Remember the goal. It is not a series of lessons. It is not finishing a book, checking off eight sessions, or handing a man a certificate. The goal is to develop a man who can train others also. If the chain stops with him, the work has failed, no matter how good the lessons. If the chain moves through him to another man, the work has succeeded, even if the lessons were simple. Lessons are the tool. The man is the goal.

Leaders of Leaders, Not Just Leaders

Our goal is to develop leaders of leaders, not just leaders. A leader gathers followers. He preaches well, organizes well, and the work grows as far as his strength can carry it. But when he is gone, the work shrinks, because it was built on one man. A leader of leaders raises men who raise men. He fills other rooms, through other men, in places he will never stand. His work grows beyond his strength, no longer depending on him alone.

Paul showed Timothy the pattern.

"And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also." 2 Timothy 2:2

Paul to Timothy. Timothy to faithful men. Faithful men to others. Every link was a leader of leaders. Ask about the man you are discipling. Are you building a follower, or a man who will build men? If you aim only for a follower, you aim too low.

From Basic to Reproductive

To truly develop a man, take him from the basics to the priority God wants him to have: being reproductive. He starts basic. Maybe he just got saved. Maybe he barely knows his Bible. Maybe his life is still tangled, his habits old, his faith small. Your job is not to leave him there. Walk him, step by step, to the place where reproduction is his priority. First he learns to walk with God himself. Then to serve, to help another man, to train that man to help another. At each step, the goal moves from receiving to giving.

Reproduction is a strong word, and the right one. A healthy tree bears fruit; the fruit carries seed; the seed becomes another tree. A healthy Christian does the same. He does not just enjoy the shade. He produces seed. When reproduction becomes his priority, when he wakes up thinking about it, you will know the work is taking hold.

Don't park a man as a faithful attender and call it success. Attendance is only the beginning. Keep walking him forward until giving life to others is as natural as receiving life once was.

Prepare Them All, and Be Shocked If They Do Not

Here is the vision that will stretch your faith. Prepare all to serve God full time, and be shocked if they do not. Do not train a man for a small life and hope he surprises you. Train him for a life wholly given to God, and let God decide its shape. Prepare him as if God may call him to preach, to the mission field, to pastor, to give his years to the Lord's work. Teach him the Word deeply, to pray, to lead, to sacrifice, to endure. Build into him everything a full-time servant of God would need.

This is not pressure. It is vision. You are not forcing a call on him. You are refusing to aim low. If God calls him to a trade, a shop, an office, that life will still be full of God, because you prepared him to give God everything. If God calls him to full-time ministry, he will be ready because you never trained him for less.

Jesus said,

"The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest." Matthew 9:37-38

The harvest is still plenteous; the laborers still few. Prepare every man like a laborer, and be genuinely shocked if God does not use him greatly. That expectation lifts a man higher than he planned.

Take Them as Far as They Are Willing to Go

Now the balance. Not every man goes as far as another. Take them as far as they are willing to go. Some will run, soak up every lesson, find a disciple in a month, and outgrow your hopes. Let them run. Do not hold them back to match your pace. Some will walk. They grow slowly, stumble often, need the same truth twice, and take a year to do what another man did in a month. Walk with them. Slow growth is still growth. Some will stop. They stall, drift, or decide the cost is too high for now. Don't force them, and don't quit on them. Keep the door open, keep loving them, keep praying. Willingness can return. A man who stopped at lesson six may come back ready for lesson sixty.

Your job is not to drag a man further than he is willing to go. Go with him as far as he is willing, and keep the invitation open for the next mile. God does the calling. You do the walking beside.

The Goal, Once More

So remember the goal. Not a series of lessons. A man who can also train others. Leaders of leaders, not just leaders. Men carried from basic to reproductive. Men prepared for full-time service, so fully that you'd be shocked if God didn't use them. Men taken as far as they are willing to go, and loved all the way there. The lessons are not the point. The sessions are not the prize. The prize is a man standing where you once stood, teaching another man what you taught, dreaming of the day his disciple will do the same. That is multiplication, the way Jesus designed the church to grow. A goal worth giving your life to, one man at a time.