"Out of My Love for God" - The Five-Part Definition That Captures Everything

After decades of studying Jesus’s pattern, practicing disciple-making in his own ministry, and training thousands of leaders around the world, Dann Spader distilled everything into one sentence: “Out of my love for God, using my gifts and talents, to multiply the character and priorities of Christ in as many people as possible.”

That sentence has five parts, and each one is essential. Remove any part and the picture is incomplete. Together, they summarize everything we have learned in this four-day workshop.

Part 1: “Out of My Love for God”

The Great Commandment is the motive. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37). Everything in disciple-making flows from this. Not guilt. Not duty. Not ambition. Love.

You can only reproduce what you are. If you are a driven, anxious leader who serves out of obligation, you will produce driven, anxious followers. If you are a joyful, Spirit-dependent lover of God who serves out of overflow, you will produce the same. The Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) is fueled by the Great Commandment (Matthew 22:37-38). Love God first. Make disciples second. The second is the natural fruit of the first.

Part 2: “Using My Gifts and Talents”

This frees every believer from the pressure of being something they are not. God has shaped you with specific gifts and talents, and He expects you to invest where He has equipped you. Ephesians 4:12 says leaders are to “equip his people for works of service.” The word “equip” is katartizo - the same word Jesus used in Luke 6:40 for “fully trained.” It means to repair and prepare. God repairs what is broken in you and prepares you for the work He has designed you to do.

In a remote Javanese village, this means using whatever God has given you. You may be a gifted storyteller, a compassionate visitor, a patient teacher, or a faithful prayer warrior. Use that gift. Do not wish for someone else’s. And recognize that your disciples need input from others too. No one person can provide everything.

Part 3: “Multiply the Character of Christ”

The goal is not information transfer. It is transformation. The fruit of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23) - is the evidence that character is being formed. The question is not “Does my disciple know more Bible verses?” but “Is my disciple becoming more like Jesus?”

And the most convicting question of all: “What are they catching from me?” Character is caught, not taught. If I am patient, my disciple catches patience. If I am prayerful, my disciple catches prayerfulness. If I am critical, my disciple catches criticism. I reproduce what I am.

Part 4: “Multiply the Priorities of Christ”

Character is about who the disciple is becoming. Priorities are about what the disciple does. Jesus prioritized reaching the lost, nurturing the young, equipping workers, and sending disciple-makers. A fully formed disciple shares those priorities. Paul captured it: “I want to know Christ - yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death” (Philippians 3:10). Knowing Christ meant sharing His priorities, even when those priorities led to suffering.

A disciple who has character but no priorities is a museum piece - beautiful but inactive. A disciple who has priorities but no character is a wrecking ball - active but destructive. Both are necessary. The goal is Christlike character expressing itself through Kingdom priorities.

Part 5: “In As Many People As Possible”

Depth without width becomes ingrown. Width without depth becomes shallow. Spader calls for both: go deep with a few, but keep your heart open to the many. Jesus invested deeply in twelve, then three. But He also fed five thousand, healed multitudes, and wept over entire cities. A rice farmer does not plant one stalk of rice. He plants a field. But he tends each stalk individually.

Spader offers a crucial guardrail: “If you only champion discipling, you may not end up talking about Jesus. But if you champion Jesus, you always end up talking about making disciples!” Keep Jesus central, and disciple-making follows naturally. Make disciple-making central, and you risk building a system instead of a Savior.

The Warning That Grounds Us All

Spader concludes with a sober reminder: “Any attempt to make disciples the way Jesus did, in our own flesh, will result in failure.” We reproduce what we are. Holiness is God’s agenda for us - not because He is demanding perfection, but because a holy life is the only soil from which multiplication can grow. The Holy Spirit must be at work in every stage. Only He can convict seekers, reveal God’s love, transform servants into friends, and make spiritual parents. Apart from Christ, we can do nothing (John 15:5). In Christ, we can bear much fruit (John 15:8).