The ripple effect - I'm still thinking about it. I'm thinking that is what Treasure Chest Ministries is really all about. I'd encourage you to check out our original post and then add this thought again from the second post, originally written by our friend Arlin Sorenson.
Discipleship is coming alongside someone who is at least one step behind you in their walk - be it in their relationship with Christ, their marriage, their business or wherever they are – and sharing life together through practical example of how you took the next step when you were in their shoes. Way too many of us don’t think we know enough to help anyone else. Our life is not perfect, our marriage has problems of our own, our business has issues that we have to address every day. OK – welcome to being alive. Don’t want any problems – the only way I know to achieve that is to stop breathing permanently. And that is only an assumption because I haven’t been there yet. And that really is the core of mentoring, or discipling another. We share from our experience rather than letting people just hope and guess they are on the right track. Often sharing the things that we have struggled with, or even failed at, can be the greatest life lessons we have to share. Jesus didn’t pick 12 perfect guys to be his disciples. In fact, they were anything but perfect, and one left Him to betray Him. Jesus took 12 and poured His life into them. And the result? They changed the world…..forever…..that is the power of discipling another. It is the greatest form of legacy you can ever find. And we need to do it at home, in the office, and at church.
The quote at the top of my home page says it all. My story is not better than yours. Your story is not better than mine. They are both very valuable and that value is greatly increased when we share life with one another. The only thing I've been surprised at in the past 10 months of blogging is how little people are willing to share from their own lives. What you know and what you are in the process of learning is valuable. I have and continue to learn from all those around me. It encourages me greatly to hear and see others talk through the process of life. We recently started a small group with 3 other couples. We took 4 times together to just hear each others "stories", a bit about who we are and where we come from. It was amazing how much our stories overlapped, not in actual location or situations but in experiences that shaped us. Now we are learning together, discussing a book about relationships and just sharing life circumstances. God intended for us to do life this way. Check out the book of Acts and well honestly most of the New Testament.
How are you doing life with others? Are you aware that your life effects others?
Sharing life, REAL life with an extravagant, limitless God
Showing posts with label Discipling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Discipling. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Making disciples is the main event
"Making disciples is the main event - that is what we are called to do as His body." You know, I'd love to be so wise as to be sharing all of my own thoughts, but it's more important to share the heart of God. I believe our new friend Arlin has said it so well again, I find no need to re-write it into my words. Technically I don't believe these are Arlin's words either. I believe these are the words of our Lord as stated in Scripture. Read the following and let me know what you think. I'd love to hear from you.
In the book I started on my plane ride down here, “Hole in the Gospel” author Richard Stearns writes “in our evangelistic efforts to make the good news accessible and simple to understand, we seem to have boiled it down to a kind of fire insurance one can buy”. He calls it the “bingo card gospel” where folks are led to make a choice to pray the sinners prayer and then left to figure out how to be a Christ Follower on their own, or as often happens, to go back to whatever life they were living after getting “their ticket to the next life”. Oh how that strikes a chord with me. Jesus tells us to go and make disciples of all nations. That does not mean go and make baby Christians and then leave them to fend for themselves. Salvation is only step one of the process of disciplemaking. It is not the end game – it is the start. Jesus wants us to take these new believers under our arm and lead them into a deep walk with the Savior, not just to introduce them so they can find salvation and leave them on their own. We shouldn’t be creating orphanages of baby believers – we should be creating school yards of believers that are being taught how to move toward godliness and holiness – mentored by those who are further down the road. Making disciples is the main event – that is what we are called to do as His body. How does the process work? The same way it did when Jesus showed us – by spending time with and investing in people. He did it with the 12. That is probably more than we can handle, but we sure should be doing it with someone. I don’t think it coincidence that Sunday night our small group studied John 15 which was all about bearing fruit – the purpose of which is to reproduce – and then this book is the one I grab to read on the plane. God is trying to get my attention to get more intentional about pouring life into folks and being an example of how to walk with Christ. I have a whole lot to learn, and certainly am not the greatest example in the world, but to disciple another we simply need to be one step further down the path with the Savior. We should not wait until we achieve it – because we never will. We just need to lead another down our own journey. Are you in the game of making disciples and helping people change their life – or just in the fire insurance business? Or have you taken the approach that all you want to do is attend church once in a while and not do anything with your spiritual calling. God calls us to be a lot more than an insurance salesman or a pew filler. We are to make a significant difference by being intentional in making disciples – helping others live a life pleasing to God as we do so ourselves. That is our call. Are you going to answer? Quoted from Arlin Sorensen Thoughts from the Farm
That's the question at hand. Are you going to answer? Do you need some help or encouragement? That's what we're here for. Let us know if we can help. Contact us at tcm@treasurechestministries.org
In the book I started on my plane ride down here, “Hole in the Gospel” author Richard Stearns writes “in our evangelistic efforts to make the good news accessible and simple to understand, we seem to have boiled it down to a kind of fire insurance one can buy”. He calls it the “bingo card gospel” where folks are led to make a choice to pray the sinners prayer and then left to figure out how to be a Christ Follower on their own, or as often happens, to go back to whatever life they were living after getting “their ticket to the next life”. Oh how that strikes a chord with me. Jesus tells us to go and make disciples of all nations. That does not mean go and make baby Christians and then leave them to fend for themselves. Salvation is only step one of the process of disciplemaking. It is not the end game – it is the start. Jesus wants us to take these new believers under our arm and lead them into a deep walk with the Savior, not just to introduce them so they can find salvation and leave them on their own. We shouldn’t be creating orphanages of baby believers – we should be creating school yards of believers that are being taught how to move toward godliness and holiness – mentored by those who are further down the road. Making disciples is the main event – that is what we are called to do as His body. How does the process work? The same way it did when Jesus showed us – by spending time with and investing in people. He did it with the 12. That is probably more than we can handle, but we sure should be doing it with someone. I don’t think it coincidence that Sunday night our small group studied John 15 which was all about bearing fruit – the purpose of which is to reproduce – and then this book is the one I grab to read on the plane. God is trying to get my attention to get more intentional about pouring life into folks and being an example of how to walk with Christ. I have a whole lot to learn, and certainly am not the greatest example in the world, but to disciple another we simply need to be one step further down the path with the Savior. We should not wait until we achieve it – because we never will. We just need to lead another down our own journey. Are you in the game of making disciples and helping people change their life – or just in the fire insurance business? Or have you taken the approach that all you want to do is attend church once in a while and not do anything with your spiritual calling. God calls us to be a lot more than an insurance salesman or a pew filler. We are to make a significant difference by being intentional in making disciples – helping others live a life pleasing to God as we do so ourselves. That is our call. Are you going to answer? Quoted from Arlin Sorensen Thoughts from the Farm
That's the question at hand. Are you going to answer? Do you need some help or encouragement? That's what we're here for. Let us know if we can help. Contact us at tcm@treasurechestministries.org
Thursday, March 25, 2010
So the way I see life working is realizing it's all about relationships. Mark (my husband) and I have been blessed beyond belief with meeting amazing people of all ages, education levels, income levels, titles and denominations. We'd like to introduce you to some of those people. Through relationships our lives are made richer because we learn from each other. Today I'd like to introduce you to Arlin Sorensen. Arlin is a farmer and businessman in Southwest Iowa. He understands the importance of relationships and he lives that out through every part of his life. We haven't known Arlin long but we're encouraged and challenged by his passion to meld his life following Christ into every aspect of his life, including his business. The following is an excerpt of his morning devotion e-mail which he sends out to over 500 people every day. The point of sharing this (which we are doing with his permission) is not that we are mentioned - it's that he gets it. Discipleship - we are ALL to be discipled and to disciple. Well just read his words - they express our beliefs at Treasure Chest Ministries perfectly.
Happy hump day. What a busy day yesterday was. Started early and I had a phone or meeting happening from 8 AM until 8:30 PM. It was like a day on the road for me which was wild yet very productive. The meetings and conference calls were extremely productive and it was a great day. The best part was later in the afternoon when some folks gathered in our living room with the western Iowa couple that leads Marriage Matters. You may recall we attempted to have a meeting with them back in January during the ice storms, and we did, but the amount of distractions that day really caused us to struggle to focus and get a plan in place. Yesterday we were able to walk through all the resources they offer, and talk about how we can create a mentoring program that allows couples to come alongside another couple who is struggling to help them learn how to work through issues. It is an exciting program and we will be working to bring it to the area with an early summer kick off. Marriage Matters doesn’t use any fancy methods or some big training program to prepare people. They equip folks with some simple tools and honestly just follow the model Jesus used in scripture – go and make disciples. Too often programs complicate His simple approach to ministry. Discipleship is coming alongside someone who is at least one step behind you in their walk - be it in their relationship with Christ, their marriage, their business or wherever they are – and sharing life together through practical example of how you took the next step when you were in their shoes. Way too many of us don’t think we know enough to help anyone else. Our life is not perfect, our marriage has problems of our own, our business has issues that we have to address every day. OK – welcome to being alive. Don’t want any problems – the only way I know to achieve that is to stop breathing permanently. And that is only an assumption because I haven’t been there yet. And that really is the core of mentoring, or discipling another. We share from our experience rather than letting people just hope and guess they are on the right track. Often sharing the things that we have struggled with, or even failed at, can be the greatest life lessons we have to share. Jesus didn’t pick 12 perfect guys to be his disciples. In fact, they were anything but perfect, and one left Him to betray Him. Jesus took 12 and poured His life into them. And the result? They changed the world…..forever…..that is the power of discipling another. It is the greatest form of legacy you can ever find. And we need to do it at home, in the office, and at church. Programs like Marriage Matters just help equip us to be obedient to God’s commandment to “Go and Make Disciples of ALL Nations” and that starts right at home. (emphasis added)
Arlin Sorensen
CEO/Partner Heartland Technology Solutions
A Day in the Life of Arlin Sorensen Thoughts from the Farm Morning Email
Happy hump day. What a busy day yesterday was. Started early and I had a phone or meeting happening from 8 AM until 8:30 PM. It was like a day on the road for me which was wild yet very productive. The meetings and conference calls were extremely productive and it was a great day. The best part was later in the afternoon when some folks gathered in our living room with the western Iowa couple that leads Marriage Matters. You may recall we attempted to have a meeting with them back in January during the ice storms, and we did, but the amount of distractions that day really caused us to struggle to focus and get a plan in place. Yesterday we were able to walk through all the resources they offer, and talk about how we can create a mentoring program that allows couples to come alongside another couple who is struggling to help them learn how to work through issues. It is an exciting program and we will be working to bring it to the area with an early summer kick off. Marriage Matters doesn’t use any fancy methods or some big training program to prepare people. They equip folks with some simple tools and honestly just follow the model Jesus used in scripture – go and make disciples. Too often programs complicate His simple approach to ministry. Discipleship is coming alongside someone who is at least one step behind you in their walk - be it in their relationship with Christ, their marriage, their business or wherever they are – and sharing life together through practical example of how you took the next step when you were in their shoes. Way too many of us don’t think we know enough to help anyone else. Our life is not perfect, our marriage has problems of our own, our business has issues that we have to address every day. OK – welcome to being alive. Don’t want any problems – the only way I know to achieve that is to stop breathing permanently. And that is only an assumption because I haven’t been there yet. And that really is the core of mentoring, or discipling another. We share from our experience rather than letting people just hope and guess they are on the right track. Often sharing the things that we have struggled with, or even failed at, can be the greatest life lessons we have to share. Jesus didn’t pick 12 perfect guys to be his disciples. In fact, they were anything but perfect, and one left Him to betray Him. Jesus took 12 and poured His life into them. And the result? They changed the world…..forever…..that is the power of discipling another. It is the greatest form of legacy you can ever find. And we need to do it at home, in the office, and at church. Programs like Marriage Matters just help equip us to be obedient to God’s commandment to “Go and Make Disciples of ALL Nations” and that starts right at home. (emphasis added)
Arlin Sorensen
CEO/Partner Heartland Technology Solutions
A Day in the Life of Arlin Sorensen Thoughts from the Farm Morning Email
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)