Bøker av Bill Hull

45 Essays on Life, Church, Culture, and Philosophy.In I Will Not Bow Down Bill Hull calls the church to stand up against the lies that are told daily that are controlling and creating a malignant culture. The church has interpreted its own decline and loss of prestige as a defeat and too often has retreated to lick its wounds. Decline however, is only a symptom of the real problem. The real problem is the kind of disciples we are producing. Bill defines the problem at the outset and the solution in the long introduction. The remainder of the book is Bill looking at the problem and solution from various angles. Bill continues to con- tend that the basic premise of any narrative is a theo- logical one and is about God. From there culture is formed and finally it reflects itself in politics. The book offers many examples, sources, stories and solutions to how we can make a new kind of disciple that can make a positive difference.Could part of the problem we have with making better disciples be that leader's lives are built on the spiritual sand? When troubles come, and a leader is under a deluge of ambition, fast fixes, self-doubt and a unsatis- fied soul, he or she sells out. Revolution is not only about Why, What, And How... It is also about Who. Who we are is the determining factor in the long run.

IS THE GOSPEL YOU PREACH MAKING DISCIPLES-OR CONVERTS?Many today preach a gospel that makes converts, but not disciples. This is the result of "non-discipleship gospels," which exclude the necessity to follow Jesus from their message. The Discipleship Gospel challenges the church today with a fresh reading of Jesus' gospel-one that we must learn to preach again."The gospel you preach determines the disciples you make," the authors write. Bill Hull and Ben Sobels use key biblical texts to describe why discipleship is not just an add-on to the gospel, but an essential part of it. The authors define seven essential elements of Jesus' gospel and why you must include each one in your gospel if you want to make disciples, not just converts. In this book, they help you clarify your understanding of the gospel, learn how to contextualize your message, and create a plan to make disciples who embrace the full gospel-in your church and beyond."Every Christian needs to read this important book. It identifies the challenges and negative effects of gospels that are devoid of discipleship and reminds us that salvation includes full life in Christ as we grow to be more like him."-ROBBY GALLATY, Senior Pastor, Long Hollow Baptist Church, president of Replicate Ministries"With biblical and theological precision, The Discipleship Gospel instructs us to replace the gospel of easy believism with Jesus' gospel of the kingdom. Until we get the gospel right, we can't expect the state of discipleship to change. This book takes us to the very foundation upon which disciple making is built."-GREG OGDEN, Chairman of the Board, Global Discipleship Initiative"Ben and Bill show us how Jesus' gospel calls us to both salvation and discipleship-no exceptions, no excuses. I pray that every pastor and leader who reads it will be changed by it."-BOBBY HARRINGTON, pastor and cofounder, Discipleship.orgBILL HULL is cofounder of The Bonhoeffer Project and author of Conversion and Discipleship and The Disciple-Making Pastor. He speaks as a persevering prophet on the topic of discipleship around the nation.BEN SOBELS is a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary and serves as Senior Pastor at Cypress Community Church in Salinas, California. He also serves as a regional director for The Bonhoeffer Project.

This book deftly raises the issue that church leaders need to grapple with today-and in all generations.- Bobby Harrington, co-founder of Discipleship.org and Renew.orgAvoid a major pitfall. Most disciple-making efforts today fail because they focus on me: discipleship gets me closer to God, makes me a better Christian, and helps me gain purpose in life. But Jesus-style discipleship focuses on God and his kingdom.How can we relearn this simple yet profound truth when so many people today have embraced the American gospel of me? And how can we teach this to others? Bill Hull and Brandon Cook tell readers to stop asking . . .How am I doing?Instead, they teach us to ask God-centered questions. This reorientation changes everything. The False Promise of Discipleship implores readers to stop asking the wrong questions and to start making disciples the way Jesus made disciples.This short book equips you with practical takeaways so you can thrive as a disciple maker. Written for disciples at all stages of growth, it challenges common assumptions that may be undermining your disciple-making efforts.Based on their personal experience as pastors, authors Hull and Cook provide you with a scriptural, gospel-centered approach to becoming a thriving disciple and disciple-making leader. Learn to ask the right questions and avoid some of the most pervasive-yet common-pitfalls among disciple makers today. Take a quantum leap toward Jesus-style disciple-making. Walk away with a new framework and the right questions you need to follow Jesus faithfully amidst the all-pervasive American gospel.BILL HULL is a co-founder of The Bonhoeffer Project and author of Conversion and Discipleship, along with over twenty other books about discipleship. He speaks as a persevering prophet on the topic of discipleship around the nation.BRANDON COOK serves as Lead Pastor at Long Beach Christian Fellowship and is a co-founder of The Bonhoeffer Project. He is also the author of Learning to Live and Love Like Jesus.

What is a Christian? At the most basic level, a Christian is a disciple of Jesus Christ. And yet many Christians today couldn't tell you what a disciple of Jesus Christ is, or would even think of themselves as disciples. And yet in the Great Commission, Jesus specifically called us to make disciples. Everything else is secondary. The Cost of Cheap Grace is an extended, sweeping, bold, and bracing call to repentance for where we've let secondary things subvert our commitment to discipleship, and a compelling vision for discipleship as the basis of the gospel in all its world-changing, subversive power.

From the author of the best-selling book The Disciple-Making Pastor comes a call to Christian leaders to let go of their addiction to secular models of leadership rooted in pragmatic success.Most leadership literature talks about having the ';right kind' of leadership personality. You know the type: big-picture visionaries who serve others and get the best out of people. But the popular pattern of doing what works and getting rewarded for it is actually the enemy of Christian leadership. It thrives on making our work impersonal and exploitive. Far too often, it serves the leader rather than those the leader leads. Sadly, this pattern dominates Christian leadership in the West.We need a different style of leadership one patterned after Jesus. Jesus influenced others because of who he was, not because he was well-known or a person of power or because he had mastered a set of skills or implemented an effective leadership strategy. He could have completed his mission living in your house, driving your car, married to your spouse, working at your office, and raising your kids because leadership comes down to character. Many who aspire to leadership are looking for the right circumstances so they can lead. Many in positions of leadership find it difficult to lead because of obstacles, such as a lack of funds, authority, and or confusion about methods. Jesus faced all of these and more yet he accomplished his mission.This is not a book about improving Christian organizations; it is about changing how Christians lead. It is for anyone with a megaphone, a platform to speak, who wants to lead others in being a witness for truth. It is for people with a pulpit, whether that pulpit be a business or a position of influence in a domain of the culture: entertainment, sports, politics, industry, the arts, academia, or religion. If you are someone to whom others listen this book is for you.Each chapter begins with a title and statement about Jesus' life. Jesus was a different kind of teacher. The Pharisees focused on doing the right thing. Jesus emphasized becoming the kind of person who wants to do the right thing. Others taught the importance of doing good; Jesus taught how to be good. He didn't teach behavior modification alone; he taught how to change the sources of behavior. Knowing how to lead others begins by seeing Jesus as your leader.

Thomas doubted. Peter denied. Matthew had a shady past. And most of Jesus' disciples had trouble understanding his true message and mission at times. How did Jesus take lowly fishermen and tax collectors and turn them into some of the most influential men that ever lived? And how can modern church leaders empower regular church members to meet their potential as servants of God? In Jesus Christ, Disciplemaker, Hull outlines Christ's methods in training his twelve disciples and presents a biblical pattern that emulates Christ's model for reaching the lost. By taking readers through four growth phases-evangelizing, establishing, equipping, and leading-Hull shows how these principles can be adapted for any discipler. Jesus Christ, Disciplemaker is the perfect resource for pastors and church leaders who want to learn how to help others grow in God's service.

Christ commanded the church to make disciples, to produce people who love and obey God, bear fruit, and live with joy. The crisis at the heart of the church is that we often pay lip service to making disciples, but we seldom put much effort behind doing it. For the pastor who is ready to put words into action, The Disciple-Making Pastor offers the inspiration and practical know-how to do so. Bill Hull shows pastors the obstacles they will face, what disciples really look like, the pastor's role in producing them, and the practices that lead to positive change. He also offers a six-step coaching process to help new disciples grow in commitment and obedience and practical ideas to integrate disciple making into the fabric of the church.

Scripture places high priority on the disciplemaking capacity of the church, This book shows how to accomplish it. Foreword by Howard Ball.

Discipleship occurs when someone answers the call to learn from Jesus how to live his or her life as though Jesus were living it. The end result is that the disciple becomes the kind of person who naturally does what Jesus did. How the church understands salvation and the gospel is the key to recovering a biblical theology of discipleship. Our doctrines of grace and salvation, in some cases, actually prevent us from creating an expectation that we are to be disciples of Jesus. A person can profess to be a Christian and yet still live under the impression that they don't need to actually follow Jesus. Being a follower is seen as an optional add-on, not a requirement. It is a choice, not a demand. Being a Christian today has no connection with the biblical idea that we are formed into the image of Christ.In this ground-breaking new book, pastor and author Bill Hull shows why our existing models of evangelism and discipleship fail to actually produce followers of Jesus. He looks at the importance of recovering a robust view of the gospel and taking seriously the connection between conversionanswering the call to follow Jesusand discipleshipliving like the one we claim to follow.

Many churches harbor harried congregations merely going through the motions--sleepwalking saints who fail to experience transformed living. Many are unable and unwilling to share the gospel, convinced that it's not their "gift."True disciples do more than the minimum, explains Hull. They choose the life and commit to bringing Jesus to the lost. They live out their beliefs and walk the walk. Submission shows the doubting world that Christ is embedded in their character. Choose the Life is a practical tool as accessible to laypeople as ministry leaders. Any church seeking life-changing significance will be challenged by this cutting-edge resource. No hand-holding here, Choose the Life shows church members how to take individual responsibility for both being discipled and discipling others.