Outreach & Discipleship

Today we are bombarded with information. Our world is filled with advertisements, billboards, TV ads, radio spots, informational flyers, and newspapers all trying to sell us something or persuade us that a product is worthy of our dollar.

Most churches want to reach people; anyone who is actually trying to fulfill the Great Commission gives serious thought to strategies for doing so. Along with an aggressive outreach effort to reach people, many churches employ programs, campaigns, and various other tactics to keep guests once they have come.

If you were a football player, you would think the most precious possession during a game was the football. Should you have the opportunity to receive or intercept a pass, you would run with everything you had toward the goal line, while protecting the ball from the other team.

Christ’s last command before He ascended to Heaven is found in Mark 16:15: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” Every person has an eternal soul, and it is our privilege and responsibility to share with them the good news of salvation.

In celebration of the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible, members of Lancaster Baptist Church and students of West Coast Baptist College passed out over 10,000 copies of the New Testament. The blessings from this effort were great. Many more people were saved during this effort than during the same time last year.

Luis Montaño was not unlike many of the teenagers involved in our city gangs in the 1990s. He came to church with a shaved head and baggy pants, but underneath his tough exterior was a young man with a troubled past.

The men whom Jesus chose to be His apostles found that if they would follow the teaching of their Master, they must recognize that His central teaching had to do with Who He is.

Jesus often ate with unsaved people. He ate with unsaved religious rulers, and He ate with tax collectors and sinners—the unsaved social outcasts. He related to people over breaking bread and displayed the trait later in the New Testament called “given to hospitality.”

Psalm 126 is a post-captivity psalm. It was penned after the Jews made their long return back to Jerusalem. It was written at a time when the nation of Israel was excited about what God had done for them.

When military people are saved and discipled they make great church members. They are different than the average church member due to the nature of their work.

The word multitudes in verse thirty-six means “throngs or large numbers.” The word plenteous in verse thirty-seven is defined as “great, large, and abundant.”

It is very important to understand the difference between believing on Christ for salvation and following Him in discipleship.

Harvey Firestone once said, “It is only as we develop others that we permanently succeed.” This is true in every area, but it is especially true in the church.

The ministry, by definition, is about people. While it is true that we oftentimes (of necessity) get encumbered with details of work and administrative tasks, ultimately, the ministry is about people.

How do you know if you really believe something is true? Is it because you say you believe it?

No one expects a little child to learn to walk on his own, but sometimes we forget that baby Christians need help in learning to walk in the Spirit.

I am constantly reminded of how much new Christians need encouragement in their spiritual journey. I heard someone once say, “People grow the best when . . .