{"id":190809,"date":"2021-04-12T12:00:07","date_gmt":"2021-04-12T18:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/?p=190809"},"modified":"2023-09-07T09:53:23","modified_gmt":"2023-09-07T15:53:23","slug":"lifelong-disciplemaker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/blog\/lifelong-disciplemaker\/","title":{"rendered":"Lifelong Disciplemaker"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

Scott Spragg<\/a> makes the most of every opportunity to share the Good News of Jesus with those around him. He regularly uses Facebook and WhatsApp to disciple and encourage people from Zambia, Tanzania, and his local church in Iowa.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cI do what any disciplemaker would do\u2014to find a way to bear witness to the Lord and disciple in any situation,\u201d Scott says. \u201cJust because we have restrictions on visits with friends and relatives now, that doesn\u2019t mean that discipleship opportunities are over.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\"Lifelong<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

For Scott, age 90, this outreach and discipleship extends to the aides who work at the assisted living facility where he has been a resident for almost two years. He realizes that the aides have to be efficient with their work, and he doesn\u2019t want them to get in trouble with a supervisor. He is always ready to ask a question to move the conversation to spiritual topics. He has seven questions* related to John 3:16<\/a> that he asks. He may discuss one question each time an aide returns to his room, or he gives the aide a card with all the questions for them to consider.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Scott\u2019s zeal for God is evident. \u201cIt is exciting to see what God does when we use our God-given willingness to be used for the greatest work we will ever have in this short opportunity of life,\u201d Scott says.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

By using technology, he has been able to stay in touch with former students and Navigator staff in Tanzania, where he served years ago. Even though he says it is unlikely he will ever travel there again, he stays in touch with the country director of The Navigators in Tanzania and prays for God to continue the good work of the gospel for many years to come.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\r\n

Praise God<\/strong> for those who are life-long disciplemakers! Bless and encourage their desire to serve God all of their days.<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\n

* The seven questions Scott uses are derived from Jim Downing’s pamphlet called “Can You Answer These Questions About The Best-Known Verse in The Bible?\u201d<\/p>\r\n

    \r\n
  1. According to this verse, what did God give?\r\n
      \r\n
    • Answer: His only begotten Son.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n
    • Why did He give Him?\r\n
        \r\n
      • Answer: Because He loved the world.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n
      • To whom has He given Him?\r\n
          \r\n
        • Answer: To whosoever believes in Him.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n
        • Does that include you?\r\n
            \r\n
          • If they hesitate on this, change the question a bit to reflect Ephesians 1:7 and John 1:10-12 and ask the next questions.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n
          • Do you have assurances that your sins are forgiven?<\/li>\r\n
          • Do you have eternal life?\r\n
              \r\n
            • Depending on their answer, ask the next question.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n
            • What does a person have to do to receive an offered gift?\r\n
                \r\n
              • Ideally, they will respond that they will “take the gift” and with your help, you can lead them in a short prayer that they can follow along with:\r\n
                  \r\n
                • Example: \u201cHeavenly Father, I thank you for offering your Son. I do here now receive Him, and invite the Lord Jesus to come into my heart, to forgive me my sins, and to give me everlasting life.\u201d<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                  Scott Spragg makes the most of every opportunity to share the Good News of Jesus with those around him. He regularly uses Facebook and WhatsApp to disciple and encourage people from Zambia, Tanzania, and his local church in Iowa. \u201cI do what any disciplemaker would do\u2014to find a way to bear witness to the Lord […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":190889,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_helpful_pro_status":1,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[265,1,6337,260],"tags":[1483],"mission":[66],"topic":[46],"class_list":["post-190809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christian-living","category-disciplemaking","category-ministry-impact-stories","category-sharing-your-faith","tag-disciple","mission-navigators-encore","topic-evangelism"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/04.13.21-Article-Web.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"The Navigators","author_link":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/staff\/thenavigators\/"},"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190809"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190809\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":258453,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190809\/revisions\/258453"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190809"},{"taxonomy":"mission","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/mission?post=190809"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=190809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}