As we begin another year many of us will look back on the previous year, thinking about what went well, what may not have, and what we’re going to do to change it. The majority of our fellow Americans will endeavor with New Year’s resolutions.  The same is true for us but with a twist.

2020 is not just the beginning of a new decade but is one that reminds us of vision – 20/20. While many set goals for their lives, we are looking to God for clarity of vision of what He wants us to accomplish through the ministry this year and what His goals are. It is easy to get caught up in what we want or what we may think God wants. However, we are constantly reminded that if we go before God and ask for His guidance and direction, He will give it to us – though not always in the way we expect! 

As much as we are looking forward to what’s ahead in this new year, we cannot help but to look back and reflect on our ministry over the past two years. It is amazing to have been part of what God has done in and through our ministry since He led Tony to Team Expansion in January of 2018. Then He called me to join alongside my husband in June of that year. We find it hard to believe it’s been only two years since our journey in ministry as husband and wife began and only 18 months since we first began our 3Thirds Discipleship Group Training inside the prison system. And to think that on June 4th of this year, Tony and I will have known each other for 3 years and on September 2nd we will celebrate our 3rd wedding anniversary. WOW!! It feels like we have known each other and been part of the work God has called us to do for so much longer than it has been. God has done so many amazing things in our lives and through our ministry in such a short period of time!! 

What we are reminded of too is how blessed we are to be a part of what God is doing. God’s blessings have allowed us the opportunity to witness to 591 men since we first stepped into the halfway house on September 22, 2018, to answer His calling on our lives and the lives we minister to. To date, we celebrate ALL the men who consistently attend our discipleship group training during their time of incarceration and have committed to be a disciple who multiplies the Kingdom of God and are doing the work God has called them to do while behind bars. Tony and I have been honored and blessed to baptize 190 men since that time.

Of those 190 baptisms, we have been blessed to witness:

• 135 first-generation baptisms (Tony baptized them)
• 29 second-generation baptisms (that man baptized another)
• 20 third-generation baptisms (that man baptized another)
• 5 fourth-generation baptisms (that man baptized another), and
• 1 fifth-generation baptism

The critical point about generational baptisms and that it is in line with what Jesus told the 12 and that is to go and make disciples of all men. We – in that tradition – are teaching people about Jesus, how to be like Jesus, and how to teach more people to be like Jesus. Our mission field is just different in where we are making disciples.

We equip every man in the 3Thirds Discipleship Group Training with the necessary Disciple-Making Multiplication (DMM) tools they need to learn how to be a disciple who makes disciples who makes disciples – both inside and outside the prison system. The first training we did started with 9 men (the first disciple-makers in the facility) and to date, the men in the group training have grown to an average of about 75 men per week in each group training. GOD IS SO GOOD and we are deeply honored to be part of what HE is doing inside the prison system. But God is calling us to do more in 2020. We expect He will open our eyes to see more opportunities, even more than He already has!

The men we minister to are only in our discipleship group training for up to six months. Currently, we are helping as many men as we can find home placements here in Louisville so they can continue to grow spiritually with us. But the transitional homes they are going to are not embracing the discipleship training we offer these men once they leave the facility. Instead, most focus on the things of this world and not true spiritual growth. 

Going to church, attending Bible Studies, attending sobriety meetings, and working insane amounts of hours is not helping these men grow in their walk with the Lord… not in the way of continuing to help them deal with convictions and their sin nature as they were doing while attending the discipleship group training while they were incarcerated. The problem they have is a heart issue, a sin issue. If they are not dealing with that then they will fall and go back to what they know best, what gave them pleasure… the sin. They must get to the root of the issue and deal with that. Only God can save them from falling by convicting them of their sin nature and not giving them band-aids and worldly wisdom, but godly wisdom. And that wisdom comes from digging into God’s Word on a daily basis and dealing with their sin convictions so they can grow spiritually. 

The 3Thirds Discipleship Study does just that. It is the number one fruit-bearing tool in the world at multiplying God’s Kingdom, and if these men are to win their battles against addiction, lust, greed, money, hate, etc., they have to continue to grow spiritually, seeking God first in their lives in ALL that they do… not just on Sunday. If they don’t, the vast majority will return to the system and then they cry out to us for help.

So how can we all help?

Partner with us

Partner with us in prayer, asking God to pierce the hearts of these men as they walk out the doors of incarceration; that their desire will burn so deeply for the life God has shown them while behind bars and that they will know God is all they need. Not the ways of man and of the world, but the ways of God.

Partner with us as a volunteer and come learn how to facilitate a 3Thirds Discipleship Study. You can join us on any given Saturday night inside the facility where we hold a weekly study with about 75 men in the visitation room by contacting us and letting us know when you’d like to come in with us. We are there from 5pm to 8pm and then we speak with the men who are getting baptized or interested in learning more about baptisms from 8:15pm to 9:30pm every Saturday. You are welcome to join us for any or all that night.

Partner with us financially, individually and/or as a Community Impact Sponsor, in this next step as we walk with these men and their families as they are released from prison. “Little decisions matter,” Kyle Idleman – a pastor from Southeast Christian Church – told his congregation as he shared the story of a poor widow who lived her life sacrificially during his One Dollar at a Time sermon this month. “Everything she did – from her words to her finances – reflected true faith in the God who provides it all. In God’s economy, the most generous are the ones who truly recognize and respond in faith to the One who owns it all to begin with. These are the ones who see that money may give lifestyles, but it does not give life. While this is easy to say, it is hard to live. Imagine what would happen if we looked at each dollar as a name and gave it over with great faith?” 

It’s not an obligation to give of your time, talents, and/or resources… it’s an opportunity for us to humbly join in on the work God wants us to do. What can you do sacrificially that will help advance God’s Kingdom here on Earth?