Michigan Camp Meeting 2016: The Harvest is Great

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Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Emmanuel Training Sessions

Mark Howard

1. Orientation

2. Introduction

Jim Howard

3. Introduction & Overview

Kameron DeVasher

4. Cycle of Evangelism Overview- Part 1

5. Cycle of Evangelism Overview- Part 2

6. Cycle of Evangelism Overview- Part 3

Wes Peppers

7. How to Get Bible Studies- Part 1

8. How to Get Bible Studies- Part 2

9. Bible Docs 101 Overview- Part 1

10. Bible Docs 101 Overview- Part 2

11. How to Give Bible Studies- Part 1

12. How to Give Bible Studies- Part 2

13. How to Give Bible Studies- Part 3

14. How to Give Bible Studies- Part 4

15. Bible Docs 101- Part 1

16. Bible Docs 101- Part 2

17-18. Bible Docs 101- Part 3

19. Bible Docs 101- Part 4

20. Understanding Decisions- Part 1

21. Understanding Decisions- Part 2

22. Planning an Outreach Ministry

23. Bible Study Reformation

24. Keys to Success

25. Baptismal Preparation

Okay, let me just make 1 little caveat before I dive into the Discipleship Handbook about the discussion that we just had in the baptismal commitment, okay?

And I want you to pay attention because I want you to hear what I'm saying.

Some people, and there could be someone here, who will misunderstand what is being communicated.

The bottom line to someone's preparation for baptism is a converted heart.

All of these are areas of instruction that the Bible gives that in many ways are evidences of someone's commitment to Christ as Lord of their life.

And so when you're preparing someone for baptism, you're dealing with the heart.

Do they know that when you die, you sleep until the resurrection?

Do they know that hell is not burning forever and ever and ever?

And the life is where the evidences of their conversion are clearly laid out.

And those are the things that you saw us starting to look at a little more closely.

We're not saying that someone is saved or the main issue with baptism is whether or not they eat pork or whether or not they return tithe.

But they do give evidence to someone's personal experience.

And we don't want to neglect them, or we could baptize people who really have not had a hard experience with Christ.

And so we want to help them in many cases by helping them through that baptismal process, you are actually helping them through their own conversion process.

They're actually being helped through their own conversion.

Last night, I was all excited to give the biblestudyoffer.com presentation.

Pastor Doug didn't have his notes printed out, so he stood up and he started walking off the stage.

And then he got talking to people over there.

I'm talking from the front, everybody's watching Pastor Doug.

I was, Oh, they don't have a clue what I'm talking about.

Get your notes already and get back on the stage so they'll pay attention to me.

So, I just wanted to make sure I put that caveat in there.

You want somebody who loves Jesus, and that's what you're really wanting.

But we also believe that it's possible for somebody to just say they love Jesus and to not have had a genuine experience.

And they want to be baptized because it's cool to be baptized or they feel like somehow it's going to make them more savable or they're going to be more sure of heaven if they get baptized or whatever, but they don't want to be a part of the discipleship experience.

So that's why, in reality, besides just the discipleship that happens afterwards, the preparation you do in helping someone to make a commitment to Christ before baptism is 1 of the most important things for people staying in the church.

We often talk about how it's all about what happens after baptism.

But make no mistake about it, if you don't do proper preparation before baptism, then you've already got 2 strikes against you.

And so you want to make sure that you do your work well.

You can be as patient as you need to be, but you just lovingly help them along to make the decisions they need to make.

Now, after someone's baptized, we've developed a resource that helps with discipling them, and I thought I would just take about 10 minutes and explain what's in here.

The ideal situation is that if you prepared someone for baptism and you're the 1 who studied with them, that you will be the 1 who mentors them afterwards.

So basically, what we frequently have done is we'll study with someone and then we'll get into baptismal preparation studies and we'll be studying them about how often?

And then we finally get them ready and oh this Sabbath is the big day and okay you're all ready and we have the baptism, and then we hope you'll come to prayer meeting, and Sabbath school starts at 9.30, and we'll see you there, And there's not really anything beyond that's really systematic or intentional oftentimes.

So that's what we were trying to do is put something in place that was intentional and systematic with the discipleship handbook.

So after they complete these weekly studies and they're ready for baptism, they start meeting weekly again with the mentor for the discipleship process.

Once a week, a mentor meets with a new member and takes them through this handbook.

Now, Let me tell you a little about what's in there.

Right from the beginning, the first chapter is on discipleship, and it sets the tone.

If you look at, for instance, page 6, it tells you the spiritual habits that you're wanting the new member to build in the discipleship process.

It says, daily personal prayer, daily personal study of the Bible, daily morning and evening family worship, weekly Sabbath school attendance, weekly church attendance, weekly prayer meeting or midweek small group Bible study attendance, regular personal witnessing, and regular involvement in local church ministry.

Those 8 things are basically what this entire six-month process is intended to build in the new member.

And you as a mentor, what then is your...

If you're going to mentor them in these 8 spiritual habits, what type of obligation rests upon you?

You're going to have to do those 8 things yourself, right?

You're not going to say, you know, you really need to be at prayer meeting every week.

Now I don't go, but I hear there's some really nice people there who will help you when you get there.

I hate to say it, you know, in any group that you talk to, you're probably only talking to 20% prayer meeting people, but hey, I've got to say it, prayer meeting, midweek Bible study, whatever it is your church has, it's something that should become part of the life of the Christian.

Recommit to it when it's time to disciple that new member.

Hey, look, we have a lot of members discipling new members.

There's going to be recommitment, re-consecration.

So, these are the 8 points that you're trying to establish.

Now, the next thing you get into is the devotional life.

The whole next section is on the devotional life.

And at the end of the second chapter, there's a practical application where it describes, is it the end?

On page 14, in the middle of the page, it says, In the back of this discipleship handbook is a Bible and Spirit of Prophecy reading plan that will walk you through the entire Bible at a steady pace.

Make a commitment to spend at least 30 minutes a day in prayer and study.

So if you look in the back of the book, what do you see?

A Bible and Spirit of Prophecy reading plan.

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Series

Emmanuel Training Sessions

25. Baptismal Preparation

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Amazing Disciples

19. Discipleship

34m

Hermeneutics

Sharing the Bible Truth is Not a Spiritual Gift - Part 4

36m

Training Center Churches

5. Discipline

56m

Emmanuel Core Workout

Standards Part 6a

37m

Bible Studies 101

1h 7m

Grow Your Church- Part 1

2h 21m

Amazing Disciples

14. Grow Your Church, Part 2

50m

Plant-based Evangelism

50m

The 21st Century Challenge

4. New Life in Old Methods

1h 4m

Sound Doctrine