Message from our Director of Missions
The annual Southern Baptist Convention and Pastors Conference were June 13-15 at St. Louis. Overall it was a good, spirited meeting.
This month we continue “summer reruns,” reviews of core concepts in my ministry and what influenced them. As a Baptist I rarely say ‘anointed,’ but it fits Robert Coleman’s small masterpiece, The Master Plan of Evangelism. It is, in my opinion, the finest book ever written on what the main task is for individual Christ followers and for the church. Our main task is to reproduce the life of Christ in everyone we meet; if they are without Christ, it is evangelism; if they are believers, it is discipleship. Either way, we reproduce the life of Christ in them to make disciples of all nations (Mt. 28.18-20). This is the same whether from the pulpit or grandpa’s knee, a boardroom or a classroom, a serendipitous moment or a lifetime of study.
Many Christian publications, teachings, and sermons are heavy on “you ought to” but often light on “how to.” Coleman’s book walks a person through the simple steps Jesus took in developing His disciples:
1) Selection---choosing wisely those in whom you will invest your life (2 Tim. 2.2)
2) Association---spending quality time with them (not just at “the church house”)
3) Consecration---giving them your blessing and prayer support (John 17)
4) Impartation---investing your life in your disciples (1 Thess. 2.8)
5) Demonstration---living out the gospel outweighs a hundred sermons (John 14.9)
6) Delegation---allowing one’s follower to experience the joy of service in the Kingdom
7) Supervision---achieving the balance of accountability and empowerment
8) Reproduction---making not only disciples but disciplemakers (2 Tim. 2.2). Discipleship is teaching others to teach others to teach others.
9) Conclusion---either you are making disciples or you’re not; the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.
For a summary of these points, and a free e-book revisiting these principles, go to:http://pastors.com/free-ebook-master-plan-evangelism-revisited/ or find a used copy for $.01 on Amazon. It can be read in an afternoon and help you build the Kingdom one life at a time for a lifetime. What are you waiting for? On your pilgrimage to Myrtle Beach this summer, pack it in the beach bag; be prepared for the heart transformation as God prepares you to transform others through the Master’s Plan of Evangelism.