Try to picture this with me-the most climactic moment in a wedding ceremony. The families have been seated. The minister is waiting, Bible in hand. The proud groom and his attendants are in their places. The lovely bridesmaids have come down the aisle. The organ begins the bridal march, the congregation rises and turns to gaze at the bride-then a great gasp causes the organist's hands to freeze on the keys. The groom looks confused, then his countenance grows dark. Instead of a graceful young woman ready to glide down the aisle, he sees an awkward toddler in an oversized wedding dress stumbling down the center aisle toward him. It's ridiculous to think that anyone would present an immature, dependent babe in marriage, but such a scene is not entirely impossible. The Bible describes Jesus as the Bridegroom, and the Church as His Bride. I wonder if tonight were the climactic moment in history when we were presented to Him, if we would look like a beautiful young woman or a silly child playing dress up . . .?

When Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, he did not give a complimentary address: "And I brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to babes in Christ." He went on to say, "Are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?" Paul was very concerned that these Christians were not moving ahead and growing up in the faith. What about the church today? What does the body of Christ look like?

We are a culture fascinated by polls and surveys, and some of their results are encouraging at first glance. For instance, according to Gallup and Barna and confirmed by their polls taken over the past two decades, 33% of all Americans over age eighteen indicate they are evangelical, "born again" Christians. That translates into 59 million—or one in every three American adults—who claim to have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ. It's amazing!! Statistically speaking, it appears we have been experiencing the greatest revival in history! But if there are so many Christians in our country, where is the evidence of it?

How could it be that this same period of time has been characterized by a mind-boggling, catastrophic decline of values and morals all across our culture? The same pools we hasten to agree with tell us that the average born-again Christian's lifestyle is virtually no different from the lifestyle of a non-Christian. My question for the leaders of this convention is, "What kind of fruit are we producing for Jesus Christ-spiritually mature disciples, or developmentally delayed converts?" After working over two decades in the market place and vocational ministry, I am still convinced that the greatest void in the church is a lack of authenticity in the lives of professing Christians.

More than three decades ago, A.W. Tozier made the following prophetic statement:

"A religion, even popular Christianity, could enjoy a boom altogether divorced from the transforming power of the Holy Spirit and so leave the church of the next generation worse off than it would have been if the boom had never occurred."

"It is my considered opinion that under the present circumstances we do not want revival at all. A widespread revival of the kind of Christianity we know today in America might prove to be a moral tragedy from which we would not recover in a hundred years."

I am convinced that many still pursue the cause of Christ with great fervor. Our rallying point is the Great Commission. Our pinnacle is the excitement of seeing people walk the aisles and receive baptism. My concern is that such a peak is really only the beginning. Just before He ascended to His heavenly throne, Jesus clearly told his followers, "Go therefore and make disciples . . ." I don't believe we have had an incorrect goal, but I suspect that we have pursued an incomplete goal. We have been convert-makers, but are we truly disciple-makers? Our goal has been for all people to be "in Christ" but is our priority for all believers to be "complete in Christ?" (Colossians 1:28,29)

I'm afraid that we have aspired to see multitudes born again, but some of our priorities and strategies have left God's children helpless babies in their cribs. They are immature and require constant spoonfeeding. No wonder our churches are filled with spiritual infants in their 20's, 40's and even 60's who have never grown up in their faith. If we are serious about making disciples, we will reconsider our priorities and our strategies.

Making disciples must go beyond:

· the pulpit ministry or innovative church programs
· a four-week new Christian's class
· a slick menu of courses from which to choose
· "assimilating" new members

Making disciples requires:

· RELATIONSHIPS
· literally coming alongside new Christians-getting involved in their lives
· personally modeling the life of discipleship until they are able to disciple others
· systematically equipping believers to walk according to the Spirit and to allow God's transformation process
· weaning Christians from the need to be spoonfed-by training all believers to study God's word for themselves
· training Christians to develop the vision and skill to "reproduce" themselves - by going outside the walls of the church to win and disciple others

You see, we can busy ourselves with the task of equipping our people to be effective inside the walls of the church, while leaving them totally unprepared to live out their faith outside the walls of the church. Discipleship begins to occur when our love for Christ becomes contagious to the people we are investing in.

As always, the perfect model for making disciples was Jesus. While He was able to draw large crowds with His preaching and teaching, His greatest impact took place with the few rather than the multitudes. Jesus chose a handful of willing-and unlikely-men, then began to pour His life into them. I wonder if the religious leaders thought he was wasting his time with such ordinary people. The gospels clearly teach that His primary plan for reaching the world was not filling an auditorium, but personally equipping a handful of disciples. Two thousand years later, we are proof that the principle of multiplication works! Toward the end of his life, George Truett was asked what he would do differently if he had his life to live over again. He said, "I would have spent more time with a few people." More recently, Howard Hendricks said, "You can impress people at a distance, but you can only impact them up close."

I believe that the very future of the church in the 21st century, depends on choices we make in the next few years. I don't believe that the most critical problem in this country is that people haven't heard the gospel. I believe that the real problem in this country is that people haven't seen the gospel lived out by fully devoted disciples who have been strategically and divinely planted in communities and workplaces all over our nation.

I pray that God will stir up in you-as He has in me, a passion to see the day when Gallup and Barna report evidence of an army of "born again, evangelical" men and women whose distinctive lives are drawing others to Jesus Christ, then coming alongside them until they in turn become disciplemakers. I believe it begins right here, among the leaders of this convention. Are you spending more energy pursuing greatness than seeking to make great disciples? Steve Ranier, president of Intervarsity once said, "I may never be great, but I've asked God to help me build great people of the faith." Disciplemaking is not glamorous, but selfless. Disciplemaking is not lucrative, it's expensive. It requires extravagant sacrifices of time and energy to see that willing—though unlikely—people grow and even exceed their teacher.

The plans for the wedding day are in progress. The Bridegroom is preparing to return for His bride. May the Bride be radiant and spotless—and ready when the wedding day arrives.