Jesus

Are you following Jesus?

Not long after I arrived at Wilkesboro Baptist Church, we began asking questions about our church. We asked of nearly everything, “Why are we doing this ministry, this program, or this event?” That season of evaluation resulted in a redefined mission and articulation of how we’re accomplishing that mission at WBC. 

The commission that Jesus gave his followers in Matthew 28 is to “make disciples.” While there are many things that happen in a church and many activities in a church, there is only one primary mission of the church: “making disciples.” You can think of it this way. Church can be successful at music, preaching, groups, events, programs, or studies. Church can make people feel welcome. Or churches can struggle in these areas. Over the years, I’ve observed churches and Christians ebb and flow in their spiritual lives. Sometimes churches grow in numbers and excitement. Sometimes they decline. Sometimes Christians grow in tangible ways. Sometimes they disengage from church and decline spiritually in observable ways. The Christian life is a journey. Ultimately, it is to be a journey of following Jesus. And if we fail at following Jesus (that is, making disciples), then I’m not sure we can count our personal lives or our churches as successful.

Long before I came to be the pastor at Wilkesboro Baptist, I had committed my life to be a disciple-maker. And over the last 10 years, we have attempted to structure our church’s programs and ministries around making disciples. Our mission at WBC is to lead our neighbors and the nations to follow Jesus. We do this through four specific mission steps: worship, learn, serve, replicate. These steps form the focus of our programs and ministries.

This September 2025, our sermon series will be “Follow Jesus: Living a Life that Lasts.” This series is intended to be a reminder of our mission and our four mission steps: Worship (Sept. 7), Learn (Sept. 14), Serve (Sept. 21), and Replicate (Sept. 28). This study will explore deeply the Great Commission text in Matthew 28:16-20 along with complementary passages that explain and apply our mission. If you’re a part of WBC, we would encourage you to be here over the next month to be reminded of our mission and what it looks like to follow Jesus. If you’re not apart of WBC and you would like to follow along, you can find information about how to watch or listen here.

The aim for Christians is not merely to attend church or even to be members at a church, but to be followers of Jesus. So let me ask you this question, “Are you following Jesus?”

Earlier this year, I read Clint Grider’s book, Mind the Gap. Grider argues that churches need to not only organize for making disciples, but assess how they’re doing. His book suggested some helpful terminology in reflecting on the journey of following Jesus. As a result, we’ve developed 8 Journey Outcomes that derive from our four mission steps. You can think of these outcomes as applications or goals.

Journey Outcomes

  • Say or sing praise to God daily from Scripture and in prayer. #worship
  • Engage intentionally in gathered worship. (Gather weekly, sing joyfully, listen attentively, take notes, give generously). #worship
  • Listen to God daily through Scripture and personal worship. #worship/learn
  • Record what God is speaking to share with group/community. #learn
  • Be accountable to a person or group. #learn
  • Grow in Christlikeness (Be with Jesus in worship and Word, experience conviction and confession, love others). #learn/serve
  • Put others first by serving (serve at home, church, neighbors, nations). #learn/serve
  • Lead others to take their next step in following Jesus (lead others to worship, learn, serve, replicate). #replicate

Are these outcomes true in your life? What is the next step you can take to follow Jesus or to lead others to follow Jesus?

Intentional Parenting

Last year, I read Jon Tyson’s book, The Intentional Father. Tyson writes about raising sons with courage and character in a world whose values are often in direct competition to biblical values. As a father of two sons, his book challenged and convicted me.

Our children are learning so many things from the culture around them. Most of the technologies that we interact with are simply not neutral. See Jonathan Haidt’s book The Anxious Generation. The values of the culture are more often shaped by the “prince of this world” (Ephesians 2:2) than they are the Bible’s values. These realities convicted me to be more intentional about what I’m teaching my sons.

One reason I’m convicted about teaching my boys specific values is the brevity of time I have with them. Our Children’s Minister uses an illustration about a jar with 936 marbles in it to remind us of the brevity of life. For each week your child is at home with you, take one marble out. By the time your child graduates high school, you will take out 936 marbles–one for each week you have your child in your home. For some of us, we will have taken more marbles out than are left. Let that sink in.

Another reason, I’m convicted about teaching my boys specific values is one of Jon Tyson’s quotes: “We need to be good at being men, not just be good men.” Our responsibility is to teach and understand the expectations, character, and responsibility of being a man. Here’s the question I have wrestled with: “If I don’t teach my boys to (fill in the blank), who will?” Some of my blanks include practical things like mowing the grass, grilling food, handling hard conversations, spreading mulch, dealing with blisters, and more spiritual things like following Jesus, praying faithfully, and being wise.

With this in mind, I spent a good bit of time building a list of biblical and family values that I want my boys to grasp and own by the time they leave our home. I’m going to post the first nine of these values here (these are the one’s we’ve covered so far).

The value list below goes like this: Value, Motto, Scripture verse. My boys and I have memorized the value, motto, and Scripture verse and reviewed them regularly. Here is the list based on what we’ve covered so far. We typically will take a full week to review, memorize, and discuss.

  1. Gospel Value – The first core value I wanted my boys to grasp is the power of the gospel in daily living.
    Motto: We never graduate from the gospel.
    Scripture Verses: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. – Mt. 5;3.
    For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. – 2 Corinthians 5:21.
    If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. – 1 John 1:9.
  2. Love Value – A second core value has to do with the Great Commandments, loving God and loving others.
    Motto: JOY (Jesus, Others, You) Love Jesus above all; Love others next; Love self appropriately.
    Scripture Verses: And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” – Mt. 22:37-40
  3. Identity Value – In a culture that wants to define us by our feelings, stereotypes, and ideologies, we must accept our divinely given identity.
    Motto: Remember who you are and whose you are.  
    Scripture Verse: I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. – Psalm 139:14-16
  4. Habit Value – Our habits will develop our character and conduct.
    Motto: We are our habits and our habits follow our thoughts. 
    Scripture Verses: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. – Mt. 6:9-13
  5. Learn Value – To be a disciple is to be a learner and a follower. Every circumstance, situation, challenge, difficulty is an opportunity to learn. 
    Motto: Never stop learning. 
    Scripture Verses: And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. – Luke 2:52
    And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” – Mark 1:17. 
  6. Wisdom Value – It is not enough to have knowledge, we need the right application of knowledge and understanding.
    Motto: To be wise is to exercise knowledge and understanding. 
    Scripture Verses – The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. – Proverbs 1:7
    The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight. – Proverbs 9:10
  7. Faithfulness Value – When faced with temptations, we need to trust the faithfulness of God.
    Motto: God is faithful; he makes a way to escape temptation. 
    Scripture Verses: No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. – 1 Corinthians 10:13
  8. Self-Control Value – Followers of Jesus are to have self-control as a part of the Spirit’s fruit in our lives.
    Motto: We are saved by faith alone, but not by faith that is alone. 
    Scripture Verses: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. – Galatians 5:22-23
  9. Courage Value – To be a man is to have courage and confidence in God.
    Motto: The Bible tells us 365 times not to be afraid. 
    Scripture Verses: Fear not, for I am with you;  be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. – Isaiah 41:10

Feel free to take these values, mottos, and verses and use them in your own homes for family worship and a time of devotions. The mottos and values have specific theological, personal, practical, or family significance. It might be a good idea for you to write your own memorable mottos.My aim with these values is to help my boys develop clear affirmations of who they are in Christ and what God expects of them. We will quote the verses together, remind ourselves of the mottos, and discuss how these values apply in their lives. There are a few more values we have not covered yet. I will post the additional values later in the summer.

You don’t have to use these values. But I will tell you this, you are teaching your children values. What they see you do, what you model, and what you value is being imbedded into their hearts and lives. Some might say to me, “How can I teach what I’m not living by myself?” My answer is that these values, and the others I will share are all aspirational. Reviewing them, memorizing them, and discussing them afford ways to review your spiritual life and encourage depth and growth with your children/grandchildren.

Photo by MacDonald Almeida on Unsplash