NAVY SEAL, FBI AGENT, AND A DISCIPLE MAKER

Two buddies of mine let me go along with them to the shooting range. Stephen is a Navy Seal and Jeff is an FBI agent (formally Army) and shooting instructor. This was only my 3rd time to go to the shooting range. To say the least I was a bit intimidated but at the same time I was full of excitement getting to be around these guys. Well I got up to shoot and pulled the trigger at the target. Nothing hit the target! I was AMAZED as I pulled the trigger again and again that I just completely missed the target. My Navy Seal buddy made the comment that maybe there was a hole in the target (sarcastic joke), and for I a split second I actually believed him. Then, they got up to shoot and just bam bam bam, the metal plates just start coming down one after another. I mean they rarely ever missed. It was amazing to watch! So I got up again and of course I missed again and again, but then they began to coach me. Tips about stance, how to hold the gun, how to pull the trigger, how to breathe, etc…They were very patient with me. In this short video clip you can watch Jeff shoot, then Stephen, and then me after them coaching me. See what happened!

Literally during this time, I thought wow, what a great picture of making disciples. These “experts” took me by their side and step by step showed me how to actually shoot. When it comes to making disciples, we usually watch the “experts” (the pastor, the missionary, the ministry director, the evangelist) do all the work. Why do we do this? Maybe it is because nobody actually sat us down and took the time to show us how to make disciples. I believe in our church culture we are always looking to the experts, but it was never intended to be this way. The disciples were ordinary men and women who in turn discipled ordinary men and women. Reaching the city will NEVER happen if it is left up to the experts. Imagine if we taught everyone how to make disciples! I am actually confident now that I could take someone to the shooting range and coach them on how to shoot and this is how discipleship should work. I get taught, then I teach somebody, and then they teach somebody, and the cycle continues. That is how Jesus made disciples and how Christianity spread so rapidly with the early Church!

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