The personal site of Jonathan Hayashi
Jonathan Hayashi 
Jesus envisioned that the victory would be won through witnessing and he depended on the faithfulness of his chosen disciples to this task. That was his only plan. His concern was not with programs to reach the multitudes, but men were to be His method of winning the world.
The Contemporary gospel is an American cultural artifact, namely, you can become a Christian and not follow Jesus, discipleship is optional.
“Just because a church is large doesn’t mean it’s healthy. It could be swollen.” – Charles. H. Spurgeon
The ordinary Christian will always fight the status quo of lukewarm Christianity. The ordinary Christian will always fight nominal, passionless Christianity.
What if the church was a city of refuge and beacon of hope that people run to rather than run from for fear of criticism?
If your ministry has a leadership problem it has a discipleship problem. You can’t make disciples and not develop leaders.
We want to do church, but we don’t want to live Christ. We can only change when the pain of staying the same becomes greater than the pain of changing.
Does your church have an intentional development plan to disciple and deploy believers to live out the Great Commission?
Normally we think of Salvation as that which is most significant. Truth of the matter is, the Bible’s view of salvation makes no sense, in fact, it is built on previous grounding ultimately on the doctrine of creation. Without creation, the planet of God with salvation doesn’t make sense at all.
I was recently looking back at some of my journals, and to be honest, there are/were times in my life’s journey I have struggled to know if God was calling me to pastoral ministry. Every follower of Jesus is called to be a minister. Not a single disciple of Jesus is exempt from the task of disciple making (Discipleship.) However, …
Gossip is one sin that seems to fall in the spiritual “No-Man’s Land” like the awkward uncle around that Thanksgiving table that nobody wants to talk to or deal with; a passivity that many tolerate that widespread and eats us up like a cancer. It seems impossible to deal with it so instead we just kind of shove it under the carpet and pretend the big elephant is not in the room.
Discipleship happens in critical levels, not only in the top level of it but all throughout the culture of a ministry. If we don’t disciple, then we are not really stewarding our roles very well if we don’t creates leaders for our role.
Gathering of the saints needs to be one of the top priority of Christ followers, in fact it is crucial and essential to the faith! For the good of their own soul, for the mission of Christ, and for the health of local congregation.
Discipleship doesn’t happen apart from the context of local church. There is no such thing as a solo-discipleship as it’s a foreign idea. We can’t become the Christian we are meant to be by being alone with God.
“I love Jesus but I don’t like the church. I will never leave Jesus but I’m done with the church” people who make such a statement are walking away from Jesus.
“Men will never be great in theology until they are great in suffering.” – Charles H. Spurgeon
Stats shows that 80% of young people who dropped out of church said they did not plan to do so during high school.
The reality is this; The majority of people who start in ministry don’t finish in ministry. Too often, ministry leaders are simply on autopilot. If you’re on a leadership position and your goal is to just to survive you’re facing a burn out. The goal of leadership is not to survive. The goal of leadership is to help you thrive.
If you’re saying you always been what you’ve always been then you need to ask if you’ve ever really met Jesus. Meeting Christ changes everything.
Gospel; it is important for us to understand the beauty and the glory of the gospel. In the evangelism training we so often jump into the “How.” We get people with basic training and all that is good stuff, however if we don’t have the “Why” we lose the meaning of “How”. If you have a “How” and not the “why” then there is no movement. We are all on mission to fulfill the Great Commission.
In this fallen world even people in a very complex, postmodern world are desperately hungry to hear the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to step it up. We need to toughen up and take this job seriously. We need to be ready to suffer for the gospel. We need to be motivated by this stewardship that we have been entrusted. We are to run this race well.
We must know the sheer glory and goodness of what our Father has given us in Jesus Christ. To know Jesus in truth and love is to find the one thing worth finding, the one lasting happiness, the purpose of life, true contentment. It is about the greatness of God, not the significance of man. God made man small and the universe big to say something about himself.
The world has yet to see a man who is fully yielded unto God’s will. Are you an ordinary man or woman in whom God wants to do extraordinary things? God desires that for every child of His. Ask God to do extraordinary things in your life. Begin today to trust Him to accomplish great things for His Kingdom through you.
If we don’t have a clear vision that drives us, chances are a maintenance mode rather than multiplication mode. True success in our lives as leader is growing those who are following us.