People love to hear stories. It is no coincidence that the movie industry is one serious business. Why is it that we pour into the theaters week after week? The reason is simple: we are suckers for a good story. The movies allow us to be transported for a short time into a new world and experience something different.

If one of the characteristics of a disciple-maker is becoming an expert in evangelism. One of the major tools that a disciple-maker needs to develop is how to tell your personal conversion story. We call that a testimony.

The evangelistic testimony differs from your personal story only in that in addition to telling about your life you are also sharing the gospel and illustrating how you came to Christ in such a way that the hearer would know how they could also commit their life to Christ.

Here are some specifics that need to be included in your testimony (I recommend you keep it to 3-5 minutes)

1. Tell about your life before becoming a Christian.
2. Tell about the events leading up to your conversion.
3. Tell about your conversion experience including a clear verbal presentation of the gospel and a specific personal illustration of how you received Christ.
4. Tell about how your life has changed as a result of your conversion.

After hearing your complete testimony someone should be able to understand your conversion experience as well as have a clearer understanding of the gospel and a clearer understanding of how they could commit their life to Christ.

The reality is that Hollywood may never approach you or me about putting our lives on the silver screen but it is possible that God will use our lives to help someone else go to heaven. Now that’s a story worth telling!

If you want to make a disciple-maker you need to develop an evangelistic testimony and help them to do likewise.

 Over 10 years ago, I began working on an equipping model to help guide me as I was endeavoring to guide aspiring disciple-makers to continue their discipling ministry.  The project was basically a brain drain about everything that I had learned over the years while discipling guys (and being discipled).  One of the areas that a disciple-maker needs to develop is evangelism.  The missing part of many discipling ministries (mine included) is evangelism.  One of the descriptors of a disciple-maker is that he/she is an evangelist.  Not the Billy Graham type necessarily, but at least the guys next door or the gal in the next cubicle type.  I developed a Core Conviction statement that I wanted to share for your consideration (and mine as I am still very much in process in this area).

 Evangelist Core Conviction:  It is my conviction that men without a personal relationship with Jesus Christ will spend eternity separated from God in a literal place of eternal punishment called Hell.  It is my responsibility to do everything I can in the power of the Spirit (Act 1:8) to befriend the lost and share the gospel message with every non-believer the Lord gives me opportunity.  It is my responsibility to take the initiative to share the gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit and leave the results to God.

As I re-read that I wonder sometimes if I really believe what I say that I believe.  Have my conviction permeated my thinking and my life yet.  Some days I would say yes and most days I would say no.  Developing conviction is a lot like growing up.  You grow a millimeter at a time and you move from being a little child to a strapping lad over 6 ft tall (though some of us never quite got there, 5’ 11 ¾” in my case) over time.  So, in a similar way your convictions grow a little at a time until they are part of you.  But, you do need something to shoot for.  You need some kind of vision that will challenge and guide you.  That is what the core conviction statement is about.  Let my core conviction stimulate you in developing one of your own.

If you want to make a disciple-maker you have to develop convictions in the area of evangelism and help them to do likewise.

 Hell is the single greatest tragedy in the universe- Randy Alcorn

 I am working through a book on heaven called Heaven by Randy Alcorn.  It is a very interesting and inspirational as he tries to help believers understand heaven from a Biblical perspective.  But, in the midst of this uplifting book he has a very disturbing chapter.  He asks an interesting question: “Is Heaven our default destination… or is Hell?” I know that this is not something we want to think about.  It is so much easier to think of everyone as basically good and going to heaven.  As an optimist at heart it is hard for me to get to glass half-empty related to some eternal destinies being hell verses heaven.  But if your eternal resting place is hell, the glass is not half empty, it is completely empty and the glass is broken.

 Jesus Himself addresses the reality of Hell in several passages that I have listed below.  In fact Jesus has a lot to say about Hell.  Honestly, more than I want to admit (or deal with).

 Matthew 7:13-14- ¹³ “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴ But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

 John 14:6- ⁶ Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me

 Matthew 10:28- ²⁸ Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell

 Matthew 13:41,42- ⁴¹ The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. ⁴² They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

 Mark 9:43-48- ⁴³ If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. ⁴⁵ And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. ⁴⁷ And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, ⁴⁸ where ”‘their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’ 

 John 5:28-29- ²⁸ “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice ²⁹ and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned

 Matthew 13: 49-50- ⁴⁹ This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous ⁵⁰ and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

 Matthew 22:13- ¹³ “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

 Matthew 25:31-46- ³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. ³² All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.  ³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’  ³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’  ⁴⁰ “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’  ⁴¹ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴² For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’  ⁴⁴ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’  ⁴⁵ “He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’  ⁴⁶ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

 Luke 13:22-30 ²² Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. ²³ Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?”  He said to them, ²⁴ “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. ²⁵ Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’  “But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’  ²⁶ “Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’  ²⁷ “But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’  ²⁸ “There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. ²⁹ People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. ³⁰ Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”

 Luke 16:19-31- ¹⁹ “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. ²⁰ At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores ²¹ and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.  ²² “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. ²³ In hell,  where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. ²⁴ So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’  ²⁵ “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. ²⁶ And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’  ²⁷ “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father’s house, ²⁸ for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ ²⁹ “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’  ³⁰ ”‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ ³¹ “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

 Mark 8:34-38- ³⁴ Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. ³⁵ For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? ³⁷ Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? ³⁸ If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

 Why all this doom and gloom.  One of the essential but oft-forgotten parts of being a disciple-maker is helping people work through the Bible-driven-reality of Hell.  For the unbeliever he needs to understand his ill-advised fate and that there is an alternative.  For the believer he must thankfully embrace the outcome of Jesus’ death on the cross for his sin but also realize that he is a steward of the gospel and must share it with a world that is going to hell in a handbasket.

 If you want to make a disciple-maker you have to deal with the reality of heaven and hell and help them to do likewise.

 Where’s your man?  Where’s your woman?  Who are you intentionally discipling?  One of the main obstacles to disciple-making is not having someone to disciple.  That sound pretty basic but it is a profound dilemma than many want-to-be-disciple-makers have.  They have the vision.  They have a plan (albeit a plan developing).  But, they have no one to work with.  Most of you are probably like me in that your life is not so remarkable that people sit around and dream of becoming you.  So, how do you position yourself to become a spiritual influence in the lives of others?

 Idea One: Pray

Ask God to send you men (women) to disciple.  We know that this is God’s will for your life to be involved in disciple-making so He is interested in making that happen.

 Idea Two: Share the Gospel

Most people begin their parenting journey by having children (deep stuff I know).  They begin to feed, clothe, nurture and protect their infants from day one because it is so obvious of the new child’s need.  Spiritual parenting is not much different; if you lead someone to Christ they need to be spiritually nurtured in the faith (discipled).  Start leading people to Christ and you will find your man.  Beware though those baby-Christians are about as messy as baby-babies but seeing spiritual children grow up and become disciple-makers is awesome (kind of like grand-parenting).

 Idea Three: Share the Vision of Disciple-Making with Others

Most of the guys I have ever discipled responded in a positive way to the vision of disciplemaking.  It looks like this: I share the vision then I ask them where they are in their spiritual development.  Once we are clear where they stand I ask them where they would like to be.  If we discern that they do want to move forward then I ask them what their plan is to reach their goal.  If they don’t have a plan, I offer my assistance in helping them reach their goal.  Pretty simple and if they are interested in my help I begin to meet with them and work through my plan (see Day 2).

 Idea Four: Only Work with F.A.T. Men

I don’t know about you but my time is pretty limited.  I can usually tell in a handful of meetings if the person I am meeting with is going to be a faithful man whom I am going to be able to influence.  How you say?  Are they F.A.T.?  F.A.T. stands for faithful, available and teachable.  If someone is not faithful we are wasting our time.  If someone is not available for training we are wasting our time.  If someone is not teachable we are wasting our time.  Let me be clear on this point: There are some people who do not like me or my style and that is ok because I probably don’t like them either.  And those people will never be the kind of people that I will spend a lot of discipling time with.  I can still have a good relationship with them even though my role will never be to mentor them.  And that is ok.  But, there are some folks that we mesh enough for me to be an influence on them and that is who I need to work with.  Same goes with you!

 If you want to make a disciple-maker you have to get a man and help them to do likewise.

 Have you ever worked in a company where the most popular excuse for something not getting done was “that isn’t my job”?  Or have you tried to solve an issue with a service or product that you bought and everybody in customer service is convinced that another department is responsible to resolve your concern.  One of the keys to stellar customer satisfaction is for somebody to take responsibility for your concern and try to help you work through it.  How does this apply to disciple-making you ask?  Quite simply most Christians think that disciple-making is “not their job”.  Unfortunately, most believers have taken the Exemption Clause from the Great Commission and run with it.  Jesus, speaking to His disciples after the resurrection spells out our exemption this way in Matthew 28…

 ¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in  the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

 Did you see the Exemption Clause?  Me neither.  In fact, even though He was giving a specific command to the apostles we are included by the fact that He told them to teach their disciples everything that He had commanded them including the commandment to make disciples.  SO, THERE IS NO EXEMPTION CLAUSE IN THE GREAT COMMISSION.  We are all to be involved in the process.  Our roles may differ but we are all held responsible.  IT IS OUR JOB!

 If you want to make a disciple-maker you have to work through the Exemption Clause (or lack thereof) and help them to do likewise.

 I met with a good friend of mine this morning that I am beginning to mentor in the area of disciple-making and we did an interesting exercise.  He is a sixth grade math teacher and I asked him to tell me what it would take for me to become a sixth grade math teacher.  The one stipulation is that he had to teach me and he couldn’t ship me off to college somewhere.  He began to layout a very conceptual gameplan of helping me to achieve my new found desire to teach.  It was very apparent to me that this guy knew what he was talking about and he had become an expert in his field.  I even walked away from our conversation thinking that if I spent enough time with this guy that he could probably help me become a 6^th grade math teacher or at least get me started down the path.

 The road to becoming a disciple-maker is not much different than the road to becoming a teacher.  You just need to get a plan and start working the plan.  I have a spiral notebook that I keep with me all the time.  I put all kinds of stuff in here: football plays, Sunday school lessons, ideas I am developing, projects I am working on, article to post on the blog, etc.  I have recently added a new list- Ideas of How to Make a Disciple-Maker.  Currently, my list is at 51 ideas and growing everyday.  This series that I am writing on this blog will source from that list.  Just like my friend had a plethora of ideas of how to help me become a teacher so I am trying to collect my thoughts of what it takes to become a disciple-maker and how you can help other do the same.

 If you want to make a disciple-maker you have to have a plan and help them to do likewise.

 The greatest need in the entire world is disciple-makers.  Don’t believe me?  Riddle me this: why would Jesus make the discipling of the 12 the central focus of His brief 3 year ministry.  Sometimes in our study of the life of Jesus we are so impressed with His amazing life, His life-altering teachings and His mission of saving mankind that we overlook that He purposefully selected 12 men to be with Him so that He might send them out to change the world. The world was His mission.  Men were His method.  Disciple-making was His strategy.  Still don’t believe me?  Two passages shape my thinking here.

 Passage One: Matthew 9:35-38

³⁵ Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. ³⁶ When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷ Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. ³⁸ Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

 Passage Two: Matthew 28:18-20

¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in  the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

 In the first passage, Jesus shows us a world of great need.  We live in a world that evokes great compassion but that world doesn’t need government bail-outs but rather it needs workers to be sent.  This need for laborers is so important that He commands us to pray for workers to be sent into the harvest.  The greatest need in the world is for folks who would be willing to role up their sleeves and get their hands dirty in work of disciplemaking.

 The second passage is very insightful in that it is the last major pep talk of Jesus to His men.  We glean the inference of the focus of His time with them over the last few years.  He had been preparing them to send them out.  But His agenda was not primarily a social one (even though everywhere the church has gone social justice has been extended-with some well documented exceptions) rather His agenda was a life transformational one.  He sent real live people to impact the lives of real live people.  He said it this way: Go and Make Disciples, help them identify with Me publicly (baptism) and teach them to obey My commands.

 If you want to make a disciple-maker you must embrace the vision of disciple-making and help them to do likewise.

Matthew Henry comments on the passage in this way : That they are children of wrath. They are not to be envied, for God is angry with them, is angry with the wicked every day. They are every day doing that which is provoking to him, and he resents it, and treasures it up against the day of wrath.  As his mercies are new every morning towards his people, so his anger is new every morning against the wicked, upon the fresh occasions given for it by their renewed transgressions. God is angry with the wicked even in the merriest and most prosperous of their days, even in the days of their devotion; for, if they be suffered to prosper, it is in wrath; if they pray, their very prayers are an abomination. The wrath of God abides upon them (Jn. 3:36) and continual additions are made to it. -Matthew Henry’s commentary

 That got me to thinking about what a terrible plight the ungodly have and wondering, if God is displeased with them everyday should I be reaching out to them everyday?  Isn’t that the goal of evangelism to reach out to the wicked so that they might repent and not have to live under the constant displeasure of the Lord?

But the church not only stops short from the goal by focusing on making a positive difference but it also stops short by focusing on making disiples verses making disciple-makers.  Don’t belive me start asking around about how many disciple-makers are in your church who not in the clergy and you will probably find that the church is full of disciples who don’t have a clue as to how to make a disciple.  The harvest is plentiful but the disciple-makers (laborers) are few.  Why is that?  We have been so busy making disciples that we forgot to make disciple-makers.  The funny thing is that an organization that makes disciples has an easy hop to making disciple-makers.  We have to make the goal adjustment and then start focusing on it.