Discipleship for transformation, not just information
Have you ever sat through a church service, sung the songs, heard the message, driven home, and noticed that nothing changed?
Most churches aren't short on teaching. What's often missing is the Spirit-empowered life Jesus promised on his last night before the cross. He told his disciples he would not leave them as orphans. The Spirit of God would come to live in them: to teach them, to remind them, and to work through them to do what Jesus had been doing.
Mark Colebank speaks to churches, small group leaders, and ministry teams about how that promise becomes ordinary daily experience. The message is simple, and it is costly: the power of the Spirit comes by losing your life. We stop living for what we want, so that God can do what he wants through us.
Speaking topics
The Holy Spirit: Present, Powerful, and Personal
Most Christians believe the Holy Spirit lives in them but couldn't say what he did this week. This message walks through John 13–17 and the four things Jesus said the Spirit does in a believer:
- He teaches us (John 14).
- He produces the fruit of love (John 15).
- He gives gifts for serving (John 13).
- He convicts and draws those who are lost (John 16).
Revival Is Simple (But Not Easy)
Only sin blocks the Spirit-filled life of love, peace, and joy, and sin is dealt with by applying the Gospel daily. This is a practical message on confession, surrender, and getting back into step with the Spirit the same day you fall.
Reading the Bible to Obey, Not Just for Information
This session addresses the move from information to transformation. It introduces the H.E.A.R. method for hearing God in a passage instead of skimming it, and explains why obedience, not accumulated knowledge, is the goal of Bible study.
L.O.S.E. to Win: A Plan Any Believer Can Follow
This session presents the four habits of a Spirit-led disciple: Listen, Obey, Serve, Evangelize. It is a clear, reproducible framework for ordinary Christians who work a job, raise a family, and want to follow Jesus in everyday life.
Groups That Multiply
This training is for small group leaders and pastors. It shows how to build Discipleship Groups of three or four people who read the Bible to obey it, set goals, and ask each other about them the next week. It also shows how to train the next leaders so groups reproduce rather than simply grow larger.
Formats
Each topic can be adapted to your setting:
- Sunday sermon. A single message on the Holy Spirit or dying to self.
- Small group leader training. A workshop for group leaders, coaches, or ministry staff.
- Weekend seminar or retreat. Several sessions that move from understanding the Spirit to launching Discipleship Groups.
- Group launch. An introduction to the six-session Listen and Obey study for a church starting groups together.
About Mark
Mark Colebank came to faith at twenty, an atheist won over by the love of Christian friends in college. He has taught the Bible for more than thirty years. Along the way he planted churches in New England, studied at seminary, and pastored in British Columbia.
For years he thought trying harder was the answer. Seven years of doctoral research asking what was missing in ordinary church life led him back to Jesus' teaching in John 12–17. There he found that the missing piece was the Spirit, and that the way into the Spirit's power was losing his life.
Mark serves as an elder and small group coach at The Summit Church in North Carolina. He also works as a web developer and IT professional, making him a self-supporting disciple maker of the kind he writes about. He and his wife, Lynn, have three grown children.
He is the author of LOSE to Win: Dying to Self to Live in the Power of the Holy Spirit and the LOSE to Win discipleship study series, beginning with Following the Holy Spirit: Listen and Obey.
Resources for your church
Mark's teaching is built to keep working after the event is over. Churches can follow up with:
- Following the Spirit: Listen and Obey, a six-session study of John 14–15 for three or four friends around a table. It includes group questions, daily readings, room to write, and guidance for training the next leaders.
- LOSE to Win, the companion book for group leaders who want a deeper understanding of what Jesus taught about the Holy Spirit, along with discipleship best practices.
Invite Mark
To ask about availability for your church, conference, or leadership event, please share your church name, the date, the audience, and the topic you're most interested in.