The Disciple Maker‘s Podcast
The Disciple Makers Podcast exists to tell stories about disciples of Jesus who make disciples. Discipleship.org, who sponsors the podcast, exists to Champion Jesus‘ way of disciple making. Episodes are published in thematic seasons. To learn more, visit www.discipleship.org or email us at info@discipleship.org.
Listen on:
Episodes
Wednesday Apr 22, 2026
Wednesday Apr 22, 2026
Technology isn’t a replacement for disciple-making—it’s a powerful tool to enhance it. In this session, we’ll explore how the SmallCircle app is transforming disciple-making around the world. The newly released SmallCircle 4.0 is packed with features designed to elevate relational intentionality, making disciple-making more effective than ever. Best of all, it’s completely free (donor-funded) and available for download on both the Google and Apple app stores. To get the most out of this session, we recommend downloading the SmallCircle app in advance by searching for it in your app store.
Check out Discipleship.org for resources on disciple making: https://discipleship.org/resources/
Monday Apr 20, 2026
Monday Apr 20, 2026
We don’t just learn through words—we learn through experience. A disciple isn’t formed by simply transferring information, and no one understood this better than Jesus. Think about when Peter was challenged to step out of the boat. That wasn’t just a lesson—it was a life-altering experience. Do you think Peter ever forgot it? In this session, we’ll explore how to integrate powerful, real-life experiences—what we call "Labs"—into disciple-making, just as Jesus did. You’ll walk away with a collection of practical, hands-on labs that will take your disciple-making beyond information transfer and into transformational impact.
Check out Discipleship.org for resources on disciple making: https://discipleship.org/resources/
Wednesday Apr 15, 2026
Wednesday Apr 15, 2026
Disciple making isn’t a program—it was never meant to be. The goal is creating a culture where disciple making becomes the core DNA of our churches and organizations, inside and out. This session will unpack the essential building blocks for cultivating that culture: equipping everyday believers, reaching fourth-generation disciple-making and beyond, discipling people both to Jesus and in Jesus, and expanding the impact of disciple making from our local corner to the corners of our city, region, and to the corners of the world. This is possible with an intentional strategy.
Check out Discipleship.org for resources on disciple making: https://discipleship.org/resources/
Monday Apr 13, 2026
Monday Apr 13, 2026
Have you ever noticed how a conversation feels different when it’s just the two of you in a restaurant booth—no distractions, no third party—just a unique sense of closeness? That’s because God engineered us for different levels of relational depth in different settings. Jesus modeled disciple-making across all these spaces—larger groups, micro-groups (3-4 people), and one-to-one. Yet, the one-to-one dynamic is often overlooked, and with it, an invaluable relational depth is lost. This session will uncover why one-to-one disciple-making is essential, the life-changing power it holds, and the practical strategy for making it a core part of disciple-making.
Check out Discipleship.org for resources on disciple making: https://discipleship.org/resources/
Join us at the 2026 National Disciple Making Forum: https://discipleship.org/2026-national-disciple-making-forum/
Wednesday Apr 08, 2026
Wednesday Apr 08, 2026
Learn practices and stories of Jesus Style Disciple Making of Young Adults.
Check out Discipleship.org for resources on disciple making: https://discipleship.org/resources/
Join us at the 2026 National Disciple Making Forum: https://discipleship.org/2026-national-disciple-making-forum/
Monday Apr 06, 2026
Monday Apr 06, 2026
Explore a simple, effective, and reproducible model for making disciples and equipping others to multiply.
Check out Discipleship.org for resources on disciple making: https://discipleship.org/resources/
Join us at the 2026 National Disciple Making Forum: https://discipleship.org/2026-national-disciple-making-forum/
Wednesday Apr 01, 2026
Wednesday Apr 01, 2026
Check out Discipleship.org for resources on disciple making: https://discipleship.org/resources/
Join us at the 2026 National Disciple Making Forum: https://discipleship.org/2026-national-disciple-making-forum/
Why the great commission teaches obedience based disciple making.
Monday Mar 30, 2026
Monday Mar 30, 2026
Check out Discipleship.org for resources on disciple making: https://discipleship.org/resources/
Join us at the 2026 National Disciple Making Forum: https://discipleship.org/2026-national-disciple-making-forum/
Bill Hull and Renew.org explore how the gospel we preach determines the disciples we produce, arguing that conversion and discipleship must be joined. Drawing on Scripture, Bonhoeffer, and practical church experience, this session explains the gospel declaration, gospel response, and gospel benefits, and offers clear steps for defining and building a disciple-making church.
Learn practical strategies for forming groups, training leaders, and teaching core disciple characteristics so churches can multiply committed followers who not only trust Jesus but follow Him.
Wednesday Mar 25, 2026
Wednesday Mar 25, 2026
Pastor DZ of Good Hope Missionary Baptist (Houston) joins the Disciplemakers podcast to share how he shifted a traditional, 153-year-old church from an attractional 'churchtainment' model to a disciple-making culture. He discusses raising expectations for membership, making discipleship a requirement, using life groups and digital tools, and investing in leadership to grow spiritually mature believers who make other disciples.They also talk about the National Disciplemaking Forum, practical first steps for leaders wanting to reset their church’s operating system, and the joy and renewed purpose that comes from aligning ministry with Jesus’ call to make disciples.
Monday Mar 23, 2026
Monday Mar 23, 2026
Join us for the 2026 National Disciple Making Forum: https://discipleship.org/2026-national-disciple-making-forum/
In this episode Ed Kang shares a 40-year story of collegiate church planting and life-on-life discipleship, explaining how close proximity, daily rhythms, and practical ministry contexts multiply disciples and launch churches.
He contrasts program-focused church culture with relational, obedience-based training, and invites leaders to embrace community, authority, and team-based disciple making.
New Resource on Disciple Making Culture!
A disciple making church culture is what your church actually does in disciple making; strategy is your plans on paper. Unfortunately, while we have good intentions to make disciples, our strategy and church culture do not always line up.
Read this 10 minute book – a visual summary – and share it with your leaders so everyone can better understand what it means to have a disciple making culture.
Watch the recordings from our most Recent National Disciple Making Forum
“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”
The Harvard Business Review describes it this way: “The values, beliefs and behaviors practiced in an organization formed over time because they are rewarded or punished (i.e. by formal or informal rules, rituals, and behaviors.”
The McKinsey Institute put it more simply: “culture is how we do things around here …”
That statement, often attributed to the most influential management guru of our time, Peter Drucker. What Drucker meant by “culture eats strategy for breakfast” was that lasting change in an organization comes only when the culture of an organization changes. Applying this to church, if you do not change the culture of a church, the church will not change.
Many leaders fail to account for this reality.
This gets at the root of why our disciple making plans can so easily fail. We try great strategies—preaching on disciple making, small groups, D-Groups, etc. But our churches will not change—indeed cannot change—because “culture” easily defeats the strategies we adopt.
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