This weekend I attended my fourth DownLine Men's Summit. Ever since I went through the DownLine Institute in 2010-11, I always look forward to this annual event in February, and each year I come away inspired and challenged to answer the call to make disciples. Here are some of my takeaways from the weekend.
The Summit was held at a new location this year, Highpoint Church, with an estimated 1,200 men in attendance. Founded in 2006, DownLine exists to restore Biblical discipleship in and through the local church and equip followers of Christ to make disciples. DownLine defines disciple as a world-visionary, world-impacting, follower, learner, and reproducer of Jesus Christ.
Kennon Vaughan kicked off Friday night with a talk on "The Place Where Disciple-Making Begins", walking through Matthew 9:35-38 (The Harvest is Plentiful, the Laborers Few).
The first thing we see (v.36) is that Jesus had compassion on the crowd -- they were described as helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then, he tells the disciples (v.37) "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few." Jesus came to start a movement, but before he sent them out on this gospel movement, (v.38) begins with this command, "pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." Jesus instructs the disciples to ask God to put on their hearts what is on God's heart. Thus, the place where disciple-making begins is on your knees.
The first thing we see (v.36) is that Jesus had compassion on the crowd -- they were described as helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then, he tells the disciples (v.37) "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few." Jesus came to start a movement, but before he sent them out on this gospel movement, (v.38) begins with this command, "pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." Jesus instructs the disciples to ask God to put on their hearts what is on God's heart. Thus, the place where disciple-making begins is on your knees.
On Saturday morning, one of the workshops was led by Ronnie Stevens. I've always enjoyed hearing Ronnie speak, and I could listen to him teach the Bible all day. His talk was on "David's Mighty Men: A Pattern of Old Testament Discipleship" (2nd Samuel 23:8-23).
Ronnie led off with this point: ever since the Cross, God's agenda is not to use God's servants to kill God's enemies, as we read in much of the OT -- in particular how David trained his men for battle, and their exploits are outlined in passage referenced above. Our perspective on fighting/combat has changed as New Testament believers are to fight God's spiritual enemies. Ronnie referenced 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (God's mighty weapons are available to us as we fight against Satan's "strongholds", including our pride), and the memorable passage from Ephesians 6:10-18 where we are called to put on the full "Armor of God", as Paul often taught in his letters that our primary battle is our internal battle, just as Jesus often talked about the battle that goes on in our thought life.
In the other workshop I attended, Chris Conlee (Highpoint Church lead pastor) talked about the discipleship relationship he developed with Clyde Cranford during his first year of seminary and the great impact Clyde had in pouring into him. Chris even said if he had to make a choice he would have traded in his seminary degree for the life-on-life training he received in the form of discipleship from Clyde. Chris made the clear point: Information + Application = Transformation. Chris also shared some about his Priority Time (not his quiet time -- because God isn't quiet!), and I look forward to reading his new book on this subject.
Soup Campbell closed the Summit with a talk on "The Privilege of Disciple-Making". In Matthew 4:18-20, Jesus calls his first disciples..."Come follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Jesus invested his time into a few faithful men and he expects much interest when he returns. Soup challenged us with this question: Are you investing in the "man market" like you invest in the money market? What deposits are you making in your spiritual downline?
