John McClendon has spent his adult life helping leaders make disciples. He is executive director of the Disciple Leader’s Network, based in Tennessee, though he plans to retire at the end of the year.
Always trying to champion discipleship leaders in the churches where he has served and those he influences, McClendon said the organization desires to help churches have a stronger disciple-making network.
“Disciple-making” is what Jesus called believers to do, McClendon asserted, citing Matt. 28:19–20.
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Growing up in Frostproof, Florida — in the central part of the state — McClendon graduated from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1978. He then began serving churches in Texas, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee and Louisiana as a staff member, helping disciple people who then learned to make disciples.
McClendon has continued that disciple-making ministry as a consultant for Lifeway Christian Resources, and now through the Disciple Leader’s Network, formerly called the Baptist Association of Christian Educators and prior to that the Baptist Religious Educator’s Association.
While the terminology has changed over the years, the name now refers to the Great Commission task of disciple-making.
Disciple-making moments
McClendon said the group is for ministers of education, discipleship pastors, pastors of adults, associate pastors, senior pastors, lay leaders and “really any leaders making disciples in God’s church.”
Planning to stay active in the organization when he retires, McClendon will serve as a consultant or writer as needed. Joseph Brasher, current co-director, will become executive director in January.
McClendon wrote “The Disciple Making Dashboard: Answering 5 Questions Every Church Must Ask,” which serves as an organizational “stack-pole” for the network (available at Amazon or through the network).
“The average church member (believer) just needs to understand that disciple-making is a lifestyle,” McClendon said. “Every opportunity is a disciple-making moment.”
In the context of church, discipleship or disciple-making are often understood as a program or an event, he explained. For many years Southern Baptists placed disciple-making in a Sunday evening class at the church, then moved to a small group that might meet during the week or on Sunday. Some began meeting one-on-one with new believers or mentorees over “coffee and conversation.”
All the approaches are helpful, McClendon said, but “encouraging discipleship with believers just helps people move to follow Christ more tomorrow than today.”
So he said the mantra should be, “Be a disciple who makes disciples.”
McClendon urged church leaders to consider becoming members of the Disciple Leaders Network, for an annual fee of $29. Some state Baptist conventions have partnered to cover the membership “dues.”
The network has an annual national conference, usually held in Nashville, along with regional summits in different parts of the country. D-5 workshops are held in cooperation with Baptist associations, and network members may participate in online cohorts and “lunch and learn” online seminars.
For more information visit discipleleaders.com.
