Teacher to the Nations “I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.” Jeremiah 3:15 My friend, Dallas Willard, writes in his new book, Knowing Christ Today, Why you can Trust Spiritual Knowl- edge, “Jesus…did not send his people out to make Chris- tians or to start churches as we understand them today. He sent them to make disciples [students, apprentices] to him and, supported by his presence, to teach them all that he had taught by word and deed.” [page 194] The Church in the United States is the number one mission field for Discipleship Evangelism, the effort to convince the church to make disciples, to obey Christ’s command, “teaching them to obey everything I have com- manded you.” [Matthew 28:20] People like me are part of the “national pulpit” —a fleet of pastors, writers, teachers, and various other thought leaders who are charged with the task of being teachers to the nations —shepherds who will faithfully carry out Jesus’ commands. This is why I will board a plane tomorrow and I will keep on doing this as long as God permits. So here I go again. I’m off to Orlando this week to teach at the Assemblies of God Graduate School and next week to speak in some churches and to address Cincinnati Christian University’s annual small groups conference. I take my written messages and my many pages of extra notes about subjects I just might decide to bring up. I am prepared, but I don’t trust my preparation. Some- times I get up before a group, look them in the eye and think, “They need something different than I planned.” I trust the Holy Spirit’s ability to speak the right words at the right time. The most important issue is my personal preparation, after taking a sabbatical, I am eager —very eager—to get at it again. Pray for me, for God to flow through me and for strength of mind and body. Jane may add to the letter a bit about this summer’s greatest accomplishment. It is not that I finished editing CHRISTLIKE, due out in January. It is not that I just put the finishing touches on the 20TH ANNIVERSA- RY OF THE DISCIPLE MAKING CHURCH, due out in June of 2010. It is not that we have closed the deal with Navpress to publish THE CHOOSE THE LIFE JOURNEY in May of 2010. It is not even that I am able to use my right arm again after three months of healing and working out. NO! IT IS THAT I TAUGHT MY GRANDSON TO RIDE HIS BIKE! Jane may even have a picture or two of that.
Recent blog posts
- Praying for the Well
- The forgiveness only gospel
- Getting discipleship out of the ghetto
- Discipleship is life long
- What does a materialistic consumer Church have to teach a vibrant church in poverty?
- If Christians were in charge would it change the world?
- The danger of promiscuous reading-or your futile effort to stay current
- Why the Church is the West is now the number one mission field
- What the Church is too impatient and needy to do
- Teacher to the nations
About Bill Hull
Bill Hull’s passion has been to help the church return to its disciple making roots and he considers himself a discipleship evangelist. This God-given desire has manifested itself in twenty years of pastoral service and the authorship of ten books. His first book, Jesus Christ Disciplemaker, is celebrating 20 years with a new edition. The Disciple Making Pastor and the Disciple Making Church are two successive books which make up his popular disciple making trilogy. These books have provided the church with a new paradigm for disciple making.
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