09. Your Phone Is Your Passport
Article 9 | You Were Made for So Much More Than This
You may no longer be able to board a plane. You can still help someone in another nation make disciples.
For years, serving overseas meant packing a suitcase, buying a ticket, and leaving home.
I know that life. I served in Ghana for fourteen years.
Today, I cannot travel as I once did. But I am still serving.
From home, I can connect with leaders, teach Zume, pray with people, and coach believers who are helping others follow Jesus. I can listen as someone describes a challenge, open the Scriptures with them, and help them consider their next step of obedience.
My ability to travel has changed. My calling to make disciples continues.
And perhaps someone reading this needs to hear that.
Your world may feel smaller than it once did. Your strength, health, finances, or responsibilities may limit where you can go.
But there are people you can encourage from the chair you are sitting in.
Your kitchen table can become a place where you pray for a leader in Africa. Your living room can become a training room. Your phone can connect you with someone who needs help taking the next step, and helping someone else take it too.
Someone needs what you can give
Imagine a young disciple-maker preparing to gather a few neighbors to discover Jesus.
They have willing people. They have a Bible. They also have questions.
“How do I help everyone participate?”
“What should I do when someone asks a question I cannot answer?”
“How can I help another person learn to lead?”
You may have years of experience walking with Jesus. You know what it means to persevere, forgive, pray through disappointment, and trust God when the next step feels uncertain.
That experience can serve someone.
You do not have to know everything. You can learn simple tools, ask thoughtful questions, and faithfully show up.
Paul wrote:
“The things which you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit the same to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”
2 Timothy 2:2 WEB
Look at the reach of that verse: Paul, Timothy, faithful people, and others they would teach.
The person on your screen has people around them whom you may never meet.
As you help that person follow Jesus and equip others, your investment can reach beyond the conversation.
Start with one connection
You do not need an audience of thousands.
Start with one person. Learn their name. Listen to their story. Pray for their family. Ask what they are learning from Scripture and how they are putting it into practice.
Then ask:
“Who could you help do the same?”
Keep showing up. Encourage obedience. Help them practice. Celebrate their progress. Give them room to lead.
A faithful conversation each week can become a meaningful part of someone’s growth.
Your step this week
Set aside one regular hour to serve someone beyond your usual circle.
If you need preparation, begin the free Zume lessons. If you have already taken them, contact me about taking a next step in encouraging or coaching another disciple-maker.
Put that hour on your calendar. Prepare your heart as carefully as you would prepare a suitcase.
You may never stand in their village. You can still help someone there follow Jesus and teach others.
We were made for more.
Want to go further?
All ten Zume discipleship lessons are on my site, free, with the video and the same teaching notes I use when I train leaders in person. Take them on your own, take them with a few friends, or join me live on Zoom and I will teach them to you face to face. When you finish, tell me and I will coach you personally.
Terry Ruff
Your gift would be tax deductible and overseen by Northside Christian Church, our sending church. There are many we coach that could use encouragement in small ways to accomplish great things.
Take your next step here: Next Steps form