Kairos Roots Focuses on Intentional Discipleship

Kairos Discipleship Minister, Matt Purdom, believes in intentional discipleship and has incorporated it into Roots---a weekly Bible Study which focuses on one book of the Bible at a time. Roots has a discipleship emphasis, and discipleship involves intentional relationships.

Brentwood Baptist uses the book Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald Whitney. There are 12 spiritual disciplines included in the book. However, within Roots, Matt primarily works with four of the spiritual practices---the Word, Fellowship, Witness, and Prayer which all help in overall obedience to God.

“We are getting established in the spiritual habits,” says Matt. He uses the spiritual practices of Bible Reading groups, scripture memorization, evangelism training, and prayer.

The Lord put the Bible reading strategy on Matt's mind. However since then, he has discovered through reading a Discipleship book by John Wesley about the Holy Club movement. The first work of the Holy Club was the study of the Bible.

The Roots community is being intentional about reading the Bible. Some get up early and meet to read the Bible together before they go to school or work.

Matt says, “We equip leaders to mature the body of Christ. We minister to everyone. We are learning how to minister to others which is more caught than taught.”

Testimonies are given by key leadership within Roots. Those key leaders disciple other men and women. Then, those people in turn disciple others.

“Kairos Roots is a training base for launching small groups. There's a master and a teacher. The small groups branch off into homes off campus. It's a small group factory,” says Matt.

One group of three guys started out in the Belmont area. Then, they began their own Bible reading groups. One has already begun his own group. The other two are going to begin their own groups in the spring.

Morgan Johnson, Kairos OC Intern, has been learning small group tactics from Matt. He has also been leading small group discussions for the weekly Roots. Morgan has interned with Kairos since May and Kairos Roots since August. He helps plan events for both Kairos OC and Roots. He is only one of the latest Bible reading group leaders for Roots.

The young college freshman leads two Bible reading groups which he began this September at Lipscomb University. “There's discipleship and accountability. There's low commitment in both groups,” says Morgan. One of his groups has two other guys, and the second group has four or five other guys.

Morgan says, “We get together and read the Bible once a week for about 15 minutes at a time. It's been pretty easy to start up the groups surprisingly.” One of the groups meets on Monday, while the other one meets on Thursday.

Matt has been learning the culture of Brentwood, BBC, and Kairos. He is an army chaplain and a Navigators' associate. Navigators is an international ministry where they practice extensive one-on-one discipleship. Matt has only been at Brentwood Baptist since April. However, in that time, the Bible Study groups have increased from 3 to 18.

The Impact

Lives are definitely being changed through Kairos Roots. Matt says, “People are overcoming sin in their lives and helping others to be overcomers through intentional Christ-likeness. Community is so stressed. There are no lone rangers in Christianity. God created us for community.”

Roots has impacted Morgan in different ways---in-depth Bible Study, life application, and good fellowship with others. He says, “Matt is a really good teacher.” After Morgan graduates from college, he plans to go to seminary and pursue a career as a pastor or minister (like Mike Glenn or Matt Purdom).

There are others who are also being positively affected by Roots. Matt says, “One guy was addicted to video games. He spent 30 to 40 hours a week playing video games. He no longer plays video games. Now, he is leading a Bible Study.”

Other young adults have expressed an interest in going into full-time ministry. Then, there are some who have become summer missionaries.

“There's some who grew up in church but had never really read the Bible before. They are reading the Bible for the first time through Roots. It's knocking down barriers. We initiate Bible Study, and then the ball is in their court,” says Matt.

The Call

Matt says, “I want you. Anyone who is interested---I want you to help fulfill the Great Commission (See Matthew 28:16-20) by leading a Bible reading group. I need more people who are intentional in the easiest way---reading the Bible with others. Just read the Bible once or twice a week together.”