Like a fire

How Long Is Jesus’ Tail?

My last post mentions a marketing term called the Long Tail. Basically this is where after the burst of something new and there is a high amplitude/frequency of users, there is a general tapering off of said users into a “long tail” of low amplitude/frequency. The long tail can be a great thing if it ends with more users being effected by the long tail than by the initial start.

My time at camp last week was interrupted for a short time by the long tail. A former student of a church I served at called me up right in the middle of devotion time. I knew who it was and why he was calling, so I answered right away. Jeff was an unlikely disciple. He was a senior the year I started at the church and, though he was a member, he never attended any youth events. He and his best friend went to another church where most of their friends went. After some time at the church, both parents approached me to ask if I could talk their sons into coming to youth group (I won’t even go into parental responsibility here). I invited Jeff and friend to breakfast.

This was the beginning of the discipleship process. We met and talked. I asked them about their lives and they asked me about mine. I didn’t ask them why they weren’t coming and didn’t even bring a Bible. At the end of breakfast, I asked them if they would like to meet again next week. They agreed, to my amazement. We met every week after that until they left for summer jobs. They didn’t come to youth group utnil after attending a reteat that I reluctantly got them to be a part of. So basically I had them at church for about 4 months. What happened those mornings, though, was the beginning of what I think discipleship is truly about.

We didn’t work through the lastest book and often didn’t even have a Bible, though we talked about our faith and what we thought God was doing in our lives. Mostly we just asked each other lots of questions. It is incredible to think back on. God did an amazing work in all of us through that relationship. After they graduated, we still met several times through the year and we talked frequently on the phone. Even though our face time was tapering off, we were still comitted to each other and the growth we had through our relationship to each other.

Five years later, Jeff is graduated and beginning a career. We still talk and share our lives with each other. It’s not because I am a great Bible study leader or teacher and certainly not because I am so holy. The long tail of discipleship happens when people are invested in each others lives for the kingdom. Jeff will always be one of my disciples.

I discipled 5 guys that year. Two are in ministry now and one is still considering it. All five are investing in other guys just as we did at breakfast. This is part of my reasoning for process ministry and explains a bit of my rant about discipleship being more than just Bible study and small group time. It can’t be mass produced or manufactured. Discipleship is the investment of people into each other to help them become more like Christ. That was his example at least and his tail continues.

2 Comments

1. 

   Great post Paul. When I first became a believer I was lucky enough to find someone to disciple me. We had a 30 page booklet designed to make new believers secure in their faith. We brought it and our Bibles every week to McDonalds at 6am. It took us a year to go through that book. We could have done it in six weeks easy, but then we wouldn't have gotten to know each other enough to say more than "Hi" as we passed each other in church. We talked about everything and, yes, sometimes we didn't even get to study the booklet or the Bible. We did have time to build a relationship and pray for each other and support each other. If it was just a numbers game, he should have taken six weeks and moved on to another. I, for one, am glad he didn't.

   PaulF / 24 Jul 2006 / 6:08 PM

2. [...] Here is a great article that is right along the thinking I have been having about the necessity of process over outcome. I have said here, here, here , here , here and here and many other places that focusing singularly on the outcome is pointless and unbiblical. I have many detractors for this, but I hold firm and welcome the affirmation that process is important, probably more important than outcomes and certainly more relevant in our culture. [...]

   likeafire.net » Blog Archive » Growing Your Ministry Through…Process / 18 Aug 2006 / 1:16 AM