With Pastors Nate Buck and Diane Hakes
We often say that as a denomination we are “better together” and one of the ways that this is realized is in the sharing of successful strategies and ideas. If an idea is working in one part of our denomination, we’re able to lift that idea up and offer it to the rest of the body to help further the kingdom. That’s precisely the case here, as we look to adopt new language that the Eastern Regional Conference spent the last decade working on and developing as their discipleship strategy. In this article, we’re joined by Pastor Nate Buck, Executive Director of the Eastern Regional Conference (ERC), and Pastor Diane Hakes, Director of Discipleship of the ERC. Together, Pastor Nate and Pastor Diane provided definition and historical perspective on what Discover, Develop and Deploy mean, and how the ERC came to adopt this as their vision for the conference.
Background
We started to have conversations in 2015-2016, realizing that the recruit and send model (for church planting) was not working the way that it had before. It was taking more and more dollars, more and more effort to get less and less impact in regards to people coming to Jesus and seeing churches planted. In that season, the Church Planting Commission began to wrestle with, “well, what are we doing and how do we begin to draw this into focus?”
It took us a while to figure out what some denominations were 10 or 15 years ahead on, because we started to hear the language that, “if you plant churches, you may get disciples, but if you make disciples, you will plant the church”. And we're starting to see how that's true.
We took 2 years just to develop the values of a lifestyle of disciple making. It took us two years to flesh out beyond the phrase of Discover, Develop, Deploy, disciples as Jesus commanded. But what does that actually look like? What are the values that help us understand what that looks like as we try to live it? We started to try and communicate that out through the region, and that's taken 10+ years for us to be able to do that.
It was 3 years on just Discover alone. And then four years on Develop. And we've just now started to have the conversation about Deploy.
Discover
So, what do each of these terms mean?
To break it down very simply, Discover is always about hearing the voice of God, discerning what God is revealing, and then adjusting. So, hearing what the Lord is saying, adjusting to what God is revealing, and then trusting the Holy Spirit for power, love, and the discernment of how to move into those things.
Develop
Develop is always about the development of one another. It's the “one anothers” that you see in scripture. The first piece of [one anothers] is one-on-one, life-on-life relationships, investing in each other. The second piece of that is recognizing that we don't do all the work. I can't fully develop another human. We need God's help in that. The second value underneath develop is to prepare people to follow Jesus, love like Jesus, and be changed by Jesus. Those 2 things have to work together. There are things that we do with each other that God uses to grow one another, and then there are intentional ways that we prepare people to engage Jesus so that He can do the work that only He can do. And what's amazing is that sometimes He does that within us while we're doing that with somebody else, which is really cool.
Deploy
Deploy is always release first. And what that value focuses on is the fact that a lot of times when we pour into somebody, when we develop somebody, we put a lot of effort into helping somebody mature and grow, but we want to take ownership of that. We want them to be a part of our thing, under our banner, under our label, our brand. And it's very hard for us to say, “no”, and to let God use them wherever He want to use them. So, the first value under deploy is release. Release them in the direction God is calling them to, whether that's under your banner or not, whether it's behind your brand or not. Release them!
And then the second value is to invest in their kingdom impact. And that investment isn't always financial, but a lot of times it includes: financial, personal ongoing coaching, ongoing relationship. It also includes providing other people that have been developed to come alongside them, or even helping discover and develop other people who would be deployed with them.
A Process of Discipleship
Discover, Develop, Deploy is the process of discipleship, of becoming a disciple of Jesus. And a disciple maker is someone who helps someone else to do that same process. You can't give what you don't have. So, you have to be a disciple in order to make a disciple. And then the deployment is stepping into my life as a disciple maker, using all of the things that God has given me to live that life out in helping others to become disciple makers. Living out that language just makes perfect sense, and we help churches understand that, we go through that same process.
What does this look like for you as a church organization where God has placed you in your neighborhood? Where can you help people to become disciples who make disciples?
Identity
We have to look at identity. In order to be a disciple, and to make disciples, you have to know who you are and whose you are. And when you have discovered that identity in yourself, you can walk in that identity. Then you can develop that further with gifts and all of the things that God has given you. There's a whole “sent-ness” to our calling as disciples and where you're meant to live out your life as a disciple and where you can have your greatest impact. And then the deployment is stepping into that place with those people as you live out your life as a disciple.
Hopefully that's helpful as we begin to look at what Discover, Develop, Deploy looks like, adopting that language and that framework and those values across all of the Churches of God. God bless you! We're excited for what God's going to do.
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From Lance Finley, Executive Director of the CGGC
I'm so grateful for the good work that our brothers and sisters in the ERC have done over these past several years in the area of discipleship and disciple making. Many of us have shared this journey over the last decade or so as we've collectively wrestled with how we better live out the Great Commission to go and make disciples. I'm a product and a student of the "church growth" era. The focus was on getting people to a church service or a church program, and the rest would take care of itself. Many of us were satisfied that if the people were attending, we would be making disciples. While sincere and devoted in those efforts, I'm convinced that we were likely falling short of the true call to make disciples. The simplicity of a framework like Discover, Develop and Deploy is incredibly helpful in helping us stay focused on the process of disciple making. Discover - What is God saying and what do I need to do to obediently respond? Develop - What are the next steps I need to take in my life with Jesus or what does someone else need to take the next step? Deploy - Where is God sending me or where does he want to deploy those whom I am discipling? I look back at all my training in Church Growth and the focus was on collecting, gathering or amassing people together - The entirety of Scripture has a golden thread that requires us to live "sent" lives - to represent our Father's missionary heart.
We are so grateful to the Eastern Regional Conference and their willingness to both trailblaze and share their learnings with the larger body. May we all grow more adept and competent in Discovering, Developing and Deploying disciple makers as Jesus commanded!
The Global Advocate, Summer 2026, Volume 191, Issue 3
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