By Timothy Wayne Howington

Actually, my name is Timothy.  But in my personal discipleship ministry I am Paul.  I am the first person in the chain of multiplication. 

As I move backward in the discipleship chain to the guys who impacted me, to some I am Timothy, to some I am faithful men who will be able to pass it on and to some I am others also.  This idea of Paul—Timothy—Faithful Men—Others Also comes from a key discipleship passage in 2 Timothy 2:2. Paul writes to Timothy saying.

“And the things which you (Timothy) have heard from me (Paul) in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”

2 Timothy 2:2

Paul is generation 1.  Timothy is generation 2.  Faithful men are generation 3.  Others also are generation 4.  This is why we are always encouraging ourselves and others to look past the 2^nd generation to the generations to follow.

I just got back from a few weeks in Indonesia and Malaysia, and I picked up an interesting idea from the global workers there.  We were talking about discipleship and multiplying disciplemakers and one of the guys said, “here we refer to ourselves as generation zero.”  In all the years I have been doing this, I never heard anyone say that.  Generation Zero.

By that, I think he was saying that he wanted for the Indonesians they were impacting to consider themselves Generation 1.  Meaning they wanted them to think of themselves as Paul (in the 2 Timothy 2:2 vernacular).

What about you?  How do you view yourself in the discipleship world.

Are you Paul?

Are you Timothy?

Are you a Faithful Man (Woman)?

Are you an Others Also?

The beauty of the “I am Paul” mindset is that it does shift the way we think about discipleship.  Is it possible that the generations that follow me will be guided by my approach and mindset.  Definitely.  I think that is the whole point.  But the scary part of that equation is HOW will they be affected? Or even scarier will they be affected?  But the scariest idea is will there be generations after me?  Will there be a legacy of my discipleship effort here on earth?

I think the tension of the disciplemaker is between doing a good job of shepherding the hearts of the people that the Lord allows us to minister to and sharpening the focus of the aspiring disciples so that can move from being one of your Timothys.  And becoming a Paul in their own right.

The goal of disciplemaking is raising up a TIMOTHY who thinks of themselves as a PAUL.

That outcome is directly connected to how you view yourself.  Try out a new idea.

View yourself as Paul.

Timothy Wayne Howington. Follower of Jesus. Husband to Terri. Dad to Josh. Wanna be writer. Bird Watcher. Beginner Watercolorist.  Novice Fly Fisherman. Discipler of Men. Some people call me the Howitzer.