Cedarville Magazine, Fall 2019

Q Aaron, what does it say to you that Cedarville has a director of discipleship? A It makes me really thankful that Cedarville is committed to discipleship. However, what’s more encouraging is just the regular interactions I have with faculty and staff across campus because of the heartbeat of discipleship here. Honestly, I think it’s funny sometimes that my title is the Director of Discipleship when I’m surrounded by disciplers. Q How do you view your role? A I see my calling, responsibility, and passion to be twofold. Number one, to promote spiritual growth in the lives of students and teach them to multiply themselves in the lives of others. And then, to encourage 2 Timothy 2:2 relationships all across campus, either formally or informally. I don’t care what department they come under; I just want to encourage it. I want to encourage faculty, staff, and coaches to invest in students. I don’t feel it’s dependent upon me, but I get to cheerlead it. I want to encourage them as a teammate. Q Where do you focus your efforts? A The greatest emphasis of my time is building into Discipleship Council and Discipleship Leaders. I pour into the Discipleship Council (DC) members, and they pour into D-Group (Discipleship Group) leaders, who then invest in the members of our 115 D-Groups, which each has about eight to 10 people. We have 13 members on council, who are all past Discipleship Leaders, and we may add one more in 2020– 2021 . We decide on the members in February for the next academic year. Three to four years ago, I also started meeting weekly with our class chaplains and Student Government Association chaplain for discipleship. I’m also responsible for our Fit to Be Tied program for dating and engaged couples and Tied and True, which is for young marrieds. Q What does that investment look like? A Discipleship Council has a weekly meeting on Monday nights. We focus on reading Scripture, prayer, and discipleship training. We encourage, advise, and offer input. We always eat — it’s a chance for Laurie to cook for them — and they interact with my kids, which is so great. There’s some logistics and counseling on how to deal with different issues. But mainly, the Monday meeting really flows out of their own personal time in the Word. We go through a DVD Cedarville Magazine | 7