Blog.

Last weekend, I attended a men’s retreat with the guys from my church, where I had the opportunity to play in the worship band, and to get to know many people that I had only briefly met before. The weekend was wholesome, relaxed, and a lot of fun. It was held at a resort in northwestern Maryland, if you’re wondering where the pictures are from…

The theme for the weekend was Discipleship. Real Discipleship. A term that the Western church has tamed, watered down, and a concept that is mostly ignored in practice. We talk about it, but we have lost the passion and devotion to carry out perhaps one of the most important commandments Jesus ever gave. The typical church today tends to “bring in” people, make sure they are saved, Baptize them, and then forget about them. Most new Christ followers are left eating baby food, hungering for substance, with no one to feed them.

To grasp the magnitude of the Great Commission, there must be some understanding of what a disciple is. A disciple is so much more than a student. A student just wants to know what the teacher knows. A Talmid, or disciple, wants to be “what the teacher IS“. If a believer in Christ just wants to know what God knows, or just wants to know what Jesus says about certain subjects, he / she is just a student. If that believer says “I want more than anything in the world to be JUST LIKE JESUS“, then he / she is a disciple. (see Ray Vander Laan Downloads for more on this) It is so much more than church on Sunday or a Bible study on Tuesday night; Being a disciple demands a passionate seeking to know everything possible about the life of Jesus, and a radical change of lifestyle where every breath taken is an effort to emulate the Savior.

So where do you stand? Are you a believer? A student? Or a disciple? Are you actively pouring your life into someone else, teaching them what it means to be a disciple of Christ? Do you have someone that’s pouring their life into you?