This is the Final Product

noreply@blogger.com (David Knapp) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 22:15:00 +0000

Today I received a helpful email from my friend Randy Jones. He thought the picture I sent out yesterday looked a little stretched and he was right. This will be the last time I send you the picture via email but I would rather you have a non-stretched version of my wife and I.

PS: I forgot to mention yesterday that if you click on the photo it will enlarge so you can actually read everything on the it, that is if was difficult to read in the first place.

Thanks for understanding for two emails.

Because of Jesus,

The Knapps

Thank You

noreply@blogger.com (David Knapp) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 18:55:00 +0000

Go, Make Disciples

noreply@blogger.com (David Knapp) — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 22:19:00 +0000

I wanted to recommend a book to our readers. It is called Making Disciples: One conversation at a time. I just finished the book last night and I have to say that it is one of the best books I have ever read. I won't spend to much time talking about the contents of the book. Basically the author makes the case that the church has lost its priority mission which is making disciples.

Jesus gave His disciples a mission. He told them to go and make disciples. He told Peter to feed His sheep. What is the church focusing on today? I don't know about you but it seems to me that the church focuses on growth of the church. It leans more towards the numbers in the building instead of the numbers becoming more like Jesus. Not every individual church is like this but for the most part it is expected of the pastor to grow the church larger.

Some may ask what is wrong with a larger church. I am talking about people here and not bricks and stain glass windows. I am not sure that is the right question. Maybe a better question is, “What did Jesus tell us to do?” He told us to go and make disciples. Go where? Every where. Some will go to their next door neighbor and some will move to the other side of the country, while others will go to the ends of the earth.

So the mission of God's people is to make disciples. I will finish this post by sharing a few quotes from the author of this book.

“There are many other things churches may do, but this is the one thing they must do. Once the church establishes making disciples as the backbone of its curriculum, every other activity finds its legitimacy in relation to that task” (pg 182).

“The Early Church spread quickly from jerusalem and Antioch, both eastward and westward, transforming lives and communities as it went. As it was said, 'The people who have turned the world upside down have come here too.' They had no pastors nor church buildings for the first 300 years, yet during that period the growth of the Church was explosive. As Rodney Stark pointed out in his book The Rise of Early Christianity, the Church probably didn't spread through mass revival movements or miraculous demonstrations of power but by one believer at a time helping neighbors and relatives take the next step in following Jesus” (pg 182-183)

Lastly here is something that happened to the author while teaching:

“Some years ago, when I was a college professor, I challenged my students to make disciples, based on this conversation between Jesus and Simon Peter (feed my sheep). One of my students took me aside afterward and said, 'That was a nice little talk. However, you could strengthen it if you knew the original Greek language. For example, Jesus used two different words for 'love' in this passage and two different words for 'sheep.'

'Really?' I responded. 'How do you know all this?'

'Well,' he said, 'I am studying to be a bible scholar and I've taken two years of Greek and I'm now studying Hebrew. When I finish with advanced Hebrew, I;ll get into the other cognate languages of the Old Testament, like Chaldean and Ugaritic and Syriac.'

'My goodness,' I said. 'That's impressive. Maybe you could tell me what kind of sheep He was talking about; were they Suffolks, or Rambouillets or Hampshires or some local breed?'

'No,' he snorted, 'he's talking about people, of course—people who need shepherding.'

'And tell me about the verbs Jesus used here.'

'They are all simple imperatives,' he said.

'Imperatives! That sounds like a command. You mean Jesus actually meant for Peter to do this?'

'Of course.'

'And does this command apply to all Christians?'

'Well,' he said, 'if you knew the principles of hermeneutics, you could make that application, certainly.'

'Just one more question: could you share with me the names of some of the sheep you're tending right now, some of the men you're helping to follow Christ Jesus?'

'Well,' he said, 'I'm a Bible major. I'm not in the pastoral Ministries department. They study that kind of thing.'

'Listen, pal. I hope you get serious about what Jesus told you to do before you have to give a final account of your stewardship. I'm afraid if you had to give an account now, Jesus would ask you, What part of “feed my sheep” did you not understand? and He would ask you in Greek and Hebrew and Ugaritic and Chaldean and Syriac, just so you wouldn't misunderstand the question'” (pg 184-185)

It would seem that no matter what part you and I play in the body of Christ, we are all to make disciples.

We have moved!

noreply@blogger.com (David Knapp) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 20:31:00 +0000

You can't find us here because we have moved to David & Amanda's German Mission Site.

The Knapp's Ministry Update

This is the Final Product

Thank You

Go, Make Disciples

We have moved!