Disciples Making Disciples: Stories and Studies to Disciple Others

By Jim Halstead

This book will encourage you to grow your relationship with Jesus through real-life testimonies and Bible-based studies so you can disciple another believer. This book is an excellent tool for reaching out to a lost and spiritually hungry world by using God's perfect strategy of making disciples who make disciples. Pastor Jim Halstead has over three decades of pastoral experience and a decade of teaching special education in public schools. He shares relatable stories of a disciple to illustrate the simplicity of equipping the church to share the gospel and make disciples. Jim's passion is to reconnect Christians with their purpose: to go and make disciples who make disciples.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Jul 13, 2023
• ISBN: 9798350908527

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Disciples Making Disciples

Stories and Studies to Disciple Others

Copyright © 2023 by Jim Halstead

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without written permission from Go and Tell Ministries.

Go & Tell Ministries

P. O. Box 15755

Ft. Wayne, IN 46885 www.goandtellministries.org

All Scripture verses are taken from the World English Bible public domain

Print ISBN: 979-8-35090-851-0

eBook ISBN: 979-8-35090-852-7

Contents

Foreword

Introduction

What is a Disciple

Disciples who make Disciples

The Great Commandment

Purpose of the Book

Bible Study: The Great Commandment

Matthew 22:34-40

Section 1: Delight in God

Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ Matthew 22:37

Chapter 1. Starting line and finishing line

are not the same

Bible Study: Luke 14:25-35

Chapter 2. What is your Delight?

Bible Study: Luke 15:11-32

Chapter 3. What is your Anchor?

Bible Study: John 11:1-42

Chapter 4. This is my Beloved Son

Bible Study: Mark 9:1-13

Chapter 5. Jesus’ family thought he was crazy

Bible Study: Luke 4:14-30

Chapter 6. Prayer Request

Bible Study: Luke 18:1-8

Chapter 7. The day his heart rejoiced!

Bible Study: Mark 2:1-12

Chapter 8. Death is not something to laugh at

Bible Study: Matthew 6:19-34

Chapter 9. Almost time to go Home

Bible Study: Matthew 16:13-28

Section 2: Declare the Gospel

A second likewise is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Matthew 22:39

Chapter 10. Are You a Giant?

Bible Study: Luke 10:25-37

Chapter 11. The Gospel is Foolishness

Bible Study: Luke 18:18-30

Chapter 12. Changing the World One person at a time

Bible Study: John 3:1-21

Chapter 13. Favorite Fishing hole

Bible Study: Luke 15:1-10

Chapter 14. Go Tell it on the Mountain

Bible Study: John 4:1-26

Chapter 15. That is why they call Him Jesus

Bible Study: Luke 2:1-40

Chapter 16. Let’s go fly a kite

Bible Study: Luke 7:36-50

Chapter 17. Mr. H, is that you?

Bible Study: Luke 16:19-31

Chapter 18. Thank your instructor

Bible Study: John 21:15-25

Section 3: Disciple Others

" Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen. Matthew 28:19–20

Chapter 19. Five Things Disciples Do

Bible Study: Matthew 7:24-29

Chapter 20. Remain in Christ

Bible Study: John 15:1-17

Chapter 21. Scripture

Bible Study: Matthew 13:1-23

Chapter 22. Prayer

Bible Study: Luke 11:1-13

Chapter 23. Fellowship

Bible Study: John 13:1-17

Chapter 24. Declaring the Gospel

Bible Study: Matthew 27:45-56

Chapter 25. Are you okay?

Bible Study: Matthew 25:31-46

Chapter 26. As You Wish

Bible Study: Luke 17:1-10

Appendix

How to become a Disciple of Jesus

Accountability Questions (Hebrews 10:24-25)

Bibliography

About the Author and Founder of Go & Tell Ministries

Go & Tell Ministries Resources

Dedicated to my friends, co-labors, and faithful followers of our Lord Jesus Christ who have helped me Delight in God, Declare the Gospel, and Disciple others. Special thanks to those who have helped make the Disciples Making Disciples book with me:

KRISTI A HALSTEAD

Delight of my eyes and the bride of my youth

MARK SCHIPPER

Brother-in-law and friend

MAUREEN ADAMS

Missionary and friend

IAN S. OTTO

River City Creative

DAVE FARIS

Pastor who discipled me

MIKE VALENTINO

Editor

To a host of other faithful men and women who are helping me fulfill the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.

Foreword

Through the ministry of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), I came to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It is a blessing to be able to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with others in many different settings and especially through many FCA events. I do not recall sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with Jim in the summer of 1976 at the FCA camp at Central Michigan University, but he sure does. I often share this phrase when I speak, What I am is God’s gift to me; what I make of myself is my gift to God. Jim has made it his goal to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with others and to make disciples who make disciples.

The world is filled with lost souls who will never find what they are searching for if they don’t know where to look. Spreading the love of God and the saving message of the gospel is the duty and the privilege of every Christian. But our goal is not just to put more people in the pews on Sundays. We are answering Christ’s call to reach a lost and hurting world with His timeless message of divine mercy and salvation alone in Jesus Christ.

In these pages, you will see, from real experiences, how the Holy Spirit can empower ordinary people like you and me to win souls for Christ, in the most distant corners of the globe and right in your very own neighborhood. As followers of Jesus, this book will help believers fulfill the Great Commission, which not only calls us to be fishers of men but to build up God’s kingdom by being disciples who make disciples.

It is a blessing to be a part of Jim’s salvation story as he shares the gospel and makes disciples. May this book equip you to share the gospel and disciple others so they in turn can make disciples who make disciples for the glory of God!

Blessed to God and Highly Favored

Kent Benson

Indiana University NCAA National Champions 1976

Introduction

What is a Disciple

What is a disciple? A disciple is a follower of Jesus Christ. It is someone who has repented of their sins and has believed that Jesus Christ died for his sins on the cross, was buried, and rose from the grave. They have trusted in Jesus Christ as their Savior and follow Him. Jesus made it clear in Luke 9:23, when the Bible states: He said to all, If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

You might think, Oh, you’re a pastor. You must have grown up in the church. I didn’t. I was raised in a loving home but lacked faith in Jesus Christ. I was over six feet tall in sixth grade and grew up in Indiana. Guess what I did? I played basketball and started attending the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) meetings when I was a sophomore in High School. I went to the FCA meetings for one reason, to get to know the other basketball players on the varsity so they would pass me the ball. 

Toward the end of my sophomore year, Coach Muston asked me a question that would eventually change my life. Hey, Jim, this summer, Central Michigan University has an FCA camp. I know you’re a big fan of Indiana University Basketball, and Kent Benson will be there. This was in the summer of 1976. If you’re familiar with NCAA basketball, you would know Indiana went undefeated and won the NCAA championship. Kent Benson was one of the star players on that team. Kent would be at FCA summer camp and telling his story of faith in Christ. And my coach looked at me and said, You want to go?

I replied, Man, Coach, I’d love to go, but Coach, I don’t have the money to go.

Well, Jim, if I get you the money to go, will you go?

Man, Coach, I’d love to go, but my parents won’t take me there.

Jim, if I get you money to go and take you there personally, will you go?

Coach, if you throw in lunch, you got me.

And so, I went to camp, and there at the conference, I heard Kent Benson speak. I’ll never forget it. He said, I would give up my National Championship and Mr. Basketball trophies. Everything pales in comparison to knowing Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. He also said, What I am is God’s gift to me. What I make of myself as my gift to God.

I went up to Kent after he spoke at the camp and said, This is incredible. If what you’re saying is true, it’s going to change my life. They need to write a book about this.

Kent replied, Jim, that’s the Bible.

I didn’t know. I actually had the Good News For Modern Man New Testament Bible in my hand when he told me that. I had him autograph it. It’s in my office right now. I probably thought at the moment Kent Benson wrote the Bible because I didn’t know anything about it.

I went home, and I read that New Testament three times during the year. I started attending church every Sunday to examine the truth of the gospel that Kent Benson shared with me, to see if it was really true. I went back to that FCA camp that next summer after a year of reading the Bible and searching if the gospel was true. On August 7th, 1977, I repented of my sins and professed faith in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. When I professed faith in Jesus Christ, I was all in. I was in love with Jesus Christ and began to follow Him as my Savior and Lord.

Jesus was quite clear about the cost of following Him. Discipleship requires a totally committed life. Not all of Jesus’ followers were able to make such a commitment. There were many who left Jesus after a while. (John 6:66 says, At this, many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with Him.)

The scriptures are very clear that a disciple of Jesus will be known as one who walks with Jesus and obeys His commands. 1 John 2:3-6 says, "³ This is how we know that we know him: if we keep his commandments. ⁴ One who says, I know him, and doesn’t keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth isn’t in him. ⁵ But God’s love has most certainly been perfected in whoever keeps his word. This is how we know that we are in him: ⁶ he who says he remains in him ought himself also to walk just like he walked."

I especially love the description of a follower of Jesus in Revelation 12:17 which states that a follower of Jesus is one who keeps God’s commandments and holds to Jesus’ testimony. The two descriptions of a follower of Jesus is one who keeps God’s commandments and holds to the testimony of Jesus. Jesus summed up very clearly what it meant to follow the Lord’s command when He gave us the Great Commandment. We will take a closer look at this shortly.

Disciples who make Disciples

When I professed faith in Jesus, I was fully committed to follow Jesus. I was in love. It was my senior year in high school when I decided to serve Jesus. I then went off to Indiana University. I was still young in my faith but bold in proclaiming Jesus. By my second semester, my freshman year, I was leading the FCA group at Indiana University, and fortunately, I had a pastor who came alongside and helped me. That man of God was Pastor Dave Faris.

I was blessed recently to spend a few days with Dave and enjoy a time of fellowship. He was my pastor for six years when I attended Indiana University and after my marriage. Dave was instrumental in teaching me what it meant to follow Jesus. He taught me how to read the word of God, how to pray, how to pray with my wife, and how to share the gospel. Dave came alongside me to help me follow Jesus. I was also blessed that he hired me to be on his staff at his church to be the youth pastor. Dave built me up in my faith to follow Jesus and help others follow Jesus. He trained me to make disciples who could make disciples who could make disciples.

You see, Dave Faris changed my life. God wants us to lead others to faith in Jesus Christ and to come alongside the new follower to disciple them to do the same. I wrote in the Dedication of this book, "To Dave Faris, the pastor who discipled me."

Do you have someone who not only led you to faith but who helped make your faith become real? Who discipled you? We are called not to make converts but disciples who follow Jesus and can also make disciples. The Bible says in Colossians 2:6-7, As therefore you received Christ Jesus, the Lord, walk in him, rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, even as you were taught, abounding in it in thanksgiving.

The Christian life is more than just attending church. It is to have a personal relationship with God through reading God’s Word, praying to Him, and sharing the gospel through your life and testimony. When I led people to faith in Jesus, I would come alongside them and teach them to walk with Jesus: to read the Scripture, to pray, to grow in love with Jesus, and equip them to teach and share the gospel in word and deed. That’s how you make disciples who make disciples for the glory of God.

I recently gave a Go & Tell Ministry workshop in Indianapolis and invited some friends in the area to attend. I was excited that Bob and his wife Jayna were able to participate. I led Bob to faith in Jesus Christ when I was his youth pastor while I was on staff with Pastor Dave. I was also able to disciple Bob in his faith in Jesus Christ and help him become a faithful follower of Jesus Christ. Bob and Jayna came to Hope Church when I preached, and afterward, we went out to lunch together.

At lunch, Bob said something rather remarkable to me. Jim, when you called me and told me you were coming here two weeks ago, I started thinking, I thanked God for you, and I thanked you for leading me to faith years ago. I don’t know how I would’ve come to faith without you, and you discipled me to help me follow Jesus. You have often talked about Kent Benson and how his testimony led you to faith in Jesus Christ. I thought to myself, I have thanked you but never thanked Kent Benson. If Kent Benson, a famous basketball player who just won a national championship in 1976, actually spent time with a nobody like you, I needed to call and thank him. If he did not spend time with you, you would’ve never come to faith. And then I would’ve never come to trust.

His words blessed me, and I asked him, So what’d you do?

Well, I found his phone number, Bob replied.

You what?

Yeah, I called him, and I left a message, and he called me back, and I shared the story of how you led me to faith and how you talk about him all the time. And I told him, ‘I just wanted to call you because you’re the grandfather of my faith.’

I asked, Well, Bob, how did he respond?

He cried.

So, after Bob told me his story, a couple of days later I decided to call Kent. I said, Hey, Kent, I heard Bob called you.

So, we were having a good conversation, laughing and talking about it. I asked him, Kent, what was your response when he said all of this?

And Kent responded by saying two things: Do you remember in Luke 15 where it says about if someone repents, accepts Christ, how the angels rejoice? My heart was rejoicing over you leading Bob to faith. But then he added, Jim, I’ve got to tell you one other thing.

What’s that, Kent?

You don’t understand. Bob’s not the first person to call me and tell me that you’ve led him to faith, and they wanted to thank me.

We are called to follow Jesus and make disciples who make disciples. Paul told Timothy