Disciplemaking Friendships that Multiply

This disciplemaking friendship adventure began when Crazy Pastor Steve and I picked up Derrick Smothers at the Peoria International Airport. We then immediately drove to Minneapolis, MN. (We may have stopped at our favorite ice cream spot along the Illinois/Iowa boarder—Whitey's Ice Cream. I highly recommend their Cup O' Joe ice cream. Not joking. I hope they change it someday to Cup O' Joe with Bill. I would die a happy man—probably from too much ice cream.)

We woke up in MN and headed out for coffee and we spent the morning studying how Jesus made disciples—who made disciples—who made more disciples. Then for the next two days—along with Dave and Rennie Garda, Mark O' Brien and other Cadre friends/trainers, we encouraged and trained almost 30 disciplemaking leaders from seven different states (IL, NV, MN, WI, IA, OH, and MI). We partnered with our dear friends—Reach Students of the Evangelical Free Church of America.

We trained trainers to take the Ministry Is Relationships training experience back to their family, friends, and churches.

We had some more coffee and fun along the way too. Yes, pastors need to have fun too.

We also trained trainers to take the Disciplemaking Is Relationships training experience back to their family, friends, and churches.

We had trainers we've trained training trainers with us. (Yeah, you should read that again.) Pastor Nate Stenholtz is a disciplemaking friend and one of my favorite Cadre trainers.

And we also trained trainers to take the Evangelism Is Relationships training experience back to their family, friends, and churches.

At the end of our time together,  all three groups being trained gathered together to encourage each other and pray. Our disciplemaking friend, Mark O' Brien, gave us encouragement as we looked to take what we learned back home to where we live, work, and play. Might you be interested in being trained to live and share a Jesus-like disciplemaking way of life with others. If so, go here.

Would you please pray RIGHT NOW for these folks to continue to be disciples—who make disciples—who make more disciples—like this?

The very last thing we did together as a large group was pray the Disciplemaker's Prayer. And before you go, I invite you to join us. Start with this prayer right now.

You, Me, and Coffee Monday... 
Let me encourage you and and make you think 1 stinking time a week (usually Monday morning) with a virtual Cup O' Joe with Bill in your email inbox. Two Simple Steps...
1. Go here and submit your email.
2. Go to your email and click the Feedburner confirmation link.
You can unsubscribe at any time with no questions asked simply by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of any email you receive from Cup O' Joe with Bill. Honest. You got nothing to lose. Try it.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

You are invited to a community of encouragement and equipping...

Image
"Always valuable spending time with you and the others in our disciplemaking learning community."   —Pastor Tracey Pfeiffer Encounter Church, East Peoria, IL Rantoul, IL The Rantoul Area Disciplemaking Leadership Community  i nvites  you  to invest  a morning together... *  Encouraging  each other in the spirit of Romans 1:12 *  Exploring   the teaching genius of Jesus *  Equipping  pastors, volunteer teachers, and small group leaders Save the Date...  (every 4th Thursday, Jan-April 2024) * Thursday, March 28th, 2024 * 8:30 AM to 12 Noon * All invited. Men and women. Volunteers and paid ministry leaders. Where? Jesus Is the Way Ministries 602 Liberty Ave Rantoul, IL 61866 Tuition * $15 for  The Teaching Genius of Jesus  book * If you, your church/ministry, or anyone you bring can’t afford the tuition, no problem. Join us! Just let me know ahead of time. *  RSVP For more info on the content of the book, go here . Video Above: This is  how  we do training! The Peoria Area Disci
Read more

So many people trying to find friendship and community...

Image
If video above doesn't appear, go here . So many people trying to find friendship and community. Here's a thought. Instead of trying to "find" community, what if instead you sought to "build" community right where you live , work , play , and church ? But how does one "build" community? As a general rule, I try to take all of my questions to Jesus and the Bible.  So, how did Jesus "build" community?   This is where I invite you to do your own study on how Jesus used meals to connect with people. At a minimum, you could quickly search " Jesus eating. " What can we say with certainty about Jesus and eating in the Bible? It seems that Jesus enjoyed eating meals with all sorts of people—and the meal wasn't about the food—it was how Jesus connected with people. Can you think of a better way to connect with people? Perhaps this is why Paul lists "hospitality" as a requirement for all leaders in the church (1 Timothy 3:
Read more

Brand New: The M.A.D. Student Bible

Image
Sometime ago, my dear friend,  Dr. Ken Castor , invited me and 29 others to participate in creating a brand new out-of-the-box study Bible for the next generation.   The Make a Difference student Bible    is hot off the press!  Here's WHY the M.A.D Bible is so needed right now . There's never been a study Bible for students quite like the M.A.D (Make a Difference) Bible ! It was so much fun to contribute to this Bible especially for students . I loved helping to write the introduction to the Old Testament and the introduction to the book of Leviticus. Yeah. That's right. Leviticus . There's so much to unpack about the M.A.D. Bible ! (Click on image above for viewing and reading.) Did I mention that this M.A.D study Bible is for the next generation —so they can "make a difference" for Jesus Christ in the world? Hanging out with Dr. Ken Castor at Ignite Youth Leadership Conference . Explore more about the M.A.D Bible here... Instagram Facebook Get yours at www.
Read more