Categories: discovery process, Discovery Bible Studies
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After we took the church to the people at Easter, our spiritual sister Hannah,* led by the Holy Spirit, initiated a 40-day period of prayer and fasting.   Here are some of the things God did during this church-wide fast:  

• First of all, we learned how pathetic we are at praying and fasting.  But look what he did when we cried out to him more… 
• Hector, Roxy, Hannah* and their kids have been urgently sharing their faith, and doing it without us! 
• God enabled me to train these disciples to share the Word through Discovery Bible Studies.  Ed, Katie, and Meri are providing life-on-life mentoring and training during the week and as needs arise. 
• God allowed us to share His Word through oral and written Discovery Bible Studies with three more neighbors.  One man said he dislikes religion but since he met us, his family has been praying for their meals.  “We want to spend more time with you because we want our family to be more like yours,” he said.  The next day we went to the park and started studying the Bible together.  This family joined us for a special Mother’s Day breakfast, and we’ve continued to share life and God’s Word together. 
• Some neighbors went camping with us, including a family who have given up on church.  At the retreat everyone played and told their stories, and we shared God’s Word.  The dad participated in a group prayer, giving thanks for the experience.  Since then we’ve been building friendship and discussing faith with them.
• In total, during the fast God blessed us to be a blessing to 28+ households and groups (and counting) – praying for them, serving them, listening to them, eating meals with them, building relationships with them when others would not, sharing God’s Word with them, and building spiritual relationships with some of them.
• God granted us favor despite our many inadequacies.  We are learning to cross several cultures in a day.  Katie & Meri felt prompted to ask God for more influence among Muslim women here.

Please keep praying for God’s Word to go forth in LA. Ask for protection for us and the new believers, for spiritual warfare has increased. Beg God’s Spirit to bring a church planting movement. We serve a merciful and powerful God!   

*[Names have been changed.  All other details accurate.]

Categories: fasting, Discovery Bible Studies
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Tuesday mornings lately have been a precious time when I get together with my wife, Katie, and another Jesus-follower I’ll call Hannah, to train them to facilitate (and teach others to facilitate) group Discovery Bible Studies (also called simple, inductive Bible studies).  We do this because we want to reproduce more disciple-makers, and because this is becoming a crucial skill for what we do when we encounter a Person of Peace, someone who is ready to to expose himself or herself and his or her family/friends to the Word of God.  (I’ve done the same with a couple I’ve been calling Hector and Roxy on this blog.)

However, today the Holy Spirit had another plan in mind.  Hannah showed up to our training session and very quickly tears began streaming down her face.  She was crying for God’s treasured missing ones.  Oh, if you could have heard the pain in her voice, your heart would have ached, too.  Included in her ever-growing list of friends she is sharing Jesus’ love and message with are two women living on LA’s streets.  Hannah and her sons have been not only sharing meals with these precious women; they also have been sharing their time, their hearts, and their lives as mutual friends.  One of the women recently told Hannah that she and her boys have made her “feel human again.”  Hannah, like Jesus, is teaching her sons not to be afraid to reach out and touch the ’social lepers’ of our nation, but to genuinely love them.  So Hannah asked if, in lieu of a Bible study today, could we please pray for these two rejected women and all the lost and hurting people God is leading all of us to show his love to right now?  For the next hour we poured out our hearts to God.

Categories: Discovery Bible Studies
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I’m putting together a list of RLQs – Reproducing Leader Questions – to ask myself at the beginning of every week.  If I’m going to become the kind of leader who reproduces leaders (who in turn reproduce leaders, and so on), I’m finding I must evaluate my activities in light of these questions.  Feel free to help me tweak or add to this list. 

My RLQs so far, in no particular order:

• What am I doing alone that can be done with an emerging leader?  

• What does this disciple of Jesus need to learn next?  (Not always what I would naturally think of.) 

• How can an opportunity be provided for him/her to learn it?  (May need to coordinate with others to create the opportunity.)

• What am I initiating (or thinking of initiating) that is better left undone until or unless a local leader initiates it?

• What are the current disciples depending on me for?  What will I do to help them depend on the Holy Spirit and God’s Word instead?

• Do I need to be present for this person or group to carry out this activity?  Why or why not?  (Activities include but are not limited to: church gatherings, Discovery Bible Studies, serving others, faith-sharing, etc.)  

• If I removed myself from this group activity, how would I coach the facilitator/leader before and after the group meetings?  

• If I feel I still should be present for a group activity, what will I do this week to draw out the leadership of someone else in the group so that my physical presence eventually becomes “unnecessary”? 

If you have a good RLQ, feel free to share it with me by leaving a comment.  Hope you have a (re)productive day!

Categories: Discovery Bible Studies
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While we were filming this weekend we interviewed a neighbor whom I will call Devon.  He told me (on camera) that he doesn’t like religions but ever since he and his wife met our two families they have started to pray together for their meals.  He also shared that he and his wife want to spend more time with us because they want their family to be more like ours, and he said he wants to read the Bible together with me.  So the next day he invited our families (and Hannah’s family) to the park.  While the women played with the kids, Devon and I sat under a shady tree and started our first Discovery Bible Study, something he wants to continue with his wife the next time we meet.  

Looking back, Devon said his curiosity began when he took his sons trick-or-treating at our home.  Right away Ed, Katie, Meri and I invited them to come to our Halloween party where we were playing children’s games and serving popcorn and apple cider.  They knocked on many doors that night to trick-or-treat, but Devon got the feeling we are “good people to be around.”  From that simple interaction a mutual friendship began, in which we played and ate meals together, listened to each other’s stories, and introduced spiritual topics of conversation.  Meanwhile, we’ve been praying and fasting, and asking others to pray, too, for Devon and his household.  Then something mysterious and beyond our control began to happen in their hearts.  Now Devon has demonstrated a desire to expose himself and his family to the Word of God.     

Please keep Devon and his family in your prayers…

Categories: Discovery Bible Studies
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Meredith and I, and our teammates Ed and Katie, and our first disciples are all experiencing spiritual warfare right now.  Things are picking up speed in this ministry and the Enemy wants to stop it and discourage us.   

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