The Simple Tools for Starting a Simple Church Note: If you feel called by God to launch a simple church, don’t go alone! Find me at kevin@ourbeststory.com and let’s partner up. Or let me find someone close to you who can co-labor in your mission field! God is on the move. 2nd Note: In this article, I use simple church, house church, and micro-church interchangeably to cover a broader audience, but...  Read More

Every disciple has a name, every name has a story, and every story belongs to God.In today’s discipleship landscape, one of the most debated practices is tracking the progress of disciple-making movements. Some leaders welcome it as a way to measure growth and celebrate stories, while others worry it reduces people to data points.But here’s the reality:Tracking isn’t a modern idea—it’s a Biblical ...  Read More

From Monologue to Dialogue to Transformation Note: Stephen Covey says, “Always begin with the end in mind.” But, in disciple-making, we say, “Always begin with multiplication in mind.” Multiplication is the ultimate goal, but it never ends.2nd Note: This tool is a slight modification to the 3/3 Tool used by many disciple-making movements around the world. I was coached and taught in this tool by C...  Read More

Justify: [juhs-tuh-fahy] verb. to show a reason or excuse for something done. Mr. J swaggered into my place of business about 9 years ago with the confidence of a quarterback who had just won his second straight Super Bowl.Fearless. Firm. Assured.He boldly announced that he could utilize my services as if he were doing me a huge favor. Over the next few days, Mr. J and I spent quite a bit of time ...  Read More

Jesus used two tools to launch a spiritual movement that changed the world forever – discipleship questions and stories. Almost every recorded conversation we have between Jesus and another person started or ended with a question or a story. Questions and stories cause us to break outside our presumptions, think more clearly, and come to a better understanding of what we really believe. This deepe...  Read More

The 5-fold ministry is a phrase that has gained popularity over the past couple of decades. But what is it? And why is it important to grow the church in the 21st century? Every statistical study currently indicates that, in relation to population trends, the American church is shrinking at an alarming rate. This model of church leadership has to be rediscovered for the Church in America to multip...  Read More

"I don't feel comfortable putting names on a piece of paper,It makes me feel like they're just a project." -Amanda She said it with such purity of heart and deep love for her friends and family. I respected that. But I leaned in, gave her a gentle smile, and said, “Amanda, this process is actually one of the most loving and kind things you can do for the people you care about most. Let’s talk abou...  Read More

Spiritual conversations can get awkward!You’ve had that talk before – the one that caused you to change your neighborhood walking route. It was just uncomfortable. You were thankful she cared enough to strike up a conversation, but she just didn’t know when to stop. Or how to avoid crossing the line into your personal space. So you graciously avoided her – hoping she doesn’t think you’re just bein...  Read More

There is a massive problem rearing its head in 21st-century American Culture. Men do life alone. They just do. Loneliness and Isolation is eating at us from the inside out. Work has become so cut throat that people are afraid to trust. We are so overextended that we don’t have the time or energy to make friends. We don’t set aside a night or weekend to be together. Individualism has trained us to ...  Read More

Me too – sometimes.If you’re like me, it fluctuates. I swing like a pendulum from disengaged and bored with life to feeling like I have a battle to fight and a victory to win. I’ve spent a lot of time recently trying to discern what the pendulum hangs on. I think it has something to do with whether I’m adjusting my life to live into my personal vision statement. Over the years, I have noticed that...  Read More

Sometimes you run across a passage in the Bible that is so packed with information that you just have to store it away and chew on it over time. That’s what I found in Proverbs 12 this morning. When Solomon wrote this Proverb, he was contrasting the righteous or upright person with the evil person. He outlines some characteristics of a righteous person.There was so much truth that all I knew to do...  Read More

note: any links clicked on in this article are affiliate links and we will get a small commission off your purchases to support the work of ourbestlife.com Our Best Story is about life-on-life discipleship. On helpful analogy is what happened in the Civil War. Soldiers gathered at the Civil War camp and recovered from the days battle as they got ready to fight the following day. One of the key ele...  Read More

My wife loves the painting below. It hangs in our kids’ bathroom. Honestly, I never got much out of it, but I think to her it speaks to the innocence of children pre-prejudice. For all of us, it should be a lesson of overcoming social barriers that divide us. Great Question! The last words Jesus left his disciples as he was leaving, was a command to GO!  Go – and make disciples. Where you live. Th...  Read More

I wish I could say I came up with these principles and then immediately lived them out, but it wouldn’t be true. Unfortunately, I learned them the hard way during the Coronavirus COVID-19 quarantine. Fortunately, my wife and I are still together (praise God for commitment) and we came out on the other side with some areas of growth that we weren’t expecting. This minor marriage challenge taught me...  Read More

There are several definitions in Merriam-Webster that would probably fit the Great Commission Jesus gave us in Matthew 28:18-20, but I think the one above is fitting. It includes behavior and action. In other words, a disciple has a personal responsibility to represent <re-present> Jesus to others and to give of himself in some specific activities that will incubate their spiritual lives. All auth...  Read More