by Holly Smith

TORRANCE - Trials. Creativity. Mission. Sacrifice. Coaching.

A diverse list, but all part of the process of discipleship, according to speakers at the 2010 On Target Evangelism Conference.

Sponsored by the California Southern Baptist Convention healthy church group and held Feb. 15-16 at the Marriott Torrance, featured presenters at On Target included David Platt, Linda Miller and R.A. Williams Jr., as well as staff from Mosaic, Los Angeles. Several California pastors also shared the methods of discipleship they use in their congregations.

Dave Auda and Jason Jaggard, navigators at Mosaic, noted that the purpose of the Church is mission, and Mosaic strives to be inclusive in order to draw people into the body of Christ and lead them to a closer walk with Him.

"Each and every follower of Jesus Christ is called to be a fisher of men ... a light to those who are struggling and lost in darkness," Auda said. "If we miss that, we've missed everything.

"We're to live out the Great Commandment ... love, love, love, love - the Beatles had it right," he quipped, "and to carry out the Great Commission. So our churches need to be reflective of both those dynamics."

Jaggard presented Mosaic's five core values, noting that all the values work inseparably like the ingredients of a cake.

1. Mission
"The reason the church exists," Jaggard asserted.
"It's impossible to overstate the importance of this in our community. The church does not exist for us, we exist to serve the world," Jaggard explained.

He noted Mosaic meets in a nightclub "because we're trying to serve people who go there."

"We do it because we want to meet on their turf - which sounds strangely like the Incarnation, doesn't it?"

2. Love is a context for all mission
Jaggard said church leaders ask themselves, "How can we innovate and come up with ways to rub shoulders with people that helps them?"

He said Mosaic utilizes peoples' creativity and gifts before they even follow Christ, noting "you belong before you believe."

3. Structure always submits to Spirit
"If we are going to be successful in developing discipleship, we have to deal with" the two metaphors of the church - the Body of Christ and the Army of God, Auda said, noting Mosaic has a disciple-making process but meets people where they are.

"We are very relational, personal, inclusive and accepting," he said.

4. Relevance to culture is not optional
"We are passionate about removing any kind of obstacle to people coming to Jesus," Jaggard said, and to making it as "easy as possible for people to come."

5. Creativity is a natural result of spirituality
God loves you, created you uniquely, gifted you and "placed you strategically where He needs you to be," Auda explained.

Linda Miller uses her creativity to help coach and mentor people, both of which concepts can translate into making disciples.

An executive coach with the Ken Blanchard Companies, Miller said the goal of discipleship is to discover truth, put it into action and retain much of it. If one asks the right questions in the right way, coaching/mentoring can help with the process.

Practical ideas for coaching, or "coaching competencies," include:

• listening
• asking powerful questions
• identifying action

The process must be "fluid, flexible and unique," Miller said.

"When we are coaching, it's not about what we understand but how we can help others move forward," she explained.

On Target participants were given practical experience with the process as Miller asked the audience to engage in three- and five-minute listening/sharing activities.

"It's time to help people move forward in their faith," not just make them feel good about their Christian lives, Miller told the audience.

"We have to do things differently. We have to have the conversation the other person needs to have, not the conversation I'm comfortable with.

"What we need to do is back up and make sure every conversation we have is transformational, not just conversational," Miller said.

Adding to her call for change, David Platt, pastor of The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, said he believes the church today needs to recover "what it means to follow after the Jesus of the Bible."

"Jesus does call us and every person in our churches to give up everything we have - though we're making Christianity what we want it to be, and Jesus to look like us," Platt asserted.

"We must forsake our ideas and plans and dreams and hopes and possession and thoughts of a nice dream" of Christianity and truly become disciples.

As such, are we going to choose comfort or are we going to choose the cross, Platt asked. He went on to note that Jesus said, "When you follow after Me, I'm everything you've got."

Platt said of the church, "We have so much stuff" and surround ourselves "with the comforts of this world."

"Are Christ and His Word going to be enough for you and me? Because the more we fill discipleship with all this stuff, the more we create people who want all this stuff."

Platt also asked, "Are we going to settle for maintenance or are we going to sacrifice for mission?" noting that "when we follow after Christ we are abandoned to the most important responsibility we can think of, and that responsibility is to the Kingdom of God."

"Let's refuse to settle into a 'maintenance mentality' - let's sacrifice it all for mission," Platt exhorted.

One last question Platt asked of disciple-makers: "Are our lives and ministries going to be marked by indecisive minds or undivided hearts?"

Sharing the biblical story of the "pearl of great price," Platt declared: "There  is something worth losing everything for.

"When we believe that and show what it looks like, and the people of God believe that ... discipleship takes hold. They begin to see that Christ is good, Christ is fulfilling.

"Let's show them there's another way," Platt exhorted. "Let's show them that Christ is the only way, and in the church we don't need all this stuff - Christ is enough."

Echoing Auda and Jaggard, Platt declared: "Let's risk it all for mission."
Troy Lee, worship leader for Living Way Community Church in Los Angeles, led worship during On Target along with a band from his congregation.

For more information about the annual conference call 559-229-9533, ext. 250 or visit www.ontargetevangelism.com.