Ascending Leaders Presents: The Discipleship Podcast for Church Leaders

In this episode, experienced pastor and discipleship coach Bob Johnson talks with Ascending Leaders' president Mike Johnson about how the command to make disciples goes back further than the Great Commission. In fact, Bob argues that the reason for discipleship is given in Genesis 1. He calls this "The Genesis Project." Understanding God's ultimate "why" for discipleship in The Genesis Project pro...

In this episode, we take a deeper look at the names of the stages of faith. How do we name them in a way that helps churches move people forward through these stages while still showing them the value of the stage they are at? Ken Schripsema, Executive Director of Ministry at Madison Church - Square Campus in Grand Rapids, MI, joins us to discuss.  

In this episode, Ken Schripsema interviews AL founder Mike Johnson about his book Ten Steps toward a clear DisciplePath . Mike covers how churches can use these steps to help build a discipleship plan and shares advice on doing that. For more information visit ascendingleaders.org/episode10 

In this episode we talk with guest Bob Johnson about why we should care about discipling people to move forward in their faith journey. He shares some insights from his church after taking the REVEAL survey. Hear what he found and what that means to us as church leaders. 

In this episode, we discuss the power of using the discipleship stages to tell your faith story. Pastor Andy Sytsma talks about hosting an evening of faith stories at New Life where he and the staff and church leaders shared their stories with each other. 

In this episode, we take a deeper look at stage 4 in the stages of faith – "Remain in me." How do we move people toward this place that we all hope all disciples to get to someday, but few do?  Joel and Patty Hogan, who  served with Christian Reformed World Missions for 33 years , join us to discuss.

In this episode, we take a deeper look at stage 3 in the stages of faith – "Come and Be With Me." How do we move people toward sacrifice? The challenge for churches looking to help move people deeper into and through this stage is that it is about "being" rather than "doing."  Greg Hawkins joins us for the discussion. He was on staff at Willow Creek for 22 years, and is the co-founder of REVEAL re...

In this episode, we take a deeper look at stage 2 in the stages of faith – "Come and Follow." How do we move people toward intimacy?  Richard Blackaby, President of Blackaby Ministries International, and Julia Johnson, Small Groups Director at Grace Fellowship United Methodist Church, join us to discuss.

In this episode, we take a deeper look at stage 1 in the stages of faith – "Come and See." How do we move people toward belief?  Pastor Blair Lerner joins us from Grace Fellowship United Methodist Church to discuss.

In this episode, we look at the four invitations of Jesus to his disciples, and four descriptions that describe the growth of a disciple in the modern church. Making disciples is our mission...but how do we know when we've made one? And then, how does what we offer, in terms of ministries and programs and so forth, how does that relate and are we actually making disciples? Or are we just busy?

In this episode, we have a conversation with Rev. Matt McClure and Rev. Peter Cammarano around defining discipleship. Both of their churches have done a really good job of this, though the journey there was different for each of them. A lot of times, churches say it can be frustrating trying to work on discipleship, and we can understand that. When a church doesn't have a clear sense of what we ar...

The word "discipleship" isn't found anywhere in the Bible, so where did it come from and what is a useful definition for it? Rev. Dr. Michael Johnson, founder and president of Ascending Leaders, shares why church leaders need to have a clear definition of discipleship, and considers how a church can grow a vibrant discipleship culture that outlasts the character and charisma of their leader. Free...