After a wonderful meal from the volunteer kitchen team, Dr. Marcus J. Serven set the tone for the weekend with the first lecture, entitled, “Jesus and His Men“. We examined the pattern our Lord set for discipleship and mentorship with His twelve disciples. The Apostles were ordinary men, commen men, uneducated fishermen and even a crooked tax-collector, but through the conversion, training, and intensive discipleship of Christ, they were transformed into extraordinary men who could preach the Word with conviction and power.
Dr. Marcus J. Serven
A full house!
Here are some of the keynotes from Dr. Serven’s message:
“Salvation is free, but discipleship will cost you your life.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Luke 6:40, “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.”
Dr. Serven listed the four stages of Christ’s discipleship:
Selection
Consecration
Mission
Reproduction
Comprehensive, intentional discipleship begins by recognizing those whom God has selected for you to disciple. For every father, those chosen disciples are his children.
The father is consecrated by God to lead his family in worship and in training in righteousness, along with his wife (Eph. 6:4)
He is charged with the responsibility of communicating a vision and a mission to his children. Simply put, a family’s mission is their vision practically lived out.
Lastly, the father is responsible to train his children to be the next generation of disciple-makers. He is to enable his descendents to reproduce the intentional discipleship model.
Dr. Serven concluded by recounting a stirring historical example of Polycarp, who was part of a long line of mentors and disciples. Polycarp was discipled by the early church father, Ignatius. Ignatius was discipled by the Apostle John, who in turn, sat at the feet of Jesus Christ. As a result of this multi-generational line of intentional discipleship, God prepared Polycarp to be an incredible testimony to the city of Smyrna and a story that would inspire the Church for centuries to come. The multi-generational power of intentional discipleship cannot be underestimated.
Stay tuned for more posts coming soon!
Covenant Family Church is a conservative, Bible-believing, and elder-governed congregation located in Wentzville, MO which seeks to evangelize the lost and equip those who have been converted to walk worthy of their calling in Christ. 
The Orthodox Presbyterian Church continues to be vigorous in its defense and propagation of the historic Christian faith, particularly as it was articulated by the Protestant Reformers of the 16-17th centuries. 
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Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him...