Napkins & Discipleship: Still an Effective Medium

The latest Campus Ministry Journal (Issue 3) is now available. This issue is about Disciple-making. It has articles on disciple-making movements, lessons learned in disciple-making and more.

But, given my love for sketching or diagramming everything I do (evangelism, discipleship, planning, even sermon notes), John Allert's article, "Napkins: Top Discipleship Diagrams" caught my attention.

In this visual world, sketches can make an impact. If you don't believe me, check out,  Dan Roam's, The Back of a Napkin, or any of David Sibbet's books, like, Visual Meetings.

Powerful Life Story: Ed's Garden

Just watched this powerful story of Ed Dobson. I was casually aware of his name years ago. Now I know the "rest of the story" and it is a powerful story of spiritual journey...



Enjoy!

CurPress Green Goes Live

I return to my blog after a month of travels--half for ministry purposes, half for vacation. In my absence, one of the most exciting developments has been the launch of CruPress Green.

CruPress is the formal publishing arm of the U. S. Campus Ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. Over the last six or seven years it has developed and distributed (in my biased opinion) an excellent set of tools and resources for campus ministry (and beyond.)

What publisher, Rick James, and editor, Neil Downey, have down with CruPress Green is to take the majority of that "intellectual property", along with extra "goodies", digitize it and provide it free of charge for those doing campus ministry (and beyond). WOW! Great work guys!

Here are some of the highlights:

Resources are generally organized under six categories: Growing Movements, Evangelism, Personal Discipleship, Small Groups, Body Life, and Sending. Each category is packed with articles and resources for download. For example, Evangelism has (currently) 66 downloads available. Small Groups includes thirty three. But even more, all the three years of Bible Study curriculum of Cru.Comm is available under another tab, as is the proven discipleship materials of the Compass.

You need follow-up material? Download the zip file of the Life Concepts for five basic follow-up appointments for free. Of course, the formally published (and thus, much nicer) materials are still available through CruPress. But now you have options.

Also at CruPress Green featured talks given to CCC audiences (conferences, etc.), a blog that is intended to tap into the writing of various USCM leaders, and the newly developed C456:Taking Conversations to a New Level videos.

This is not just a tool box. It is a treasure chest of resources for campus ministry!

Design for Discipleship: A Primer for Disciple Makers

A year ago, I mentioned working on an article (actually, a transferable concept) about discipleship. I now recognize, I never posted its completion.

So, here it is:

Design for Discipleship: A Primer in Disciple Makers

There is a pdf sample that can be downloaded for review.

The Gospel & Disciple-making

I recently completed an article entitled (in pre-published form, "The Design of Discipleship".) In it, I explore the biblical foundations for discipleship, disciple-making and spiritual multiplication. In one section, I reflect on the gospel and disciple-making, including the following paragraph:

The other essential ingredient for a healthy growth environment is the gospel. In its simplest form (what you might call, the essence), the gospel is the good news about Jesus—who he is and what he has done. (See for instance, 1 Corinthians 15:1-5; compare Luke 24:45-48.) It is through this gospel that you came to know and experience Jesus as your Savior and Lord by faith (Romans 1:16, 17). But the Christian life doesn’t start with the gospel and then graduate to something else, to some deeper truth. No, you don’t move on; you go deeper and experience more. The gospel, in its fullness, is the whole truth about Jesus and all that his salvation and kingdom has for us. It is like a vein of gold, the deeper you go the richer you become, not because you are finding something else, but because you are experiencing something more. So, whether the gospel is summarized in its essence through a brief booklet like, Would You Like to Know God Personally? or expounded in its fullness through Paul’s theologically rich letter to the Romans, it is transforming message through which we encounter Jesus Christ our Lord. In the gospel, we find Christ to be the only solution for our fallen condition—our brokenness, sin and shame. In the gospel, we discover Christ to be our life and through his Spirit to be the power we need to live that life. Jesus transforms us, and he does so with his gospel. Therefore, making disciples means helping others to understand and experience the gospel.

Thoughts?