Discipleship (part 4) – Does it WORK?

            After moving from one Athens to another – Ohio to Georgia – in ’96 it took me some time to find my spiritual bearings.  I backslid right out of college, discovering that I was nowhere near as spiritually mature as I should’ve been after nearly 5 years of being mentored (and at least a year of being a small group leader myself).  What was missing?  I had no idea, but thankfully I ended up renting from, and living with, a PCA pastor in Athens, GA, who also let a UGA-based campus ministry called WDA use our house.  Through that ministry, Dave Johnson befriended me and eventually became my discipler.  In 1999 I went on staff with WDA and began leading small groups again, yet with the knowledge and experience of what I described above.   I noticed a significant difference.  Of the small groups that I have led, all but possibly one of my men are still walking with the Lord – and he wasn’t a believer when he began coming to my small group.  Here’s an example from just one small group that I led – the graduates went on to become; 1.) a Youth Minister, 2.) the director of a significant Christian youth discipleship and evangelization organization, 3.) a youth pastor of a United Methodist church in South West Georgia, 3.) an elder and small group leader at a community church, 4.) a part-time campus minister with WDA , 5.) a campus intern with the Wesley Foundation at UGA, and 6.) a biologist and a philosopher – both of whom still retain their faith in God.  If I were the only person who saw these results this would be bragging, but in comparison to the ministries I was involved with in college, these results were pretty much the norm.  This model of small group ministry works.  I guess it should – as far as I can tell it was Jesus’ model for reproducing God-like character in his own discipleship, and we should be doing the same: reproducing Jesus in others.  AMEN.