in that ? Then you are the perfect candidate for Christianity .

You're the perfect candidate for discipleship . Luke 9 , verse 23, . Jesus talks about the cost of following him and it says if anyone would come after me , let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me forever , would save his life , will lose it . But whoever loses his life for my sake will save it .

Notice that the cost of following Jesus is not how much you did for Jesus . It's not how much chairs you stacked up . It's not how many meals you provided . It's not how many scriptures you memorized . It's talking about man . Are you willing to give your life to Christ ?

Because Christ gave his life for you so that you don't have to die but you can live everlasting in his kingdom . It's not about what you do . It's not about your work . It's about your faith in Christ .

We're not going to make people and we're not going to shame you if you're not , but we want to grow in a healthy way as a church and one of the healthiest things we can do is focus on our members that are here today with hopes and prayers that God is going to equip our members to be able to reach more members .

But we don't want that to be harnessed in Georgetown Baptist Church . We want that to be spread as far as it can go . In fact , in our county there is a cry for discipleship .

I mean , I'm and I'm not saying that hypothetically , I'm talking to pastors that are telling me that they want to be taught this and what a blessing for our church to be engaged in such an important mission . The last thing I want to say is I put out a Facebook post on September the 7th , and this is what I wrote .

I said we need more men who love Jesus in our society . Over a decade ago , and I felt a call from God to be a source of encouragement to men of all ages and walks of life . I asked God to use me as a person men can trust and speak with men about their lives .

One simple prayer is led to seeing hundreds of men standing before me with tears in their eyes , confessing their sins and insecurities . The pressure men feel in our culture is immense , especially for Christians who are called to lead their churches and families .

Well , in 2014 , my life was changed forever when I was discipled by Zach and John Randalls , who taught me to be a faithful follower of the master . Since that day , my life has been dedicated to discipleship within the local church .

The past nine years have taught me that true strength and revival happened in the church when people are called by name , prepared to follow Jesus , and sent out to make more disciples . This works for all of us . Revival is possible when we teach the principles of Scripture and apply them through spiritual mentorship .

Please consider the men in your life who need encouragement . Reach out and offer a word of affirmation , and pray for God's blessings to wash upon their life . Please don't assume that men are confident in themselves . Our behavior can present a strong demeanor , but we might be struggling on the inside .

Look at the men in your church and ask God to build them up . Pair new believers with seasoned men who can guide them on the path of discipleship . Please don't give up on the men . Pray , encourage , be patient , teach , show

coach . When men of God discover who God made them to be , our enemy will shudder in fear . And I tell you that this is such an important characteristic of the local church . We can't push it aside . We can't be afraid of it , because it's a lot of work . We can , day by day , commit ourselves to this and I cannot wait to see what the Lord does with it .

If God is calling you to be faithful and to walk the path of discipleship , if God wants you to be a disciple , please come find me and we can pair you into a class , a big class , or , if you feel more comfortable , we can pair you with the person who's been discipled , who will be able to walk you through the strand discipleship .

The strand is not the Bible , but it is a tool to be discipled and it's been working really good because it's God-centered . So , love you guys , take care and we will see y'all soon .