Yesterday I was sitting at the park enjoying this beautiful fall weather in Buncombe County and as I was sitting there, I thought, how can I be a disciple if I am so wrapped up with this earthly life that I barely have enough time to give him. I began to think about Sunday morning and how that time has pretty much has become routine and I haven’t had the personal opportunity to share Jesus with strangers at church and that’s when it hit me!
AM I REALLY A DISCIPLE? I picked up my phone and searched the meaning and the Qualities of discipleship. One of the first qualities was sharing the Good News to non-believers, I began to toss and turn over this one because I couldn’t remember when I had talked to a complete stranger about Jesus!
As I continued reading the following qualities teaching, loving God, loving others, those seemed to be what we do in church but, then all of a sudden I read, standing out, denying ourselves, being firm in God’s word and thought, this isn’t Sunday morning with fellow believers! This I was reading was displaying the comfortable church setting, this was putting myself out there with strangers as a Missionary!
As I walked back to my pickup, I FELT GUILTY! I felt like a failure! I did not remember the last time I had shared Jesus with a stranger or even spoke of him with people I didn’t know! The longer I thought about it and knew something was missing!
That’s when I googled disciple workshops and began to read stories of real people getting trained and going out and doing what Jesus asked! I mentioned to a friend of mine, How could I have been so comfortable all these years? She said, brother, the world has become so busy that we have been lost in the details! She continued, the very things we were asked to do are so difficult for many. That has created a culture and over the years so many Christians have become comfortable going to church. Plus she said many church leaders mention to their congregations that by giving, they are building the Kingdom and that causes people to think it’s covered!
I was amazed, I finally came to the truth, I wasn’t trained, I wasn’t really a disciple and all I could do was either ignore this or do something about it! The first place I looked was my church website, I didn’t see any opportunities like training. I searched the area and I found volunteer opportunities to serve, but disciple training like I was reading on other sites didn’t exist.
After so much turmoil and regret, I drove 8 hours for 3 days of training, and my life will never be the same! I am like Jesus! I can go out anytime I want and be like Jesus!
I invite you to get equipped as the disciples we read about in the Bible, ones that operate with the demonstration of the Holy Spirit! I still can’t believe I wasn’t provided this in 35 years of going to church and several of them at that!
What is a discipleship workshop?
An equipping ministry training those who want to change their community by living the lifestyle of Jesus and His disciples. Training includes going into the marketplace, sharing the gospel, healing the sick/infirm, casting out demons and more.
Read the must-haves to the Great Commission on the Give Church Network