Disciple Now gives a wonderful opportunity to  connect your students with the entire leadership of your church.  From young adults to senior adults, your students need to learn from the spiritual leaders in your church, and their wisdom.  Some churches already do a great job at this connection, but I am finding more and more churches that do not.  So get everyone involved.  Bring adults out for a service project.  Maybe let a senior adult lead a session as your students work through the disciple now curriculum.  Video some adults talking about topics in the Disciple Now Curriculum.  Form prayer groups that include students and adults.  Whatever it is, use this opportunity to bring your entire church together. 

It's cold outside today.  There must be a Disciple Now going on somewhere.  At least I know ours is always cold.  I pray for those of you who are in the midst of a great Disciple Now Weekend already.  For some reason today I was thinking about school.  I remember all the work and tests.  But my favorite part was always review time.  This is when you have finished a unit and you do a quick reteach of everything.  Granted I liked it because my teachers were good about making it fun, but my favorite part was that everything was cleared up for me.  I do not like to leave things uncertain.  Review helped me to tie up the loose ends.  Just because your Disciple Now Weekend is over and you have gone through your Disciple Now Curriculum, don't think that your students grasped everything in the Disciple Now Curriculum the first time.  Take some time to go back through the Disciple Now Curriculum, and allow your students to mull over it and digest it.  

Disciple Now is a wonderful event.  But as with anything we do, our students should be our second focus, God of course being first.  When we focus on God though, love for our students and desire to meet their needs will naturally pour out.  The big thing though is not to get caught up in the event.  Do not get caught up in all the details of Disciple Now or in the desire to out do someone's Disciple Now down the street.  Remember what is important.  Buy a Disciple Now Curriculum instead of trying to write your own.  Free yourself to focus on relationships with your students.  

Disciple Now truly is an event for everyone, or at least I hope yours is.  Often in ministry, we get a picture of who our kids are or should be.  Now that is one thing in the spiritual sense, but in the physical sense we cannot get trapped into a box.  Pray for and prepare for a wide variety of students in your Disciple Now.  Different cultures, different backgrounds, different economic levels, different ability levels in learning.  I figure if Heaven is going to include all that, shouldn't the church and in turn our events?  So as you prepare, as you set up homes, as you choose a Disciple Now Curriculum, as you choose leaders, make sure you are creating an inviting environment for students from all walks of your life.  Make sure your heart is open to and hoping for that.  Make sure your Disciple Now Curriculum and the leaders that will be communicating that Disciple Now Curriculum,  are creating a situation where any type of student that walks through the door can grow and feel welcome.  After all, God so loved the world...

As Disciple Now grows closer and closer, you have a lot of things to think about. It is no longer just leaders, homes, and a Disciple Now Curriculum.  We have so many media elements at our disposal now.  Why not try to incorporate these and make your event the best it can be.  Plus you open up more doors for volunteers and students to get involved and use their talents and abilities.  Now this can be a lot of work.  So as we have said before, when you are looking for a Disciple Now Curriculum, try to choose one that includes media elements, Disciple Now Videos, Disciple Now Countdowns, Disciple Now Curriculum that is downloadable.  Remember, find the balance between putting on a great event and not taking too much on to 

When it comes do Disciple Now I do think you should dream big, but it never hurts to think small.  Think about the great movements of God.  The way the Gospel spread like wildfire in the early church, the First Great Awakening, many of the other great revivals.  What do they have in common? They started small.  they started with small groups of people praying together in small homes or rooms.  Then out of this, a great move of God exploded.  Think about what Disciple Now is.  It is a group of students meeting, studying and praying together in a small room.  Why couldn't that turn in to an amazing revival.  So when you are planning your Disciple Now and choosing your Disciple Now Curriculum, think small.  Make sure your Disciple Now Curriculum is conducive to a small group and that your Disciple Now Curriculum has the potential to be a spark for a great move of God.  Granted it takes more than a Disciple Now Curriculum, but a strong Disciple Now Curriculum is a great start. 

At the heart of Disciple Now is discipleship.  Building disciples is what we are called to do.  It is what we everything we do should be about.  At the heart of Disicple Now is discipleship.  It serves as a great launching pad for training leaders and students to do life together.  It gives them a taste of what the Christian life should truly be about.  Praying together, supporting one another, sharing meals together, studying God's word together.  Your Disicple Now curriculum gives students a great guide as they learn to study the bible together.  They can also take the Disciple Now Curriculum and go over it again and again until the teaching it contains is firmly planted in their hearts.  So if you are realizing you need to build more disicpleship into your ministry, Disicple Now and a Disciple Now Curriculum may be the launching pad you need.

It seems like we go back and forth a lot lately on whether or not our ministry needs another event, or any events at all.  I think we could definitely trim the fat, but one event we should hang on to, or implement if you have not, is Disciple Now.  If you do not know what Disciple Now is, it is a weekend where your students stay in a home with peers around their age and a leader, and work through a Disciple Now Curriculum as they pray for and support one another.

I can not believe it is another year already and Disciple Now is just around the corner.  I encourage you as you prepare for your Disciple Now this year to work to make it different than any other you have ever been a part of. How do you do this you ask? Here are a few simple steps.
1. Prayer of course.  Pray over your students, pray over your the decision about your Disciple Now Curriculum, pray over the Disciple Now curriculum wants you choose one, pray for your leaders and your host homes, pray for your church, pray for yourself, pray for your family..... I think you get the  idea.  Resolve to be a prayer warrior this year and Disciple Now is a great time to start.  
2.  Start early.  I know your lives are busy.  I know countless times I have gotten busy, and put the details of Disciple Now off until the last minute: calling leaders, choosing a Disciple Now Curriculum, finding host homes, etc.  This does not get you off on the right foot.  Call leaders early.  Get all the details in order ahead of time.  Choose your Disciple Now Curriculum way ahead of time so you can begin to pray over your Disciple Now Curriculum and digest the Disciple Now Curriculum.  
3.  Make it about God first and then your students.  From the time you choose your Disciple Now Curriculum to the time the last student heads home, make it all about God and then in turn about your students knowing Him.  Build in time for you to be refreshed in your relationship with God and for you to strengthen your relationships with your students.  
Begin to work these steps and I believe you will see a move of God in your Disciple Now.