David and I have been friends for a long, long time. Ten years ago, he messed up my life by recruiting me to teach church planting and missions at a seminary and for our mission board. I have seen him in stress, joy, pain, and service. And, I have learned a lot from him along the way.

You see, David is like me—an imperfect person. I’ve seen him lose his temper, act in the flesh, and get focused on the wrong things. (By now you may be wondering what in the world I am doing writing the foreword, but stay with me.)

But, I have also seen him as an older brother in the Lord—his spiritual formation and growth exceeding my own. So, when I see David, I see someone who gets what it means to be a Christ follower, even when he is fallen and imperfect. I’ve learned from him—and I want you to as well. Maybe it sounds obvious, but I want to learn discipleship from a disciple, and I have seen that in David—up close, in messy, imperfect, and, yes, God honoring ways.

In Breaking the Missional Code, David and I focused on how a church could be engaged in God’s mission by being Biblically faithful and engaging people in culture. Our focus was how the church could (and should) be God’s missionary in the world.

David has always had a passion for the church—but he also has a passion for God people being on mission. In Breaking the Discipleship Code, David focuses on what it means to be a missional follower of Jesus.

The book reminds me, a bit, of a book my friends Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger. In Simple Church, Rainer and Geiger called the church back to simplicity. In Breaking the Discipleship Code, Putman calls Christians back to simplicity. Rediscovering the centrality of Jesus in your church and everyday life is what this book is about.

Even as I begin a new book exploring the attitudes and our response to younger generation I recognize the importance of this conversation. Becoming a missional follower of Jesus is the key to reaching future generations with the gospel. Over and over again in this book the idea of losing ones religion and finding the Jesus way appears. This is one of the key conversations that we need to be having as the church. More and more we are finding that while people don’t like church they still like Jesus.

No longer can the church afford to be cute or cool. If we are going to face the challenges ahead of us we must be real—genuine followers of Christ living our biblical values and ideas. Being real is about rediscovering the Jesus of our church. It is about opening the doors of our church and letting him back in. Jesus said, “I stand at the door and knock,” while referring to the church at Laodicea (Rev. 3:16). David’s hope, and my prayer, is that when we focus on following Jesus in the church, He won’t have to knock on the outside.

“What is a follower of Jesus?” “How do people become followers of Jesus?” “What does a missional follower of Jesus look like?” These are all important question that find new relevance in today’s world. These are not only questions that David needs to address. In today’s context, these are questions we must address for ourselves. I think that Breaking the Discipleship Code will give us insights to help on that journey.