I didn't believe a word of it, but I read it six times in a row before I stopped reading. LeRoy Eims is one of the legendary Navigators, and the Lord challenged me through Lost Art to believe him for one-on-one discipling relationships that would transform the lives of others for the benefit of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. Eims makes two important points in Lost Art. One is the principle of multiplication. More time spent with fewer people results in greater Kingdom impact. The second is the principle of establishment of a disciple. Eims says, "Would you rather have 100 people 90% committed to Christ or 10 people 100% committed to Him?" Well I had never seen anyone at that time I would have considered 75% committed to the Lord including myself, so 90% sounded good to me. We saw the principles of establishing a believer and of multiplication work on PC's campus. One-on-one discipling (which became a movement among 15% of the students on campus at one point) created a seed bed of leadership on campus, and from those ten years in which I am aware, we have seen several dozen young persons give their lives as a waste for Jesus Christ in ministry both in North America and places like Southeast Asia, West Africa, and Central America.
Leroy Eims adds a sad story (p. 23):I was visiting a foreign mission field and spoke with a veteran missionary. He told me a story that still haunts me; I can't get it out of my mind. it seems that he went overseas some fifteen years before we met and began the usual programs. About the time he arrived on his field, he met a young man named Johnny, who was involved in something quite different.
Johnny was a committed disciple of Jesus Christ, but he was going about his ministry in all the wrong ways according to the "book." In contrast to the typical missionary approach of the time, Johnny was spending the bulk of his time meeting with a few young men in that country. The veteran missionary tried to get Johnny straightened out, but the young man kept on with his "different" approach. The years passed, and the veteran missionary now had to leave the country of his service due to new visa restrictions.
As he sat across the coffee table from me in his home, he told me, "LeRoy, I've got little to show for my time there. Oh, there is a group of people who meet in our assembly, but I wonder what will happen to them when I leave. They are not disciples. They have been faithful in listening to my sermons, but they do not witness. Few of them know how to lead another person to Christ. They know nothing about discipling others. And now that I am leaving, I can see I've all but wasted my time here."
He continued, "Then I look at what has come out of Johnny's life. One of the men he worked with is now a professor at theuniversity. This man is mightily used of God to reach and train scores of university students. Another is leading a witnessing and discipling team of about forty young men and women. Another is in a nearby city with a group of thirty-five growing disciples around him. Three have gone to other countries as missionaries and are now leading teams in those lands who are multiplying disciples. God is blessing their work.
"I see the contrast between my life and his and it is tragic. I was so sure I was right. What he was doing seemed so insignificant, but now I look at the results and they are staggering." It was a sad meeting for both of us.
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