I was new to Chicago and didn’t have any friends. Ryan Seibert kept reaching out to me, so I finally agreed to go to his home for dinner.  There I met a guy named Lewie and a few others. We ate a meal together and they asked me to share my story with them. They loved me by listening & asking questions. I felt welcomed and accepted.            

Lewie called a few days later and asked if I would like to get together. As they demonstrated consistency of character and a continuing interest in my life, I was willing to share more of me with him.He invited me into his life and let me share in what was going on.  

The powerful transformations that God was doing in my life through Lewie, our community and of course the Holy Spirit became a driving force for the next step.  If discipleship was so transformative in my life, then I should be reaching out to others with the same thing.  It was like a fire in my bones that needed to be released, a sacred trust that needed to be invested in others, a Holy Spirit drive to fulfill the great commission.  So I began to pray: Lord, show me the guys you want me to disciple and make me brave to meet them and love them.

In that first year, the Lord gave me 8 guys to disciple that I brought together into a community.  We shared meals, the Lord’s supper, the word of God, prayer and our lives. For the first time in the lives of many of us, were loved in spite of our warts and failures. Those relationships changed our lives. The hand holding Lewie did for me during that time helped me grow even more.  

My wife, Julia, and I seek to pour our lives into the lives of those around us and pray that we will see the Holy Spirit move in our lives and theirs. Not every relationship has been a homerun, but there have been enough guys forever changed that wherever we go, whatever we do, we will make disciples where the Lord plants us… and I think most of the guys I have discipled would say the same thing.