Discipled by a 4 year old?

Last night I had a meaningful moment with a man I have been disciping.  He is an African Brother who has spent quality time in our home. He said this:

I love your son, David (cannot seem to get that it is DAVIS). He has taught me a lot. There are several times that I have watched him tell you the truth about something naughty that he did even though he was afraid you might be mad. When I watched him do this, it really taught me that I need to stop lying and being so afraid of protecting myself. I must have the integrity he has to admit that I was wrong. I have also seen him at bedtime, and he is so commited to prayer.  He cannot go to bed without prayer time.  That also helped me see the importance of prayer in my life. He was only 4 years old when I saw these things, but he taught me a lot. I have never learned from a kid before.

Am I proud of my son? Yes! Am I bragging on him? Yes. But, I am not doing so to make Tricia and I look good, but to prove a few points:

1. The young can disciple and impact the old
2. People are always watching when you model integrity and commitment to Jesus
3. 4 year old kids can make a difference
4. We should train our kids in the way of the Lord as young as they can hear and obey

I encouraged Davis with this story this morning so that he knew his life was making a difference. That led us into an awesome talk about sin nature, so this afternoon we studied Genesis 3 together and saw that when people do wrong, they:

1. Hide
2. Lie
3. Blame

Davis shared how he feels tempted to do that sometimes too and then ratted on a friend at school who lied to the teacher today to protect himself.

 

I am learning a LOT about discipleship in my relationship with my son.

 

Are you discipling your kids?  It is YOUR job, not the the job of their Sunday School teacher. 

The 3 things that hold you back

I feel like I meet a lot of people that are held back, hesitant, reserved, lacking confidence. Over and over again, I see incredible gifting and anointing in people that seem to not be operating to their potential.

 

In my short years of ministry and through prayer, the Lord has revealed to me what I believe are the three main areas that hold people back from being bold and confident with their voices and gifts. 

1. Pain. You have been wounded somewhere along the line and you are afraid of it happening again. The wounds are not healed, so you are held back.
2. Insecurity. For many varying reasons, you are just not secure in who you are and what you have to offer. Could be lack of affrimation, lack of theology of who God has made you to be or fear of man and desire to please them and feel important. Whatever the reasons, you are insucure and it compresses your gifts and your voice. (You may want to read this blog I wrote about Jesus and insecurity.) 
3. Secrets. Enough said. Secrets in our lives make us feel totally unworthy to assert ourselves into any leadership or to speak up and offer our gifts and voice.  Secrets place major drag on your life.  (I reccomed highly that you read this post I wrote recently about secrets.)

 

Are you held back? Take a look at these three areas in your own life.  Take them before the Father in prayer.

 

I long to see your gifts released.  Please stop hoding back on us and robbing us all of what you have. We need it. We need you! Come on.

Really, Mr. Winans?

Whitney Houston died. I pray God's peace be with her family. Seems that most of the rest of the world jsut needed something to talk about. No prob. That's cool.  Her funeral was yesterday. I did not watch it.  Could not really get it here.  Not televised and slow internet. 

 

Today, I saw this clip of Rev. Marvin Winans speaking at the funeral.  He called it preaching.  I call it heartbreaking. A few quotes with some short commentary:

• "I don't want anybody leaving here thinking God wants anyone here broke!" // Really, Mr. Winans? You were preaching to millions of people. Many were broke.  Flat broke.  What should they do with the fact that you have now told them that God isn't ok with their brokeness? And why are there 300+ mentions of God's love and care for the poor in the Bible you were holding while you preached?
• Mockingly, he states that folk say "I don't believe in this proserity gospel." To which Mr. Winans responds: "I don't know what other gospel there is!" // Really? I do. It is called the gospel of sacrifice and suffering.  The one that our Lord Jesus Christ modeled so perfectly by pouring himself out and humbling himself even to death. (Phil 2)
• "If God wants somebody broke, would you tell me who that is? Who's volunteering?" // To answer your question, I guess God wants more than 80% of the world to be poor, since they ARE. I assume most of Africa must have volunteered?!  Seems as though your church isn't volunteering, though.  No one raised their hands.  They just laughed. 
• "When God brough Israel out of Egypt, everybody came out with something." // Really, Mr. Winans? Where is that in the Bible? And what is this supposed to mean, anyway?  Because I want to tell some of my friends here in Africa who have nothing "in their hands" today how this can help them. 
• "For you to believe that somebody needs to be broke is to say that God does not have enough sufficiency to supply for everybody." // Really, Mr. Winans? Seriously? I am afraid you are deeply missing some vital principles about who God is and what He is up to. And now millions of other people can be as confused as you are.  
• "I want you to understand that what God desires for everyone, is for everyone to be healthy and prosperous." // Really? I am sure that this is in the Bible somewhere, but can you remind me of where? And then can you help me administer that reaity to the millions of people on the earth today that are neither healthy or prosperous? 

 

The prosperity gospel runs rampant in Ameirca and in Africa. It is a false gospel.  It is damaging and painful to our world. The guys propegating it seem must have AWESOME salaries, live in rich areas and must have rarely, if ever, traveled throughout the world.  My heart aches for them, with them and for the many impacted by the pain that their teaching causes. 

 

And sometimes, I just have to speak up. And so I have.  I wish I knew Marvin personally and could sit with him and challenge him and hear more from his heart. 

Really, Mr. Winans?

Whitney Houston died. I pray God's peace be with her family. Seems that most of the rest of the world jsut needed something to talk about. No prob. That's cool.  Her funeral was yesterday. I did not watch it.  Could not really get it here.  Not televised and slow internet. 

 

Today, I saw this clip of Rev. Marvin Winans speaking at the funeral.  He called it preaching.  I call it heartbreaking. A few quotes with some short commentary:

• "I don't want anybody leaving here thinking God wants anyone here broke!" // Really, Mr. Winans? You were preaching to millions of people. Many were broke.  Flat broke.  What should they do with the fact that you have now told them that God isn't ok with their brokeness? And why are there 300+ mentions of God's love and care for the poor in the Bible you were holding while you preached?
• Mockingly, he states that folk say "I don't believe in this proserity gospel." To which Mr. Winans responds: "I don't know what other gospel there is!" // Really? I do. It is called the gospel of sacrifice and suffering.  The one that our Lord Jesus Christ modeled so perfectly by pouring himself out and humbling himself even to death. (Phil 2)
• "If God wants somebody broke, would you tell me who that is? Who's volunteering?" // To answer your question, I guess God wants more than 80% of the world to be poor, since they ARE. I assume most of Africa must have volunteered?!  Seems as though your church isn't volunteering, though.  No one raised their hands.  They just laughed. 
• "When God brough Israel out of Egypt, everybody came out with something." // Really, Mr. Winans? Where is that in the Bible? And what is this supposed to mean, anyway?  Because I want to tell some of my friends here in Africa who have nothing "in their hands" today how this can help them. 
• "For you to believe that somebody needs to be broke is to say that God does not have enough sufficiency to supply for everybody." // Really, Mr. Winans? Seriously? I am afraid you are deeply missing some vital principles about who God is and what He is up to. And now millions of other people can be as confused as you are.  
• "I want you to understand that what God desires for everyone, is for everyone to be healthy and prosperous." // Really? I am sure that this is in the Bible somewhere, but can you remind me of where? And then can you help me administer that reaity to the millions of people on the earth today that are neither healthy or prosperous? 

 

The prosperity gospel runs rampant in Ameirca and in Africa. It is a false gospel.  It is damaging and painful to our world. The guys propegating it seem must have AWESOME salaries, live in rich areas and must have rarely, if ever, traveled throughout the world.  My heart aches for them, with them and for the many impacted by the pain that their teaching causes. 

 

And sometimes, I just have to speak up. And so I have.  I wish I knew Marvin personally and could sit with him and challenge him and hear more from his heart. 

Untitled

Whitney Houston died. I pray God's peace be with her family. Seems that most of the rest of the world jsut needed something to talk about. No prob. That's cool.  Her funeral was yesterday. I did not watch it.  Could not really get it here.  Not televised and slow internet. 

 

Today, I saw this clip of Rev. Marvin Winans speaking at the funeral.  He called it preaching.  I call it heartbreaking. A few quotes with some short commentary:

• "I don't want anybody leaving here thinking God wants anyone here broke!" // Really, Mr. Winans? You were preaching to millions of people. Many were broke.  Flat broke.  What should they do with the fact that you have now told them that God isn't ok with their brokeness? And why are there 300+ mentions of God's love and care for the poor in the Bible you were holding while you preached?
• Mockingly, he states that folk say "I don't believe in this proserity gospel." To which Mr. Winans responds: "I don't know what other gospel there is!" // Really? I do. It is called the gospel of sacrifice and suffering.  The one that our Lord Jesus Christ modeled so perfectly by pouring himself out and humbling himself even to death. (Phil 2)
• "If God wants somebody broke, would you tell me who that is? Who's volunteering?" // To answer your question, I guess God wants more than 80% of the world to be poor, since they ARE. I assume most of Africa must have volunteered?!  Seems as though your church isn't volunteering, though.  No one raised their hands.  They just laughed. 
• "When God brough Israel out of Egypt, everybody came out with something." // Really, Mr. Winans? Where is that in the Bible? And what is this supposed to mean, anyway?  Because I want to tell some of my friends here in Africa who have nothing "in their hands" today how this can help them. 
• "For you to believe that somebody needs to be broke is to say that God does not have enough sufficiency to supply for everybody." // Really, Mr. Winans? Seriously? I am afraid you are deeply missing some vital principles about who God is and what He is up to. And now millions of other people can be as confused as you are.  
• "I want you to understand that what God desires for everyone, is for everyone to be healthy and prosperous." // Really? I am sure that this is in the Bible somewhere, but can you remind me of where? And then can you help me administer that reaity to the millions of people on the earth today that are neither healthy or prosperous? 

 

The prosperity gospel runs rampant in Ameirca and in Africa. It is a false gospel.  It is damaging and painful to our world. The guys propegating it seem must have AWESOME salaries, live in rich areas and must have rarely, if ever, traveled throughout the world.  My heart aches for them, with them and for the many impacted by the pain that their teaching causes. 

 

And sometimes, I just have to speak up. And so I have.  I wish I knew Marvin personally and could sit with him and challenge him and hear more from his heart. 

Countries Represented at CPx

I'm deeply honored to join about 15 staff as we host and train 38 students who came from the nations so that they can go to the nations to make disciples and plant churches.

Here are the 14 countries represented in this year's CPx student body:

Canada
South Africa
Sweden
Zimbabwe
Whales
Netherlands
USA
Malawi
Australia
Scotland
Switzerland
Zambia
Germany
Morocco

I get the honor of hanging out with these folks for three months as we prepare to take Jesus to the nations. Yippee.

Kids Prayer Strategy

I stumbled upon something too cool not to share.

 

We pray with Davis every night when we put him to bed. It is a great thing to do and I am thankful for it.  However, lately I have been kinda unimpressed with the routine...same thing every night. Same basic words, same basic prayer, same basic mechanics. Might be ok for some, but not for me.  I want Davis to learn to express his heart to Jesus out of sincerity, not habit. I want to teach him early to pray with passion and intentionality. 

 

So, about a week ago I old him that we were going to take turns praying, alternating back and forth, kind of like popcorn popping back and forth...and that we would pray for whatever Jesus brought to our hearts.  

 

We did! And it was super special.  Now, every night, we employ our new popcorn prayer strategy.

• I prayed for Mom.
• He prayed for sister.
• I prayed for Family.
• He prayed for Masi.
• I prayed thanks for the day.
• He prayed safety for tomorrow. 
• On
• And on
• And on

It is totally rad to hear my son pray like this and it has significantly increased the value of our prayer times together.  I feel like we have stumbled upon a fairly good prayer strategy. I encourage you to try it a few times with your kids (or adults) and see what happens.

A blog of blogs

[[posterous-content:pid___0]]Been needing to do this a long time.  I often talk with church leaders and pastors and other curious Christ followers who have questions about what we are learning and where they can read about it.  I have wanted there to be ONE PLACE where people could find it all. So, here we go.

 

Key Discipleship Posts:

• I am afraid we are in a discipleship Crisis. Read about that here: A Discipleship Crisis?
• Should initiate discipling relationships or wait for them to come to me? My answer: Finding Discipleship; Wait or Ask?
• We disciple pre-christians in this way: Disciple to Convert
• Discipleship is obedience based, not knowledge based. This is major. Read this: Obedience-Based Discipleship.
• The rule of two: Rule of 2
• There are three types of discipling relationships that all of us should be engaging in.  I write about them here: Discipling Up, Down & Across and here: Ahead, Behind and Beside. 
• We must ask good questions in discipleship relationships: Provocative Questions  And here are some more good questions: Can I ask you a question?

 

Key Church Planting Posts:

• Church is about living the three loves: The Three Loves 
• More then 2/3 of the world can't, won't or don't read.  What does this mean for the gospel: Making Disciples of Oral Learners
• As a result, many people of the world are oral. Storying is one creative way to teach scripture that sticks: Storying Video.  Another way to learn scripture could look like this. Locals came up with this idea: Storying by Acting
• Some things about church planting have really surprised me.  Here are some: 3 Church Planting Surprises
• Can you reproduce your church free and easy? If not, read this: Making Babies in Church
• Discovery Bible Studies are a brilliant tool: DBS.  The SPECK tool is also cool: SPECK

 

Some other geneal posts:

• I bleive that the five fold gifting in Ephesians is majorly missing in the church: 5 Gifts...which one are you?
• We ought to know them and give them away: Give it away!
• I am understanding Apostolic leadership more and more...and it is helping me understand myself.  Read this: The Apostle
• New thoughts I now have on Prophecy: Prophecy; A New View
• Here is a video I shot with some thoughts into redefining church: (Re)defining Church :: A Video Blog
• Want to experience a neat way to build simple church values into larger church gatherings? Read this: 600 Sermons
• Here are some neat ways to use your building when the "church" is not: How to use your church building the other 166 hours