The Top 10 SIMPLE DISCIPLESHIP Weblog Articles- 2008/09

Simple Discipleship 2009

I have been writing articles for this blog site for just over a year and I am pleased and surprised at the response. There are 224 readers of this blog on a regular basis. I know that does not sound like a huge success, but it is exciting for me. I have endeavored to offer articles that do not simply provide information about my book and process called Simple Discipleship, but I desire to write articles that are on the crest of the wave as related to leadership, coaching, discipleship, church organizational development, church management, and organizational change. I realize my next article is overdue in the series “The Twelve Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask About Your Church” but I have been extremely busy getting ready for the release of the book and big launch of the Simple Discipleship ministry. In the meantime I thought it might be good to offer the top 10 blog titles from this last year, as many readers came on board more recently. Here are the top 10 for the past 12 months.I will be republishing these in the next few days.

1. The ten articles consist of a variety of the subjects listed previously with one exception: the top article “Why Don’t Smart People Get Jesus?” was written by a guest blogger and was her thoughts on a sermon. Interestingly, many misunderstand the message of the article. It is not saying that Christians are not smart or that people should not use their knowledge and reasoning as related to religion. It is only an observation that sometimes we allow our own stereotypes, thinking, and intelligence get in the way of new knowledge, perspective, and perhaps enlightenment. For many who promoted and read the article, their presupposition was to begin and end with their own point of view—namely that God does not exist. They walked into the trap of their own limited view and thus confirmed Rachel’s point. The award for the most popular article in the last 12 months on this weblog goes to Rachel Fox! Here is the link to that article: http://drthomreece.wordpress.com/2008/09/28/why-don%E2%80%99t-smart-people-get-jesus-by-guest-writer-rachel-fox/
2. The second most popular article deals with one of my passions—that of personal, executive, and life coaching. Many churches could and should start a Christian coaching ministry as a spiritual formation ministry as compared to counseling. Coaching works and it is not what many think it is. I was watching a movie on TBS recently and during the commercial breaks there was a segment of a life-coaching vignette with a shallow-minded life coach talking with her client about some pretty silly things. The coaching I have done is respectfully confrontive and constructive to significant issues. Some of this article is a part of my new book to be released in October 2009. Here is the link for the second most popular article: http://drthomreece.wordpress.com/2008/09/14/start-a-christian-coaching-ministry/

3. The past 12 months has seen upheavals in the economy and political realms. I wrote about some of these things and offered some thoughts on their impact on the churches. My predictions have proved accurate that many churches were not ready for the Great Recession and are still suffering. Also, many churches are losing their opportunities for relevant ministry an to help hurting people in new ways. The reaction of churches has been to scale-back ministries, terminate ministers, and cut budgets. Of course when churches cut budgets, it is usually ministries that could revitalize the church—a big catch 22. http://drthomreece.wordpress.com/2008/09/19/economic-crisis-is-the-church-ready/
4. An article that continues to get significant attention is about the decline in the Southern Baptist Convention churches. This has been hotly debated in the last few months. The response of the leadership seems to be: “There is nothing wrong. We just need more evangelism.” Read http://drthomreece.wordpress.com/2008/09/22/baptist-church-decline-balance-both-sides-of-the-great-commission/

5. For several years I have had the opportunity to attend the Catalyst Conference sponsored by Andy Stanley’s church. There are usually over 12,000 people there soaking up the wisdom. Last year Jim Collins, the author of Good to Great spoke. I offered some insights: http://drthomreece.wordpress.com/2008/10/10/good-to-great-insights-from-jim-collins-catalyst-2008/
6. Last year I read a business book titled Ten Commandments for Business Failure and it sparked my writer’s imagination. I decided to write a series of similar articles from the perspective of the church. It was a very successful series. Many of you read the primary or lead article, but you may find the other articles in the series interesting. http://drthomreece.wordpress.com/2008/12/08/ten-commandments-for-church-failure/

7. At number 7 for the year was an article that built on #4 listed above and expounded on the Southern Baptist Convention resolution calling for a Great Commission Resurgence. This article is rising to the top fast since I wrote it in June 2009 and it is already up to #7 of 60. I affirm the GCR, but again, calling for more evangelism in churches that have many converts instead of disciples is like asking 3^rd graders to run for elective office in the U.S. Senate (although they might do a better job—maybe that analogy does not work—but I think you get my point).  Many Christians in the churches are not sure-footed in their faith enough to do more evangelism, and that fact is deeply troubling in light of the story of the Samaritan woman in The Gospel of John chapter four. We must overcome a major hurdle—many Christians in the pews, chairs, or bleachers think it is the pastor and staff’s job to do outreach, mission, ministry, and evangelism. Unless the churches address the problem of making disciples instead of converts, the GCR will soon be a forgotten initiative. :<( http://drthomreece.wordpress.com/2009/06/29/the-hole-in-the-great-commission-resurgence/

8. At #8 is another coaching article and some of these concepts are in my book Simple Discipleship. The article differentiates the three concepts of mentoring, counseling, and coaching. There are also some insights into leadership coaching. http://drthomreece.wordpress.com/2008/08/22/the-power-of-coaching/

9. At #9 there is another article calling for not just a change in how churches do discipleship, but a revolution! Considering that six of the top ten articles deal specifically with changing how churches should do discipleship suggests there may be a lot of agreement out there. Let’s get the discipleship revolution started. http://drthomreece.wordpress.com/2008/09/07/we-need-a-discipleship-revolution/

10. Number 10 is at the heart of Simple Discipleship as it presents the key diagnostic questions again regarding effective disciple-making. Is your church using a process? Most do not—even the ones that are growing. They are sort of in the sweet spot of their life cycle. Maintaining a disciple-making process will lengthen the life-cycle and even begin a new S-curve in the life of the church. Read more: http://drthomreece.wordpress.com/2009/06/05/the-twelve-most-important-questions-you-will-ever-ask-about-your-church-6-what-process-does-your-church-use-to-make-disciples/

I hope you enjoy reading through some of these articles that you may have missed. As soon as my book releases, I should be able to get back to providing new articles on leadership, discipleship, and coaching.

SD Blessings,

Dr. Tom Cocklereece

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