What Does it Mean to Make Disciples?
A few weeks ago, we introduced the new Trail Guide at Lifestream and The God Journey websites with some trepidation. It’s a chatbot loaded with all the information from those websites and My Friend Luis, as well as all my books. It can help people search those resources as well as summarize my thoughts on a variety of topics drawn from my writings and podcasts.
I get that some people are deeply concerned about AI and its future, and question my use of it here. I appreciate those concerns, which is why I keep a close check on the Trail Guide. As long as it’s helpful, we will keep it available. But it is on a short leash, should something go awry.
Weekly, I get to review a log of the questions and answers from the previous week to ensure that all is well. Rest assured, however, that I do not see the names of anyone asking questions, since the Trail Guide does not ask for, nor does it retain, any identifying information about who is interacting with the Trail Guide.
So, how is it working? Better than I could have hoped. I’m fascinated by how it can pull from so many sources and come up with summaries that are accurate and helpful, as well as provide additional links if people want to explore the answer a bit more deeply. The way people are using the Trail Guide is exactly what I hoped for. It allows you to access my content and explore topics that might interest you.
For those who haven’t tried it yet, here are a few examples of what it does:
Q: What does Wayne teach about making disciples?
Trail Guide: Wayne’s understanding of discipleship is quite different from what most people have been taught. He sees it not as a program or a set of practices to master, but as learning to follow Jesus himself—and that happens through relationship, not religious instruction. In Learning to Follow the Shepherd, Wayne pushes back against the idea that discipleship means building a relationship with God through intellectual principles or becoming like a particular teacher.
The real goal, he says, is to become a follower of Jesus—to reflect the Father’s nature in the world. That means learning to listen to his voice and follow him, not following a person or a program. What makes discipleship real, in Wayne’s view, is conversation and relationship. In The Approval Addiction, he reflects on how Jesus discipled his friends by talking with them about what mattered most—not performing for an audience, but inviting them into genuine friendship. The goal of a good teacher, he says, is to enable people to do what he’s done and even more, not to create dependency on himself.
This comes through clearly in So You Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore? Wayne’s novel about a disillusioned pastor learning from a stranger who bears an uncanny resemblance to John the apostle. The story shows discipleship as it really works: asking questions, helping someone see what they haven’t seen before, and pointing them toward Jesus rather than toward yourself.
Wayne also teaches that real discipleship happens when people learn to recognize the Father’s voice in their own lives—not when they’re told what to believe or how to behave. In The Church Jesus Modeled, he contrasts this with the religious approach of making “good practitioners of Christianity” through programs. True discipleship, he says, is about helping people discover Jesus’s voice and learn to follow him—so they don’t need you anymore.
Sources: The Approval Addiction (#566), The Church Jesus Modeled (#809), Learning to Follow the Shepherd
This exchange made me laugh as a typo, or autocorrect, caused some initial confusion, but the Trail Guide finally understood:
Q: Tell me about living from folders
Trail Guide: I’m not finding where Wayne takes up “living from folders” directly in the material I have at hand. That phrase doesn’t surface in his books, articles, or podcast episodes that I can see.
Could you say a bit more about what you mean? Once I understand what you’re getting at, I can point you toward what Wayne has said that might speak to it.
Q: Fullness
Trail Guide: I’d love to help, but I’m not quite sure what you’re asking about. When you say “fullness,” are you wondering about: Living in the fullness of God’s love and the Father’s affection? Experiencing fullness in your relationship with Jesus day to day? Something else entirely? A quick word would help me point you toward what Wayne has written that speaks to what’s on your heart.
Q: Living from fullness
Trail Guide: Living from fullness is one of Wayne’s most central themes — and it’s the opposite of what most of us have been taught to do. The heart of it is this: fullness isn’t something you achieve or figure out. It’s not about keeping rules or getting your life in order first. You’re already rooted in Christ, already complete in him. The work is learning to live from that reality instead of constantly reaching outside yourself — to your job, your relationships, your circumstances, money, respect — trying to fill a hole that only God can fill.
When your fullness comes from the Father’s love and presence, everything changes. You stop needing things from people or situations to make you whole. That frees you to love others without desperation, to respond to life from a full tank rather than an empty one. As Wayne puts it, when you’re full in God, you can live toward others in genuine love — what he and Tobie van der Westhuizen call “the justice of love” — instead of using them to get what you’re missing.
The practical side is simple but profound: when you notice discontent rising, when you’re grasping for something outside yourself, pause and redirect your heart. “I want my fullness to be in you,” not in that thing, that person’s approval, that outcome. Over time, that reorienting becomes a way of life. Wayne explores this beautifully in Living from Fullness (#1009), and it’s woven through Just Love and his teaching on Affection Presence And Fullness. You might also find the curated page How can I live every day in the Father’s love? a rich place to explore this theme more deeply.
Sources: Living from Fullness (#1009), Affection Presence And Fullness
And sometimes I ask it a question, just to see how it will answer:
Q: How does the business model behind religious institutions distort the authenticity of its message?
Trail Guide:
Wayne sees the business model behind religious institutions as fundamentally at odds with the gospel itself. Once money enters the picture—salaries to pay, buildings to maintain, growth metrics to hit—the machinery takes over, and the message gets distorted almost inevitably.
In “Monetizing Ministry,” Wayne traces how this happens. When an institution depends on donations and revenue, decision-making revolves around economics rather than the Spirit’s leading. Large donors gain leverage. Pastors are forced to sign non-compete clauses. Publishers become publicly traded corporations chasing shareholder profits. The result is that we’ve moved from serving God’s kingdom to building our own—valuing size, influence, money, and notoriety instead of the obscurity, servanthood, and flexibility that actually mark Jesus’s way.
The deeper problem is that money always wins out, even among those who start with the best intentions. Jesus said you cannot serve God and money, but we’ve convinced ourselves we can blend them. We can’t. The business model doesn’t just distort the message—it replaces it. Instead of inviting people into genuine encounter with the Father, institutions resort to pressure and manipulation, framing attendance as obligation and threatening spiritual danger for those who leave.
What gets lost is authenticity itself. When people have to perform to please leadership whose success depends on their obedience, when guilt and fear become the tools of “accountability,” the relational heart of the gospel—living loved, known by the Father—disappears. The machinery grinds on, but the life is gone.
If this resonates with you, “Finding Church”explores what authentic church actually looks like when it’s freed from institutional frameworks, and the curated page “Where will I find the church Jesus is building?” gathers Wayne’s best work on this theme.
Sources: Monetizing Ministry, Finding Church