Hey Man, Nice Shirt!
Max and Sydnie
Troy Cooper was at the skate park with his kids when he spotted a 19-year-old hippie pro-skater wearing a t-shirt with Scripture on it.
He calls out, “Hey man, nice shirt!”
Max thought Troy was making fun of him so he sat down and began sharing the gospel with Troy.
Max had been praying and fasting for God to lead me to a community where I could learn how to plant churches." Troy was the answer to that prayer.
Max explained, “I’ve been a believer for just under a year. I’ve led eleven people to faith. I want to know what to do with those people.”
Troy responded, “Let’s walk together.”
Troy remembers, “By that time in Southern California, there was a church meeting almost every night somewhere. We would visit a different church each night in the home. Max was seeing the three-thirds format. He's seeing new believers participating in leadership roles within the three-thirds. He's seeing them get together outside of the gathering to share the gospel, to get in the word together, to disciple.”
“He's watching all this play out. He's learning in community. And then I think the next week, we went down with him to Oceanside and he led some guys to Christ. And my sons, Malachi and Isaiah were like, "Hey, man, you got to follow them. You got to walk with them. So they trained him.”
“After a month or two of that, he felt compelled by the Lord to go back to Phoenix. And he led his twin sister to faith.”
“He gathered some of those people that he had shared with before. And based on what he had learned from Zeal and other churches in LA, he started with the 411, the Commands of Christ, then the Church Circle tool to discover what church is from Acts 2.”
Then he started a church in his home. That one church has become many in Phoenix and throughout the US as Max traveled to skating events, connecting with his network of relationships. Everywhere he goes he leaves behind disciples and bands he’s led to Christ and trained.
Max is now married to Sydnie and they’re a team. They’ve just moved to Europe and are building a team to reach their city.
Troy has stayed close to Max and seen him grow in calling, character and competency. Max thrives on the front line, but he’s no longer alone wondering what to do. He’s now part of a community of practitioners in the US, Europe and worldwide.
Troy explains, “With Max and Sydnie serving stateside we saw their:
Calling from the Lord
Character developed (in tough times)
Competency (pioneering, training and networking)
Community in the work (disciples, peers and mentors).
That’s how we knew they were ready to be mobilized from a movement to labor among new peoples in a new place.”
This is such a good story I’m going to follow up with an interview of Max and Sydnie. Notice how God works! He brings Max and Troy together at just the right time. This is a connection made in heaven. That’s what God does, on his timetable, not ours.
But Troy and Max played their part in God’s plan. Max is a new disciple, making disciples, praying the fasting for God to send someone who to mentor and train him. Troy is out in the community with his family, sharing and making disciples. When Max comes along he immediately knows how to equip him and draw him into a community of practitioners. His sons Malachi and Isaiah know how to equip Max because they’ve been doing this their whole lives.
This is not recruitment this is a movement. This gives those who are called to missions an opportunity to grow in character, competency and community before they are mobilized.
Interview: 337 Movement to Mobilization
