I have always believed in the power of discipling others. Even as a teenager I went through discipleship books with a few younger kids. After joining ABWE and going through the Good Soil Evangelism and Discipleship training, I became very excited about The Story of Hope and The Way to Joy. I had previously discipled a junior in high school named Anthony and was also mentoring Matt, who is a sophomore in high school. My ministry verse is II Timothy 2:2, which encourages us to take the things we have learned and teach them to others, so that they can pass them on to others. I talked to Anthony and Matt about going through both books with the intention of them being able to evangelize and disciple others also. We met quite a few times until we finished both books. Now this past week, Matt started discipling Austin (recently saved in a revival) and Jake (a younger kid in the youth group). I asked Matt how it went, and he said its going awesome. Anthony is supposed to soon start discipling Blake (a younger kid in the youth group).

In the meantime, I have finished going through the books with Brian, a college student who has goals of serving as a pastor and a missionary. He is excited about the materials and has already mentioned to several people who he going to use them with. My wife has started training two college girls and has one more she is lining up. She is also about to start discipling an eighth grader soon.

I am finding the only hindrance to this ripple effect of discipling would be a lack of initiative. The simplicity of the materials and of following the Great Commission makes going through The Story of Hope and The Way to Joy easy for anyone to do.

The simplicity of The Story of Hope and The Way to Joy make following the Great Commission easy for anyone to do.