Takeaways from Downline Summit

On Friday night and Saturday I joined 1,500 other men for the 3rd annual Downline Summit.  The theme of this year's event was Legendary - examining discipleship in the light of the Great Commission as commanded by the One True Legend, Jesus Christ.  I was inspired and encouraged by all of the speakers who God raised up to teach and lead us through the principles of biblical discipleship.  Here are a few  key takeaways I will strive to follow and live out:  

Bryan Loritts, lead pastor at Fellowship Memphis Church, led us off with a great, yet simple, definition of discipleship.  Discipleship is the process of producing reproducers of Jesus Christ.  In Matthew 10:1-4, Jesus is giving shape to his team.  Note in v.1, he called the 12 "disciples", and in v.2, he called them "apostles".  Disciples are "learners"; apostles are "ones who are sent" (doers).  Learning and doing repeated over and over is the process, and Bryan used a great illustration of how golfer Phil Mickelson (a right hander) learned how to golf by mirroring this learning and doing approach from his father, which resulted in him becoming a left-handed golfer.

Dennis Rainey, President and CEO of Family Life, called us to Step Up to Courageous Manhood, walking us through the 5 steps of a man:  boyhood, adolescence, manhood, mentor and patriarch.  Dennis recalled the 4 principles of Biblical manhood; a man is to: Reject Passivity, Accept Responsibility, Lead Courageously, and Invest Eternally, and he added a 5th, Love Sacrificially.  In the mentoring stage, every man needs to have a mentor and be a mentor.    Or in the other words, every man needs a Paul, Barnabas and a Timothy in their life!  

Ronnie Stevens kicked us off early Saturday morning.  I was looking forward to hearing him teach as I really enjoyed his teachings on Acts last year in Downline.  He taught from Luke 5:4-11 where Jesus calls his first disciples to follow him.  Reading from this passage, Ronnie illustrated 7 goals of discipleship, narrowing it down to 1 explicit goal:  catching of men.  This "catching of men" (or bringing people into the kingdom of God through a relationship with Jesus), builds on the analogy of catching fish in v.10 as these fishermen (Simon Peter, James and John) were doing when Jesus encountered them.  Ronnie clearly pointed out the message here:  Fish don't want to be caught.  That's why you have to catch them!  

Next we heard from JB Selecman and Ron Surgeon as they gave a lay perspective on disciple-making.  It's not just Christian education - transferring the truth of God into a another man, but it's also accompanied by the cultivation of a life-on-life relationship with that individual.  In short, disciple-making is truth and life transference in the context of an authentic relationship.

The conference workshops I attended had an emphasis on discipleship in the home.  Dennis Rainey shared his experiences/challenges in the raising of his 6 children.  The scripture passage he modeled comes from Ephesians 6:1-4  


Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.


Dennis spoke on the priority of discipling your children and he communicated 5 principles of courageous parenting using examples from his own life:  Courage to repent, to connect, to protect, to correct, and to direct.  Kennon Vaughan delivered a great talk on discipleship in the home during the early stages of childhood with practical examples that he and Kathryn are using with their 3 boys (all under the age of 4!)

Kennon closed the conference looking at Jesus' final words to his disciples in Matthew 28:16-20, and implored us to live out the Great Commission as a lifestyle.  And, to catch a vision for discipleship not as a duty, but a delight; not merely a responsibility but rather a privilege.  

In closing, I'll part with a quick note on Super Bowl 46.  I'm excited about the match up, and you could make an argument for either team but I'm rooting for the Patriots to avenge their upsetting loss 4 years ago.  Besides the commercials, I'll be paying close attention to the numbers this year as I hope to score big in my SB squares contest which will payout $500 per quarter.  Although I think the game will be really close, I'm predicting (hoping) a score along the lines of NE 34 NY26, or NE 35 NY 21 would be just as good.  Enjoy the game!