danetokushige.com

Discipleship Defined

Dane — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:48:01 +0000

Discipleship is not:
-one super anointed man teaching everyone
-controlling relationships
-only a series of classes that make us smarter
-activities for christians to have something to do

Discipleship is relationship.

Discipleship is a relationship with Jesus
-The gospel/good news must be central to everything we do as christians
-Our relationship with Jesus needs to be central to everything that we do. Jesus is our why. Jesus is our motivation.

Discipleship is a relationship with each other.
-as the gospel changes us God calls us to live with people
-discipleship is pointing each other toward Jesus as we work to be like him

Discipleship is a relationship with those far from christ
-realizing the power of the gospel we should desire to want to share this truth with others

Filed under: discipleship

How did Jesus pray?

Dane — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 02:14:47 +0000

When I first became a Christian I remember people telling me that they were going to pray in their prayer closet. I always wondered why people would try to smash themselves into a closet to pray. After a few years I finally realized that a “prayer closet” does not really exist is just something people say.

A lot of people think they dont know how to pray. A lot of people are intimidated to pray. To help us understand how to pray I thought a good place to start is by looking at what Jesus says about prayer…

1. Pray in faith.
22And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” Matt 21:22

2. Do not pray so that people can admire you.
7″And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Matt 6:7

3. Pray in Gods will.
24Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. John 16:24

Filed under: Jesus

Build a church or make disciples?

Dane — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 07:58:31 +0000

I love the church. As a pastor I spend many hours thinking of how we can get more people in the church. Programing, classes, outreaches, meetings and a bunch of other stuff has and many times continue to fill my schedule. As I read scripture however I find that I am not supposed to build the church.

Jesus tells his disciples that He will build His church.
¹⁸And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Matthew 16:18

If this is true what is my job?

Jesus gives us OUR job description in Matthew 28:19… ¹⁹Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

Our job is NOT to spend all of our time creating activities for Christians. Our job is NOT to create great Sunday programming. Our job is NOT to spend countless hours in meetings creating policy for church leaders. Our job is to make disciples. Our job is to help people who are far from Jesus find and walk with Jesus.

Jesus gave Christians very clear instructions to make disciples. As a Christian who loves and wants to obey Jesus we MUST make disciples. If we have not and are not making disciples we might need to ask ourselves if we are really Christians.

Filed under: discipleship

Alexa Tabitha Tokushige

Dane — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 20:23:21 +0000

We are still waiting for Alexa.

As of Saturday 10/29 Liz was dilated 3cm and 40% effaced. I am not really sure what this means, but I do know that we need to get to 10cm and i am guessing 100% is the goal.

As we are in the final stages of waiting for Alexa, I thought I would post some thoughts of a dad to be having a girl.

-praying for a healthy normal baby girl.
-i need a gun
-i hope she looks like her mom
-i cant wait to take her on dates
-i will set the bar so high that she wont even waste time talking to loser boys that do not know how to properly treat women
-we are going to be a family of 4.
-i have a lot of pink stuff around the house
-a 2 year old and a newborn sounds like sleep is not going to happen much for a while.
-thank you Jesus for a healthy pregnancy so far
-super appreciate my wife for carrying this baby for 9 months
-we keep changing this kids name. hoping alexa sticks.
-tokushige’s facing a bunch of transitions again. trusting Jesus.
-praying for a house that we can build our family in.
-God never ceases to amaze me as He provides for our family

please continue to pray for Liz and Alexa.

Filed under: tokushiges

discipleship is everyone’s job

Dane — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 09:38:56 +0000

Filed under: discipleship

build with us

Dane — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 09:28:49 +0000

While living in the Philippines Liz and I had the privilege of being a part of the team that helped start Victory Greenhills. I would consider some of the men and women on this team some of my best friends in the world. Recently the Greenhills team made a huge announcement that will mean some big changes in the San Juan community.

Huge props to Dennis and the team. I am definitely with yall and am cheering you guys on.

If you are reading this I would like to encourage you to sow a seed into the tremendous work that God is doing in San Juan.

Filed under: church

The Goal of GBCK small groups

Dane — Wed, 25 May 2011 06:30:18 +0000

We have been working non stop to try to create a culture of discipleship. In an another effort to get people to understand what discipleship is all about we will begin to post a series of videos through facebook, twitter, blogs and any other medium possible to create this culture that will lead to changed lives.

Here is the 1st video that I made.

Filed under: discipleship

Discipleship is Relationship

Dane — Wed, 18 May 2011 06:29:49 +0000

The function of a single lego piece is to be connected to another piece. If it is not connected to another piece it does do much. Lego is all about connecting.

Lego can teach us how discipleship is supposed to happen. Legos know that they need to be connected.

We have to understand what legos already know. We need to be connected to Jesus and connected to each other.

35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:35

Discipleship is about relationships that push each other toward Jesus.

Discipleship as all about us working to connect with others so that we can connect them to Jesus.

Discipleship is not about 1 super religious person teaching others how to be a christian. Discipleship happens as we process our lives with Jesus and each other.

Filed under: discipleship

How to create a discipleship culture?

Dane — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 07:44:59 +0000

A few weeks ago I gathered our youth staff and through this question out to them. I love our team and the way they contribute to creative solutions to some pretty complex questions. Here is a list of some of the ideas that we generated and will begin to execute this year.

Once a month training after Youth service
once a month training in service
pulpit
individual small group outings
combined groups
scripture on discipleship (weekly)
T-shirts
advertising of small groups
sports league
community outreach (rice crispy treats)
continual follow up
fliers with all the groups
sign up card
video training
testimonies
pictures
pictures of activities
small group awards
reward for new members and those who invited them
prayer and fasting

Filed under: church, discipleship

Will everyone go to heaven?

Dane — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 03:05:15 +0000

Filed under: world