More Than Running Thoughts
Reintroducing Tom Garvin and Valor Disciples
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations… teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
— Matthew 28:19–20
I started this Valor Disciples adventure about three years ago. Since then, I have worked, prayed, listened, discerned and tried to remain surrendered and responsive to what the Lord would have me do with my life.
Perhaps it is time for a reintroduction.
Many of you know me through these monthly Running Thoughts. I love writing them and will continue to do so. But recently I realized that I may have unintentionally given the impression that Valor Disciples is primarily a writing ministry.
It isn’t.
Writing is one expression of it. 
Valor Disciples is a disciple-making ministry.
Its purpose is pretty well contained in its name: to make disciples. To help people move beyond simply knowing about God toward actually knowing Him, walking with Him and increasingly becoming like Him.
“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”
— John 17:3
That little word know means so much to me.
You have to go, to know.
Knowing God isn’t merely accumulating information about Him. It’s entering into life with Him. It is intentional. Interactive. Transformative.
One of my foundational Scriptures says it this way:
“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”— 2 Corinthians 3:18
Being transformed.
That’s what I’m after—in my own life first, and then in the lives of people God allows me to walk alongside.
So what do I actually do?
Much of it is very personal.
I meet and work with people one-on-one. It is confidential, allowing room for honest conversations, doubts and questions. It takes real time and investment because discipleship isn’t simply transferring information from one brain to another. It is often iron sharpening iron.
I invest my life in another person’s life.
That sounds more heroic than it is!
Really, it is an overflow of my own discipleship. I’m learning to walk with God myself and inviting others to come along.
Sometimes we choose a book that will make us think. We work through it slowly, usually a chapter at a time. We share comments, questions, disagreements and discoveries. We go back and forth. There isn’t a deadline. There isn’t a test.
And I’ve discovered something interesting.
The book is often not the most important part.
The intentional time spent thinking about God is.
That time can begin fostering an ongoing, thoughtful, interactive relationship with Him.
The goal isn’t to make someone dependent upon me. Quite the opposite.
The goal is to help another person increasingly become dependent upon God.
The Ever-Widening Red Ring
I’ve used this picture to help describe what I’m after.
God is at the center.
Some people are unaware of Him, indifferent to Him or even rejecting Him. Others have an indirect exposure to Him—perhaps through church, books or other people. And then there are those increasingly and intentionally living in His presence—learning to actually know Him.
The goal? An ever-widening Red Ring.
Not a bigger following for Tom Garvin.
More people living intentionally with God.
That’s disciple-making.
A Weekday Pastor?
Recently, something changed in how I think about all of this.
I’ve always been somewhat reluctant to ask for financial support. I’ve hinted. I’ve mentioned needs. I’ve gratefully accepted the generosity of people who believe in me.
But I think I’ve also been guilty of minimizing what I do.
I don’t pastor a church. I don’t preach from a pulpit every Sunday morning.
But I’ve begun to realize that much of what I do looks a lot like pastoring—just during the rest of the week.
Maybe “weekday pastor” isn’t such a bad description.
Mentor. Shepherd. Teacher. Encourager. Disciple-maker.
Whatever title you put on it, this is real ministry.
It takes real time.
It takes real effort.
And increasingly, it takes a real portion of my life.
For some reason, I have found it easier to surrender my time to God than to allow other people to financially support me for giving Him that time.
I’m beginning to rethink that.
Scripture doesn’t seem embarrassed about supporting people who devote themselves to Kingdom work.
“Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching… ‘The laborer deserves his wages.’”
— 1 Timothy 5:17–18
“In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.”
— 1 Corinthians 9:14
Maybe accepting support isn’t a failure to trust God’s provision.
Maybe sometimes it is God’s provision.
So I’m going to ask.
That doesn’t come naturally to me.
If you believe in what Valor Disciples is doing—helping people not merely know about God but increasingly know Him, walk with Him and become like Him—I invite you to financially support this ministry.
Your support allows me to give real hours, real attention and real life to this work.
I’m not asking you to support Valor Disciples merely because you know me, like me or care about me.
I’m asking you to invest in the work.
The work of making disciples.
The work of walking alongside people.
The work of helping someone discover that God isn’t merely someone to believe in.
He is Someone to know.
And there’s another way you can participate.
Maybe while reading this you’ve thought: “I’d like someone to walk alongside me.”
Great!
If you would like to read, question, wrestle, pray, learn and intentionally seek God together, reach out to me.
Whether you ever donate a dollar or not.
I’m not selling access to God.
I’m asking God’s people to help make disciple-making possible—and inviting anyone who wants to know Him better to come along.
A.W. Tozer once wrote:
“God waits to be wanted.”
— A.W. Tozer
I believe that.
And I’ve discovered that once He is wanted, He shows up wonderfully.
So let’s widen that Red Ring.
You have to go, to know.
Let’s go.
Love ya…TG