In this new book, Bill Hull shows why our existing models of evangelism and discipleship fail to actually produce followers of Jesus. He looks at the importance of recovering a robust view of the gospel and taking seriously the connection between conversion---answering the call to follow Jesus---and discipleship---living like the one we claim to follow.

Introduction Chapter 1 - The Gospel The definition of the gospel is the source for discipleship. It defines the life of a disciple, the disciple's purpose, calling, and message. This chapter looks at several of the most common gospels preached, including: the gospel of forgiveness only, the gospel of the left, the gospel of the right, the gospel of prosperity, the gospel for consumers, the radical gospel for activists, the good for nothing gospel, and the gospel of the kingdom. Chapter 2 - The Call My life is an answer to the call of Jesus. We answer with our lives. This chapter will discuss the impotence of systems and why Jesus called us to be and make disciples rather than start churches or governments. Discipleship is the only hope for the world. Only when a person submits to a community of serious Christ-followers can they learn to do all that Christ commanded. This chapter will exegete relevant passages, define terms, and look at various definitions of discipleship from the Reformation, Wesley, Post WWII evangelicalism, the para church, etc. Chapter 3 - Salvation Saved means the possession and the experience of new life, eternal life right now. It also assumes significant and ongoing change into the image of Christ. Additionally, the grand goals of a life in Christ are attainable and are expected as one lives an obedient life. This quality of life does matter regarding the level of success and amount of time it takes the church to accomplish its mission. It also sorts out the reasons that a substandard understanding of Salvation creates a passive worldwide congregation with low expectations and "Christians" who contradict their own testimony. Chapter 4 - Ways and Means The problem in the world is not just bad people doing bad things. It is good people doing good things badly. Modifications of time hardened practices is required if what has been advertized as a new person in Christ and in the case of the church, as a new humanity is going to realized. As it always does, it comes down to the ways and means of getting there. This section will talk about spiritual exercise, spiritual disciplines, and if there are "must haves?" meaning, if you don't do them, you cannot grow because God set it up that way. Chapter 5 - The Church The New Testament shows us the church we never see. The church is as grand as one could imagine and as low and gross as the depravity of man can take it. The reality of the church is that we are people of dust daring to shoot for the stars. The majestic beauty of theological grandeur inspires our hearts and the mundane, the boring, and the vast wasteland the church can become disillusion us. The balance that calls us is to never let the vision of the church we want to have become the enemy of the church we do have. If disappointment in the church could cause Christ to quit running it, he would of left us long ago. Chapter 6 - The Pastor What is the role of the pastor in calling people to discipleship? This chapter begins with several common pastoral mistakes. It draws on some of the background from The Disciple Making Pastor and the Complete Book of Discipleship. Chapter 7 - The End "And the good news about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come." Mt. 24:14 NLT. This not about how the story ends but about the fact that it does, indeed, end. We will also deal with where we end up and why it matters. I want to show that this is all connected to our understanding and practice of discipleship. The end compels us to define what is driving our discipleship. Conclusion

Bill Hull is spot on. Disciples are not a special class of Christians. Bill has provided us with a challenging and thought-provoking examination of biblical conversion and discipleship. My bet is that you won’t agree with everything in these pages. (I didn’t.) But I guarantee you that your ministry and personal walk with Jesus will benefit greatly from wrestling with the wisdom and insights he provides. -- Larry Osborne, author and pastor, North Coast Church, Vista, CA

I've been reading and listening to Bill Hull for years. He's been a discipleship coach in my life, and for countless others. I'm so thankful for him, his work, and his passion for discipleship. -- Ed Stetzer, www.edstetzer.com Bill Hull is spot on. Disciples are not a special class of Christians. Bill has provided us with a challenging and thought-provoking examination of biblical conversion and discipleship. My bet is that you won't agree with everything in these pages. (I didn't.) But I guarantee you that your ministry and personal walk with Jesus will benefit greatly from wrestling with the wisdom and insights he provides. -- Larry Osborne, author and pastor, North Coast Church, Vista, CA Bill Hull believes that in receiving Christ as Lord and Savior, we also receive his lifestyle of making disciples. The two commitments go together. Not the kind of book to read lounging in a rocking chair munching on chocolates. -- Robert E. Coleman, author, The Master Plan for Evangelism I am convinced that one of the deepest flaws in discipleship derives from our lack of understanding of the significance of repentance as an intrinsic part of a living relationship with God. Bill, as the longtime activist for the disciple-making cause, makes an irrefutable case for the relationship of ongoing conversion to a life of discipleship. A well-written book on an important topic. -- Alan Hirsch, award-winning author; founder, Forge, 100Movements, and Future Travelers; www.alanhirsch.org Bill Hull has been committed to discipleship for many years and has helped to shape many of the minds who consider discipleship the core mission of the church. I admire Bill so much because he is not just a theorist but a practitioner who does what he says others ought to do. He has given those committed to discipleship a new theological tool to promote something that has been left out of the church for some time. I know you will enjoy this book as much as I did. -- Jim Putman, senior pastor, Real Life Ministries; coauthor, Discipleshift Bill Hull's lifelong journey has given him one of the most important leadership roles in the discipleship movement of the last fifty years, and makes him uniquely qualified to guide the church to true biblical discipleship. This will be a hard read for some because Bill speaks directly and with no nonsense to those who have substituted elitist programs for biblical discipleship. Read, and heed, the clarion call of this book. -- Michael J. Wilkins, Distinguished Professor of New Testament Language and Literature, Talbot School of Theology Discipleship has turned into a buzzword that too many are throwing around without properly defining it. In such a sea of voices, we desperately need a navigational chart to get us back on a biblical course. In this book, Bill Hull provides the course correction we need. -- Robby Gallaty, senior pastor, Long Hollow Baptist Church This book is a must for church leaders. It deals with the root issues, the upstream theological realities that are required to make a sustainable discipleship movement in your church and beyond. Read it, ponder it, and let it change your life and ministry. I heartily endorse Conversion and Discipleship. -- Dr. Bobby Harrington, director, Discipleship.org; board member Relational Discipleship Network; author and pastor Bill Hull writes boldly about how Dallas Willard challenged him to think differently about one of the key pillars of evangelicalism, the meaning of the gospel, and the natural bond between conversation and discipleship (aka apprenticeship). For Jesus' disciples, the good news was not that they could say a magic phrase and then go to heaven when they died; the good news was that they could enter into an apprenticeship with Jesus and begin living an eternal sort of life right then and there. Nothing has changed. That is still the good news. -- Gary W. Moon, PhD; executive director, Martin Institute and Dallas Willard Center,Westmont College