Church: Please Keep Discipleship Shallow

There’s a rampant call from many radical people to make discipleship deeper. They make this claim saying people aren’t going to church or living full lives because we’ve made discipleship too easy. 

Don’t they know it’s because discipleship is shallow that our church buildings and budgets are as full as they are? We have to keep pizza parties and lock-ins a mainstay for our students or they’ll leave in droves. It’s absolutely necessary for us to keep discipleship shallow so the church can continue to produce lukewarm, overweight, emotionally immature followers who believe what’s preached from the pulpit hook line and sinker. 

Sure, they have self-destructive habits but they don’t listen to ‘secular’ music or drink alcohol. In the end, it’s all about following the rules we create to avoid the slippery slope anyway. They may not be fully alive, but they’re ‘good’ moral people. Asking anything more of people, challenging them to live a more fulfilling life may turn them off to Jesus. 

We’ll keep demanding the hard verses aren’t for everyone and the easy verses are for all of us. Sell all your possessions to follow Jesus? That was for one person back then who wasn’t generous. Don’t lie? Well, that’s for everyone all the time everywhere. 

Let’s keep our buildings packed with people! Let’s get a few more lights, throw in some fog machines and make our pastors the next thing closest to God. Allowing people who don’t have ‘formal’ ministry training to disciple people is messy. Walking through life with a person one on one is EXTREMELY time consuming. So we’ll just keep those nice morally challenging messages coming from the pulpit. Our discipleship model starts and ends in the big room we gather in on Sunday. 

So…

Church… please keep discipleship shallow. It’s the only way we can keep things the way they are. 

The Art of Giving

By Grant Boatwright, ED Veritas Life Adventures

Part II: The Immeasurable Reward

Last week we looked at how the art of giving is a practice, sometimes a difficult one, but one that has some immeasurable rewards at the end. These rewards come in various forms. This could be better health as the Berkeley study found, or seeing the results of your gift manifest in a life transformed. However, the best way for you to see just how Veritas Life Adventures is a part of this giving practice, and it’s immeasurable rewards, is to hear from a continual giver to Veritas Life Adventures, Jeff, and the life he helped change in Conner Jansen, a 4 year Seeker and graduate of Veritas Life Adventures.

The practitioner: Jeff Montgomery

Giving is choice. It is not always easy, and it comes at a cost, but the reward is immeasurable. Giving inexorably links you to the plight of another and that practice dislodges self-centered thinking that can become toxic. The Bible teaches not only to tithe and give to church; but also to be cheerful givers, even outside the church. I believe that the reason for this is to take your focus off of yourself and to participate in the world that surrounds you. These beliefs are what motivate me to give to Veritas Life Adventures, which is involved in raising leaders who have the tools to go and change the world.

If you want to find a charitable cause to give to, start with one that I support, and that can make the world that you live in a better place. That is the end result in empowering young men and women to grow in physical, nutritional, and spiritual health; so that they can embark on a journey to make a positive impact on the world they live in.

The Immeasurable reward: Conner Jansen

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Conner in his first year with Veritas 2012.

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Conner and Grant on the Forging trip his Veritas graduating year: 3 years later and 20 lbs. lighter...due to his improvements in all three aspects!

Four years ago, my main goal in life was to get Prestige on Call of Duty and eat an entire large Pizza on my own. I was involved in my church, but there were key things in my faith that were missing. I had a foundation, but I wasn’t building on top of that. All of that was about to change when I joined Veritas Life Adventures.

The first I heard of Veritas was from my youth pastor, Gary Malone. I was skeptical at first, but then I decided to take a risk. Since then, Veritas has continued to mold and change my life for the better through the three main aspects that Veritas focuses on: the physical, nutritional, and emotional/spiritual. One of the great things Veritas has taught me is that to be truly healthy, you need all three in balance.

First, I want to talk about the physical aspect. This is, I think, is the most obvious of changes in my life. When I started, I had no desire to do any physical activity, but through Veritas, that all changed. Through a lot of hard work and determination, Veritas has given me the knowledge and habits needed to maintain an active lifestyle. Today, I actually enjoy being active and have improved so much since then.

I remember going on my first backpacking trip and struggling through everything. Now, I can get through, still with some struggle, but I don’t need to take a break every five steps.

Nutrition is another aspect. When I started, I never thought about the nutrition facts on the back of the things that tasted delicious, and I hated anything that has color in it (ie: vegetables). I never even considered cooking. Then, when I joined Veritas, I started to see everything that I was doing to my body by eating bad things. I started to love cooking for my family and involving vegetables in my everyday life. Then, I started to see my body react in better ways. I was able to do workouts more easily when I didn’t eat Whataburger right before and instead ate an apple. My acne, although not completely clear, lightened up. My life took another turn with the gift of food Veritas presented to me.

The last aspect I changed in was my spiritual/emotional. When I started with Veritas, I had a foundation of a very basic love for Christ, but not anything much past that. I hated reading, I didn’t like deep conversations, and my world ended at my TV screen. Veritas showed me that there is so much more to life than just what I was seeing. I was able to build my faith in Christ and my intellectual thought was given food and strength. Now my faith in Christ is as strong as ever, but another thing Veritas has showed me is that you can never stop improving on yourself. So I continue to build in my faith in Christ. I have been asked to lead Bible studies in high school and now in college, I look for Bible Studies around campus. Ever since I was given the gift of Veritas I have never stopped growing.

Veritas has changed my life in unimaginable ways, and I am forever thankful for that. Our group trips have given me memories and experiences that will live with me forever. Veritas has given me the leadership qualities and self-confidence I needed to stand out from the crowd and follow my dream of helping deaf people. Veritas has given me everything I needed to be the person I am today.

Now is your chance to keep Seeker transformations like Conner's continuing on Thursday, September 17th from 6 am to midnight online with North Texas Giving day.  Every dollar will be matched up to $10,000 and every $25 dollar gift, or more, will have a percentage match as well!  Challenge your practice of the art of giving, and find your immeasurable reward here.