Cyle Clayton

For a couple of years, we called our disciple-making groups CORE groups. Robby Gallaty and Replicate ministries call theirs D-Groups. Everyone has their own nomenclature and reasons for it, but most of these groups share some things in common: small, same-gender, weekly groups whose purpose is to help their members grow into the image of Christ. We formed a disciple-making strategy team, worked through and prayed through a great deal of material, and finally came down to "What are we going to call these groups?" There were many suggestions, but I can't remember one except DLT. I remember one team member who said, "Well, let's call them doing life together groups. That's what disciple-making is. That's what it takes." That's how we got there. DLT groups are small groups of 3-5 people of the same gender who want to grow into the image of Christ together. They meet weekly, read and interact over scripture together, pray together, hold one another ac...

There are many families with children in Sabine Parish. There are 4,141 students in Sabine Parish schools, 6,353 under the age of 18, 29% of the parish population, and approximately 3,000 households with children. So, there are plenty of unreached families with children to reach. There are many churches in Sabine Parish. 70 churches. 1 church for every 313 people. Abilene, Texas brags about the highest per capita churches at 1 for every 563. The national average is 1 for every 1015. We beat the averages. So, we don't need more churches in Sabine Parish, but we do need more biblically sound churches, filled and controlled by God's Spirit, who are committed to God's mission, and who train their members to reach the unreached in our parish. There are far fewer people attending church in Sabine Parish. 7,000 people attend church, between 3,500 and 5,000 on any given Sunday. That attendance is half what it was 25 years ago. So, we need to make disciples, not just converts. Disc...