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What if disciplemaking is the main thing?

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 In a recent Barna  survey , pastors identified their top need as getting clarity about their church's vision and mission . Without engaging in a bunch of  leader-speak  here, let's simply say that if we are not clear about the church's vision and mission, then we are not clear about the "main thing." Interesting.  Ver y   i nterestin g. Let's think about this for a moment. Two thousand years ago, Jesus commanded  all  of his followers to " make disciples ." Thanks to Jesus, we now have clarity. Simple. Profound. But obviously not obvious . Track with us on social media!    Instagram      Facebook      Twitter       Subscribe HERE and let the fun begin!
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Spring 2025: Look at What God is Doing...

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Note: We are disciplemaking missionaries with Cadre Missionaries . As such, we give a brief ministry update here at Cup O' Joe with Bill once every three months—for those who pray and support us. Double click any image to enlarge for reading, viewing, and praying. Can you help us  continue  multiplying disciple makers ? Here's how... 1.  Invest in disciplemaking via the Allisons and Cadre Missionaries 2.  Join our email prayer team  ("prayer team" in subject line) 3.  Bring Cadre training to your ministry or church 4.  Become a trainer with Cadre     5.  Read and share The Disciplemaking Genius of Jesus All glory to God! Let me encourage you every Monday ! Track with us on social media!    Instagram      Facebook      Twitter      
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Why Aren't We Making Disciples?

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  Jesus said, “go and make disciples of all nations.” Many Christians in our country hear the word "go" and "nations" and they immediately let themselves off the hook for their responsibility for making disciples. Why? Because they are not going to other nations. They are staying in this nation. Thus disciplemaking in our country gets relegated to those who are in full-time ministry (pastors, youth pastors, etc,) and those who serve as foreign missionaries. How is this working for us? Let's be honest.  It's not . But all is not lost... yet. Consider this... If you're a follower of Jesus, you've been commanded by Jesus to "go and make disciples of all nations" —and that includes the nation in which YOU live . Before you worry about whether or not God might send you to another nation,  why not first live as a Jesus-like disciplemaker in the nation in which you now live?   After all, if you don't live with Jesus' heart and passion for ...
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The Danger of Ignoring Idiot Lights

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Once upon a time, you and your ministry were so busy that you didn't take time to encourage the hearts and equip the hands of the wonderful volunteers who serve with you. Even though the "maintenance required" light came on—warning you to stop your flurry of ministry activity long enough to schedule some routine maintenance, you still just kept going. And you got away with it... for a while. Then you started to notice the engine of your ministry bogging down. You began hearing weird sounds you'd never heard before. You started smelling some funny smells coming from underneath the hood. But you were still too busy driving to care for your "car." So you just kept driving. Until... it finally stopped working.  Then you had to call a tow truck. And in that one trip to the mechanic, you spent more than you would have spent in years of little investments in routine upkeep.  And here's the kicker: The car never did really run as well as it once did. The damage ...
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Can YOU Help Us? We're On a Mission from God.

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We are disciplemaking missionaries with Cadre Missionaries . From time to time, we give an update here. We're heading out for an eight-day disciplemaking ministry trip in Arizona!  I'll be preaching, teaching, and sharing the Gospel via my testimony with at-risk boys. We'll also be  missionaries of encouragement   to many of our disciplemaking friends along the way. Can  you  help us? 1. Will you please pray for us?      * Please pray for us as we travel and encourage and equip God's people all over Arizona. 2. Can you help us financially?       * We're praying for at least $2,000 for travel expenses and training materials.       *  Donate here .      Any little bit you can help us with is a HUGE encouragement to us.  Thank you so much for your prayers and support.  You really are God's wind into our disciplemaking sails with Cadre Missionaries.  "Dear friend, you are being...
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You Can Take the Man Out of Youth Ministry, but...

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Click any picture to enlarge. Over the course of my life so far, I've worked at a YMCA, a juvenile detention center, a factory, as a youth pastor in a local church, a public school English teacher, and, for the last 23 years, the executive director of Cadre Missionaries . (I still don't know what I want to be if I grow up.) However, on most Tuesday nights these days, you can find me and my fun/crazy friends volunteering —hanging out with students at Chillicothe Campus Life.  What do we do to build authentic  Christ-sharing relationships with students? We eat together.  We get to know each other through questions .  And we listen, share our stories , and share God's story.  Meals. Stories. Questions. In other words, w e do exactly what Jesus did.   It's simple AND transformational. Up to this point in my life, I had never been to a Youth for Christ "club" before. But my daughter, Sadey Rose , who leads the Chillicothe Campus Life Club, invited me to share...
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How We Set Up the Next Generation to Fail

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  "We set young leaders up for a fall if we encourage them to envision what they can do before they consider the kind of person they should be." —Ruth Barton Are you interested in helping the next generation of young leaders BE before they DO? This is for you . Let me encourage you most Mondays !   Instagram            Facebook             Twitter      
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