Cedarville Magazine, Spring 2014

What We Read About Andy Johnson ’14 For the past two years, I have been leading a peer group through the book Not a Fan by Kyle Idleman. When I joined Discipleship Council, I was excited about selecting a doctrinally sound book that could impact the lives of 100 Cedarville students. After studying Not a Fan as a Discipleship Leader during the previous year and seeing my idea of the comfortable Christian life dismantled, I chose to leadmy group of leaders through the same book, earnestly hoping they would have the same experience. A common misconception is that when a discipleship group studies a book on Christian living, it neglects theWord of God. On the contrary—we study the Bible alongwith the ideas of a Christian thinker or theologian. In Not a Fan , Idleman bases his ideas on Scripture. Discipleship Ministries stresses the transformative power of the Bible; thus, we take the main supporting passage for each idea expressed in Not a Fan and study it ourselves. In doing so, we wrestle with Scripture while critically analyzing an author’s work. I chose Idleman’s book because of its message that a life spent following Christ requires more than just cheering on Jesus while we sit in the bleachers. He contrasts what it means to be a sacrificially devoted follower of Jesus with simply being a fan. Through this study, I have discovered that when Jesus invites us to follow, He calls us to come and die: die to our will and our desires in order to take on those of Christ. As I pursue a career in medicine, this understanding has altered my trajectory in life as I seek to sacrificially serve Christ as a physician and model His love and character to my patients. What We Talk About Michael Brittan ’15 I knew as a freshman that I wanted to be involved with a group of guys studying the Bible, so I joined a group studying the book of James. Our study time included reading and discussing a passage of Scripture, discovering how it applied to our lives. It was encouraging to hear group members share how the passages spoke to them, which helpedme think critically about God’sWord. This year, I’m leading a study on the book of Hebrews. During one of our meetings, we discussed balancing the priorities in our lives. We dug a little deeper and talked about balancing relationships. Marcus, one of our members, described three different kinds of people with whom we can form relationships. Some people are like deserts — they give nothing in return after you have invested in them. Some are like rivers that flow in one direction— they have all the “right” answers for what you need to change in your life. And some are like swamps — they draw you in and meet you where you are. The “swamps” listen and invest in your life, and you do the same for them. We want a lot of swamps in our lives, but we must realize it’s important to love and invest in the deserts and rivers that God puts in our paths. In our group, we talk about all the significant parts of our lives. These conversations create an environment where group members feel safe to share. Building trust is essential for discipleship. The relationships that are formed through Discipleship Ministries are a vital part of the spiritual growth that takes place at Cedarville. GO ... AND MAKE DISCIPLES More than a third of Cedar ville students participate in Discipleship Ministries, a network of student- l e d d i s c i p l e s h i p g r o u p s t ha t me e t we e k l y f o r B i b l e s t udy, communit y, prayer, and suppor t. Twelve experienced group leaders form Disci p l eshi p Counci l. They are per sona lly mentored by the Director of Discipleship Ministries and trained to teach a group of nine peers to become effective discipleship leaders. Those 108 students lead their own groups of eight to 10 students in discipleship groups across campus . Four current and former group leaders share what makes Discipleship Mi n i s t r i e s such an inf luential force in s tudent s ’ sp i r i tua l development. 6 | Cedarville Magazine