The Big Dipper:

Practical Discipleship by the Stars

The Navigators are considered by many to be pioneers of the modern personal discipleship movement. Over 50 years ago, Dawson Trotman, founder of The Navigators described the principles of the organization using the Big Dipper star constellation. Trotman's Big Dipper Illustration serves as the framework for the principles and concepts presented on this web site: Practical-Discipleship.com.

I first read about it in Trotman's biography: Daws: A Man Who Trusted God. You can read and hear more about the Big Dipper Illustration here.

I want to publicly thank The Navigators for their tireless efforts promoting the Gospel of Jesus Christ through personal discipleship. I am personally indebted to them for how the principles they promote have changed my life. To read more about The Navigators, check out their organizational web site here: The Navigators.

The Big Dipper Illustration serves as inspiration for the content found on this web site. However, the material presented here is in no way endorsed or sponsored by The Navigators. Any errors in doctrine, theology, methodology, or practical application are the sole responsibility of the author(s) of Practical-Discipleship.com.

Over 30 years of interaction with Navigator staff and materials have led to the formation of many of the thoughts and ideas that guide my life. Those thoughts and ideas have been refined through practical application for the past three decades. They aren't perfect. God is still refining them for me. I am presenting for you what I have learned so far.

As I said before, I am not an official spokesman for The Navigators, or any other group for that matter. I am just a guy who has been following Jesus and trying to help others follow Him since 1977.

I believe God wants me to share some of the things I have learned over the years with a larger audience. So out of obedience to Him, I am developing this web site.

The current framework looks like this:

1. The Wheel Illustration:

A. Christ the Center,
B. The Word of God,
C. Prayer,
D. Witnessing,
E. Fellowship,
F. Obedience to Christ: Christlikeness

2. The Word of God Hand Illustration
3. Evangelism
4. Follow-up
5. Pacesetting
6. Other Works
7. World Vision

I would love to hear from you if you have any ideas on how to improve this web site or to make it more usable or if you would like to see some topic covered.

Return to Practical-Discipleship.com

Posted on January 20, 2009