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How Jesus Used Time to Promise Transformation Before Explanation They’re not looking for a rabbi. It’s an ordinary workday by the Sea of Galilee. Nets are being cleaned. Boats are being readied. The rhythms are familiar enough that no one has to think very hard about what comes next. Fishing is not a dream—it’s a…

By Peyton Jones If the first year of Jesus’s ministry was about forming disciples through shared time, the second year marked a clear shift. Jesus began to teach differently. Not because his disciples were finished being formed, but because they were now ready to be trained. Teaching did not replace time. It built on it.…

Formation requires proximity. Not attendance. Not occasional interaction. Actual closeness and shared life. Time spent together where habits are visible, decisions are observed, and faith is practiced in real time. Most of us don’t live that way anymore. We go to church. We greet a few people. We listen. We leave. Some of us go…

Last week, we talked about some of the workshops our team is leading at Exponential Orlando. We want to give you a heads up about the rest of our workshops so that you can plan accordingly. You’re not going to want to miss this lineup.  Session 2: Becoming a Disciple Making Catalyst You don’t need…

How Jesus Used Teaching to Train Disciples in Ordinary Obedience It’s not a dramatic moment. No crowds pressing in, no raised voices, no sense that anything important is about to happen. The question comes casually, almost in passing, as so many ordinary moments do. The temple tax collectors approach Peter and ask him a simple…

By Peyton Jones Principles explain why something works. Practices show us how it actually gets lived out. Jesus did not leave the rhythm of time abstract. He embodied it in repeatable practices that turned shared life into formation. These practices were not complicated, but they were intentional. They translated proximity into transformation. This is where…

We expect fruit faster than formation allows. The church has learned to think in short timeframes. Eight-week sermon series. Six-month small groups. One-year leadership tracks. Bounded experiences help people enter, participate, and move on. They’re efficient. They’re manageable. And they fit the pace of modern life. Even when we talk about disciple making, speed is…

Disciple making is unfolding in living rooms, around kitchen tables, and inside public schools. We asked one of our Discipology users in Michigan to reflect on how her thinking and practice have shifted. She asked to remain unnamed, but what follows are her words. Before Discipology, she described her approach to disciple making this way:…

While you’re at Exponential Orlando, our team is leading two simultaneous workshops during session 1 (Tuesday, March 17 from 2:30 to 3:30pm) each tackling disciple making from a different angle. You’ll need to pick one, but you really can’t go wrong. Workshop Option 1 How Jesus & Paul Made Disciples: Time, Teaching, and Tactics Speaker:…

How Jesus Used Tactics to Hand Responsibility to Disciples Before They Felt Ready It’s getting late. The crowd is still there—thousands of them—spread across the hillside. They’ve been listening all day. Watching. Waiting. No one has moved. The disciples are doing the math. There’s no food. There’s no plan. There’s no way this ends well.…