Dhati Lewis - Among Wolves: Disciple-Making in the City

Copyright 2017 by Dhati Lewis

All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America

978-1-4336-4402-3

Published by B&H Publishing Group

Nashville, Tennessee

Dewey Decimal Classification: 269.2

Subject Heading: EVANGELISTIC WORK \ DISCIPLESHIP \ JESUS CHRISTTEACHINGS

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is taken from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2011. The ESV text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved.

Also used: New American Standard Bible ( nasb ), copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.

Also used: New International Version ( niv ), copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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For my wife and kids who have helped me embody these principles over the years. And for my Blueprint Family, who embraced disciple-making as central for the local church.

Acknowledgments

First, I would like to thank Jesus for sovereignly putting me in the right places at the right time. I know I am not the most gifted, most well-spoken, or the most talented. But, like Moses, He has taken the little I have to make much of Himself.

I would like to thank my lovely, beautiful wife, Angie. Everyone who knows us, knows that you are the real hero in our family. You are our backbone. And more than any other human, you have dared me and given me the freedom to find my identity in Christ and not in the culture.

I would also like to thank my kids, Trinity, Jade, Briaiah, Dhati Jr., Brayden, and Nathaniel. As a flawed man who often doesnt get things right, thanks for keeping me honest and never losing hope in me. You have taught me what true repentance looks like.

I want to thank my mom, Donna Lewis, for being in my corner since day one. Literally.

I would also like to thank my grandmother, Lillie Pruitt. Thank you for the sacrifices you made, raising ten grandchildren in times when our dads werent around.

Keynon, you were there before the thought of being a pastor or serving in full-time ministry ever crossed our minds. Thanks for being my road-dog and trying to flesh out these principles before we could even call them principles.

I want to thank Stephanie for helping me get this content out and put it on paper.

I want to thank all the Blueprint Elders who have co-labored with me over the years. I would specifically like to thank John Onwuchekwa, Muche Ukegbu, James Roberson, Amisho Lewis, Sam Dulla, Mark McClendon, Jorge Mendoza, Chad Pritchard, and Rob Harden for the many late hours of wrestling through these principles and helping us implement them in our specific urban context.

I would like to thank the Blueprint Staff, both old and new, for putting up with multiple changes as we have worked to make disciple-making not a ministry of our church, but the ministry of our church. Thank you for all the years of endurance and sacrifice.

Preface

Every Sunday growing up, I watched my father play football and proudly cheered him on. With a professional football player as a dad, I got to live the life few knowI had everything I could dream of as a child. I had a special talent that was similar to my fathers talent in football, and I began using it at the age of five. As I grew older, football became my god, guiding me in all my decisions and feelings. I didnt smoke, I didnt drink, I didnt do anything that I perceived as detrimental to a long, healthy life of football. When football was good, I was good; but when football was bad, I was bad. Football was my idol.

After high school, some smaller colleges offered football scholarships to me, but I wanted to play football for a large school. I could not believe I wasnt recruited by a major Division 1 school. Thats when I hit a low point in my life. I thought I could play for and attend a community college in California, in hopes that I might get a better offer to a major Division 1 college.

There was a void in my life. This became evident because when I thought about life beyond footballthere wasnt much to think through. Without football, I was left with a sense of emptiness. I didnt know how to find my significance, because all I knew was tied up in that game. I went through a period of searching. I began to study Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, and other religions to try to find the truth. One day, my friends mother bought me my first Bible. I started reading it the summer before my sophomore year of college, and I began attending a Christian church. I knew even though I was considered a good guy, I was a lonely, arrogant, and self-centered man in need of help, in need of meaning, and in need of a new purpose for my life.

In my studies of religion, Christianity was the only religion that told me that I sinned and fell short of Gods glory. Because of that sin, I was going to die and be judged. I realized Gods standard was perfection, and I was definitely not perfect. Jesus died on the cross for my sin to satisfy Gods wrath toward me because of my sin. There was nothing I could do to change that fact. I learned that I must accept the Lord by faith because a relationship with God was not something earned or deserved, but a gift. I learned Christ died on the cross for my sins and He was raised from the grave.

The Lord brought me to a point of repentance. At church, the way people repented was by going down to the altar and, at the time, I thought that was the only way to be saved. So one weekday, I decided that I would walk down the aisle and give my life to Christ. On the next Sunday, I transferred my trust to Christ as my Lord and Savior. That was in 1996.

In the early days after my conversion, I would hear people talk about David and Goliath and Samson and Delilah, and I would always wonder, Who in the world are these people?

I would go back to my dorm room and read the stories for hours on end. I felt so behind and so lost, but the desire to catch up is what actually ended up developing in me a love for Gods Word. I began going to any and every Bible study I could find. I went to a different Bible study every day of the week with any campus ministry I could: FCA, Campus Crusade for Christ, Impact, and more. I wanted to learn my Word.

I also wanted my nonbelieving friends to learn about Christ. The problem came when I would invite them to these campus studies. Most times, they would not come because most of the studies were with predominantly white groups and they felt out of place. When they would come, they were unwilling to or just unable to make the cultural jump. They would give me excuses like Man, its not for me or, Come on, man. They play an acoustic guitar. I was left feeling helpless because I was learning about the Lord personally, but not affecting my culture.

It was when a guy asked if he could disciple meeven though I had no idea what that meantthat my life for the Lord began to take shape. I knew this man would teach me more about the Bible, so I agreed. He taught me what it meant to be proactive for the faith. Before that, my walk with the Lord was primarily a list of dontsdont go to the clubs, dont join the fraternity, dont drink, dont, dont, dontbut for the first time, I saw that God put us here with a purpose.

While I was beginning to catch the vision for the life God calls us to, I struggled to figure out how to communicate that vision to my friends. The campus ministries I was part of were mostly homogeneous. They did things a specific way with a specific style to reach a specific type of person. And ethnic minorities, the people I most connected with, didnt look like them, talk like them, or act like them. I saw an increasing need to minister to this group of third-culture kids.