To build a tower

After Like 14:25-33 

To build a tower,

a house, or fortress,

you begin with

an idea, a dream,

a conviction, but

then you do what

must be done,

practically, and

tally the cost.

Without knowing

the cost, you may

start and not finish,

you may be forced

to substitute inferior

materials or turn 

to cheaper craftsmanship,

and your tower, house,

or fortress will not

weather the inevitable

storm. That’s the cost

of diligence, the cost

of discipleship, and

that’s why you count it

beforehand, because

not knowing will destroy

what you build.

 

Photograph by Victor Malyushev via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Are you serious?

After Luke 14:25-33 

Before you follow,

know the cost. And

there is a cost, always.

Can you walk away

from your parents,

from your spouse,

from your children?

Can you give up

the life you live now?

Can you bear a cross?

Can you accept the hate

and anger of those whose

ears burn when you speak?

Can you pray for those

who hate you, persecute

you, lie about you,

ridicule you, hurt you

with words, hands,

sticks, and stones?

Can you first

count the cost?

 

Photograph by Jordan Steranka via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Clicking on like

After Luke 14:25-33 

The crowds follow,

both for the miracles

(the fish, the healings)

and to see the elites

confounded (what will

this man say next?). 

They are drawn to the light,

but he knows their hearts,

ready to click on “like”

and go to the next miracle,

the next post, the next fad,

the next trending topic,

the next juicy gossip 

masquerading as news.

He stops. He turns. 

He asks, what if clicking

like means hating your

parents or children, or

giving away your 401K,

or walking into an arena

of hungry lions? Would

you still click like?

 

Photograph by Annie Spratt via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Discipleship

After John 17:26

Discipleship begins with

Remembering who you are.

Discipleship means leaving 

this world, leaving

this culture, ignoring

the voices (print, digital, real)

that counsel us, cajole us, 

advise us, intimidate us, 

bully us, threaten us

to follow them.

Discipleship means

to understand how little

the world offers us,

the transient flash, as

it whispers to ignore

the eternal.

Discipleship means

community, because it

happens as we gather

together, teach each other,

speak with each other,

break the bread and

drink the wine 

with each other, love

each other. Discipleship

is what we share 

in common.

Photograph by Kevin Gent via Unsplash. Used with permission.

“Disruptive Discipleship” by Sam Van Eman

Most of not all Christians know what it means to find ourselves in a “faith rut.” We’re following the same patterns, the same procedures and programs, the same things we’ve always done. And while there may be nothing wrong with any pf these things we’re doing, we sense stagnation. We’re not growing. It’s the same-old same-old. We’ve plateaued, and we sense there’s more to faith than a plateau. Sometimes we’re playing it safe because safe is a good place to be when we find ourselves in a culture that’s turning upside down.

Sam Van Eman wants to disrupt that faith rut. H wants to explain how he became convinced of his own stagnation, and what he did to break out of it. He wants you to know that you don’t have to wait for a disruption that will lead to growth; you can design one yourself. And he wrote Disruptive Discipleship: The Power of Breaking Routine to Kickstart Your Faith to share what’s he learned and encourage anyone feeling stuck in their faith.

“If this book is broadly about going somewhere when we feel stuck,” he writes, “it’s more specifically about growing up when we’ve been acting like children.” Unwelcome events can force that growth, but so, too, can a deliberately designed plan. And that’s what Van Eman is arguing.

He’s got experience doing this – work experience. He’s a resource specialist for CCO – a ministry focused on helping college students “serve Jesus Christ with their entire lives.” But it’s not limited to college students; Van Eman co-creates transformational experiences for professionals and organizations as well. These experiences may be a trek in Peru, exploring caves, a “big woods” experience. Or a program in a board room or auditorium. But they’re designed (note that word) to break people out of the everyday routine and help them rethink what they’re doing to grow in their faith.

Disruptive Discipleship describes the problem of stagnation, considers options, and then moves toward practical ways to design a plan. With stories and personal anecdotes, Van Eman discusses different kinds of adventures, tests, and experiments in service. And then he explains to how translate change, navigate valleys (and heights), and how to work with others in these experiences. He includes a group study guide, a Bible study on what Jesus knew about experiential education, and even templates for creating a designed plan.

Sam Van Eman

Van Eman is the author of On Earth as It Is in Advertising: Moving from Commercial Hype to Gospel Hope. A public speaker and facilitator, he has written for PRISM Magazine, Christianity Today’s Faith in the Workplace, and other online and print publications. He also wrote a series of remarkable stories about his life collectively called A Beautiful Trench It Was. He and his family live in central Pennsylvania.

Disruptive Discipleship is not a prescriptive, one-size-fits-all approach to grow faith. But it is a wonderful resource, with all kinds of practical suggestions and advice. And it will be helpful for anyone looking to move to a more dynamic, growing Christian faith. 

Related:

My review of On Earth as It is in Advertising by Sam Van Eman.

Top photograph by Mark Harpur via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Goodbye and Good Luck?

The night I became a Christian – Jan, 26, 1973 – the man who led me to Christ gave me a copy of The Living Bible. He scribbled a note in the inside cover (and “scribbled” is the correct word) and added a verse – Philippians 1:6, “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

It’s a not uncommon verse to give or inscribe to new believers, but I believed then, and I believe now, that it is “my verse.” I was told to go home, read the first chapter of the Gospel of John, and then we set a time to meet the next day to discuss what I had read.

This discussion went on for several weeks, and then his schedule became so hectic that he had me join a student-led Bible study – and the student leader was one of my fraternity brothers. The group was far more advanced than I was – they were studying the building of the temple in Jerusalem and my fraternity brother had drawn a rather elaborate drawing of the floor plan. This, too went on for a few weeks, and then final exams and graduation approached, and the discipleship process seemed to stop.

It resumed almost two years later, after we (I was married by this time) moved to Houston and joined an independent church called Spring Branch Community Church. This is where I was baptized as an adult, where we became involved in a young marrieds group, and I eventually started a series of extension classes taught by one of the pastors (for college credit). The course included surveys of the Old and New Testaments, Bible study methods, and topical subjects. The teachers were good – the night classes were always crowded.

This is where the serious learning and discipleship began. The world of the Bible opened up for me – and we learned history, theology, eschatology and other things I had only been vaguely aware of. Friendships developed among the classmates. We often prayed in small groups before the start of each class.

What I learned was beyond the intellectual – I learned that this Christian life I was embarked upon was one that would be marked by discipline, learning, service and sacrifice. Those simple little words I had prayed that cool January night in the basement of a college lecture hall had led to a transformation of my life. I had never been abandoned; God never said “Goodbye and Good Luck!” I was never left to fend for myself.

“The grace that brings salvation to us also disciplines us,” says Jerry Bridges in The Discipline of Grace. “God never saves people and leaves them alone to continue in their immaturity and sinful lifestyle. Those who He saves, He disciplines…Our spiritual growth is not left to our initiative, nor is it dependent upon our wisdom to know in which areas and in which direction we need to grow.”

It’s never been smooth and predictable, but that path of growth has been and continues to be marked by discipline.

Tom Challies is leading the discussion of The Discipline of Grace over at Informing the Reforming. Please visit his site for additional thoughts and links.