Making disciples through church planting in a small town, teaching English to immigrants, and hosting weekly dinners in your home might sound hard. But, according to Andrew Martin, a church planter in Lumberton, North Carolina, they all flow from one simple truth: making disciples isn’t rocket science. “Any of us can do it,” Andrew emphasizes. “If you love Jesus, the answer is yes — you are fit to be a part of this.”
In this biblically rooted and wide-ranging discussion, Andrew Martin, church planter of Lumberton Mission Church (PCA) in Lumberton, North Carolina, joins The Great Commission Today Podcast to reflect on disciple-making at ground level. Drawing from his background as a missionary kid, youth pastor, seminary graduate, and now church planter, Andrew offers a deeply biblical and practical vision for the Great Commission rooted in worship, community, and the ordinary rhythms of life. NOTE: This article summarize some of the key points in the podcast. A complete video/podcast is found near the bottom of this page.
Making Disciples Where You Already Are
Andrew’s journey to church planting began in an unexpected place: a community college classroom. As a part-time ESL instructor, he found himself surrounded by students from Haiti, Yemen, Egypt, and Spanish-speaking countries. The classroom became his mission field.
“Being present in the community and building relationships—that’s where it starts,” he explains. One young man he met wasn’t seeking spiritual answers initially. They connected over a shared military background. Andrew offered practical help with enlistment preparation. Trust grew. Conversations deepened. Soon they were reading the Gospel of Mark together.
The result? Andrew watched God bring this young man to faith right before his eyes.
Making Disciples Through Simple Hospitality
Every Wednesday evening, Andrew and his wife Heather open their home. Dinner. Bible study. Prayer. Nothing fancy. Nothing complicated.
“We’re trying to mirror the Acts 2 community,” Andrew shares. “Fellowship, breaking bread, devotion to the apostles’ teaching, and prayer—it’s all there.”
One family had been disconnected from church for years, but Wednesday nights gave them a safe place to return. A young man who initially seemed hesitant told Andrew after several weeks: “Your friends are different. I just feel safe among you.”
The combination of word and deed creates powerful witness. People don’t just hear about Jesus—they experience Christian community firsthand.
Making Disciples Starts With Being Disciples
The eleven disciples who received the Great Commission weren’t perfect. They were afraid. They abandoned Jesus. They doubted even after seeing the risen Christ.
Yet Jesus commissioned them anyway.
“These weren’t the guys with the greatest track record,” Andrew notes. “But Jesus used them. We’re a lot like them. There’s really no one disqualified from being part of this.”
Jesus bookends his commission with two crucial promises: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (verse 18) and “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (verse 20). Between these promises sits the command to make disciples by going, baptizing, and teaching.
One Central Command
While our English translations list multiple commands in Matthew 28:19-20, the Greek text reveals one imperative: make disciples. Going, baptizing, and teaching function as participles—they describe how we fulfill that central command.
“Jesus tells them, ‘The thing you’re supposed to do is make disciples,'” Andrew explains. “Those other three—go, baptize, and teach—that’s basically how you do it.”
This grammatical insight shifts our perspective. We’re not juggling multiple separate tasks. We’re pursuing one clear purpose through three interconnected activities.
Making Disciples Requires Community, Not Solo Efforts
American culture celebrates rugged individualism. We imagine lone believers conquering their workplace for Christ. But Scripture paints a different picture.
Jesus sent disciples out two by two. Paul planted churches with teams. Even when we can’t bring a small group into our workplace, we need that group’s support.
“You can provide a place where people come regularly to share stories from their workplace,” Andrew suggests. “Others surround them, encourage them, pray with and for them by name.”
The Wednesday night gathering serves this purpose. Christians find encouragement. Non-Christians experience community before they fully understand the gospel. Leaders develop as they learn to facilitate these spaces.
The BLESS Framework
Andrew recommends a practical acronym for engaging your everyday contexts:
- B – Begin with prayer. Ask God to show you who knows Christ and who doesn’t. Pray for both groups.
- L – Listen. Build relationships. Ask questions. Get to know people’s stories.
- E – Eat together. Share meals. Hospitality breaks down barriers and builds trust.
- S – Serve. Meet practical needs through word and deed, just as Jesus did.
- S – Story. Share your salvation story and the story of Jesus.
These rhythms work wherever you live, work, learn, and play. They don’t require seminary training or special gifting. They simply require willingness.
Crossing the Pain Line
Rico Tice, creator of Christianity Explored, talks about crossing “the pain line”—that uncomfortable moment when you tell someone the hard truth that things aren’t okay between them and God.
Outreach activities build bridges. They demonstrate Christ’s love through deeds. But evangelism requires words. It requires telling people they’re sinners who need a Savior.
“You can do a lot of outreach without ever doing evangelism,” Andrew warns. “However, you need them to go together.”
The young man Andrew met at the community college needed both. Practical help with military preparation opened doors. But he ultimately needed to hear the gospel message and respond in faith.
Making Disciples Despite Real Opposition
The work faces obstacles both external and internal.
Externally, people are spiritually dead apart from Christ. Our enemy opposes kingdom advance. Cultural resistance creates awkwardness and sometimes persecution.
Internally, we battle impatience when people don’t respond on our timeline. We struggle with fear of rejection. Our own idols (comfort, reputation, convenience) whisper excuses.
“It’s hard to love people, especially when they reject us or make fun of us,” Andrew admits honestly.
Community helps us navigate these challenges. Fellow believers encourage us to rest when we’re genuinely exhausted. They also challenge us when we’re avoiding obedience due to selfishness or fear.
Making Disciples Flows From Knowing God’s Love
How do we overcome these obstacles? Andrew points to Ephesians 3, where Paul prays that believers would comprehend the height, depth, width, and breadth of Christ’s love.
“My prayer is that you will know how much God loves you so that you’ll become more like Jesus,” Andrew summarizes Paul’s petition.
This isn’t soft theology. It’s the engine of obedience. We love because he first loved us. We make disciples because we’ve experienced his transforming love.
“If the Bible says we love because he first loved us, and loving means obeying Jesus’ commands, then how do we do the hard work of making disciples? By being rooted more and more in the love of God.”
Practical application? Pray for yourself and others: “Lord, help me know more of how much you love me.” Meditate on Scripture. Think deeply about how God’s love should reshape your daily life.
Making Disciples With the Next Generation
Forty-four percent of 18-29 year-olds now identify as religiously unaffiliated, according to Pew Research. In Andrew’s rural North Carolina context, many young people claim Christian identity but don’t understand the gospel.
His approach? Ask questions. Lots of them.
Andrew follows what he calls the “55-5 rule” from Francis Schaeffer: spend 55 minutes of every hour asking questions, and only five minutes responding.
“As people share, you can ask follow-up questions that get down into the weeds of where they are, what they do and don’t believe,” he explains. “That opens all kinds of opportunities to demonstrate God’s love and present the gospel.”
A simple starter: “Tell me where you are on your spiritual journey.” Then listen. Really listen. Let their answers guide your next questions.
Making Disciples Is Your Primary Purpose
Perhaps the greatest encouragement Andrew offers is this: the Great Commission answers life’s deepest question.
Every person asks, whether consciously or not, “What is my purpose?”
Military veterans struggle when they leave service. Retirees wonder what gives their life meaning. We all need purpose.
“As Christians, we never have to ask ourselves that question,” Andrew declares. “We always have our primary purpose: our identity as beloved sons and daughters in Christ, with an incredible sense of meaning and purpose—to be a part of making disciples.”
Your secondary calling—your specific job or life stage—will change. Andrew has been a missionary kid, a Navy serviceman, a youth pastor, and now a church planter. But through every season, one calling remains constant: making disciples.
Making Disciples Changes the World
Making disciples is how God accomplishes transformation. “The ultimate hope is people brought to life and given the power to turn from their sins, to serve God, to worship him and love God and neighbor,” Andrew explains. “That’s how things change ultimately.”
Not through political power. Not through social programs, however valuable. Through disciples who love God and love their neighbors, teaching others to do the same.
The mission isn’t complicated. Pray. Build relationships. Share meals. Serve practical needs. Tell people about Jesus. Gather them into community. Teach them to obey everything Christ commanded.
You don’t need a seminary degree. You don’t need to be in full-time ministry. You need to love Jesus and love people where God has placed you.
As Andrew reminds us, you already live somewhere. You already work somewhere. You already learn and play somewhere. Those everyday contexts are your mission field.
Making disciples really isn’t complicated. And the King who has all authority promises to be with you always, even to the end of the age.
Episode 3 of The Great Commission Podcast
Key Moments in the Podcast
- 0:02 — Introduction: Welcome to The Great Commission Today and the mission of the podcast.
- 0:36 — Meet Andrew Martin: Church planter of Lumberton Mission Church (PCA) in Lumberton, NC.
- 2:01 — Family & Calling: Marriage, children, and the road that led to church planting.
- 3:14 — What Is a “Scratch Plant”?: Being sent by presbytery without a core group.
- 5:10 — The Presence-to-Gathering Stage: Building relationships before public worship services.
- 6:05 — Learning Languages & Basketball Outreach: How God uses ordinary interests for gospel relationships.
- 7:32 — Andrew’s Testimony: Growing up in a Christian home and missionary family.
- 10:28 — A Childhood Gospel Moment in Thailand: Hearing the gospel clearly and professing faith.
- 13:03 — Baptized Abroad: A picture of the global church and God’s covenant faithfulness.
- 15:40 — Influential Mentors: Covenant Seminary, small-group discipleship, and transparent community.
- 18:35 — Seeing God at Work Today: ESL classes, hospitality, Bible reading, and new life in Christ.
- 24:25 — “It’s Simple”: Why disciple-making doesn’t require special skills or personalities.
- 24:54 — Reading the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16–20).
- 26:32 — Who Were the Eleven?: Why imperfect disciples give hope to today’s believers.
- 29:24 — Worship at the Heart of Mission: “Mission exists because worship does not.”
- 31:29 — Indicatives & Imperatives: Christ’s authority and presence empower obedience.
- 34:45 — Making Disciples Defined: Going, baptizing, and teaching within the church.
- 37:42 — The Great Commission in the Whole Bible: From Genesis to Acts.
- 40:36 — Our Cultural Context: What’s changed—and what hasn’t—since the first century.
- 46:31 — Individual & Corporate Mission: Living the Great Commission together, not alone.
- 49:34 — The BLESS Framework: Prayer, listening, hospitality, service, and sharing the gospel.
- 56:28 — Wednesday Night Dinner & Bible Study: An Acts 2–shaped discipleship rhythm.
- 1:03:37 — Obstacles to Disciple-Making: Spiritual opposition, impatience, fear, and fatigue.
- 1:11:02 — The Power to Persevere: Knowing the love of Christ (Ephesians 3).
- 1:17:24 — Outreach vs. Evangelism: Insights from the OPC Church Planting Manual.
- 1:25:37 — What Matters Most Right Now: The importance of intentional follow-up.
- 1:32:59 — Reaching 18–29-Year-Olds: Asking good questions in a spiritually open generation.
- 1:36:00 — The “55–5 Rule”: Learning to listen well before speaking.
- 1:38:24 — Final Encouragement: The Great Commission as gift, purpose, and hope.
- 1:42:16 — Prayer Requests: Gospel fruit, deep discipleship, and new leaders raised up.