 My name is Baldwin Powell. I'm a deacon from the Diocese of Montego Bay in sunny Jamaica. Discipleship is a very important part of any person who follows Christ. It really means to be a learner and a hero, a student of Jesus. But there are five distinct stages in discipleship. The first stage I would think would be to be a beginning disciple. If you remember when Jesus called Peter to be his disciple, he was very enthused. He left what he was doing and he followed Jesus. But it's a learning stage. It's when you actually make a commitment to change your attitude, to change your whole approach to life, and to dedicate yourself to learning more about Jesus Christ. And then after the beginning stage, there's going to be a growing period when you start to understand more about Christianity, more about our Lord, what it involves. This is the part which involves denying yourself, taking off the cross, and truly surrendering and committing yourself to His ways. That's when you begin to develop new habits, new approaches to your prayer life, as well as to your witnessing. So that's when you start to grow. You start to develop a Bible study discipline. You get up a little earlier in the mornings perhaps to devote yourself to prayer and to also fellowship with other believers. And then there's going to be a stage when you are commissioned, when the Lord ascended into heaven. He commissioned everyone to go and preach the gospel to all nations, baptizing in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And so there's a point in the disciples' life when you feel a call to serve more fully in the church and to be a better evangelizer and witness for the Lord. The fourth stage, I would say, is when you become a disciple-maker. It's not just about developing your own personal Christian witness, but you start telling the world, telling others to follow Christ. So you go out of your comfort level and you start being more vulnerable to Jesus. You become more passionate about our Lord as you witness and as you tell others about Christ and encourage others to follow Christ. This happened to the disciples, of course, after Jesus left. In a quiet way, they were very excited after his resurrection that Jesus was around and Jesus had defeated death. Finally, I think, as a disciple, there's a state that we all want to reach. It's a spiritual multiplier. After the Holy Ghost came upon the disciples after Pentecost, they had a certain boldness, power and passion for Jesus that was hitherto not experienced by them. The church began to develop and to grow in leaps and bounds. There was 120 that were converted one day, then 503,000. Then the whole town were coming into the synagogue to hear the disciples. So that's when you really go and expand the kingdom. By having a major influence at your workplace, in your home, at school, whatever your environment is, because of your witness and love for Christ, you're a multiplier for Christ. This is really an interesting journey. It's a growing journey where you continue to build upon the foundation of Christ to ensure that everyone who is in the darkness will come into the light. It's a way of life that will always give you rewards and it can also bring on martyrdom because if we are going to witness for Christ and for his name, we're going to suffer for him as well. There are sacrifices involved, but it's all worth it for Jesus Christ.