Brotherhood Assembly Quarterly Meeting – 06/09/12

“When Christ left this world, he left us with a plan,” says Dr. John Tolson. In Matthew 28:19 Jesus says ‘Go Therefore and make disciples.’ He wasn’t making a suggestion, that was a command, a command not just for his 11 disciples, but a command by Christ to ALL believers.”

Tolson delivered this powerful message at the quarterly meeting of the Dallas Diocese Brotherhood of St. Andrew, June 9th at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Garland.

Tolson is author of Take a Knee and Four Priorities, two excellent study plans to make disciples. He has been chaplain to numerous sports teams including most recently. the Dallas Cowboys. More info on Dr. Tolson can be found at the High Impact Life website.

“There are men across this nation and in our churches who are not even in the game. There is a job to be done and they are sitting on the bench,” adds Tolson. “Jesus has given us a job to do and we say, ‘who me… I’m too busy… I’m not trained… you don’t know my life…”

Tolson says you have to be three things to be a disciple: “A Learner – true learning changes how we live. Our learning is often overexposed and under developed; A Follower – follow Christ with your heart and he will lead the way;’ A Reproducer – taking what God has instilled in you and investing it an another who in turn invests it in another…”

He emphasized that it is not necessary go find potential disciples on the street. “Our churches are not trained to pick people to become disciples and preaching alone is not getting it done. There are potential disciple all around you, perhaps even in the same pew. The only requirements are that they are faithful, available and teachable. I challenge you to think about your plan to make new disciples, and then do it.”

In other Brotherhood business, Jim Vineyard reported that we made $6758.00 at the golf tournament which will go Patriot Paws. We had 71 golfers at this years event and our goal is for at least 100 next year.

J.D. Brown reported on Patriot Paws and said that training a dog for a wounded veteran costs about $35 per day for three years. He challenged us to consider pledging that amount to Patriot Paws as a one time or ongoing gift.

Brown also discussed the proposed diocesan disaster preparedness plan for every parish and suggested that the Brotherhood of St. Andrew should also be a part of that plan.
Don Candy reported that Hearts and Hammers has two houses chosen for this year. Plans are for the repairs to be done to these houses on September 15th and 22nd. Roger Hogle and Charlie Brockett, both of Redeemer – Irving have agreed to serve as team captains to lead the efforts.