Discipleship on Fire: Step by Step Process to Discipling Anyone

Copyright © 2015 Scott Thom.

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Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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ISBN: 978-1-4908-8398-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-8400-4 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-8399-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015909388

WestBow Press rev. date: 07/10/2015

Contents

Preface

1 A Real Barn Burner

2 Where Is the Disconnect?

3 We Must Catch Fire

4 Take a Second

5 All In

6 The Practice

7 It Is All about Character

8 Give It Away

Preface

Let me splain … No, there is too much. Let me sum up. You are going to love discipling people in Christ.

When I first became an associate pastor at Calvary Chapel West Covina, I was married with one child and had many responsibilities in my new position. I was somewhat overwhelmed with all I had to do, but I had this great desire to mentor men. I wanted to see men succeed in the kingdom of God without going through endless classes in the school of hard knocks.

I noticed five different men who always hung around the ministry, wanting to be of assistance. Back then I didn’t know much about mentoring. I wasn’t sure if I should be doing it; after all, I was just starting in ministry. What did I know about it? I wasn’t nervous. Maybe I was a little bit concerned, but that’s not the same thing. I just wanted to help guys learn ministry. So one by one, I asked if they would like to meet for Bible studies. Each Friday night we would meet at one of our houses, cook each other dinner, and go through some Scriptures to discuss them.

We had lots of fun trying out new meals, including rattlesnake chili. Yes, it had real rattlesnake in it. Everyone laughed when I tried to use our new bread maker to make plum bread. It had the consistency of a brick. Though many years ago, I still vividly and fondly remember many of those nights. They were some of the highlights of being in ministry. I think this is when God began to show me the great importance and impact of mentoring.

With great pleasure I got to see each of those five men enter ministry. Step-by-step they grew in ministry from volunteer positions to leading ministries to some being on staff at a church. Even at the writing of this book, four out of the five are still in ministry in some form or fashion. However, one broke my heart. Even though he was doing well in ministry and many thought he would become a church-planting pastor, he rebelled from his calling. He left his wife and sought a life in the world.

This taught me the importance of two things. One is the great need for teaching and creating character in those you are mentoring. The other is that even though not all will finish the race, there is an enormous upside and longevity for those who are mentored. I believe the joy of seeing the four still in ministry far outweighs the heartache of the one who left. In fact, it confirmed to me that we had to do things a different way. We cannot just talk about discipleship; we must commit to it. We must train in such a way so that the people who are mentored develop a passion to mentor others. I have seen firsthand just how highly effective this process can be.

I pray you will catch this biblical vision and run with it. However, please don’t run with it alone. The whole point is to take someone with you on this incredible venture of faith. The power of mentoring will change your life, the life of others, and the world around you. You can do this. You don’t have to be a professional, a pastor, or on a church staff. You can mentor your children, your employees, your students, or your athletes. You can mentor anyone. If you take the practical guidelines in this book and just start doing them, you will see extraordinary life-changing results.

Thanks for taking the time to read this book. Reading seems like a lost activity, much like discipleship. When I was your age, television was called books. Well, I am not quite that old, but you get the idea. In a small part, I get to mentor you with these pages. I am so excited for you.

Blessed wishes,

Pastor Scott Thom

Chapter 1

A Real Barn Burner

Have you ever thought something was one way only to have your notion proven otherwise? I have, many times. One such time was when I studied a martial art in New Mexico. I thought I would learn all these cool moves and kicks, but the first year most of the training was push-ups, sit-ups, and how to be a punching bag. I remember a time when my instructor was hitting me so hard that he lifted me off the ground. As he landed a right jab, a thought struck me: this was not what I had signed up for. Thoughts of quitting overwhelmed me. Physically and mentally, I was spent. However, not one to give up easily, I stayed in the training and trusted my instructor. My persistence paid off. A year later, we started to learn more moves. Still, most of the class time was spent on physical training.

My instructor had a plan. He knew what he was doing in training me. This became very clear one Saturday morning when we had a visitor to class. My instructor arranged a sparring match for me without my knowledge or consent. I was not ready to go into the ring with someone and was filled with fear. I was tall and just starting to fill out, but this guy was taller and bigger than I was. What was my instructor thinking?

This guy was good. He was connecting with his punches. I felt like Rocky Balboa, a human punching bag. My opponent had very fast feet and nailed me in the head with a kick. I went woozy, my knees buckled, and all the color left my vision. However, instead of giving up, my training kicked in. All of the times my instructor had hit me taught me to cover and breathe when a devastating blow came, which gave me a chance to recuperate. I did just that, and my vision returned in full, living color.

My opponent dropped his guard, partially from fatigue and partially from disbelief, as I had taken his best shots and was still standing. In fact, I was coming for him. I got inside his defense and hit him in the gut with an uppercut. I was in control and properly balanced, so I could use all of my core body strength. The punch dropped him like a giant in a chokehold. He couldn’t get up, or maybe he refused to get up. In any case, it was a TKO.

I realized I had been thinking all wrong. It was not all the fancy moves that made the fighter. Yes, they had benefit, but it was the attitude of the warrior that mattered most. My instructor was right all along. He would say to avoid the fight, but if you have to fight, know that the one who can take a hit is the one who is going to win. It had always been my goal not to get hit but to do the hitting. That is not a bad goal, but it would not win many fights. If you are in a fight, you are going to get hit. If you cannot take a hit, you will lose the fight no matter how good your moves are. Now, I am not advocating fighting. The point is that my only goal was to learn the moves when I should have been focused more on the physical training and controlling my fear. I was neglecting a key part of the martial arts. Mental stamina was not something I thought about or valued. However, it was key in my victory because I had been trained that way.

Jesus, too, trained his men, but they did not get it right away. Matthew 4:19 says, Then He said to them, ‘Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ The disciples mistakenly thought this meant recruiting men for God’s physical kingdom and that they were going to lead Israel out from under the tyranny of the Romans. At Jesus’ arrest, Peter went all ninja, wielding a sword and cutting off the ear of the high priest’s servant (John 18:10). Even after the resurrection, the disciples asked Jesus if the physical kingdom of Israel would be restored at that time (Acts 1:6). A physical kingdom was obviously not what Jesus meant when He spoke of fishing for men. Jesus had told Pilate, in plain language, that His kingdom was not of this world because His servants were not called to actually fight (John 18:36).

The apostles were so close but so wrong. Becoming fishers of men wasn’t a pithy saying; it was Jesus’ promise. It was the plan. Jesus would start His church by taking disciples and turning them into disciple makers. That’s how He started His work, and that’s how He ended His work, calling each of His disciples to go and make disciples of all nations. The book of Acts did not deviate from this plan but amplified it because all converts were referred to as disciples (Acts 9:26). National freedom wasn’t the goal. Spiritual freedom was. Salvation from