Pastor Wayne Cordeiro
May 5, 2013 - W1318

Today I would like to talk about Discipleship by sharing with you a 20-minute talk that I gave last week at Exponential to 12,000 young church planters – 4,000 were gathered with me at a very large Baptist church and 8,000 were in attendance via the Internet.

The theme of my speech was called “DiscipleShift,” where instead of teaching one-on-many where we teach people what to do by telling them, we should shift to a one-on-one mode where we are discipling people by modeling for them who we are. 

When shifting our teaching focus, we should consider the pros and cons of the usage of technology in our churches.   Today, I am going to talk about both the upside and downside on the use of technology in our churches.

1.   TECHNOLOGY CAN INFORM, BUT YOU CANNOT  REPRODUCE.

Technology is good; however, we are becoming impersonal in reaching others because we are using various forms of technological communication that does not allow our heart to connect to other people’s hearts. Because of this, I want to talk to you about moving from a focus of one person teaching many people, to a using a strategy of “modeling” to teach one-on-one.

There is always someone who knows more than you, and there is always someone who knows less than you.  That is why the Bible says, “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others” (Tim 2:2).  So it goes from teaching to modeling.

In Mark, chapter 3, Jesus appointed twelve and designated them apostles.  He then sent them out to preach, and have authority over demons; however, their first assignment was to “be with Him.” 

2.  YOU NEED YOUR HEART TO REACH HEARTS.

When I was a Youth for Christ pastor and coach, I saw talent in an eleventh grade student named Jaime Bonds and I decided to invest in him.  One day I asked Jaime if he would come to my bible study that I recently started, and he agreed to come.  So every Wednesday I would pick him up from his home, buy him breakfast and drive him to school.

One morning, after about two months of this routine, Jaime looked at my bible on the front seat of my car and said, “You know Coach, I don’t believe in the bible.  If I never accept Jesus, will you still come and pick me up every Wednesday morning?”  I said, okay.

This went on for two more weeks, until one morning after breakfast he asked me, “How do we pray because I need Jesus in my life?”  This was a good example of how God used a heart (mine) to reach a heart like Jaime’s.  This is what discipleship is all about.

3.  FROM TEACHING TO MODELING.

You can use technology to inspire, encourage, and disseminate information, but you cannot use it to reproduce what is in you.  You can only do so by personally reaching out to others with your heart.   As shepherds and leaders you are going to teach what you know; however, we only produce what we are.  This is why Jesus needed the apostles to be with Him.   The focus of one-on-many must move to a focus of one-on-one, and then hopefully to many-on-one.

4.  EASIER TO DUPLICATE THAN  TO INCARNATE.

Today, it is easier to duplicate than it is to incarnate.  We have instant sermons, videos, and films.  You have instant everything.  Because of this, we start to duplicate instead of incarnate, and then we lose that potential for life that lies within us.  Discipleship is incarnate-it’s producing life, and is not just informing and inspiring others.

5.  EASY WAY OUT – NOT PERSONAL.  WE LIVE OFF OF SOMEONE ELSE’S EXPERIENCES.

As a result of this duplication process, we don’t work hard at praying, and instead rely on the benefits of someone who did.  We may think, “I really don’t want to pray and weep over my marriage, I just want a package to make it feel like I did.”  This attitude is then passed on to others.

If you want your members to love God with all of their hearts, then we must love God with all of our hearts.  This is where life begins to be transformed.   It’s not just about preaching to many people - it’s about teaching, and modeling to one person at a time.

You might think that reaching out this way is too slow, and that you want to reach out to the multitudes; however, there is only a small and elite number of leaders that are blessed with being able to do so.

6.  WHEN YOU RUN THE MARATHON, DON’T RUN WITH THE KENYANS.

These elite ministers are like the Kenyan runners in a marathon; they are not people that we can realistically keep up with.  So instead of trying to keep up with them, we should just use them as examples and try to learn from them.  We should pay attention to their regimen, and how they pray and work. 

7.   WARRIORS ARE ONE IN A MILLION.  LEARN DON’T EMULATE.

Learn the foundation of these elite ministers that make them successful-how they pray and how they work.  They probably do not use the internet all of the time to get the information they needed to become successful.

We must incarnate.   Discipleship is slow.   So start small, and start now.

Ed Kimble invited shoe salesman Dwight L. Moody to receive Christ and he did.  Over the years, Moody became a crusader and then invited Jay Chapman to receive Christ.  Chapman received Christ and became a disciple, then he invited a baseball player friend named Billy Sunday to church.  Billy Sunday received Christ and began working with the YMCA.    Billy Sunday was going to speak at a crusade and invited a speaker named Morticadeham.  When Morticadeham was preaching, a 16 year old boy name Billy Graham received Christ.  In 1972 at a Texas Expo, Billy Graham spoke and said that God called some of the attendees into ministry.  I stood up at 19 years of age and followed that calling, now here I am at 60 – just one person.

8.  CHOOSE ONE PERSON NOW

Start small but just start now, with one person at a time.  That’s how lives change, by relating to each other, heart-to-heart.  I encourage you to use your life journal as a guideline to start. 

During the week I go to Starbucks for four mornings.  This is where I have the chance to disciple two to three people.  We read for 20 minutes, journal for 20 minutes, and then discuss what we have read and journaled during the last 20 minutes.

We read the bible in public because about 200 people will walk by us to get their coffee during this hour and seeing our bibles will speak a message to them. This number translates to 800 people when you consider that we’re there four days per week, or 38,400 people per year that are witnessing the Bible readings.  

I’d like to end with this story about Moana.

While I was waiting to catch a flight from Hilo back to Honolulu, I watched this lady who was frantically waiting in line with a box of bank records.  She only had a short period of time to buy her plane ticket and return her rent-a-car before the plane to Honolulu departed.  Seeing her distress, I told her that I would buy her plane ticket and hold onto the bank records while she returned her car.  After she returned her car, she ran back to the plane where she sat down next to me and profusely thanked me for what I had done.  She explained to me that she could have lost her job for not getting back to Honolulu in time with the records.  She then asked me my name, to which I responded that I was Wayne Cordeiro.   She then said “Oh God! Everyone in my office has been telling me to go to your church.  Now, God is telling me to go.”  This was an example of how a bunch of Christians automatically chose to disciple one person.  The next Sunday, Moana and her husband came to church and they both received Christ.

Let me ask you this question: Who are you investing in?  It does not matter if you are only a year old in the Lord.   There is always someone who knows less than you.  As we start to be disciples within our community, more people will talk about Christ, and soon many people will be touched by Christ.  Then we will move from one preacher ministering to many people, to one person ministering to one person, then on to many Christians influencing one person.  That person will then know that it is God who is touching them.   So please write down the names of people you wish to disciple because this will ignite the beginning of a revival.

Discussion Suggestions:

· How does technology influence the church?

· What are some of the draw backs of using technology in the church?

· What is the main thrust of discipleship?

· Who are you investing in?