History of Disciplers International from the founder and director, Bart Physioc

My interest in discipleship began at the time of my conversion in 1978. While reading the four gospels in the New Testament, I was so impressed with the life of Christ that I decided to trust Jesus as Savior and follow Him as Lord. I wanted to be His disciple and needed a mature Christian to guide me on the journey. Unfortunately, no one extended an invitation to me. So, without a personal mentor, my early discipleship experience was limited to books about materials on the subject.

While attending seminary, I purposefully took courses that presented examples of disciple-making. My intent was to understand existing models, take the best from what each had to offer and then develop a model of my own. After graduating in 1983, I spent the next three years developing and employing a discipleship model designed specifically for use at the University of Idaho, where I served as a campus minister. In 1986 I returned to seminary to work on a doctoral degree focused on creating and implementing a model for discipleship in the context of a church start.

Convinced that discipling, at its most basic level, requires a personal relationship between mentor (discipler) and learner (disciple), I went to work. My model involved one-on-one and small group dynamics through which disciples were trained by disciplers in the areas of accountability, personal evangelism, Bible study, prayer, worship and service. When I graduated in 1988, the church had grown significantly through Faithful, Intentional, Teachable (FIT) members who had been equipped to lead home cell groups and train others to do likewise.

In 1989 I entered active military service as an Army Chaplain. For several years I used my model exclusively in one-on-one relationships with soldiers. Then, in 1995, after leading a man to faith in Christ and discipling him through the 14-Step process I had developed, each of us reproduced the process with other men. Soon, pairs of men were meeting one-on-one for accountability and prayer, and in small groups for Bible study and fellowship. As men faithfully invested themselves and this process in other men, the ministry grew both numerically and spiritually.

In 1998 I was encouraged by two friends, who were serving in a large church, to produce a discipling guidebook and lesson plan from the working model I had developed. Both guidebook and lesson plan were published in 2000. Since then the materials have been used hundreds of times to disciple men and women in America and abroad.

Making disciples is God’s will, for Jesus has given us an example to imitate and a command to follow: “Make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). Are we heeding the call? Are we following His example? Are we making disciples? The purpose of Disciplers International is to answer each of these questions with a resounding, "Yes!"