Our first DisciplePath Summit (Summit 1) was held on January 30-31. We had a total of 38 people who took part in Summit 1. Each of these, that is willing and committed, is a part of our DisciplePath  Team.

Recap
Friday: We spent Friday night going through Module 1, "An In-depth Look at the Great commission." We looked at the 4 irrefutable elements of the Great commission. We looked at the importance of knowing what a disciple was (definition) and how they were made (recipe). We closed out the evening by looking at Module 2, "Christ's Training Phases." In this training, Jeff King, our DisciplePath  mentor, took us through the importance of sequential learning as well as the importance of discipline, accountability and structure in making disciples. We took a DVD home of Module 3, "Spiritual Disciplines" to watch as part of our homework.

Saturday: We spend Saturday going through Module 4, "Developing a Definition of a Disciple." We looked at the nature of the church (factory or warehouse) and the type of churches (institutional, voluntary association, unintentional, disciple-making). We spent the afternoon as a workshop working though the need for a definition and a recipe of a disciple. Jeff led us through the practical steps of the process for developing a definition (the homework given to our Task Sub-groups).

Important Principles to understand and remember
1.) We start with the Great Commission because it is our mandate for what we as the church (and as individuals of the church) are to be doing - making disciples. The church has become so distracted or lackadaisical in making disciples that the average North American believer is stuck in phase 2 (of discipleship) and it takes them 22 years to move to phase 3.

2.) The Great Commission is a lifestyle for every Christian and includes building Christians all the way to maturity. We either hold this as a principle value and truth of the church or we don't. If we do, then things need to change.

3.) Jesus led and taught His disciples in an intentional, sequential manner. That sequence has been identified by many believers. Bill Hull identified that sequence in four phases - Come and See, Come and Follow Me, Come and Be with Me, and Remain in Me.

4.) The Come and See phase (phase 1) is the phase of attraction and evangelism - low commitment, organized around events and focused on beliefs.

5.) The Come and Follow Me phase (phase 2) is the phase of developing basic Christian habits - heightened commitment, focused on habits and involvement in ministry.

6.) The Come and Be with Me phase (phase 3) is the phase of deployment in leading ministry - greater commitment, leadership in ministry and more advanced habits and character.

7.) The Remain in Me phase (phase 4) is the phase of continued intentional growth - lifelong process of filling in the holes in a life.

8.) Spiritual growth comes through discipline, accountability and structure. "There can be no disciplemaking without accountability and there can be no accountability without structure."

9.) A church is either a warehouse (collecting and storing material) or a factory (obtaining material, processing it, and changing it into something new). A warehouse needs space and maintenance, a factory needs a process and trained workers.

10.) To make disciples, we need a definition (a specific description of the end product) and a recipe (the ingredients and process that tell you how to make it). We are working on our definition and recipe through our Task Sub-Groups and their work on macro-definitions for each phase of discipleship and the identification of the transformation indicators (TIs) with each phase.

Summit 1 Participants
These individuals were at the full Summit - Friday and Saturday.
     Doug Allen
     Rob Blenis
     Tom Broderick
     Kerm or Sara Carlberg
     Kevin Clifford
     Todd Donovan
     Devalin Drennon
     George Gaskill
     Mary Anne Harris
     Lyn Heiges
     David Henniger
     Kurtis Hoff
     Adam Jerger
     Alan Johnson
     Timothy Kroll
       Peggy McClung
     Mark or Joan Meier
     Steve Richards
     Earl Sawyers
     Scott Schaefer
     Phil Thomas
     John or Louise Wedlock
     Rob Wilcoxen
     John Willis    

Homework - for Summit 2
1.) Sign-up for Summit 2
2.) Finish reading Jesus Christ, Disciplemaker (by Bill Hull)
3.) Watch the "Spiritual Disciplines" DVD given out at Summit 1
4.) If you are willing, become a part of one of our Task Sub-Groups
5.) Invite and bring an apprentice to Summit 2
6.) Read and be ready to sign the "DisciplePath Church Covenant" at Summit 2
7.) Read the "DisciplePath How to Start Small Group Leader Training Using the 'Model Group' Approach" within 7 days of Summit 2's start