Kairos Roots Increases in Bible Reading Groups
“Kairos Roots has increased from three Bible reading groups to 18,” says Matt Purdom, Kairos Discipleship Minister.
Roots usually meets on Thursday nights at the church to study a book of the Bible.
Matt has only been at Brentwood Baptist since April. He is still getting used to Brentwood, BBC, and Kairos after moving his family from North Carolina where he was attending Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is an Army Reserve Chaplain in Nashville. He is also on the Associate Staff with the Navigators---an international ministry which focuses on extensive one-on-one discipleship.
Intentional Discipleship
Matt has brought much to Kairos Roots. He believes in intentional discipleship and has incorporated it into Roots.
“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 within Roots.
Brentwood Baptist leadership uses the book Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald Whitney. There are 12 spiritual disciplines included in the book.
Matt works with four of those spiritual practices---the Word, Fellowship, Witness, and Prayer which all help in overall obedience to God. It has served the Roots community well as its members as they are learning and growing more in their personal relationships with God, with others, and in God’s Word.
Bible Reading Groups
Discipleship involves intentional relationships. “We are being intentional about reading the Bible together. Some get up early and meet to read the Bible before they go to school or work,” says Matt.
The Lord put the Bible reading strategy on Matt's mind. However since then, he discovered the Holy Club movement through reading a discipleship book by John Wesley. The first work of the Holy Club was the study of the Bible.
“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 been leading small group discussions for the weekly Roots. Morgan has interned with Roots since August. He is only one of the latest Bible reading group leaders.
The college freshman leads two Bible reading groups which he began in 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 his groups meets on Monday, while the other one meets on Thursday.
The Impact
Lives are being changed. Matt says, “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. It's knocking down barriers. We initiate Bible Study, and then the ball is in their court.”
Roots has greatly impacted Morgan through the in-depth Bible Study, life application, and 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 like Morgan. Then, there are some who have become summer missionaries.
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.”
The Call
“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,” says Matt.
Key leaders give their testimonies. Those leaders mentor other men and women. Then, those people in turn disciple others.
“I want you. Anyone who is interested---I want you to help fulfill the Great Commission (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,” says Matt.
