In a culture awash with 1 million books on every topic it seems, I'm always stunned at how there seems to be more books authored on various subjects than actual corresponding words in the Bible on that same subject. Point in case being things like leadership and discipleship - which appear as words only a few dozen times throughout all of Scripture, but for which you could easily buy 2000 Christian books about.

In much of the New Testament Gospels we see stories about how Jesus interacted with His disciples, and this interaction gives us some glimpses into what "discipleship" is about. Yet, even in those it only goes so far it would seem - since He was discipling them directly to Himself, whereas we should be discipling others to Him (not ourselves).

Then there's the simple story of how Simon Peter was actually "brought into the fold" of the rag tag followers of this Galileean Rabbi, Jesus. In John 1:40-42, we see that Andrew was actually first to follow Jesus, and very quickly into his journey with this crazy new Rabbi, he somehow cuts out to go back home and get Simon, saying, "We have found the Messiah!" and then bringing Simon along the way.

It's simple. It's one of the most basic snapshots of discipleship - discovering the hope and life of a true "Messiah," sharing the story of what that possibly means and then inviting someone to come alongside as you follow in the footsteps of your new Rabbi (Jesus).

The first thing Jesus then does is re-write the identity of Simon. "You were this, but no longer - now I will call you..." Interesting.