Despite a canceled flight and threats of persecution, Justin and Barnabas followed the prompting of God to travel, directly from a new Disciple Making Movement (DMM) training to a group of believers among an unreached Muslim people group in a South African country (we define a movement as at least 100 churches with at least 4 generations of multiplication).
When they arrived, the country leader expected formal training to equip the new disciples. But Barnabas felt led to get to know each person by sharing their testimonies. After Barnabas called on a man to share, the man turned back to Barnabas, asking him to share his own testimony! Barnabas shared how God saved him from alcohol addiction, and when he began to follow Jesus and obey him, his life was transformed, and people followed Jesus in baptism.
Barnabas then turned to the women in the group one of whom had 11 Discovery Bible Studies (DBSs) going with her friends and family, when she shared, she felt convicted that though she had become a follower of Jesus she had not yet obeyed his command of baptism. The next woman to share confirmed that she too wanted to get baptized immediately.
The country leader encouraged them to pray about it overnight (getting baptized in a Muslim context is a very serious step; they often face persecution). In the morning, there were now 4 women and 2 men waiting by the lake. One of the brothers had recently tried to kill the country leader by placing a bomb in his car. When it failed to detonate, he felt it was God who had protected him, so he decided to join the others with great joy in baptism.
DMM leaders regularly teach about immediate obedience; the importance for every disciple to daily discover how God is leading them through His Word, to follow all of Jesus’ commands. This wave of new disciples taking steps of faith to start Discovery Groups, and then get baptized themselves, is leading to a chain reaction of disciples making disciples and churches planting churches.
