Your Personalized Disciple Making Makeover
Tim Carver
You’re doing something many people never move from desire into action on: you’re discipling real people with a clear definition, an intentional pathway, and protected space to hear from the Holy Spirit. If you strengthen measurability and make personal application consistently clear each meeting, you’ll likely see your confidence rise and you’ll be better positioned to help Luke and Luis take their first replication steps.
Quick Snapshot
You’re actively discipling Luke and Luis using SD steps, with a clear Jesus-centered definition of a disciple and a strong emphasis on listening to the Holy Spirit in your 1:1 time. Distance limits how much you can connect outside meetings, but you’re encouraged by progress and you’re aiming toward multiplication as they begin discipling others.
What's Working Well
You already have several core ingredients in place: specific people, a defined pathway, and intentional space for the Holy Spirit to guide the conversation.
- You’re practicing intentional disciple making (Luke and Luis) rather than keeping it theoretical.
- Your definition of a disciple is clear and aligned with Jesus: devotion to Jesus, Spirit-led listening, serving, and learning to make disciples.
- You’ve protected “sacred” 1:1 time (no cross talk) that helps each person hear from the Holy Spirit.
What May Be Challenging
No major structural breakdown was described, but a few factors could slow momentum if they aren’t strengthened: your confidence is still developing, your progress indicators are more of a rough sense than clearly defined, and the distance makes “along-the-way” investment harder to keep consistent.
- Scripture engagement is consistent but currently centered on selected books/workbook highlights rather than a whole-Bible Bible reading plan.
- Everyday-life follow-up is harder because you live far apart, so disciple making can drift toward “mostly in the meeting.”
- Replication isn’t happening yet, even though there’s desire to move that direction soon.
Why It Matters
Because you’re already investing in Luke and Luis and building a Spirit-listening culture, clarifying what you’re aiming for (measurable maturity and first replication steps) and strengthening between-meeting disciple making will help you stay encouraged and make the pathway easier for them to reproduce with others.
— SEVEN SUCCESS STRATEGIES —
WHAT DOES SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE?
Contrary to popular belief, the best measure of success is not multiplication because if you multiply immature disciples no one wins. The best measure of success is life change (transformation)—which oddly enough always results in healthy, big multiplication.
Making disciples is a “get to” not a “have to” or “should do.” It’s a natural result of being a mature believer. It’s the BE comes before DO principle. Healthy people do healthy things. Here’s your best measure of disciple-making success,
The disciple does the right things for the right reasons, navigates the unknowns of life, and makes disciples long after your influence fades.
The quickest pathway to success is to stop making makers and focus on making individual healthy followers. Jesus did not come to make makers, he helped individuals follow and then called them to make. And the most efficient way to do that is to implement the Seven Success Strategies!
You + The Seven
Every successful disciple making effort leverages three or more of seven success strategies. Highly successful disciple making systems leverage five to seven of the strategies. The more you implement, the greater your success—which means the disciples succeed! Your top success factors are The Process Relies on the Holy Spirit and The Definition is Simple. Based on our conversation, you can see (in red) your depth of implementation alongside each of the seven strategies.
The Fuel is God's Word
Disciples read the entire Bible, cover-to-cover being exposed to all scripture which is useful to guide, correct, direct and prepare them for good works.
The Definition is Simple
Disciple makers know exactly what it means to make a disciple, what the end product should be, and how to know when they have succeeded in making a well-made disciple.
The Process Relies on the Holy Spirit
Disciple makers embrace the truth that it is the Holy Spirit that sanctifies, renews, and transforms making space and helping disciples hear from Him.
The Focus is on Individuals
The process is focused on leading disciples individually even in groups helping them find and apply immediately useful, relevant truths that transform their lives.
The Goal is Application
Disciples makers embrace Jesus’ call to help disciples obey (apply) God’s truths to their decisions focusing on transformation not education.
The Process is Done Along the Way
Disciple makers model following Christ and make disciples inside and outside weekly meetings over the course of several years giving disciples time to fully mature.
Making Disciples is Done Intentionally
Disciple makers embrace disciple making as the primary work to reconcile the world, have a plan to make disciples, and set specific, measurable disciple making goals.
— ONE BITE AT A TIME —
HOW DOES STRATEGY BECOME SUCCESS?
Strategies are big objectives, big concepts, and the key to implementing them is to align what you “do” with the seven strategies. Your “dos” are your methods.
If you’re just getting started or are ready to try something new, you can implement all seven strategies right from the start. Just build your disciple making plan to incorporate them or adopt some proven methods that achieve the seven strategies.
But when you are already making disciples, implementing all seven strategies can feel overwhelming. In a church setting, moving too quickly can feel a bit too disruptive. Your leadership might not even be open to a total overhaul! So what do you do?
You figure out which two strategies could use the most makeover and focus your work on them.
As those two strategies become consistently present in your disciple making, then you pick another strategy to work on. Before you know it, you’ll see even more success than ever before!
You’ll find your top two makeover strategies (with some practical steps and “how tos”) below.
And we’ll help you pick your next next
strategies in the last section.
Your First Makeover Strategies
You’re actively discipling Luke and Luis and you’ve already built in protected time to listen to the Holy Spirit, which is a strong foundation. The two strategies below were selected because they are the highest leverage for making your disciple making more consistent and reproducible, especially with distance and your current medium confidence. Together, they will (1) turn your good intentions into a clear, repeatable plan with measurable targets and (2) ensure each meeting produces specific personal application that can be followed up between meetings. These two moves should help you see clearer progress and move you toward replication.
Make the Plan Measurable and Repeatable
Based on what you shared, you already have a pathway (SD steps) and specific people (Luke and Luis), but the goals and measures sound more like a rough sense than clearly defined targets, which can keep confidence “stuck” at medium. Practical helps:
- Write a one-page “Luke & Luis pathway” that lists the next 3–5 steps you will take with them (keep it simple and repeatable).
- Add 2–3 clear indicators you’ll look for that match your definition (for example: hearing/responding to the Spirit, serving, initiating gospel conversations, beginning to help someone else).
- Choose one “replication step” that is small and clear (for example: each person identifies one name and has one gospel conversation to debrief).
- End each meeting by naming the next scheduled touchpoint (even if it’s just a brief midweek text check-in).
- Track progress with short notes after each meeting: “What did the Spirit highlight, what application step was chosen, what’s next?”
Turn Scripture into Clear Personal Application
Based on what you shared, you’re already discussing progress and seeing change, and your 1:1 time is helpful—now strengthen the consistency of each person leaving with a clear, personal application step tied to Scripture so growth becomes easier to see and follow up. Practical helps:
- Keep using your selected-book approach, but add one simple question every meeting: “What is Jesus inviting you to do next?”
- Require one specific application sentence from each person (clear, personal, and doable before the next meeting).
- Connect application to their real context: serving, relationships at church, and gospel conversations in their sphere.
- Use your midweek text as a brief application follow-up: “How did it go with the step you chose?”
- When someone feels stuck, return to your “sacred listening” practice: pause, ask the Spirit for guidance, then choose one next step.
What Success Looks Like
- Luke and Luis consistently leave meetings with one clear personal application step connected to Scripture and their current life.
- You can describe simple, visible indicators of growth (Spirit-led listening, serving, gospel conversation initiation, and early replication steps).
- Between meetings, you have a light but intentional follow-up pattern (texts/catch-ups) that reinforces application.
- Luke and Luis each begin taking first steps toward discipling someone else.
Early Measurable Wins
- Create a simple one-page plan for Luke and Luis that lists the next 3–5 SD steps you will take together.
- Have each of them identify one person in their sphere and plan one gospel conversation to attempt and debrief.
- End each meeting with one specific personal application step per person (written down in a note).
- Send one midweek text that follows up on application (not just encouragement): “How did it go with the step you chose?”
— THE BIG FIVE —
HOW WILL YOU
MEASURE SUCCESS?
Most of the methods we research have one of five focuses and naturally measure success based on that focus. We call them the Big Five.
- Education (Success = Participation and Knowledge)
- Assimilation (Success = They Stay and Look Like Us)
- Behavior Modification (Success = They Fix Their Problems)
- Multiplication (Success = They Get Others Involved)
- Leadership Development (Success = They Lead Something)
The Church has been doing the Big Five for, well, forever. We do them because that is what we know. We do them because they are easy and easy to measure. Done well, they will result in some spiritual growth but normally the Big Five just produces “dos.”
The problem is the Big Five only work for 20% of all believers because all five are actually the outcomes of transformation, not the cause.
Whether you adopt or design an overall plan, your best bet is to pick a method focused on discovering and applying all of the truths in God’s Word that measures effectiveness by transformation. Something like,
The disciple does the right things for the right reasons, navigates the unknowns of life, and makes disciples long after your influence fades.
Don’t settle for anything less because when they get transformed, they will be smart, be a part of the body, fix their stuff, make disciples, and lead! Remember, healthy followers do healthy things—naturally.
The team at Sustainable Discipleship uses the
highly Predictable PathwayTM to measure success.
You can learn more below
Ideas + Resources for You
The ideas and resources on this page have been curated based on your Makeover answers and, like your previous “how to” ideas, are based on the Sustainable Discipleship Method—a model that’s fueling a global disciple-making movement.
Our single-minded goal is to share what God has shared with us. But let’s be clear—there are many ways to make disciples. Whether you are evaluating methods or designing your own, we hope these customized ideas help. But definitely check out the Makeover Meetups!
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Future Strategies to Consider
Once you get your first two makeover strategies going, you’re ready to work strengthen the rest. Based on your makeover answers, here a few next steps that will increase each disciple’s transformation.
- Start a consistent Bible reading plan moving through the whole Bible over time (even if you begin with a clearly defined next book), so Scripture fuel strengthens beyond selected books.
- Clarify how your weekly format balances group time with protected 1:1 time so the process stays consistent.
- As confidence grows, invite Luke and Luis to practice leading one SD step with someone else and then debrief with you.
Seven Success Strategies ➞ How To Methods
The Fuel is God’s Word
The Goal is Application
God designed us from creation to understand the Bible. Brain Powered Bible reveals a reading method that will have folks engaged cover-to-cover, getting immediate value working with God’s learning design rather than against it. It’s like Bill Nye the Science guy meets the Bible!
The Definition is Simple
Making Disciples is Done Intentionally
Even if you are designing your own disciple making model, the proven “how tos” in this book may give you ideas that will supercharge your disciple making. The principles and methods have fueled thousands of disciple making efforts for individuals and churches.
Disciple Making Focuses on Individuals
Making Disciples is Done Along the Way
This free ebook introduces the Predictable Pathway. It’s fourteen, highly predictable steps that every believer takes as they mature. The beauty of the pathway is that you can know exactly where someone is and know exactly what to give them to get to the next step. It’s the simplest way to measure success and boost transformation.
Makeover Midday Meetups
Want to talk about your makeover plan? Join us (and others!) for a one-hour Makeover Meetup the first Tuesday of each month at noon.
- Want to go over your makeover report with a team member?
- Want to be greater at the one thing God called you to do?
- Are you an independent maker who needs a tribe?
- Just want to talk disciple making?
- Looking to get tips and tricks before you change things?
- Trying to get leadership buy in for something new?
- Need to avoid disrupting what's already working?
Makeover Meetups are for you! One of our experienced team members will be there to help you with whatever you’re working on—not to pitch you! See you there!
