Class Response #3 - Chad Furlong

Founded and led Hampton and San Diego Master's Commissions.  He also started a church out there as well as an assembly program.  He just started a new discipleship ministry call "Twelve (12)".

He is still young and already did all of this!  The way he and Lance have worked together, he seems like a great disciple of Christ!

"The heart behind what he does."

He was telling us his story of his first missions trip.  Don't know the point of it but it was funny!  He seems like a great person to talk to.  He definitely think very highly of Lance and same as Lance to Chad.  Chad's daughter came on and said hi to us.  That's very cute!

"The Heart of Discipleship"

"Twelve" taking Jesus's ministry on how he worked with his "12 Disciples".  They launch this coming Sunday.  He seems very excited to be doing that.  Christian means little Christ.  It's not about getting big fast when it comes to discipleship.  They are starting with 13 students, but would like to eventually get to 50 or so.  When an inch wide and a mile deep is how they want to go when they get with the "Twelve" team.  He really wants to work on Jesus' ministry model and follow that.  Discipleship can almost be synonymous with relationship.  The only difference in a discipleship relationship is to exhort and and be relational within discipleship.

In third world countries, they have conversation and community.  They don't think much of all of the technology.  Sometimes, in our world, when we get home, or in the western church we do pretty good with programming and we shut the world out.  I was a bit confused when he talked about this.  In the area of discipleship, in the western church we tend to not see or pay attention to relationship with others around here.
Erwin McManus called "Soul Cravings" was the book he recommended for us to read.  A quote from the book I got online states, "We can spend our whole lives trying to satisfy the one insatiable part of our being, our sould craving."  I loved how he said and challenged us to be relational and disciple our ministries.  I can tell he's so passionate about this!  I love listening to what he says.

His Values and Questions he answered for us.
1. What is the underlying philosophy of your discipleship?
     We need to value intimacy with God first, above all else.  He is very passionate about this new ministry he's starting this weekend!  It's because of God's love, mercy and grace we are accepted no matter how we are.  Simply push people towards loving God.  It won't always fix everything but it's what is very important.  Matthew 22:32-40 - In the discipleship strategy, that's what he wants to exhibit and be first in his ministries and in what he teaches us.  Loving God intimately and loving each other (1 Peter 4:8).  It should be fervent prayer (having/ displaying a passionate intensity.
     He values love.  We need to love God and love one another
     He values servant heartedness...and being or having transparency. (Matthew 20:28).  That is so crazy because just yesterday, in our intern meeting with Charity, she had us listen to part of "The Call of a Worship leader".  One of the points was servant leadership.  It's not exactly the same but that's what came to my mind.  Part of leadership and discipleship is servanthood.
     He values evangelism and outreach (Matthew 28:19).  We need to go and travel the world, our communities, our schools, and our families.  When it comes to our disciples, we need to be reaching out.  We often value authenticity where we need to value transparency.
     Men and women tend to put themselves up on a pedastool where Jesus should be.  Jesus was always bragging on the Father.  We should be doing this!  The Holy Spirit's role in our lives is to uplift Christ!  Do not but yourself up on a pedastool.
     They value balance.  It's very important to be balanced in work and rest and relationships.  He wants to teach them, how to date.  Teaching disciples balance is very important.  You have to be a mom before anything else.  If you don't have fruit yourself, how are you going to grow and invest in others?  We need to have fruit and be fruitful.
      Picture yourself on a yard stick.  One end of it, you are a mom, God's daughter, etc.  Other side is your ministry.  The balance is not exactly in the middle of  the yard stick.  It is whatever is to be a higher focal point/crisis at the time.
     They value responsibility.  It is an opportunity to serve God, not just man. (Colossians 3:22-24).  He says a learner will learn anything from anyone at anytime.  That is a very great quote to think on.  I personally like learning but not reading.  We need continual learning.  Proverbs 19:8 they value creativity (look at Genesis and Psalms.
     They value spiritual authority.  Romans 13:1-2 illuminates submitting ourselves to governing authorities.  Matthew 9:17
     They value teamwork.  There is no 1 person that makes something.  It's being humble and working as a team (Philippians 3:4).
     They value fortuitiveness.  They have drive and will never quite.  You have to refuse to quit.  Use the book, "Celebration of Disciplines" to disciple those around you.  What are the values of our worship team ?  That is something I personally want to work on.  Is that something maybe to involve the team in to decide on?  Discipleship he thinks doesn't happen in a classroom.  There are elements of learning.  Discipleship is almost like a 1-on-1 thing or 1-on-3.  PHILOSOPHY

2. How did he build the group or more so the logistics (the system) and how it works?
     You want to think of how and who you want to be working with.  Prayerful God, "what ways can we get to the spot you want me to be in."  We can't just create our own waves but let God intervene.  Building a ministry for discipleship is to have a platform for it.
     The need to create a discipleship experience on paper that you are happy with, through past learning experiences.  Have integrity with it.  "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" we need to first start off with the end in mind.  Walk through with it.  Don't just go through the motions.  Don't just make the plan for them but follow it yourself.
*He says, Make Your Ministry "Great". www.twelveexperience.org
     Look at the 5 elements of your ministry.
     Strategic document, 5 - year plan, mile-markers, major tasks
We can't always get things perfect but need to take a look back.  In discipleship, it is so important to be learning from you past but visioning the future.  You can look at the horizon, position yourself in the right spots of those waves and let God call you.  Look at your strengths from strengthsfinder.com.

It would be great to go down and work with the others churches in West Virginia.  The plan is going down in November and praying for 300 salvations that night.  I really pray and hope for great expectations in this area w/ our ministry.

Class Response #2 - Jeremiah & Cori Herbert

The Intersection Church-FVWC

They work together being co-leaders in much of what they do.

Just like in marriage, when you have a church body you believe in and car about, you commit through all of it (good and bad).

Numbers are AN important thing but not THE most important thing.  Go and make disciples out of all the nations.  We need to restore Jesus and teach about him in everything we do.  That’s what the Herberts and the Intersection believe.  A disciple learns and does what they are taught.

            -Everything we do is discipleship

            -There is an ongoing discipleship

            -The come and follow “principle” – quoted Jesus in scripture

                        -come and die (come and pick up your cross daily)

            -Our goal should be that we’ve taught people to live their whole life for the cause of Christ to the end of their life.

It takes more than one time to talk to people about what’s going on in your church.  You may have the same conversation but eventually you can get people to church, when you are persistent about it.  It’s not ultimately of what we can do but what God (the Holy Spirit) does through them.

120à3000 filled with the Holy Spirit

You have to still be connected to people whether they go to church or not.

Discipleship is a process and you need to let others in to connect them to Jesus.  Say you are working on something and someone asks you if they can help…don’t say no you can’t.  Get them connected with God in that way by saying, “sure”.

Disciple people in the area you are passionate for!  Know what your strengths are, what your passions are, go to someone who you can trust and ask them for help. J

When you sow seed into something, don’t just take the whole thing for yourself.  Share half of it with others in that group.

            -Time Management & Availability – “Ordering Your Own Private World” is a great book to read to work on this.  Workload and family – juggling that.

*I really like how they were explaining discipleship to us.  They get straight and to the point which I always love about them.  Cori and Jeremiah are very direct and knowing what they want.  I see much leadership in them and look up to them in that way.

*When doing events, that’s all they are if you are just worrying about that.  The more important process is the relationships you make while planning for the event.  Something also that I learned from Cori and Jeremiah today is that, though there may be people in your ministry that are more “talented” or whatever more than you, the Holy Spirit put you into that position for a reason.  Faith and creativity can come together in that way.  Always try to humble yourself.  Don’t be prideful.  Also, have a sweetness to people but be direct too.  They really inspired me in that way.  It’s just like I was told to be faithful no matter how hard it gets through a vision, continue to do what you love to do, what the Holy Spirit wants you to do.

*Restore people’s dreams…”Dream Big Dreams*  Speak truth in to the lives of YOUR ministry!  In evangelism…you have to have that desire in your heart to speak positivity into the lives and  hearts of those around you.  It’s not just at big “events”.

Give your heart, soul and mind to the Lord.  To the vision!

4 Core Values @ The Intersection:

-Create

-Connect

-Contribute

-Celebrate

3 Filters (Questions):

            -Is this something we should do?

                        1. Does it connect people with their purpose?

                        2. Is it innovative or creative in a new way?

                        3. Does it contribute to our community?

Thank you so much Cori and Jeremiah for all that you do and the way you’ve inspired me. J

10 Questions For Unchurched Friends

10 Question's For Unchurched Friends*If anyone would lie/or could take the time to answer these questions, that would be great!  I'm doing this survey for one of my Outreach & Discipleship course @ Elevate Leadership School.  Thank you!!! :)

1. Have you ever gone to church before?  If so, where?
2. What was it like being a part of that church?
3. Have you/or friends been involved in serving in ministries anywhere at/for church?  How much did that make a difference for you or your friend?
4. What do you believe churches do well at?
5. Why do you think people don't attend church regularly or why don't you?
6. What doesn't make sense to you about Christians?  Do you see a difference from people who have a relationship with God to ones who don't?
7. What are your beliefs on church and God?
8. If there was something you could change about church, what would it be?
9. How is your life going right now and do you think it could be better if you were a disciple of Christ?
10. What do you think churches could do around the community that people would like?

Class Response #1 - Jan Workman

Discipleship Process at a Peak :)          


           What does the discipleship process look like?  That is something that Jan Workman  along with Christian Life Assembly works on.  Fornication and crucifixion is something she has been trying to teach students at her church.  She said that adults are in the same plus sometimes which tends to be a bit scary.  She believes in 3 things: Kids are capable of glorifying God. 

Move finish line from 18-25 years old…young adult ministry at CLA.  They have a kid’s ministry up to 5^th grade, a middle school aged group to 8^th grade, then high school group.  This generation is “caused driven”.  I love that she talked about the “Armor of God”.  One of the things in that she talked about was forgiveness.  Currently I am having a hard time with that so it is something to definitely pray about.

            I can tell that she loves working in kids ministry.  She worked with many kids who are now, vision-oriented young adults changing the lives of students from what God has taught them.  She isn’t teaching the same way at CLA that she did at FV but she always loves working with both.  Something I never knew about her was that she helped or lead at one of our church plants.  Church wide, what does discipleship look like from start to finish?  They aren’t completely sure but what they do know is that the staff at CLA is working hard to develop a process for all ages.  It isn’t all about students learning, parents teaching, staff doing all the work.  The barriers need to be broken down between these areas.  Students can also be teachers.  Parent may be trying to teach kids around them but they could also be learning in the process.  Staff doing all the work, that’s not even an option.  Everyone who goes to church I believe, should be involved somewhere in the church, in the body of Christ.  You have to think outside the box.

It takes a team of people to launch from a ramp, not just one person.  There may be a lead person on the team but we are all part of the leadership building.  The leader of the group puts the vision into the rest of the team.  She talked to us, reminded us about the whole spiritual gifts survey.  That is a very huge and important test to take.  That shows us what are strengths are, where they could be, where God has placed us in the Kingdom of God.  I love how she quoted from the Bible about the truth.  “And you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”  It made me think back to when we went to Allison Park Church.  It’s a great thing to be vulnerable in trying to find truth.  It’s great to be trying to better yourself all the time.  Knowing the truth is good, but that doesn’t mean that it always gets easier.  That’s part of the verse is something that I’ve seen people and myself tend to look over sometimes.

The whole “adopt-a-block” idea she mentioned is great but what caught my eyes and ears even more was the whole portion of team building.  If there’s anything I got from her teaching it is team building.  I still don’t know how to completely make team-building better but it is a start.  I’m still in the learning process of this, especially with our worship team.   It is very hard at times to work with others who were already strong leaders when I’m just a growing leader built it also makes me very excited.  It’s so hard at times to work together but it’s during the hard times that the team can grown the most.  One of the best forms of Discipleship I’ve ever learned up to this point is from Gerry’s book “83 Lost Sheep”.  Following up is a huge thing too.  Keep following up with your team and those wanting to be a part of that group.  No one is beyond accountability.  Always keep that in mind with any relationships with others.  Not only with people but in anything you do.  Always keep that in mind.  This is what I learned from Jan’s fantastic message to the class. J