Field Time!

No, I'm not talking about football- but I am looking forward to listening to some over the Internet. There is only so much cricket a good old American sports fanatic can take!

Anyways, I just returned from the field spending time with 'Mark' (pseudonym) one of our 14 CP's. Normally, we are to spend time with them 1 on 1 when we come to them, but he had brought 8 of his CP's that he is training to for me to teach some things to them. I really had planned on meeting with 'Mark' only, and had nothing prepared. So, I winged it. I asked them questions. I needed to know what kind of training they have had, where their ministry is, how many churches they oversee, are the leaders they are discipling also discipling others to become leaders- basically interviewing them to measure maturity and get a feel for their theology. The first issue that came up which seems to come up a lot here among believers- what is a disciple? So I ask the question to the group- is there a difference between disciple and believer? All said yes. They told me that they believe a true committed follower of Jesus and His teachings is a disciple. A believer is one who only believes but does not follow. So, we looked in the bible at the requirements to be a believer. I ask them to read Romans 10:9 "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." All agreed that to be a believer is to do these things. When you confess that Jesus is Lord, what are you committing to do? You are committing to following Jesus only. When you commit to follow a lord, what does that make you? His disciple. AH-HA! They solved the problem themselves, by looking at God's Word. I think I saw light bulbs blink on, I'm not exactly sure. I could tell they all understood though. I restated that we should always look at the Bible for answers to our questions and not rely on another man's word if it is not Biblically based. This passage of scripture does not give levels of becoming a disciple, and does not recommend a good theologically sound bible college before you truly become a disciple of Christ- you confess and believe, and it is by grace you are saved, not works or knowledge.

Another question I asked them was if they were performing baptisms. They said yes. I asked if their CP's they were training were performing these things too. Most said no, that they themselves were doing the baptisms, Lord's Supper, etc. I asked them why, and they said that some were not ready, that maturity was not there yet from some of them, and they were waiting. I told them it was OK if their CPs personally were not ready to do these things yet, but the CPs should be told by their leaders (them) that they (the CPs) have the authority to do these things. We then read 1 Peter 2:9- "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." In most religions, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, Catholic, I asked them who were the people who perform the rituals and ceremonies? Priests was the answer. I then asked, "in this passage, what does it say that all believers/followers of Christ are?" Priests came the answer. So, who can do the ceremonies like baptism, Lord's supper, etc.? All believers. Again, we looked at scripture together to get our answer, and they found the solution themselves. I told them that they were doing good work, but growth would never really take off the way they want it to unless they allow their leaders to take responsibilities. They need to let them loose to do the things God has given them the authority to do. I will be most interested in our next meeting to find how much they have moved forward in these two areas.

There is much potential in this small group, and all have had many trainings, but we stressed to them that we need to focus on one thing and do it well rather than try many different things and do them so-so. We shared end visions together, and I told them that if we are to reach the end visions they wanted, they needed to focus their strategy and stick to one thing. 'Mark' is obviously our point man in this group, and I stressed to him how important it was to model for these guys and teach them the things we will be teaching him over the next year.

There are some other things that happened in our meeting- one young man just happened to be brought in by 'Mark' as he met him on the street and rented him a room. He is 18, not a believer, and we got to talking about his future. God really hit a home run on this one, because the young man started by saying he knew all religions and respected them, but they were not for him. I began to share the Gospel with him, using the method we use and teach, in front of all we were meeting with that evening. After sharing, he accepted Christ, and is now a new creation! Not only that, but every one of these CP's got to see how to we share the Gospel- the way we teach it. That could not have gone better. Praise the Lord!

Before leaving, we gave 'Mark' some action items to complete before we meet again in one month. Pray for 'Mark' over the next few weeks as he is putting the strategy we are teaching into action- a strategy that is new to him. We studied Luke 10:1-10, by praying and going to find the person/house of peace God has put into place already, according to Acts 17:26-27. He will do this to some of the places he has been as well as one new place. He is also going to take a couple of his guys with him to model it and have them do the same while he watches. This is called our HOP House Of Peace strategy (more details on this later).

I told 'Mark' that we were not doing this to shame him or tell him he is doing anything wrong, but we simply want to help him and equip him to be able to see progress to his end vision for his district. He understood completely. Pray for his continued obedience and that he can really pour into the 10 CP's he is working with to all become great builders of the Kingdom. God's endvision- "For the earth will be covered by the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." Habakkuk 2:14.