Who is Called to be Discipled

October 4, 2025

As we approach the fall season which was very beautiful in the state of North Carolina where I grew up. I am reminded of how big things were in my family as the seasons began to change. Fall was an interesting time, followed by the many holidays were my paternal grandmother’s and mother’s kitchens begin to swell with those aromas that happened during the last quarter of the year. Both my paternal grandmother and my mother were the matriarchs that taught everyone everything, even the men as well how to cook, clean, iron clothes, and sew up tears in their clothing. We did not just sit around watching TV growing up, but we participated in the daily cares in life, in the home, in the community and in the church.

As we celebrate the festive seasons that start in the fall, it brings a special feeling and memories for most of us. Very few people could make pumpkin pie taste like, one of my favorites, sweet potato pie, and no one could make an apple or peach cobbler like my grandmother, or my mother, and for all practical purposes, for all that matters, my dad could also make an awesome cobbler. My grandmother was the catalystic matriarchal figure in the family. She was what I call a first generation modern, as her culture was that one coming out of an ex-slavery realm, born in the late 1890s. She was always building memories in my mind as she and mom taught us the lessons of life. As a little boy, grandma would take me with her almost every time she would go into the church, especially the Sunday evening and Wednesday night services. She would then begin speaking prophetically, as I know today, into my life, saying, “Jimmy, you’re going to be a minister one day,” or “Jimmy, you’re going to do this in the church.”  And I would say, “Grandma, I don’t see myself doing that. I don’t want to be like those big, fat, black preachers standing up there, spitting and wiping sweat from their brow” 

I didn’t understand what most preachers were talking about, as we were not taught a lot of the biblical texts, scripture interpretation and reading to understand the Word of God. We knew the stories, but I never read the Bible in context to learn anything from it for the first 30 years of my life. I did not understand how to glean any wisdom or knowledge from the word of God. I did not know if the ministers had a seminary education, or if they just picked up the Bible and started preaching messages.  Since those early days and the calling on my life at 30 years of age, I have received a MDiv. and D.Min. degrees in theology from the Oral Roberts School of Theology & Ministry. The process has made me understand and see grandma’s point.

As I am thinking back, I wonder, what season is next for us as loyal learning believers, as men and women—who are the ones called to discipleship as seasons change like that which we see yearly? Jesus spoke of understanding the seasons like signs of things that are coming on the earth, in the church and in the world. When the weather changes you can tell that a change is coming. (Mat 16:2ff).

My prayer is that we do not miss the changes in the seasons that God has in store for the church.  I go back to my very inception of this process in my life, and I begin to realize I have had seasons of men and women mentors from as early as I can remember.  The first, of course, my mom and my dad were always trying to tell me what is right and what is wrong and how to live my life.  That was a simple process of discipleship, as they told me to go to church every Sunday, because they thought it would make my week better.

Grandma, being an offspring of ex-slaves, understood something that I’ve come to understand out of my research in Black church history. We made religion a part of our culture based what we experienced and on how we perceived the conditions that we came from, and lessons from the men and women who brought us up in that process. That was simple discipleship, and I really appreciate the moorings I had in the simple Bible understanding and the religion and in the culture. The black church that I grew up in, had a deep religious conviction. It was the one thing that kept us during the period of slavery that we endured. God did some miraculous things, but you have to study that history to see that it could only have been the Spirit of God that delivered a culture and instituted the final redemption and the end of slavery in America as God’s intervention is evident.

When the opportunity came for me to move away from family I begin to also move away from the things of God, I could hear my grandmother’s voice, my mom’s voice and my dad’s instructions similar to what we read in Proverbs 31 and in the Apostle Paul’s instructions to Timothy in 2 Timothy. 

“What are you doing, my son? What are you doing, son of my womb? What are you doing, son of my vows? Do not give your strength to women, your ways to those who destroy kings. It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to take strong drink, lest they drink and forget what has been decreed and pervert the rights of all the afflicted.”(Proverbs 31:2–5 ESV)

“I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.”(2 Tim. 1:5 ESV)

My thesis will always show you the Greek and Hebrew words always point to the fact that the person who is a disciple is a” Loyal, learning follower” of the Lord Jesus Christ.  So, we’re following God.  We’re following Jesus.  We’re following the Holy Spirit.  And that is the process, and if we’re faithful to it, it is a lifelong process.  This whole understanding of being a disciple is one that I have been trained to follow, and to continue learning.  Those early forms of discipleship always led me to look at the process. 

Growing up as an athlete I did not see coaching as teaching or discipleship.  I became a coach in the 70s, at my alma mater Virginia Tech, after playing four years of football.  I can remember when in the throes of coaching, while I was doing graduate school classes at Virginia Tech I visited one of my professors, who proudly told me that I had become a teacher and a learner.  And I said, “No, no, I’m a coach!”  And he pointed out the fact that I was taking young men and getting them to do things that they themselves would not do on their own, like, using a playbook, plays on a blackboard and practices to get the process accomplished.  He reiterated, that was teaching and learning.

Whether you're learning, teaching, or helping others grow, you're engaging in discipleship. Change is constant, and we are all followers of Jesus Christ in different roles. Reflect on your current path as a loyal learner and consider how your habits shape your future.

Questions For A Reflection:

1. Did you or can you recognize a discipleship process growing up in your family and your church if you attended one?

2. Explain how you came to understand the discipline your parents and others gave you helped you to become the believer you are today?

3. The church is called to make disciple (ethnos) all individuals Matthew 28. Do you see that in the church that you attend? Can you explain the process?

4. What ways is your church, your ministry, or other disciple processes that you know of developing people to be loyal, learning, followers of Jesus Christ?