Ordinary Discussions with Jeremy McCommons

Ep 150 | Discipleship: The Word the Church Can't Define

Discipleship is the most-used word in the church right now, and almost no one can define it. Most of what we call discipleship isn't. It's a good thing that got mistaken for the whole thing. Bible study, Sunday attendance, serving, a powerful moment at a conference. All real. None of them, on their own, is discipleship. Jeremy and Alex walk through the activities churches most often confuse with discipleship and explain what each one actually is: a piece, a vehicle, a starting point, but not the destination. Then they give you the definition that ties it together, so you can tell the difference in your own group. In this episode: • A plain definition of "disciple" and "discipleship" you can put on the wall and use this week • Why a missing definition quietly sets your whole group off course • The ownership principle, and the underground-church story behind it • What discipleship is not, and why good things like Bible study get mistaken for it Want a free, proven process for making disciples who make disciples? Start at ordinarymovement.com. Ordinary Movement is a discipleship platform that equips men and women to be disciples who make disciples. Our focus is on supporting small groups led by ordinary/everyday Christians. We have specialized discipleship tracks that center around Intimacy with Jesus, Intentional Relationships, and Multiplication. Groups are designed for individuals to easily engage in leading groups. Ready to be a disciple who makes disciples? If so, come and join us! Visit ordinarymovement.com to learn more!#discipleship #disciplemaking #disciple

Ep 149 | He's in His 70s and Still Refuses to Retire from Disciple-Making

He gave his life to Jesus on a mountaintop in 1971 — and he's been reproducing his faith every single year since. He's in his 70s now. An auto mechanic by trade. No seminary, no title, no platform. And he has no intention of slowing down. I didn't sit down with Jim Albert to teach. I sat down to get challenged — and to learn from a man who's been making disciples longer than I've been alive. Jim spent the Cold War running missions out of Vienna into the Eastern Bloc. Today he's leading men into the hardest-to-reach places in India and discipling guys one-on-one in a Fredericksburg coffee shop. We talked about why discipleship is simple but not easy, the difference between making Jesus your Savior and your Lord, the "ABCs" of a quiet time he learned 50 years ago, why so many churches keep majoring on the minors — and the one verb in the Great Commission that most of them quietly ignore. If you've ever felt too unqualified, too under schooled, or too far along in life to make disciples — Jim is living proof that's a lie. This is exactly the kind of ordinary man this whole thing is for.

Ep 148 | The House Church Model Pastors Have Never Seen | Jason Shepperd

Jason Shepperd built a megachurch that has no small groups. Instead, more than 4,000 people across Houston meet weekly in dozens of house churches, each one led by an unpaid lay pastor with a day job: firefighters, business owners, real estate guys doing the actual pastoral work of the church. He calls it "a church of house churches" and it might be the most unusual functioning church structure in America.In this conversation, Jason sits down with Jeremy McCommons and Alex Rossie to break down how the model actually works, why he believes the traditional church model is broken, and what he learned reading the New Testament that he couldn't unsee.We get into:- Why a house church is fundamentally different from a small group- How lay pastors (firefighters, business owners, real estate guys) do the actual pastoring- Why Church Project runs on one-quarter the staff of a typical megachurch its size- Why Jason refuses to call this a "model he invented" and what he means by eDNA- How Church Project gives away nearly half its operating budget every year- Why most church buildings are bad stewardship (and how Church Project's building pays for itself)- The "three D's" that hold the whole structure together- What Jason would say to a 35-year-old church planter who's tired of the traditional modelIf you're a pastor, a small group leader, a church planter, or someone who's quietly wondering whether there's a better way to do church, this one is for you.⏱️ Timestamps:0:00 The stewardship of space and spiritual gifts1:15 Meet Jason Shepperd and Church Project3:30 What is the church, actually?8:45 Why Jason started Church Project12:10 What eDNA means and why it matters16:20 House church vs. small group: the real difference22:00 The three D's: distributed, decentralized, diverse28:40 Sunday gatherings without centralization33:15 What Jason says to pastors considering this model39:00 How Church Project handles finances44:30 Why most church buildings are bad stewardship49:00 Pirates and cruise ships: how to build without tearing down🔗 Resources:Jason Shepperd's site: https://jasonshepperd.comChurch Project Network: https://churchprojectnetwork.com"A Church of House Churches" by Jason Shepperd (book, available on Amazon)"Rethink & Return" podcast by Jason Shepperd📍 About Ordinary Movement:We help ordinary believers become disciples who make disciples. Free training, a simple discipleship process, and a global community of leaders. Start a group at https://ordinarymovement.com#HouseChurch #ChurchModel #ChurchPlanting #Discipleship #SmallGroups #ChurchLeadership

Ep 147 | One Foot in the World. One Foot in Church. Matt's Story

Most Christians live with one foot in the world and one foot in church. That's how Matt described his first six years following Jesus. Saved at Texas A&M in 2015. Faithful on Sundays. Attending some small groups. Then he was invited to a discipleship group. Not another Bible study. A discipleship group. He didn't know what the word meant. He showed up anyway. This week's episode is his story. Matt is a Navy officer now stationed in Jacksonville. He went through OM in Virginia, got baptized in January 2023, moved to a new state with no group and no people, launched a Bible study, and then launched an OM group last year. A few things in this conversation worth your time: → Why six years of church attendance didn't move him much → The moment a leader called on him to pray and the floor dropped out → Why a regular Bible study didn't get the buy-in he was looking for → What changed in his growth when he stopped participating and started leading → What he'd say to the version of himself who was still on the sidelines If you've ever sat in church for years and quietly wondered if there was supposed to be more — this one is for you. If you know someone who has, send it to them.

Ep 146 | The Primer Problem: Why Discipleship Isn't Sticking | Jamie Winship

Most Christians feel stuck — reading, attending, doing all the right things, and still not actually changing. Jamie Winship calls it "The Primer Problem." And it's not about your effort. It's about your identity.Jamie Winship is a former FBI agent and founder of Identity Exchange who spent years working in high-stakes conflict zones across the Middle East — including raising his family in Baghdad. What he discovered about why people don't change applies directly to why most discipleship doesn't work.In this conversation, Jamie breaks down:- Why discipleship built on "sin management" fails — and what Jesus was actually doing with the disciples- The Primer Problem: why behavior change doesn't stick when identity hasn't been addressed first- The difference between Empire thinking and Kingdom thinking — and how to spot which one you're living in- Why "I'm stuck" is a lie, and what's actually going on beneath it- What confession really is (hint: it's not an apology)- How to hear from God — the four-stage Abiding practice (Attention, Awareness, Annunciation, Action)- The difference between performing peace and becoming a person of peace- A daily practice for moving out of fear and into who God says you areStart your own discipleship group → ordinarymovement.comLearn more about Jamie's work → identityexchange.com---TIMESTAMPS0:00 — Intro1:22 — Empire vs. Kingdom: The Big Problem6:40 — Why there are no movements of God in American cities10:45 — The lie of scarcity — and how it runs Christian life15:10 — Why you're not actually stuck (you're afraid)20:30 — What Jesus was really doing with the disciples26:00 — Produce vs. Become — what discipleship gets wrong33:15 — The Primer Problem: why behavior change doesn't stick38:00 — Identity: what God says about you vs. what the empire says40:20 — How to hear from God — the Abiding framework47:00 — Confession as truth-telling: Peter's story52:30 — Performing peace vs. being peace55:00 — Fear as a sensor — the daily practice57:00 — Where to go deeper---About Ordinary Movement:We've walked 1,600+ people through a discipleship process across 245 groups in 35 states. OM exists to help ordinary men and women become disciples who make disciples — no seminary required. Learn more at ordinarymovement.com.Ordinary Movement is a discipleship platform that equips men and women to be disciples who make disciples. Our focus is on supporting small groups led by ordinary/everyday Christians. We have specialized discipleship tracks that center around Intimacy with Jesus, Intentional Relationships, and Multiplication. Groups are designed for individuals to easily engage in leading groups.Ready to be a disciple who makes disciples?If so, come and join us!Visit ordinarymovement.com to learn more!#discipleship #disciplemaking #disciple