Looking Ahead

Today's post is shorter due to my being out of town and without good (free) internet access. I find this ironic as I am in St Louis, yet I normally reside (post) from a small town in NW Missouri. I am attending our denomination's annual state convention this week, and a focus has been made on discipleship. Having finished my series on the JOURNEY, my intention for this blog was to focus on matters of Kingdom-living (living in, not of - fotonni). One very important element of this is discipleship, but learning to live with a Kingdom mindset is more than just discipleship, at least as it is often considered. As has been posted throughout this blog's introductory series on the JOURNEY, we cannot properly function without intertwining each of the five functions – discipleship, fellowship, worship, ministry, and evangelism.

That said, much of this blog's posts will be on the function of discipleship. There are a number of experts in each area of focus, and though I am no expert on discipleship, my background and training is in the area of Christian Education and my heart is to make disciples. Indeed, I am still learning about being a disciple myself. My own journey has been drastically impacted within the context of James 4.7-8 this week as God has spoken to me often over the last three days since I preached on that passage.

As I close today, I leave you with a two brief quotes from the teaching part of the convention. If you follow me on twitter (@andybraams), you may have already seen these, but if not they are worthy to preserve.

"The only thing Jesus has authorized us to do is to make disciples." (Matthew 28)

- Bill Hull

"The Christian life is not a negotiation. It is a surrender."

- Bill Hull

So, my challenge to each of us today is to surrender our life to the King and make disciples in, and for, His name.