The past two posts have dealt with changing what we care about so that discipleship is our only goal. But as we say in the South, what in the Sam Hill is that?!

Some would tell you that discipleship means simply getting people “saved”. In this model, discipleship equals evangelism. Others say discipleship is an intense, one-on-one or small group Bible study environment where a teacher leads the time with the students. In this model, discipleship equals education.

There’s a HUGE problem with both: Jesus’ model of discipleship was neither!

The clearest example is Luke 9-10 when Jesus sent out “The Twelve” who would go on to become known as The Disciples. In this part of the story, The Twelve got sent out and a chapter later they had not just added to their group but they had multiplied! The Twelve were now The Seventy-Two! These 72 would then turn into the 120 in Acts 2 who would then turn into the 3,000!

From that simple look we see that when Jesus said, “Go! Make disciples!” he clearly intended one thing: a true disciple not only follows Jesus, but also reproduces!

That’s why a church should not gauge itself on simply how great their service is, how many people attend their church, or (hang on to your hat!) even great things like how many poor people are helped or simply how many are converted. All of these should be happening, but Jesus said what we should care most about is seeing disciples reproduce. And then that’s what the first church did!

So at OneLife, our measure of success will be seeing disciples reproduce disciples. That means seeing lost people find Jesus and then in turn lead more lost people in their lives to Jesus so that they, too, can reproduce. And then on and on it will go.

That means your life will make a difference as you impact the eternity of others. It means our church will grow because of what OneLifers do Monday through Saturday, not just what a staff and volunteers do on a Sunday. It means the needs of our community will be met when groups of disciples see and meet that need rather than waiting for a pastor to point it out and organize an event.

But to get there, this must be what we care most about. So OneLife, hang on! We are changing what we care about, and that changes everything!

Are you ready?!

What does OneLife care most about? If you don’t go to OneLife, what does your church care most about? Some churches care most about:

• The piano. When I got married, we nearly got kicked out of the church where our wedding was held because we dared to ask if we could move the piano five feet to the right. Big mistake!
• Graveyards. I saw a banner for a church that advertised none other than their Annual Graveyard Day. Come enjoy live music, games for the kids, and a cakewalk as we celebrate 165 years of our graveyard’s service to the community! Ummmmm…
• Reserved Seating. My wife told me about a church she went to that literally reserved seats for the richest people. These special people had a reserved sign and fancy pad on “their” pew. I guess everyone else has to sit on a hard, wooden pew and just dream of the day they have their own pew pad.

Of course those are the unusual ones. But even the most well intentioned church – like OneLife – cares about things that get us distracted from what we should truly care most about. We care about things like:

• Sunday mornings. Sundays are incredibly important. They are the one day we all gather to worship. They are the most likely time a person will visit a church and hear the Gospel publicly. But should they be the only time we worship? The only time someone will hear the Gospel? NO! So we must be careful that as we strive to do great things like be culturally relevant, creative, and (dare I say it?!) attractional we don’t subliminally communicate that the most important part of being a Christian is an hour on Sundays. It’s just one piece of the puzzle. (PS…if you don’t know what attractional means, count yourself as a lucky one who hasn’t been sucked into a useless debate in the church world. But I’ll save that soapbox for another day! )
• Ministries and Missions. Volunteer, join a small group, go on a mission trip, send your kids to Student Ministry, go to a Bible study, meet one-on-one with somebody, feed the homeless, and on and on the list goes of what our churches tell you to do. Are any of these bad? No! Am I suggesting that if you do these then you should stop? Of course not! But if this is what you or our church care about most, the point has been missed in a major way.
• Decisions. This was a hard one for me to shed. But believe it or not, the number of people raising their hand, marking a card, or walking an aisle to make “decisions” for salvation should not be what we care most about. If you find that hard to believe, give me one more minute. It was hard for me, too.

Jesus’ last words on earth were, “Go! Make disciples!” Plain and simple. Not…

• “Go! Have awesome Sunday morning services!”
• “Go! Get busy at church!”
• “Go! Get lots of people to say they are Christians now!”
• “Go! Sit in a Bible study once a week and say you are now a disciple!”

Again, I’m not saying we stop any of those! They are all great! But not a single one should be what we care most about. We should care most about doing what Jesus said to do: Make disciples.

So what is that? How do you do it…really? This post is long enough already, so we’ll tackle that one next on Monday. For now, do some pondering again about what you and your church care most about. Is it making disciples? I mean really making disciples? Or something else?

OneLifers, I’ll see ya’ll tomorrow as we strive to make disciples and worship Jesus!

I’ll never forget one of our early staff meetings at OneLife. Sitting around my kitchen table, I shared with our ragamuffin group of part-time staff guys that I sensed a problem for our two-month old church. We were doing a great job having an event once a week, but we weren’t being a church. They all had been sensing the same thing so we made a dramatic change that day without even realizing what we did.

We changed what we cared about.

The natural makeup of our team lends itself to us having great services. Our talented bunch of creative types and volunteers has led us to a place where our Sunday production of homemade stage sets and duck-tape-held-together-equipment-from-eBay would rival that of any church in our area with big budgets and professional staff. I don’t say that boastfully, it’s just our natural strength. In fact, I heard last week that a Knoxville blogger deemed us “Best Worship Production” of the 50 churches he visited. Big whoop. That in and of itself won’t lead to a life-transforming movement of doing what Jesus said we should do: making disciples. It can help, and I believe to reach certain demographics of our culture it is necessary, but it won’t do it on its own.

So there had to be more. We set out on a quest to discover what that would be. For over a year we talked about it, changed things, planned differently, met with other pastors, and did whatever we could to find out how we could “make disciples.” But not just claim to make disciples. I mean really make disciples.

I’ve seen and read of churches who say they value doing what Jesus said we should all do in his last words on earth, but at the end of the day they aren’t making disciples at all. Because disciples reproduce other disciples. They don’t just attend Bible studies or one-on-one sessions for years on end while talking about how “making disciples” is why they don’t work to make their church relevant to anyone this side of 1993 (aka, why we are lazy). This approach leads to little – if any – true impact. Because if disciples aren’t reproducing, guess what?! They aren’t disciples.

In the middle of that tension of not wanting to be solely about a Sunday morning show but also not wanting to be a church that just claimed to be about making disciples came a recurring reality: it was time to once again change what we care about.

So over the past six months we’ve been making a shift in some subtle ways and in some major ways to do just that. Over the next few days I’ll share more about what this looks like for us. But for now I leave you with this:

What do you care most about at OneLife or your local church? Whatever it is, chances are you need to change it.

After yesterday’s sermon, we want to do what we can to help you take a next step to protect your heart. Because remember: sin is not just what you do with your body, it’s what you do with your heart!

- www.xxxchurch.com – Website full of resources for men, women, parents, teens, and more. Many helpful articles and next-steps.
- www.x3watch.com – Free accountability software for your computers and smart phones. Not a filter or blocker. A Pro version is available for cheap and has many other features.
- www.x3pure.com – 30-day, online workshops to help parents learn how to help their children, or to help men and women who may struggle with pornography issues. Can’t afford it? OneLife will pay half. Email pastor@onelifeknox.com.
- Safe Eyes – An internet filter that is great to protect kids, but also protect grown ups too!
- Passport2Purity – A weekend guide to having “The Talk” with your kids. Everything you need is provided for you in this easy-to-use guide.
- Every Man’s Battle – A book that has become the “textbook” of sorts for men to learn more about the battle we all face in this area.
- Every Young Man’s Battle – Similar to the book above, but targeted specifically for young, single, Christian men.
- Every Woman’s Battle – Discovering God’s plan for emotional and sexual fulfillment.