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March 5 - April 2, 2019
if someone dumps a bunch of information on you, he or she is setting you up to fail if the goal is for you to implement it. Now, if the goal isn’t to implement it but just to be impressed by it and informed about it, that person can talk as long as he or she wants and it won’t matter. You’re not expected to do anything with it anyway. Do you see where I’m going? When sermons go on and on, it is likely that the preacher is not expecting you to implement it, just be fascinated by it. And, in my opinion, that’s the modern American sermon and is indicative of the American church model. Preachers
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If a preacher really wants you to implement what he or she is teaching, then the preacher will briefly tell you one thing to focus on and spend the rest of the time helping you implement it. That’s how our strategy has shifted as we head toward the million goal, and that’s why the trainings are shorter. We strive for obedience, not knowledge acquisition.
Acts 5:12–16 tells how the apostles were performing miracles among the people and the people were being drawn to Jesus. During the training, Ty’s challenges for the week were: OBEY: Go out among the lost for one hour this week. SHARE: Pray for someone who needs healing and share Acts 5:12–16 with that person.
Prayer and testimony have been instrumental time and time again in revivals of the past! So, I wonder, why aren’t they more prominent in American worship services?
The Leadership Team introduced me to a Disciple Making Movement strategy that was being used in countries all over the world to reach millions of people. But there was a catch. It would change the way we did church. Instead of being this hip, attractional church, we would look more like the early church, focusing on disciple-making principles, testimony sharing, uncomfortable amounts of prayer, and short trainings on Sundays instead of long sermons.
We were making the switch from a knowledge-based church to an obedience-based church.
It was in those hours of extraordinary prayer that I begin to see God move and answer prayers in ways I never had seen before. It changed my life and what following Jesus looked like for me.
Is it easy? No. Are there difficult and messy days? Absolutely. Is it worth it to see God reach a million people in my region and beyond? There is no doubt in my mind.
John had learned from our African friends that sometimes DMM teams overseas will have seasons where they greatly increase their disciple-making efforts in a short period of time to try to generate some momentum. He wanted to try the same thing.
Remember that only God brings a movement. Our job is to raise the sails and pray our hearts out. Keep doing that until movement comes or the Lord takes you home!
One of the best ways to cast vision for DMM to American church pastors is exposure. They need to hear what God is doing all over the world. Buy them the books I’ve recommended. Consider sharing some of our blog posts with them. Share the videos and other resources with them that are on the Resources page of our blog.2
In movements, you need the laity to act like the clergy, and that might not be well received in our country, as the clergy can be possessive of their roles.
Hermie said, What sets these replicating disciples apart from regular believers is the ecosystem we are intentional at creating for them to germinate, develop a root system, receive water and nutrients to grow and bear fruit resulting in transformation and more disciples that do the same. That ecosystem is the Kingdom of God that has come to their personal life, their home, their work and their neighborhood.
Perhaps God wants to bring a movement to your region, but he’s waiting on courageous men and women to raise the sails.
Will you raise the sails? Will you do whatever it takes to see everyone in your region and, ultimately, in your people group reached?
Roy Moran, one of my DMM coaches, and author of Spent Matches, wrote, How much do we love the mission that Jesus gave us? Is it worth the sacrifice of our lives to stop the trends we are experiencing today? Are we willing to expose our inflexible misread of the Bible and rethink our methods? Would we be willing to keep asking the question, “What needs to be done?” and not default to the cop-out, “I’ll just do what I can do”?3
After Jesus said that “the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few,” he said, “Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field” (Matthew 9:38 niv). What’s the solution to the worker shortage? We have to pray! That’s what our church is doing right now. We’re praying for you! We’re praying that the Lord would send you and your team out as workers into his fields.
We’re praying that many other American churches would join us on this disciple-making mission.
like Paul, would say, “But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God” (Acts 20:24). We have a task to finish. We have a work to complete. The harvest is ready for us. They are waiting. The w...
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Let’s raise the sails together! Come, Holy Spirit, and blow on our sails!
After reading the definitions of DMM in this chapter, how would you put the definition into your own words?
Have you ever been a part of a Bible study where the leader didn’t let the group move on until everyone obeyed the previous lesson? Why do you think most groups don’t operate this way? Why do most people move on whether they’ve obeyed or not?
Do you agree that the American church can “suppress the gifts, ambitions, and callings of ordinary believers”? How does this happen?
To continue following the DMM journey of Experience Life, visit wigtakedmm.com. For recommendations of helpful DMM books and videos, visit wigtakedmm.com/resources. To contact us directly, email us at info@wigtakedmm.com.
David Barrett and Todd Johnson, World Christian Trends (Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, 2001), 841.
conversation about this with David Watson in September 2018, and he encouraged me to specify a “time element” in the definition of DMM. He said he typically expects to see one hundred new churches planted among previously lost people in multiple streams to the fourth generation (sometimes beyond) by the end of forty-eight months.
Beyond, https://beyond.org/videos.
CPM steps videos at https://vimeo.com/user20501268
“Meltdown” sermon series, http://experiencelifenow.com/series/meltdown/.
“Miraculous Movements” sermon series, http://experiencelifenow.com/media/miraculous-movements/.
To watch the full ten-year anniversary service online, visit http://www.wigtakedmm.com/resources.
Just Coach Me Coaching Solutions, accessed September 26, 2018, http://justcoachme.org/.
R. Rekedal Smith, Dear Mom and Dad (self-pub., CreateSpace, 2017).
We did a sermon series called “Raise the Sails.” The first message was on this first element. You can watch it here: http://experiencelifenow.com/video/raise-the-sails/.
Steve Addison, What Jesus Started: Joining the Movement, Changing the World (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books, 2012).
Justin D. Long (@JustinDLong), “Raising up 1 team of 2 to 3 people can reach 100,000,” Twitter, May 20, 2018, 6:01 p.m., https://twitter.com/justindlong/status/998368140131295232.
You can find more details about these Next Steps at http://www.experiencelifenow.com.
For more information, see the Perspectives website, https://www.perspectives.org/.
You can find out more about our Phase One Goer Groups at http://experiencelifenow.com/ministries/for-the-nations/.
You can watch a video of Kristin sharing her story at https://vimeo.com/261356664.
Henry and Richard Blackaby, Claude King, Experiencing God, Revised and Expanded ed. (Nashville: B & H Publishing Group, 2008). 2 Henry T. Blackaby and Richard Blackaby, Experiencing God Day-By-Day (Nashville: B & H Books, 1997).
Daniel R. Sanchez, Ebbie C. Smith, and Curtis E. Watke, Starting Reproducing Congregations (n.p.: ChurchStarting.net, 2001).
Ralph W. Neighbour Jr., Where Do We Go From Here?: A Guidebook for the Cell Group Church (Houston, TX: Touch Publications, 2000). 2 Joel Comiskey, Cell Church Solutions: Transforming the Church in North America (n.p.: CCS Publishing, 2004).
Jared C. Wilson (@jaredcwilson), “Pastors, you will always discover a church’s idols by changing things,” Twitter, June 21, 2018, 6:44 a.m., https://twitter.com/jaredcwilson/status/1009794068468117504. Jared is an author and director of Content Strategy for Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
You can find the CPM steps videos at https://vimeo.com/user20501268.
You can find out more about our Phase One Goer Groups at http://experiencelifenow.com/ministries/for-the-nations/.
You can find the CPM steps videos at https://vimeo.com/user20501268.
