Hollywood churns out a lot of trash, but movie producers occasionally get it right. That was the case with Pay it Forward, a story portraying what can happen when we do good for others. The plot features an 11-year-old student named Trevor who is given a class project by his teacher. Trevor’s task is to come up with a plan that will change the world through direct action. On his way home from school, Trevor notices a homeless man and decides to make a difference in his life. He comes up with the plan to “pay it forward” by doing a good deed for three people who must in turn each do good deeds for three other people. Trevor’s plan is to help the man by feeding and housing him so he can get on his feet. His compassionate deed caused a chain reaction that resulted in many lives being positively impacted.

The idea of paying it forward should resonate with God’s people. It captures much of the essence of what is taught in scripture. The amazing thing about receiving a gift is that it often motivates us to respond accordingly. Doing the right thing is contagious! Paying it forward also has a direct correlation in our responsibility for reaching the lost. The apostle Paul’s second letter to the young disciple Timothy provides an example. Paul wrote, “The things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others” (2 Timothy 2:2). Paul discipled Timothy, and he told him to disciple others who in turn would be capable of making other disciples. Both Paul and Timothy “paid it forward.”

The Timothy Network is a grassroots disciple-making ministry established with a “pay it forward” approach in mind. Since beginning in 2005, we’ve been able to engage over one hundred men and women in discipleship training that moves them forward in their relationship with God and prepares them for the work of discipling others.   For example, one of the men involved in our work is Dean Dunning. I discipled and baptized Dean a few years ago, and he’s now paying it forward by discipling others like Hoang Nyguen, a Vietnamese grad student at MTSU.   Susie Davenport also comes to mind.   Susie was discipled in one of our equipping cells for women.   She is now discipling two other young women, one of which was recently baptized into Christ as a result of Susie’s investment in her life.

Effective disciple-making follows a uniquely “organic” path. It involves a relational discipling dynamic as opposed to programming that emphasizes one teacher lecturing facts and strategies to dozens or hundreds in a classroom setting. Our mission is similar to home-schooling. It’s about making disciples “a few at a time” in a highly individualized and reproducible way. Participants are grounded in discipleship and equipped to pass on their faith to others. The goal is to produce a chain reaction. Over half those participating in the Timothy Network equipping and discipleship ministry are involved because of the intentional discipling efforts of people who had been discipled and chose to seek out others. A little leaven goes a long way. Multiplying ministry works!