Keeping Up With the Roberts Family
Each month Cliff and Denise Roberts write home to their high desert family at New Life Fellowship to share all the happenings in their lives and their new church community. We look forward to posting their spiritual insights as they continue walking with the Lord in Lakeland, Tennessee.
july: BIFF! BOOM! POW!
Well, my red letter SOAPing has finally brought me to the book of Mark. True to form, Mark provides the comic book BIFF! BOOM! POW! account of Jesus’ life and ministry, often leaving out details and focusing instead on the action, on the meat and potatoes of His words, on the basics in dynamic fashion. Do you want to hear Jesus’ message in a nutshell? Mark lays it out here:
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mk. 1:15)
BOOM! There it is, the simplest message ever to communicate such an important truth. Talk about direct. Oh, and do you want to hear what Jesus had to say about discipleship? Another quote from the first chapter of Mark:
“Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” (Mk. 1:17)
That’s pretty much the whole thing. “Follow Me, and I’ll show you have to have others follow you too.” Isn’t that the very heart and nature of genuine discipleship? And how did Jesus deal with unclean spirits? Yep, we’re in the first chapter still, chugging right along:
“Be quiet, and come out of him!” (Mk. 1:25)
No messing around, just simple commands and the authority to back them up. In just the first chapter of Mark’s gospel, he records all of these quotations from Jesus and each one is short, sweet and to-the-point. For many of Mark’s stories, brief interactions, teachings and encounters, that’s about it…the absolute basics, everything boiled down into its most concise and impactful form. Don’t you just love Mark? Man, he’s awesome.
I’ve had several very similar conversations over the past week or so that keep referencing “discipleship”, and so when I read Jesus’ call for disciples in Mark 1:17 and His promise there, it really caught my attention. Jesus basically defines discipleship here as “fishing for men.” Thus, following Him (discipleship) means that I am catching others, or as Jesus would say before He returned to heaven, “making disciples” (Matt. 28:19). Following Him isn’t simply living a Christian life (whatever that’s supposed to mean), or being saved, or attending weekend services, or reading my Bible, or prayer, or worship, or being a good witness. Those are all included, sure, and if any are missing, then there are deficiencies in my life. But Jesus didn’t identify any of those things as the path or product of following Him. It wasn’t, “Follow Me and I’ll show you how to go to church.” Or, “Follow Me and I’ll make you a student of the Word.” Or, “Follow me and I’ll teach you how to worship.” “Follow Me,” Jesus says, “and I’ll make you a fisher of men.”
Discipleship (following Jesus) is about making disciples (followers of Jesus). Mark boils it down to the very basics for us. Matthew includes the Great Commission in his gospel saying the same thing. “Go into all the world and…make disciples!” Paul told the Corinthians, “Follow me as I follow Christ”, a paraphrase of the exact same principle. Jesus’ call to His disciples was not “Follow Me and I will have you doing X, Y or Z.” Nor was it, “Follow Me to synagogue; follow my prayer life; follow My teaching example; follow Me on Facebook,” or anything like that. “Follow Me,” He said, “and I’ll make you bring other followers.” Discipleship is essentially leading fellow followers of Christ.
I was talking with one of our kids the other day about their efforts to give wise counsel to a friend. “You may not realize it,” I said, “but you’re making a disciple. You’re following Jesus, modeling that to someone else, and teaching them how to do the same.” It’s not always easy, but through personal example and a consistent witness that repeatedly directs them to the Lord, to inquire of Him and listen to Him, to trust the Holy Spirit enough to follow Him into unfamiliar places, we make disciples: fellow followers of Jesus. Too often, discipleship looks like a class, a series of habits, a practice, a particular activity focused specifically on spiritual development. But by Jesus’ own example, it’s intensely relational, personal, life-on-life more than anything else. I cannot settle for making disciples who simply add “following Jesus” to their already busy lives. Following Jesus IS LIFE, and everything else ripples outward from that.
As a youth pastor in Barstow, discipleship was often a class or series that I taught. But it eventually became an invitation to my friends to simply join me in life, in whatever I was doing in pursuit of the Lord. Sure, it often included “church ministry”, but family, fellowship, meals, everyday life stuff all got lumped in to an open invitation to those closest to me to simply be apart of my life. The question then becomes: “What am I doing with my life?” And although my answer was awkward several years ago, “Following Jesus”, as simple-sounding, vague, open-ended and hard-to-classify as that may be, has become pretty comfortable for me. I can only attribute that to His work in my life and His patience with me.
As Christians, our disciples will follow our example, just as we follow His. Jesus invited His disciples to follow Him only to make others then follow Him. He was discipling leaders-by-example, men whom He had caught who were then going to catch others. That was it. We make disciples according to the pattern we set ourselves, whether it is event-driven, service-oriented, class-structured, or everyday relational. The products of those methods often reproduce the same methods, or at least they try. I’ll walk through a couple of personal examples:
There was a young man in our youth group in Barstow (I’ll call him “John”), who eagerly wanted me to be his mentor. John wanted to become a youth pastor too, to do all the stuff I did and he was eager to learn. So, John and I spent hours together working at the church, cleaning arcade machines, scrubbing floors, working on worship materials and PowerPoint presentations. Eventually, I even worked with John so that he could speak on a Wednesday night and lead our youth group that evening. It was great, and tons of fun, and I’m sure John learned a lot—but what exactly did he learn about? Youth pastoring? Serving? Teaching? Studying? Those things might be important, sure, but did he learn to follow Jesus? John was following my example, but my example was limited to all of the ministry activities I was busy doing on a regular basis. What kind of disciple was I making? The same kind that I was being. Now, what sort of disciple would I expect John to make after following my example? He would likely find another young man who looked up to him, who asked him to be a mentor and show him how to be a youth pastor, and so on and so on.
Now contrast that with another young man in our youth group several years later (I’ll call him “George”). George also wanted to be in ministry, possibly a youth pastor, and we did lots of things together as well. But George didn’t follow me around doing youth ministry things as much as he simply involved himself in my life. Our families hung out together often, and he came over for game nights, played sports with me, shared long conversations over coffee and soaked up more about “how to live for Jesus” than he did “how to be a youth pastor”. I watched as he then in turn did the same with people around him. No protégé, no training manual, no next-in-line program—just one man following the Lord and bringing alongside him others who were doing the same. Both John and George were disciples, followers of Jesus, but they were discipled differently and would make disciples in very much the same manner as they’d been following.
Our discipleship methods reinforce themselves whether we realize it or not. If we are trained to “attend” discipleship things, then those whom we disciple will likely do the same. If we “invite” disciples into our lives, then they will likely invite others into theirs. If discipleship is something we teach, we’ll disciple teachers. If it’s something we train by participation, we’ll disciple trainers and participants. If it’s something we walk hand-in-hand with through everyday life, we’ll disciple others who extend their lives and their hands in the same way. I could easily extend this into a lengthy essay about ministry philosophy and such, but I’ll close here and leave you with one simple question instead: How did Jesus do it?
Well, I bought my fireworks today, along with some stuff to kill my gophers, so there’s that. I’ve got kids on summer break asking every day if I can play board games with them, so that’s awesome. If I could just manage to NOT have to do anything else every day, I’d be living large! Tom and I have made numerous plans and schedules for prayerwalking, traveling and such, but God’s paused things divinely, and we’re doing our best to follow His agenda rather than our own. I do wish He would give us clearer instructions and more glimpses into what’s in store for us, but step-by-tiny-step seems to be His preferred way of leading us at the moment, so we’re following and growing in patience. Truth is in Washington visiting friends right now, and Purity is set to turn 21 this month! Our family is keeping busy, regularly having folks over for games, coffee, prayer, hangout and FIREWORKS! Hey, if any of y’all wanna show up in July, we’ll go grab more explosives and celebrate. God Bless America!!!!
For those reading this via email, we still haven’t sorted out a permanent hosting site, so thank you for your continued patience. Giving is still throughNew Life Fellowship in Barstow at newlifebarstow.com/give (Missions—Roberts Family). Coffee is still roasted regularly at 4481 Mount Gillespie Dr. in Lakeland, TN. Board games nights are often on Thursdays, but honestly, I’ll play pretty much any day of the week if I’ve got the time. Prayer happens early mornings, various times throughout the week, and worship is usually heard somewhere in the house every day from one of our musicians living here. Life is good, and we’re extremely grateful for the many friends both near and far who are such a special part of our lives. We love y’all lots.
The Roberts Family
(Cliff, Denise, Purity, Wisdom, Truth, Justice, Honor and Life)
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mk. 1:15)
BOOM! There it is, the simplest message ever to communicate such an important truth. Talk about direct. Oh, and do you want to hear what Jesus had to say about discipleship? Another quote from the first chapter of Mark:
“Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” (Mk. 1:17)
That’s pretty much the whole thing. “Follow Me, and I’ll show you have to have others follow you too.” Isn’t that the very heart and nature of genuine discipleship? And how did Jesus deal with unclean spirits? Yep, we’re in the first chapter still, chugging right along:
“Be quiet, and come out of him!” (Mk. 1:25)
No messing around, just simple commands and the authority to back them up. In just the first chapter of Mark’s gospel, he records all of these quotations from Jesus and each one is short, sweet and to-the-point. For many of Mark’s stories, brief interactions, teachings and encounters, that’s about it…the absolute basics, everything boiled down into its most concise and impactful form. Don’t you just love Mark? Man, he’s awesome.
I’ve had several very similar conversations over the past week or so that keep referencing “discipleship”, and so when I read Jesus’ call for disciples in Mark 1:17 and His promise there, it really caught my attention. Jesus basically defines discipleship here as “fishing for men.” Thus, following Him (discipleship) means that I am catching others, or as Jesus would say before He returned to heaven, “making disciples” (Matt. 28:19). Following Him isn’t simply living a Christian life (whatever that’s supposed to mean), or being saved, or attending weekend services, or reading my Bible, or prayer, or worship, or being a good witness. Those are all included, sure, and if any are missing, then there are deficiencies in my life. But Jesus didn’t identify any of those things as the path or product of following Him. It wasn’t, “Follow Me and I’ll show you how to go to church.” Or, “Follow Me and I’ll make you a student of the Word.” Or, “Follow me and I’ll teach you how to worship.” “Follow Me,” Jesus says, “and I’ll make you a fisher of men.”
Discipleship (following Jesus) is about making disciples (followers of Jesus). Mark boils it down to the very basics for us. Matthew includes the Great Commission in his gospel saying the same thing. “Go into all the world and…make disciples!” Paul told the Corinthians, “Follow me as I follow Christ”, a paraphrase of the exact same principle. Jesus’ call to His disciples was not “Follow Me and I will have you doing X, Y or Z.” Nor was it, “Follow Me to synagogue; follow my prayer life; follow My teaching example; follow Me on Facebook,” or anything like that. “Follow Me,” He said, “and I’ll make you bring other followers.” Discipleship is essentially leading fellow followers of Christ.
I was talking with one of our kids the other day about their efforts to give wise counsel to a friend. “You may not realize it,” I said, “but you’re making a disciple. You’re following Jesus, modeling that to someone else, and teaching them how to do the same.” It’s not always easy, but through personal example and a consistent witness that repeatedly directs them to the Lord, to inquire of Him and listen to Him, to trust the Holy Spirit enough to follow Him into unfamiliar places, we make disciples: fellow followers of Jesus. Too often, discipleship looks like a class, a series of habits, a practice, a particular activity focused specifically on spiritual development. But by Jesus’ own example, it’s intensely relational, personal, life-on-life more than anything else. I cannot settle for making disciples who simply add “following Jesus” to their already busy lives. Following Jesus IS LIFE, and everything else ripples outward from that.
As a youth pastor in Barstow, discipleship was often a class or series that I taught. But it eventually became an invitation to my friends to simply join me in life, in whatever I was doing in pursuit of the Lord. Sure, it often included “church ministry”, but family, fellowship, meals, everyday life stuff all got lumped in to an open invitation to those closest to me to simply be apart of my life. The question then becomes: “What am I doing with my life?” And although my answer was awkward several years ago, “Following Jesus”, as simple-sounding, vague, open-ended and hard-to-classify as that may be, has become pretty comfortable for me. I can only attribute that to His work in my life and His patience with me.
As Christians, our disciples will follow our example, just as we follow His. Jesus invited His disciples to follow Him only to make others then follow Him. He was discipling leaders-by-example, men whom He had caught who were then going to catch others. That was it. We make disciples according to the pattern we set ourselves, whether it is event-driven, service-oriented, class-structured, or everyday relational. The products of those methods often reproduce the same methods, or at least they try. I’ll walk through a couple of personal examples:
There was a young man in our youth group in Barstow (I’ll call him “John”), who eagerly wanted me to be his mentor. John wanted to become a youth pastor too, to do all the stuff I did and he was eager to learn. So, John and I spent hours together working at the church, cleaning arcade machines, scrubbing floors, working on worship materials and PowerPoint presentations. Eventually, I even worked with John so that he could speak on a Wednesday night and lead our youth group that evening. It was great, and tons of fun, and I’m sure John learned a lot—but what exactly did he learn about? Youth pastoring? Serving? Teaching? Studying? Those things might be important, sure, but did he learn to follow Jesus? John was following my example, but my example was limited to all of the ministry activities I was busy doing on a regular basis. What kind of disciple was I making? The same kind that I was being. Now, what sort of disciple would I expect John to make after following my example? He would likely find another young man who looked up to him, who asked him to be a mentor and show him how to be a youth pastor, and so on and so on.
Now contrast that with another young man in our youth group several years later (I’ll call him “George”). George also wanted to be in ministry, possibly a youth pastor, and we did lots of things together as well. But George didn’t follow me around doing youth ministry things as much as he simply involved himself in my life. Our families hung out together often, and he came over for game nights, played sports with me, shared long conversations over coffee and soaked up more about “how to live for Jesus” than he did “how to be a youth pastor”. I watched as he then in turn did the same with people around him. No protégé, no training manual, no next-in-line program—just one man following the Lord and bringing alongside him others who were doing the same. Both John and George were disciples, followers of Jesus, but they were discipled differently and would make disciples in very much the same manner as they’d been following.
Our discipleship methods reinforce themselves whether we realize it or not. If we are trained to “attend” discipleship things, then those whom we disciple will likely do the same. If we “invite” disciples into our lives, then they will likely invite others into theirs. If discipleship is something we teach, we’ll disciple teachers. If it’s something we train by participation, we’ll disciple trainers and participants. If it’s something we walk hand-in-hand with through everyday life, we’ll disciple others who extend their lives and their hands in the same way. I could easily extend this into a lengthy essay about ministry philosophy and such, but I’ll close here and leave you with one simple question instead: How did Jesus do it?
Well, I bought my fireworks today, along with some stuff to kill my gophers, so there’s that. I’ve got kids on summer break asking every day if I can play board games with them, so that’s awesome. If I could just manage to NOT have to do anything else every day, I’d be living large! Tom and I have made numerous plans and schedules for prayerwalking, traveling and such, but God’s paused things divinely, and we’re doing our best to follow His agenda rather than our own. I do wish He would give us clearer instructions and more glimpses into what’s in store for us, but step-by-tiny-step seems to be His preferred way of leading us at the moment, so we’re following and growing in patience. Truth is in Washington visiting friends right now, and Purity is set to turn 21 this month! Our family is keeping busy, regularly having folks over for games, coffee, prayer, hangout and FIREWORKS! Hey, if any of y’all wanna show up in July, we’ll go grab more explosives and celebrate. God Bless America!!!!
For those reading this via email, we still haven’t sorted out a permanent hosting site, so thank you for your continued patience. Giving is still throughNew Life Fellowship in Barstow at newlifebarstow.com/give (Missions—Roberts Family). Coffee is still roasted regularly at 4481 Mount Gillespie Dr. in Lakeland, TN. Board games nights are often on Thursdays, but honestly, I’ll play pretty much any day of the week if I’ve got the time. Prayer happens early mornings, various times throughout the week, and worship is usually heard somewhere in the house every day from one of our musicians living here. Life is good, and we’re extremely grateful for the many friends both near and far who are such a special part of our lives. We love y’all lots.
The Roberts Family
(Cliff, Denise, Purity, Wisdom, Truth, Justice, Honor and Life)
Justice’s friend, Kate, has practically been living at our house this summer. (Okay, that’s an exaggeration, but yes, we absolutely LOVE having her here!) They were tasked with making breakfast for dinner, and here we are getting ready to settle in for a lovely evening of eggs, pancakes, sausage and a movie. We love you, Kate!
Denise took Life to the zoo and they both got to cool off with some delicious Mempops! He’s our youngest, and Denise is really purposeful about letting him be the kid when his siblings are all wanting to grow up, drive cars, be independent and do “big kid” stuff. A day splashing around at the zoo’s waterpark is just what the Momma ordered.
Purity finished her second year of internship at Memphis Tabernacle, and here’s her with the rest of the team being prayed over on Sunday. She didn’t mind the work, really enjoyed the friends, and is glad to have her schedule back with work and school both done! What’s next for her? She’s not sure yet, but she’s asking the Lord and I know He’s got good things in store for her as she continues following Him.