“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20
Our deep passion for discipleship flows out of thankful hearts. As a staff, we are unified in our gratitude for God’s redemptive work and calling in our own lives. We hope that those He brings to us will discover God’s unique call on their lives and the abundant life that comes from living out that calling. We have been given a vision and we have been trained by great teachers, and we are resolved to do our part in passing the baton to the next generation of disciple-makers.
We have learned much over the years as we have endeavored to help men, women, and children come to know Christ and to make Him known.
Our focus is to utilize Jesus’ method of building men for ministry by establishing deep, heartfelt connections with them and by imparting the Lord’s call to “go and make disciples.” It is a formula that works.
Below are a few of the guiding principles that we depend upon daily in our effort to impact as many lives as possible for the Kingdom:
- God changes lives through Christ-centered relationships, not through programs.
- Prayer is absolutely essential in our success.
- Scripture memory is a life-changing discipline – we utilize this strategy within all aspects of the ministry.
- Jesus had a clear plan for advancing God’s Kingdom, for how you go about ministering to people – we will follow Him and his patterns closely.
- We must be willing to share our lives, not just knowledge and tools. (1 Thessalonians 2:8)
- Effective discipleship requires the student to have a teachable heart and true commitment. We must select our men wisely.
- We must pass on a vision for “spiritual reproduction.” (2 Timothy 2:2)
- Multiplication works faster than addition.
- Christ-centered fellowship, accountability, and vulnerability must be at the core of our culture.
- We must have resolve and a deep commitment from the entire Men of Valor team, including families and volunteers, that the purpose of the work we are doing is God’s glory. Ultimately, we put our faith in God, and not men.
Have you ever pondered the power of multiplication?
If you take a checker board and put 1 grain of rice on the first square, 2 grains on the second square, 4 grains on the third square, 8 grains on the fourth square, and keep doubling it all the way to the 64th square, do you know how many grains of rice are on that last square? Take a guess.
18,446,744,070,000,000,000 grains of rice.
That is right: whatever that number is, it’s HUGE! What if 25 disciples at Men of Valor double themselves in year 1, year 2, year 3, and so on? We are discipling another group of 25-50 men every year. It will not take 64 years to reach the entire world, and it certainly will not take very long to reach the city of Nashville and the state of Tennessee.
That is a big and long-term goal, but consider the immediate impact a man who has committed his life to the Lord will have on his family, his parents, his siblings, his children, his grandchildren – they will all be impacted by the Gospel of Jesus Christ being lived out in the life of one man. It is so, so exciting. Let’s do this thing!
We cannot accomplish this work without your continued support. Come join us to make disciples!
Our desire is to see our men become leaders, genuine difference-makers in their family and community. With this in mind, as men advance through our discipleship program, we create opportunities for them to lead others—to give out what has been poured deeply into them—and opportunities to serve, showing a changed life in action by becoming givers to the community rather than takers.
We ask that you pray for these men and their families. They are on an extremely difficult journey.