Synopsis
“How can I know if my disciple-making efforts are effective? How can I know if people are growing spiritually?” Have you ever asked these questions? If so, you are not alone. Many disciple-makers regularly struggle with these issues. While attendance and baptisms are easily counted, measuring the spiritual maturity of our people is not quite so simple. To make matters worse, an unfortunate reality of our day is that pastors are graded on how big their churches are and not how mature their people have become. Sadly, the American church has adopted business metrics to grow churches rather than biblical methods for growing disciples.In MARCS of a Disciple, Pastor Robby Gallaty provides a biblical guide for gauging spiritual growth. Mature disciples are Missional, Accountable, Reproducible, Communal, and Scriptural. Use this book as a measuring stick to determine the health and effectiveness of disciple-making in your church and personal life. Jesus didn’t leave the maturity of his disciples to chance; neither should we.
About the Author
Robby Gallaty is the Senior Pastor of Long Hollow Baptist Church in Hendersonville, TN. He wasn't always a pastor, though. For three years, he battled a drug addiction that ravaged his life. A $180 a day heroin and cocaine addiction forced him to steal $15,000 from his parents. After living without gas, electricity, and water for months, losing 8 of his friends to drug-related deaths, watching 6 friends arrested, and completing two rehab treatments, Robby remembered the gospel that was shared with him by a friend in college and was radically saved on November 12, 2002. Eight months later, David Platt, a seminary student and church member at the time, asked Robby to meet weekly for accountability, prayer, and bible study. For the next 2 years, David installed a passion for missions, expository preaching, and disciple-making in his life. He also encouraged Robby to go back to school to pursue theological education. Robby completed his Masters of Divinity Degree in Expository Preaching in 2007 and his Ph.D. in Preaching in 2011 from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. His dissertation was on "A Critical Examination of the Use of the Biblical Invitation." In 2008, he began Replicate Ministries to equip and train men and women to be disciples who make disciples. Replicate Ministries offers the Discipleship Blueprint twice a year for leaders to spend three days learning incarnational principles for developing and implementing a disciple-making strategy in their churches. In addition to exposing attendees to a mock-discipleship group, leaders are given a metric for measuring success in their individual groups. The M.A.R.C.S. of a Healthy D-Group are used to gauge effectiveness: Missional, Accountable, Reproducible, Communal, and Scriptural. Robby is the author of Growing Up: How to Be a Disciple Who Makes Disciples (2013), Firmly Planted: How to Cultivate a Faith Rooted in Christ (2015), Rediscovering Discipleship: Making Jesus' Final Words Our First Work (2015), and Foundations: A 260 Day Reading Plan for Busy Believers. Robby's wife Kandi is as passionate about discipleship as he is. They are currently raising two disciple-makers named Rig and Ryder.
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