I love Robert Coleman. I mean, there's probably no real way to express how much of an influence he has been on me. First and foremost is, of course, his classic book, "The Master Plan of Evangelism." I love that book so much I mined the bibliography to find another great book, "The Training of the Twelve" by A.B. Bruce.
I first me Robert Coleman at an evangelism resources dinner in Wilmore, KY. He gave the invocation. I elbowed a few people in the buffet line to get a chance to talk to him!!!
I have been privileged to hear him speak a number of times... at the Exponential Conference, when he came and spoke at Morehead (!) and at the National Discipleship Forum. That latter one, well, two years later I am still trying to unpack what happened in my spirit.
Long story short-- any conversation about discipleship and evangelism, we are having it because of Robert Coleman. All the flurry of books on discipleship these past 10 years, it's because the crisis that was long predicted has hit the church with full force, and we are sitting back and saying, "Hey, didn't that guy write a book about how Jesus did evangelism and discipleship?" There's no Exponential Conference-- the largest gathering of church planters on the planet-- without Robert Coleman's simple work of asking us to do what Jesus taught His disciples to do!
SO... I wrote to Robert Coleman a bit ago. A number of times, actually, trying to gain insight on how he has run his legendary small groups. I asked him, "Which books have been most influential on you?"
Here's what he wrote back:
"Books that have helped me across the years include:
John Wesley's Sermons
works of Jonathan Edwards
Charles Finney
Francis Asbury
J.I. Packer
Ajith Fernando
John Bunyan
Francois Fenelon
Brother Lawrence
Richard Baxter
Blaise Pascal
Phoebe Palmer
Robert Murray McCheyne
John Charles Ryle
E.M. Bounds
D.L Moody
John Watson
Andrew Murray
along with the great hymns of the church.
He added, "I also like to read the Fathers of the Church and biographies of great missionaries. This is enough to get started. God bless you."
After I read it, I sat there stunned. I have to admit, I was looking for some long-forgotten tome (like Bruce's "The Training of the Twelve"), some pivotal but obscure discipleship book that I could learn from that made Robert Coleman into the man of such profound long-term influence that he is.
In short, I was asking for a drink of water, and he took me to the well. "this is enough to get started." I had to chuckle. This is enough to last a lifetime. And I am heartily reminded that discipleship is about following Jesus.
