Principle 1
An online discipleship plan for use on your phone.
Urgency
In Psalm 71 David as an old man asked….
“O God, from my youth
You have taught me, and I still proclaim.
Your wondrous deeds. So even to old age
and gray hairs,
O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim
Your might to another generation,
Your power to all those to come.”
Urgency illustrated
During Covid I spent ten days in the hospital – almost died, in fact the guy in the next room, younger than me, did die. I thought …. I can give away 90% of my books and create a plan to reach people for Christ. So I gave away 90% of the
3000 books to ministry leaders. I kept
300 books, then selected
30 books to create a
3 part focus to access on our phones.
So, Disciples University was created with these focuses:
Focus 1 – What is a disciple? We use an Apologetics Cube to answer this question.
Focus 2 – What is the worldview of a thinking disciple? We build a Biblical Worldview Roadmap to expose lesser systems of thinking.
Focus 3 – What is the foundation of a Biblical Worldview? We use a Genesis Map to provide evidences to answer this question.
What was the inspiration for this focus? God led me to the last chapter of the gospel of John. Here I found …
Breakfast on the Beach .. a 153 Fishing Strategy.
“Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Just as day was breaking,
Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.
Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” They answered him, “No.”
He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish. That disciple whom
Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea.
The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off. When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread.
Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.”
So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn.
Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord.
Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. This was now the third time that
Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. When they had finished breakfast,
Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes,
Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.”
He said to him, “Tend my sheep.”
He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.” Peter turned and saw the disciple whom
Jesus loved following them, the one who also had leaned back against him during the supper and had said, “
Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?” 21 When Peter saw him, he said to
Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?”
Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!” So the saying spread abroad among the brothers that this disciple was not to die; yet
Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?” This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true. Now there are also many other things that
Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.
We learn from this chapter
- Jesus built His movement through small, relational teams—not crowds.
- We use the number 153 from this passage to create a simple, scalable, relational, and unbreakable strategy to make disciples.
- We call it … Breakfast on the Beach 153 Fishing Strategy
1 Leader leads
5 team members to understand
3 essential focuses.
Jesus keeps the net strong. Relationships deepen. Leaders emerge.
The 153 strategy keeps discipleship moving in the right direction—steady, intentional, relational. The mission stays on course.