Disciple Making Is . . .: How to Live the Great Commission with Passion and Confidence

by Dave Earley, Rod Dempsey

Disciple Making Is... stands as one of the most thorough books yet offered regarding how to make disciples. In thirty brief, hard-hitting but easily accessible chapters, the entire scope of disciple making is presented in a way that will inspire and inform the reader to obey the Great Commission with great passion.

Grounded on a solid biblical foundation, authors Dave Earley and Rod Dempsey -- both veterans of one-on-one, collegiate, small group, and local church discipleship -- share their practical insights on how to best reproduce reproducers of Christ’s message.
Each compelling entry is set up to finish the sentence that begins with the book’s title. For example, Disciple Making Is . . . "Embracing the Cross," "Forsaking All to Follow Jesus," "Living on Mission," "Launching an Unstoppable Force," "Mentoring Disciples as Jesus Did," "Multiplying Disciple-Makers as Paul Did," "Creating a Healthy Church," and more.

Genres: Discipleship, Spirituality, Nonfiction, Textbooks, Faith

320 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2013

About the author

Dave Earley’s life passion is to know, love, and glorify God and be used by Him to make a difference by reaching as many people as deeply as possible in the least amount of time. For twenty years that passion was lived out by planting and pastoring a healthy, growing multiplying church. Recently Dave accepted God’s call to move from local to global impact. His role has shifted from being a pastor to training pastors, from starting a church to equipping church planters, from leading small groups to developing small group leaders, and from pastoring the congregation of a local church to encouraging the followers of Jesus in many congregations.

Dave’s unique blend of passionate practicality and innocence, intensity, and idealism have given him a platform to many through teaching, training, writing, and speaking.

Dave’s passion for a vibrant personal adventure with God has resulted in several books, including The 21 Most Effective Prayers in the Bible (Barbour publishing, 2005) and Living In His Presence: The Immanuel Factor (Bethany House,2005). The 21 Most Encouraging Promises in the Bible (2006), The 21 Most Amazing Truths about Heaven, (2006) The 21 Reasons Bad Things Happen to Good People (2007) and The 21 Most Dangerous Questions in the Bible (2007). As a nationally recognized expert on small group ministry, he has written several popular books for small group leaders: Eight Habits of Effective Small Group Leaders (2001) and Turning Members into Leaders (2003) and The Pocket Guide to Leading a Small Group: 50 Ways to Help You and Your Group Grow (2007). Those books are published by Cell Resource Network and have been translated into several languages.


Dr. Dave Earley is Chairman of the Department of Pastoral Ministries and Church Expansion at Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary. He also serves as Director of the Center for Ministry Training at Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary, the Director of the Center for Church Planting of Liberty University. (www.liberty.edu/cmt)

Prior to teaching at Liberty, Dave was the founding sr. pastor of the New Life Church of Gahanna-Columbus, Ohio. New Life started in his basement with 12 people and grew to nearly 2,000 a week in attendance with over a 100 small groups. (www.enewlife.com)

Dave, and his wife, Cathy, have three highly active teenaged sons, Daniel, Andrew, and Luke. They enjoy rafting, biking, hiking, hanging out, and art.

Reviews

[BJ Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is pretty standard fare for a book on discipleship. But really, the value in books like this is not in how well they are written, but rather in how well they are applied. This is one of three primary textbooks I had for my Discipleship Ministries graduate class and, as usual, I read the whole book through, not just the assigned chapters. It was worth it, and the class has definitely tweaked the way I will approach discipleship in the future.

This book is broken into four parts. The first part presents a Biblical foundation for discipleship. The next three parts then expand ever outward first in being a disciple, then in making disciples, and then in models the church can use to have an effective disciple-making ministry. Each chapter ends with a "Questions to ponder" section with five questions that can sum up the chapter. I would strongly recommend anyone using this book (outside of a classroom textbook setting) to read this book as part of a leadership community, perhaps a chapter a week, and then use these concluding questions as a way to debrief what was learned and strategize for how it the material can be implemented in your ministry.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was asked to read this book for one of my seminary classes. I am grateful that I read this in a group context and would recommend the same to other potential readers. As opposed to flying through the book on one's own time, I found significant value added through reading it in a group context. We were able to take the text and apply it to our specific church setting. This is where I found the book helpful - it prompted conversation between pastors/leaders of many different churches - and we were able to dialogue about how disciple making in our context could be enhanced.

[Gavin Huse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ultimately, the best disciple-making is the disciple-making you’re doing! We’re all called to make disciples—it requires deep prayer, reliance on God’s Word, a small, close spiritual family, patience, and a lot of grace. The first half of the book seemed to be repetitive—a lot of Earley and Dempsey’s work talks about the interconnectedness of discipleship, spiritual formation, and biblical leadership. I found the second half on methods, models, and systems extremely informative, honest, and motivating to fall deeper in love with the diversity and giftings of the local church.

[Owen Gonzalez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Are you serious about making disciples?

In an era where baptisms are the ultimate goal and numbers equal success, even though they are declining, the authors go to great detail in how to make disciples and not just converts. Eternity is at stake, therefore, every follower of Christ has a duty to make disciples!

[Luke Morrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great teaching

This book is full of solid information on discipleship. I believe that every pastor, lay leader, and basically every Christian should read this book. You may not agree with everything in it, and that's okay, but it will make you think about discipleship and reaching the world for Christ.

[Johnathan Nazarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book I've read on discipleship.

[Holly Anne Smith Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read for school but so glad I bought a hard copy! A guide I will rereference.

[Melody Turner · Rating 2 out of 5]

Forgettable

[Thomas Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to read this book for a class. I am torn. I want to give a “3.5.” There are lots of valid points, some of which have been rather transformative in my walk with Christ. Yet there are also points with which I disagree. Perhaps the most significant disagreement is the authors’ oft-repeated usage of the category of “seeker.” No one seeks God in their natural condition. If they are seeking God, it is because God is drawing them. Thus, in that sense, the category of “seeker” is valid, but such is not the usage in this book. Overall, I would recommend this book but with a discerning eye—as with all literature we consume.

[Lacinda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful and easy read! Great guide for disciple making that will challenge you in the process.

[William Ewing · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book