I am often asked about the tools I use for discipleship, and our church has been working on putting together a library of some free downloadable discipleship resources on our website. As many of you know, my Dad was my main disciple maker and extremely instrumental in bringing me from atheism to belief in God. My…
If you are a disciple of Jesus, you have two families. The first one, the family of origin, is the one you were born into. You had no control or choice in this matter. Your family of origin may have been very nurturing, or it may have had disfunction. Either way – your family of…
If you have read my books or posts or listened to my sermons, there should be no doubt in your mind that I believe discipleship begins with and is sustained by relationship. However, disciple makers also must be ready to give an answer, defend the faith, and teach their disciples the truth of the Bible…
I find that people who often have the hardest time becoming relational are those who have been in church a long time. If you ask personal questions, they don’t want to talk. They will often point to the Bible and say, “This is all we need for spiritual growth. Read it. Study it. Learn it.”…
As a senior pastor of Real Life Ministries and a board member with the Relational Discipleship Network, I am passionate about the importance of a relational environment to making disciples of Jesus. Small Groups are one such relational environment that works well when trying to create a culture of disciple making in your church. Because…
Spiritual maturity should be the goal of every Christian, but we need to be sure we are on the journey ourselves before we attempt to help the body of Christ become more mature. Some people will “check out” of church because they will not get what they had hoped or expected. They will think of…
On part two of this Focus on the Family podcast, Pastor Jim Putman and his dad Pastor Bill Putman, representing three generations of prodigals, candidly discuss the difficult challenges they and their families have experienced, and offer practical advice and encouragement to families with prodigals. You can watch the video of this podcast by clicking…
On part one of this Focus on the Family podcast, Pastor Jim Putman and his dad Pastor Bill Putman, representing three generations of prodigals, candidly discuss the difficult challenges they and their families have experienced, and offer practical advice and encouragement to families with prodigals. You can watch the video of this podcast by clicking…
With the rise of technology and social media platforms in the past few years, people now have a 24/7 window to look into the lives of those around us or in our world at any given time. Because of this, the temptation to compare our lives to others is one that is hard to avoid.…
Download pdf It is both the job and privilege of every Christian to be a disciple of Jesus. And part of that job is the call to disciple others. You can disciple someone without holding a Bible degree – Jesus did a good job of demonstrating that by the men he chose to be his…