What I like most about John is his passion for disciplemaking. You can’t take a bite of your biscuit (we had breakfast) without him reminding you that the command of the Great Commission is not to “go” but to “make disciples.” John has written some about his passion for disiplemaking here on his blog.

John recently wrote:

Could it be that 21st century evangelicals have been so influenced by a Western, industrialized perspective that we have fixed our attention on the results listed in the Book of Acts and have largely overlooked the far more critical matter of the disciples’ process of obedience?…

When I was a teenager (a long time ago) I attended a Campus Crusade “Lay Institute For Evangelism.” Part of the training was memorizing their definition of evangelism: “Evangelism is simply sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit and leaving the results to God.” There was such freedom in knowing that we were not expected to pursue results—that the results were up to God.

What if we applied that mindset to our current approach to evangelism, church life, church growth, and missions? What if we set aside our deductive approach to studying Scripture (bringing our own preconceived notions to the text and looking for support for those notions), and applied an inductive approach (examining Scripture in its original context and looking for what actually was commanded and what took place)? And then, what if we simply obeyed the Lord’s command to proclaim the Gospel (as the Bible defines it, not a watered-down version designed to bring results) and make disciples (according to the Lord’s definition and following His example)?

I suspect our churches would start looking drastically different—and we would let the Lord worry about the results.

Most impressive to me is that he has raised two sons whom he discipled—and his sons brought their friends to be a part of the meetings. In a day when too many pastors’ kids walk away from the faith, John has walked with his kids to be robust disciples. That’s a lesson worth living.

Trustees

I just left Nashville and the trustee meeting at LifeWay. I have written before about how I think it is essential that trustees from churches oversee the work of agencies. It was good to see that done in a healthy way today.

We have a good committee that relates to us in Research. It was good to get to spend some time with several of them today.

Also, I am glad that the trustees voted to give a contribution to Union University. (I will let our communications people report the details.) The trustees also voted to move my boss into a new role, moving me into a new organizational structure. Sigh. Again, the press should have details… but now I report to Thom Rainer. This is a tragedy for him... so pray for his strength and health. Grin.

Off to Minneapolis

Right after the meeting, I jumped on a plane to Minneapolis. The last time I was here to speak at John Piper’s church for the Global Church Advancement conference. (I was in town a couple of weeks before the bridge collapse—and we drove over that bridge several times.)

Right now, I am getting ready to speak at the North Central University Missional Ministry Conference. On Monday, they heard from my friend Mark Batterson. The school is affiliated with the Assemblies of God, so it was only appropriate that they heard from Mark who is one of the up-an-coming leaders in the Assemblies of God movement..

I was supposed to speak today (Tuesday), but I changed my meetings to be with the trustees. My friend Todd Hunter graciously switched days with me. Todd and I talked on the phone tonight so we will avoid overlap. And, Todd gave me the heads up on a new book he is writing which sounds very good. (I plan to write more about Todd soon.)

When I look out my hotel window I see where the Minneapolis I-35 bridge once stood. Makes you think...

But, for now, it is time to turn in.