• Our hope-filled future is bound up in sharing the story of Jesus, in discipling others, in bringing those disciples together into communities of believers, and in developing and releasing those believers to create other communities... till Jesus the King comes again!

Have you heard the story of Trey?

Posted on February 9, 2021 by wtdavid

Have you heard the story of Trey?  That’s not his real name, but hopefully this story will be a reminder to each of us of the power of the Gospel to change a life. Slowly, deliberately, but surely.

Here’s how my friend shared the story with me.

“I met Trey several years ago on a street in Chiang Mai. The Lord prompted me, for some reason, to speak to him. I invited him to have a coffee and we chatted for a while.  A few weeks later, we met again and at that point I invited Trey to come and visit our church. He wasn’t really interested.  He subsequently ‘dropped off my radar screen’. I prayed for him but didn’t run into him again for several years.

Then one day, there he was, walking down the same street again as I was. We grabbed a coffee together and caught up on what had happened since we last saw each other.  I later asked if he wanted to visit a cultural exposition that was being held in the coming weeks. He agreed to go with me.

As our friendship grew, I asked Trey if he might be interested in reading the Bible together – just reading it and discussing what we thought the Bible was trying to say to us.  He was willing, though it wasn’t an enthusiastic willingness.  And so, we started reading the Bible together.  

Then the pandemic hit, and we were forced to meet virtually on our cellphones.  In one of those virtual meetings, we read the passage from Mark 1:14-15.  As we talked about what it meant, Trey came to understand faith and repentance, and that day he gave his life to Jesus.

As we continued to meet, it was a joy to listen to Trey’s prayers: short but so simple and sincere. Trey started reading the Bible 5 minutes a week and praying for 5 minutes, then it became 15 minutes per day!  God was building into this new disciple!

I introduced Trey one day to another person in our community group. I thought it would help him to get to know other believers, and that he might be encouraged to join our community times.

Recently, Trey told me how he had talked with one of his co-workers about the Bible. They talked about what each thought the Bible passage meant!  I pray that Trey will become a disciple who makes disciples. He is certainly not done with ‘growing in Christ’. So, I (along with others in the community) keep praying and walking alongside him.”

So, have you heard the story of Trey?  Hopefully this story has been be a reminder to each of us of the power of the Gospel to change a life. Slowly, deliberately, but surely.

Filed under: Community, Discipleship, Repentance & faith, Sharing the Gospel story | 4 Comments »

I joined a movement

Posted on February 1, 2021 by wtdavid

I often say that I am part of a mission. And that is completely true.

I also say that I belong to a grouping of churches which ‘sent out’ my family and I to serve Christ in another place, in another culture.  And that is true as well.

Recently though I am beginning to say that I am part of a movement.

Saying that is more than just an exercise in semantics. There is depth and commitment behind the truth that I belong to a movement.

A movement in simplest terms is a grouping of individuals or organisations who work together to advance their shared idea, activity, or ministry objective. Being part of a movement means we work collaboratively and collectively, and leverage all our resources together for the growth and development of the movement.

There is fluidity and flexibility to a movement in its outworking in different contexts.  There is loads of room for creativity and innovation.

Yet, something ties the movement members together.  There is alignment in mission and direction.  There is a willingness to lead, and there is a willingness to follow.

What ties the movement members together though is the desired outcome.  For us as WT movement members, it’s seeing multiplying groups of disciples and communities of believers among the lost. 

But the hardest step in staying in step with the movement is learning yield; to humbly give up what we may want or think is the (our) right way to do things, to serve the larger desire and outcome of the movement.

Filed under: Church, Discipleship, Movement, Multiplication, Unreached people groups | 4 Comments »

It’s hard to think of others … first

Posted on November 20, 2020 by wtdavid

We often cite the verse from Philippians 2: “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”  It’s a biblical reminder to not be selfish in our approach to life (and ministry). The reality, though, is that it’s just plain hard to do.  It’s hard to think of others … first.

As cross cultural workers for the Gospel, we have learned how to do.  We were trained and given opportunity to do the ministry.  It’s what we were called to do by God.

Now there is nothing wrong with doing.  God created us, brought us to Himself, redeemed us, and made us part of His family to carry out the good works He has planned for us.  That’s another way of saying that being and doing are inter-related.  Knowing who you are in Christ pushes you to want to serve Him.  And in serving Him, we find ourselves driven back regularly to Christ and the cross for the assurance of His love and grace.

We take delight in doing God’s work, in giving our energy to see the Gospel shared and applied.  The problem arises when we consider that relationship and work as only individual and not collective.  In other words, a large part of our doing should be to equip and empower others to do the ministry as well (Ephesians 4:12-17).  And yet, it’s just hard to think of others first.

Let me share a few ideas for us to consider:

First, sit down with a disciple or another worker/leader that you are helping to grow and develop.  Ask them to describe for you, in five minutes, a life changing event that they experienced.  Listen carefully. Ask clarifying questions.  When they are finished, re-tell the story to them.  This will provide a gauge of your capacity to listen well to another.

Second, think about a disciple or another worker/leader that you are helping to grow and develop.  Ask yourself: what could this person become if they gave energy to this one area of their life and ministry?  Then determine one way you could help this person identify that growth need and begin working on it. This will help us begin to think of others’ growth as well as our own.

Finally, pray.  Pray that you would grow in your capacity to listen well, ask questions, and graciously push another towards growth.  And focus specific prayer on that disciple or other worker/leader that you are helping to grow and develop.  Ask God to use you to empower them in ministry.

Filed under: Discipleship, Gospel, Other centeredness | 6 Comments »

The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification

Posted on August 26, 2020 by wtdavid

Walter Marshall, in his book: The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification, writes:

“We are all, by nature, void of all strength and ability to perform acceptably that holiness and righteousness which the law requireth … [The] doctrine of original sin, which Protestants generally profess, is a firm basis and ground-work to the assertion now to be proved, and to many other assertions in this whole discourse.  If we believe it to be true, we cannot rationally encourage ourselves to attempt an holy practice, until we are acquainted with some powerful and effectual means to enable us to do it … Men show themselves strangely forgetful, or hypocritical, in professing original sin in their prayers, catechisms, and confessions of faith; and yet urging upon themselves and others the practice of the law, without the consideration of any strengthening, enlivening means; as if there were no want of ability, but only of activity.” 

Maybe it might be best to ‘translate’ Marshall’s thoughts into language we could more easily grasp or understand.

All of us know that we are brought from the shame of sin to the honor of a beloved child of God by the work of Christ on our behalf.  God opens our hearts that we might put our faith and trust in the Gospel of Christ (Ephesians 2)

However, though we know that is by grace and the Gospel that we become members of God’s family, we tend to see the Christian life that follows as our own effort and work to please the Father.

Marshall states that the doctrine of original sin would tell us otherwise.  Just as we came into this relationship with the God of the universe by faith, so we live out that relationship by faith.  He enables us to believe in Him, and He enables us to live for Him.

If that is true, then it impacts how we live and what we share with other disciples.  For example, when we call a disciple to obey God’s Word, we must call them as well to plead with God for the grace to obey.

Would love to hear other examples that might come to your mind

Filed under: Discipleship, Gospel, Grace, Holiness | 8 Comments »

Who is your one (bis)?

Posted on January 24, 2017 by wtdavid

The word, ‘bis’, in French is a way of adding an additional thought.  It’s an ‘encore’ if you will.

Last week, I wrote a post about the ‘slogan’ shared by my brother’s pastor in regards to Ephesians 1:1-14:  “Then he shared this slogan via a question: “Who is your one?”  Who is the person God has put on your heart?  Are you close to anyone who is far from God?  Are you in touch with anyone who is wondering how they fit into God’s mission in the world?”

I wanted to cdiscipleship-potential-160526ome back again to that question.  As I thought more about that slogan, I remembered a good friend from seminary (a New Zealander) who used to ask me a similar question every time we met for coffee.  We would sit down at Friendly’s (an ancient version of Starbucks) over a cup of American ‘coffee’ and he would start out by asking: who is your man?  Or later on, the question morphed to: how is it going with your man?

In his language, he was asking about the person that I was reaching out to or discipling.  He was pushing me to get past just talking about people to actually moving towards people and investing in them.

His weekly reminder was the help, the accountability moment I needed.  His weekly question was the reminder that someone was thinking about and praying for me in this regard.  That weekly reminder over a cup of ‘coffee’ was one of the main ways God kept my eyes focused on the His larger mission.

Last week, I asked: “Who is your one?”  Maybe I could state that another way: who are you reminding regularly about God’s mission by asking: Who is your man?  Who is your woman?  Who is the one in whom you are investing?

Filed under: Discipleship, Sharing the Gospel story, WT Ministry Framework | 4 Comments »

Handing off the baton

Posted on November 24, 2016 by wtdavid

It is a simple statement that gets lost in the larger context of one of Paul’s letter where hehanding-the-baton writes: “and we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s coworker in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort you in your faith.” (1 Thessalonians 3:2).  This is the same Timothy who was earlier called Paul’s ‘beloved and faithful child in the Lord (1 Corinthians 4:17).  This Timothy, Paul’s fellow coworker, is now sent to minister to the church at Thessalonica.

Paul had ‘handed off the baton’ to Timothy.

What that process looked like is not completely clear or written down.  We can see different parts of the process as we read about Paul’s journeys and study his letters to churches.  We can observe that there was a beginning when Paul identified Timothy for development, there was time spent with him in training, and there was a time when he was sent out on his own.

What does all that mean for you and me?  For one, it raises a simple question: where am I, where are you in the ‘passing on the baton’ process?  Are you in the process of training someone?  Or have you not yet taken the first step of identifying someone or some people in whom to invest?

Secondly, this work should take us back again to our Central Ministry Focus: “reach, invest in, and equip others to release them into ministry”.  The Central Ministry Focus is not a one day webinar we host.  It’s a journey of training where we work with others to develop them and release them into ministry.

Another way to put it, that I often heard from a New Zealand brother, was: who is your Timothy?

Filed under: Discipleship, Facilitation, Training | 2 Comments »

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