Happy New Year, y’all. While I continue to await good news from other sectors, there is something I can take into my own hands here—since that’s where they were thrown back into….

This time last month, Seasons 4-6 of the Growing Out: From Disciples to Disciplers series officially went out of print, and the rights reverted back to me. Thus, I’ve been spending some time editing and reformatting the content so I could make them re-available. You can still find the originals on Amazon for the foreseeable future, of course; but I can actually get paid for these ones, so I wouldn’t at all mind you purchasing these new editions. 🙂 It should have some fancier covers forthcoming (I’ll use the old ones below for now), but you would be buying it for the content, after all.

So first, said purchasing information, then I’ll get on my soapbox about why they deserve to once again see the light of day…

Season 4: Growing Others — book here, Kindle version here
Season 5: Growing in Leadership — book here, Kindle version here
Season 6: Growing in Your Mission — book here, Kindle version here

Let me start here: “Once more into the breach” is more than just a literary way of saying “they’re baa-aack….” The fact is: Growing Others is truly the centerpiece of the entire Disciples to Disciplers series—the objective reason this series had to be written. (I have my personal reasons, too.) Anyone who’s worked through Seasons 1-3 in their own lives—in other words, you’ve developed and deepened your walk with Jesus, learned how to live it out among those people you most care about, and discovered some of how God’s created you and why—now needs to address this question: How do you take what God’s already revealed to you, turn around, “step into the breach” and help someone else walk through those same issues, rather than stamp them with a “saved” sticker and leave them to drown?

I still have yet to see another small-group study on the market that addresses this. (Books, yes, but not a single study to help groups/churches process this together.) And, put simply, this is where the American church has failed miserably. People get plateaued or stuck, and leave, because a critical point has been overlooked – the people coming in the door and/or just coming to Christ? They need you. And guess what? You need them, too—more than you know. So pick up a copy of Growing Others and learn how to stand in the breach for yourself (and others).

For that matter, I don’t see another study out there that explores how to genuinely flesh out a God-given vision (i.e., Season 6: Growing in Your Mission), and not a whole lot of books either. Whether it’s a new ministry, a church plant, or whatever God’s put on your heart to develop, this study will help you process it and “make the dream real.” It’s pretty stinking unique, if I do say so myself. And I just did.

And yes, there are studies on leadership already out there, although they’re more about developing obvious leaders. Growing in Leadership focuses on the rest of us—arguably the majority, in terms of the church—whose spiritual maturity has led to positions of spiritual leadership but who aren’t “natural-born leaders.”

Also: If you’ve ever used these—or just got inspired to do so—spread the word. Tell your buds; start a group in your own church; go put up a review on Amazon (under the new versions now) or elsewhere; and help get the ball re-rolling here.

As always, thanks. This series means a lot to me, and so does your help.

— Carl