Listening to the Conference for four days, Rev. Rebecca Fisher, LDM Evangelism & New Ministry Development was led to ask, “How do you make a disciple?” She posed the question during the Tuesday morning Bible study of the 2015 annual conference session
Fisher began with a prayer, “God, open our eyes and ears so that we can see clearly and hear you and our hearts and minds to your Spirit.”
She chose to teach about Matthew 28:16-20, the scripture for the 2015 Annual Conference.
“Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus told them to go. When they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted. Jesus came near and spoke to them, “I’ve received all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything that I’ve commanded you. Look, I myself will be with you every day until the end of this present age.”
Jesus was given all authority on heaven and earth. Authority, she explained, which “meant Jesus had been given the privilege, honor and freedom to choose. “
“How are you going to make a disciple?” she asked. “As the old ladies would say in the church I grew up in, ‘It’s in the book!’”
“You all have a story to tell if you have been baptized. And if you aren’t, we can baptize you,” she said. “What does that mean to you? Can you replicate that (story) for your community?
“I imagine everybody being baptized in Iowa. I’m just saying what John Wesley said, ‘It’s for everybody.’”
She closed her Bible study by singing a Hezekiah Walker song, I Need You to Survive.
