Creating a culture of disciplemaking in your church or ministry...

How does Cadre work alongside denominational leaders to help create a disciplemaking culture in local churches?

Like this...

Bill, Dave, and Rennie,
I have not only found a kindred spirit with you all in the area of disicplemaking but have personally gleaned a great deal from our interactions together over the last five years. Yes, you've been fantastic ministry partners but you've also been an incredible support in my life. On top of all this we're see are a disciplemaking refocus taking place in the Evangelical Free Church of America which is in direct correlation to our work with you and Cadre. Over 2,000 people in the EFCA have been introduced to Cadre's Disciplemaking Is Relationships training experience over the last five years. There are currently 15 Disciplemaking Learning Communities engaging nearly 100 pastors throughout Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Michigan, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Colorado. Many of these leaders are taking Jesus-like disciplemaking back into their local churches. It's changing the culture of our student ministries, families, and in some cases entire churches. I cannot fully express how the impact of your investment. Thanks for living out your mission to make me and our people "wildly successful" in life and ministry! 
Warmly,
Shane Stacey
National Director of Youth Ministry
Evangelical Free Church of America
(Email from 2013)

And like this...

One example of how Cadre works alongside of denominational leaders to help create a disciplemaking culture in local churches is our 11-year friendship with Reach Students—the national youth ministry of the Evangelical Free Church of America (EFCA).

Once again, on September 26-27, 2019, Cadre Missionaries had the honor of partnering again with the national student ministries of the EFCA. All this took place at the EFCA National Office in Minneapolis, MN. Here are a some pictures of our time together (click any image to enlarge for viewing)...

Its was our joy to encourage and equip over 30 next-generation pastors and volunteer ministry leaders from over 20 different states to live and share disciplemaking training in their local church ministries!

Because of our long and fun disciplemaking friendship with the EFCA (See here, here, here, here, here, here, and here), this train-the-trainers gathering was primarily led by EFCA youth pastors and supported by Cadre Missionaries. That's right. We train trainers to train trainers. Why? Here's why.

We invested two days equipping each person who participating in this train-the-trainer gathering in one of these disciplemaking training experiences.

How about you? Are you interested? If so, where do you start?

Start here. 

All that to say this...
Cadre Missionaries would love to work alongside you to help create a disciplemaking culture in your ministry, church, and denomination. If you are so inclined, contact us.

All glory to God... "For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever." —Romans 11:36

The fastest growing church in the world has no buildings, no central leadership, and is mostly led by women...

[I'm sharing this post and the video below, not because I agree with everything said in it or how it was said, but because I appreciated the way it stretched my thinking. As the old saying goes, "If everyone is thinking the same thing, no one is thinking."]

"The fastest growing church in the world has no buildings, no central leadership, and is mostly led by women."

You can read about it here.

Or you can watch it right here.
(If I didn't think it was worth your time, I wouldn't share it.)


If you long to be a part this kind of Jesus movement right where you live, but don't know where to start, here's a thought.

Hey, thanks for reading all the way to the end. Here's a little something for you—a three-page PDF download: What does disciplemaking look like in the church?  BONUS: Subscribe to Cup O' Joe with Bill by January 22, 2020 and I'll email you two 30-minute training audios that will help you start 2020 right. Two Simple Steps to Subscribe...

1. Go here and submit your email.
2. Check your email to confirm.

The BIG Question: What Does Disciplemaking Look Like in the Church?

Once when I was training a room full of youth leaders, I did my best to paint a clear picture of the disciplemaking genius of Jesus. We were drilling down on Jesus-like disciplemaking friendships as a way of life for every follower of Jesus. Once I felt like everyone had some clarity on the simplicity and power of the disciplemaking genius of Jesus, I said, “For 5-10 minutes, I’d like you to pray and ask God to show you who he wants you to get more time with for disciplemaking friendships. I encourage you to make note of any little nudge the Holy Spirit might give you.” Everyone spread out all over the room. It was beautifully quiet, prayerful, and reflective.

When you invite God to show you who he wants you to get more time with for disciplemaking friendships, and then take a moment to sit quietly in the presence of God with a listening heart, you just might hear God whisper to your soul. Once I sensed everyone had enough time to reflect and listen to God, I said, “Now partner up with someone near you and share what you sensed God nudging you about when it comes to who God might want you to get more time with for disciplemaking friendships.”

I saw a volunteer youth leader, a woman about my age, stand up and turn to another woman who was near her. I stood behind them both—not too close but close enough so I could hear their conversation. The first woman said, “I prayed and asked God, ‘Who do you want me to get more time with for disciplemaking friendships?’ The first person that came to my mind was my teenage daughter. We see each other often but I’m not sure I’d say that God is a part of our relationship. Then I thought about the small group of teenage girls I lead every Wednesday night. I know at least two of them would be very open to more time with me. Then I thought about where I work in an office part-time. One of the women I work with has been asking me a lot of questions lately about why I go to church and where. I think she also might be up for more time together over lunch on our work days together.”

God spoke to that woman about being a disciplemaking friend right where she lived, worked, and volunteered. Exactly! How beautiful is that? That’s what I’m talking about. That response couldn’t have been any sweeter.

Then I moseyed over to a table full of youth pastors I know and love. As I approached the table, they strangely stopped talking and then they just looked at me. I said, “Hey, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to kill the conversation. I just wanted to hear a little of what you heard from God about your next steps in disciplemaking friendships.”

The youth pastor closest to me confessed,
“We’ve spent our time discussing what all this looks like in the church.”

“What did you guys come up with?” I asked sincerely.

“Nothing really,” he said sadly.

The contrast between the two different conversations was stark and sad.

For the rest of the story and a bit of exploration on The BIG Question: "What Does Disciplemaking Look Like in the Church?"—click the link immediately below...

Let’s unpack this a little more here.

[Click link above for a FREE three-page PDF you can share with others!]



You, Me, and Coffee Monday... 

Let me encourage you and make you think ONE time a week (usually Monday morning) with a virtual Cup O' Joe with Bill in your email inbox. Two Simple Steps...

1. Go here and submit your email.
2. Check your email to confirm.
You can unsubscribe at any time.

Calling ALL Volunteer and Vocational Ministry Leaders!

What?
Your Most Important Job as a Ministry Leader

At this training experience, we'll explore...
* Why we get stuck and how we can get unstuck
* Where all real leadership must start
* The best thing you can do for the ministry you serve
* Jesus' simple but clear and profound priorities
* What it looks like to follow Jesus together
* A strategic plan for growing, ministering, and leading

Who?
* All volunteer and vocational ministry leaders
* Any Christian who wants to grow and serve

When?
You choose the time

Where?
You choose the place.

Cost?
$15 per person for training materials

RSVP?
If you'd like me to bring this training to you and your ministry, Email me.

Note: This training experience will be facilitated by Bill Allison of CadreMissionaries.com.

You, Me, and Coffee Monday... 

Let me encourage you and make you think ONE time a week (usually Monday morning) with a virtual Cup O' Joe with Bill in your email inbox. Two Simple Steps...

1. Go here and submit your email.
2. Check your email to confirm.
You can unsubscribe at any time.

Merry Christmas to all the wives out there...

Husband and wife are Christmas Shopping at a busy shopping mall just before Christmas. The wife suddenly noticed that her husband was missing and as they had a lot to do, she called him on his phone.

The wife said, " Where are you? You know we have lots to do."

He said "You remember the jewelers we went into about 10 years ago, and you fell in love with that diamond necklace? I couldn’t afford it at the time and I said that one day I would get it for you?"

Little tears started to flow down her cheek and she got all choked up. "Yes, I do remember that shop," she replied.

"Well, I’m in the guitar shop next door to that."

For Cup O' Joe with Bill readers only: I will mail a free vintage Cadre book to the first two people who email me their mailing address. [John Berger, you are not eligible for this offer : )]. The first person will get the now out-of-print/vintage Grow, Minister, and Lead!. [Congratulation John Evans—you win!] The second person gets a vintage first edition of Recruiting, Motivating, and Retaining Volunteers. [Congratulation Nathaniel Roberts—you win!] Merry Cadre Christmas from me and thanks for reading all the way to the end of this blog.

Merry Christmas 2019 from Our Family to Yours...

You’re looking at two of the craziest kids I know—and love. I love them so much that if either one ever needed a kidney, I’d totally… ask their mother to donate one. Mostly because I know she would. 

Sadey, 18, is in her senior year of high school and let me tell you she’s a real thinker. In a recent conversation she confidently asserted, “Circular reasoning works because circular reasoning works.” See what she did there?

Ivy, 8, still rules the play place at Chick-Fil-A these days. Recently she was in there with about half a dozen kids. She came out and sat by me. As she took a sip of orange Hi-C, I asked, “Is everything going okay in there?” Ivy quickly retorted, “It’s going great! I’m the ringleader!”

That’s right folks. We’re raising scholars and leaders. Be sure to read about it in our future book, Parenting That Doesn’t Work.

Stacy and I celebrated 31 years of marriage this year, and we’ve still got the heat. And when I say “heat,” I’m mostly referring to Stacy’s hot flashes. Once at dinner I asked for water. Stacy slid her glass of water over to me like a bartender. I let the glass slide into my hand and said, “Eeeww! I can’t drink this water. I’ll get your germs!” Stacy smiled slyly  and said, “Since when have you been worried about getting my germs?” That’s when our kids left the kitchen. We still got the heat I tell ya.

It's a Wonderful Life IF You Take This Pill...

If video doesn't appear, go here.

Stuff to Make You Smile and Think...

“If you ever see me out jogging, please kill whatever is chasing me.” —Nathan White

“May I cease to be annoyed that others are not as I wish they were, since I am not as I wish I was.” —Doug Ellison

“If you can’t make fun of me at my funeral, are we even friends?”
—Bill Allison

“Time doesn’t heal all wounds—only God does.” —Stacy Allison

“I’m doing crunches twice a day now. Captain in the morning and Nestle in the evening.” —Greg Speck

“I don’t want anyone at my wedding who won’t be there for my marriage.” —Someone on Twitter

“When you give birth to something, you have no control over what it turns into. All you can do is surrender to the nightmare.” —Therapist in Training on The Simpsons

“The Supreme Court has ruled that they cannot have a nativity scene in Washington, D.C. This wasn’t for any religious reasons. They couldn’t find three wisemen and a virgin.” —Jay Leno

“The world is changed by your example, not your opinion.”
—A meme on Facebook

You, Me, and Coffee Monday... 

Let me encourage you and make you think ONE time a week (usually Monday morning) with a virtual Cup O' Joe with Bill in your email inbox. Two Simple Steps...

1. Go here and submit your email.
2. Check your email to confirm.
You can unsubscribe at any time.

Jesus, YOU, Us, and Cadre...

Email us your mailing address, 

and we'll send you this special hillbilly 

edition of our missionary prayer card above!

As your disciplemaking missionaries with Cadre, we want YOU to know what God is doing in response to YOUR prayers and $ partnership! 

Click any image to enlarge for reading or go here.

Make no mistake about it. We need your continued prayer and $ partnership.

* To join our email prayer team about 2x a month, contact us.

* For much-needed $upport and monthly giving, go here.

* To contact Bill about speaking or training, go here.

From our hearts to yours, THANK YOU! We thank God for you.

You, Me, and Coffee Monday... 

Let me encourage you and make you think ONE time a week (usually Monday morning) with a virtual Cup O' Joe with Bill in your email inbox. Two Simple Steps...

1. Go here and submit your email.
2. Check your email to confirm.
You can unsubscribe at any time.

What God Did in AZ, NV, and UT...

Thank you so much for praying for our disciplemaking mission trip out west to AZ, UT, and NV. And a special THANK YOU to everyone who also $upported this mission trip. God used you via us for his glory! It was a very fruitful time of disciplemaking and making disciplemakers. Check out the photos and stories...

Click any image below to enlarge for viewing.

For 11 days, we had lots of car time (and coffee) together with Derrick Smothers of E3 Connection (on the right) as we traveled through three states of desert. It turns out that Time With (TW) is an essential part of the disciplemaking genius of Jesus. The beautiful thing about our disciplemaking friendship with Derrick is that in the wake of our mission trip, he will continually reach out and reconnect with the folks in the pictures that follow below. This is the real mission of Cadre: to encourage and equip disciplemakers like Derrick!

First stop was Sun Valley Community Church, Tempe, AZ, where our longtime friend, Kyle Glenn, is the campus pastor.

We did The Challenge of Finishing Well training experience at Sun Valley and had a blast. “I am grateful for the encouragement in ministry and in disciplemaking relationships! Thanks Bill and Derrick for leading on Sunday morning, and for training leaders on Sunday evening!” —Pastor Kyle Glenn

Next we did our One-Another training experience at River Valley Bible Church, Mesquite, NV. It’s always a Holy Spirit moment when we take time in our training experiences to connect to each other and God at the same time. We call it, disciplemaking friendships.

We invested good part of a day working with a Gospel-centered ministry right smack in the middle of a 100-year-old polygamous society.

With Pastor Jason McDowell, Mountain View Bible Church, Laverkin, UT. We did the Evangelism Is Relationships training lab with volunteer ministry leaders.

The next day we did The Disciplemaking Genius of Jesus training experience with some of the volunteers ministry leaders at New Hope Community Church, Moapa Valley, NV (Assembly of God). “It was great to study under your ministry today, and to fellowship with you and your wife and daughter. I hope it is okay to use your training material as reference tomorrow as I teach the adult Bible class. Your training is full of good ideas and Scripture.” —Clint, a volunteer ministry leader

A ministry of encouraging small town pastors! That’s what we do on these mission trips. With Pastor Daniel (left) of New Hope Christian Church, Moapa Valley, NV.

The Grace Place is a Gospel-Centered church plant in Ivins, UT, a town that is 90+ percent mormon. They rent a school building on Sundays.

It was my honor to preach at The Grace Place on Sunday.

Pastor Harald and Helga Schwaiger are the church planting couple who started The Grace Place. Yes, Stacy and Helga could be sisters. You should see them together. They not only look alike, they share the same gift of hospitality. The Schwaiger’s have six kids and Ivy didn’t want to leave Utah after she got to know and love the Schwaiger kids. Harald and Helga are originally from Austria and have an amazing God story to tell. It is an honor to partner with them.

Thanks for reading all the way to the end. Your prayers make Cadre possible and powerful—and we thank God for you. We really are your disciplemaking missionaries serving Jesus with Cadre.

You, Me, and Coffee Monday... 

Let me encourage you and make you think ONE time a week (usually Monday morning) with a virtual Cup O' Joe with Bill in your email inbox. Two Simple Steps...

1. Go here and submit your email.
2. Check your email to confirm.
You can unsubscribe at any time.