Trickle-Down Discipleship
Trickle-down
economics became a popular phrase in the 1980s and perhaps, depending on your
political persuasion, you believe we should bring back this economic theory.
Despite the fact that the economy is on most of our minds, instead of talking
about trickle-down economics, I want to talk to you briefly about trickle-down
discipleship.
Janey,
Taylor, myself, and the rest of the staff re-committed ourselves to the task of
discipleship last school year. We began to invest in students we felt God was
gifting for the task of ministry. We met regularly with these students, both
corporately, as well as on-on-one, and we began to challenge them to not just be
faithful disciples, but to begin making faithful disciples.
These students
began serving on our discipleship team, ROCK, last spring and those that didn't
graduate continue to serve on ROCK this Fall. While many of these students also
lead Bible studies, mission trips, etc. their task is simply to be in the
business of making disciples. Every week these students diligently call, email,
and facebook 100s of students for the simple purpose of asking, "How is it with
your soul?" These student leaders are truly embodying the call to make
disciples by meeting other students for coffee and lunch to build relationships
and challenge one another in the call to be and make disciples.
This idea of trickle-down discipleship started with the individuals that
discipled myself and the rest of our staff members. It continues as we the
staff disciple our student leaders and they continue the process by discipling
the student body at OU. Our dream, which we are slowly seeing come to fruition,
is that more students would be on fire to know Christ and make Christ known so
that we can continue to build a stronger and larger team of young Christian
leaders in order to effectively reach the OU campus with the good news of Jesus
Christ. We are blown away and blessed by the way our student leaders have
responded this year and the way God is blessing our ministry through their
faithfulness.
|
God's Kingdom Come
I'm in the
middle of a sermon series on the Lord's Prayer (http://okwesley.org/ministries/vespers/sermon-podcasts)
and recently I spoke about "God's Kingdom Come, God's will be done." One of the
things I challenged the students is that we need to get busy being Kingdom
people and helping to bring about God's Kingdom on this earth. So far the
students are doing a great job of responding!
We spent all
morning on September 25 serving in mission at Martha's House in
OKC. Martha's House provides transitional living to families trying to overcome
the cycle of poverty. It was a great opportunity for our students to learn more
about poverty and how we can play a part in "helping the least of these." It
was also a good chance for them to get on their hands and knees and simply help
serve.
During the month of October the students are raising money and diapers
for the CCFI diaper drive to help families who can't afford life's basic
necessities. Each month this semester in addition to participating in local
mission projects the students are going to focus on one organization or entity
to raise money and support. This month is the center for children and family.
We are excited to see the students respond with both their time and their
pocketbooks to become Kingdom people.
|
Bishop Hayes Visits Wesley
We were blessed
to host Bishop Hayes in worship on Tuesday, September 14. He
preached to a standing room only crowd and the students were fired up and full
of energy and enthusiasm for his visit. This is the third time Bishop
Hayes has preached for our students in the last six years, and we are excited to
have him as a keynote speaker in February for the All Wesley retreat at
Crosspoint camp!
|
