I recall the pressure I felt sitting in my office, staring at the screen of my computer, hunting for a new program or fresh idea that would give our church a new spark of enthusiasm required for our next season of ministry. Much like an addict looking for their next fix, I was scouring the internet, scrutinizing what other ministries were doing so I could find a way to replicate it at our church. More times than not, it failed to produce the lasting results I desired. Like an addict, I was left wanting more and more. When I didn’t see the results, I felt were necessary to be viewed as a successful leader, I grew more anxious, more panicked. I was in a constant hunt for fresh ideas. I just needed that one magic bullet. 

I was the problem. I was searching for something I knew was critical, but something I did not personally possess. I had a degree. I had a position. I had a title. I had a name plate outside my office door, but at the end of the day I was trying to make the people of our church into something I was not. I needed to become a disciple of Jesus, not an employee of the Christ.

As I sat in my first DiscipleShift 1 training event in Troy, Illinois in October of 2015, I was struck by the simplicity of Jesus’ request of the fishermen who would become his first disciples. In Matthew 4:19, Jesus simply asked this rough around the edges bunch of fishermen to follow Him. He told them that He would take care of the process of making them into fishers of men. It was that simple.

Take note that Jesus did not say to his disciples, “Hey guys, let’s go fish for some men!” He invited them into a process by which he would build them into “fishers of men.” Jesus would spend the next three years of his life molding and forming these guys into lasting disciples who would stand the test of time. They would bear fruit out of the overflow of who they had become as disciples of the one true God.

On that crisp Fall day in 2015, I committed before the Lord to stop my pursuit of what was working in other ministries and asked the Lord to make me a fisher of men. When I surrendered my idea of what ministry success looked like and my desire to make people into something that I wasn’t, He provided a lasting peace for my soul.

Pastor, leader, follower of Jesus, out of the overflow of your relationship with Jesus Christ will come the opportunity to make a lasting investment in the lives of others, but it must start with you!

by Chris Knight- Senior Pastor
Wakarusa Missionary Church
Wakarusa, IN