2024 Year In Review
GCD Weekly Newsletter - 30th December 2024
Did you know that GCD has been on the internet for nearly fifteen years now? When “Fight Clubs: Gospel Centered Discipleship” was released as an eBook by Jonathan Dodson in 2010, a website was registered with the domain name gospelcentereddiscipleship.com. The site was created to “provide discipleship resources that make, mature, and multiply disciples of Jesus.” Nearly fifteen years later, and that mission still drives us forward as an organization.
In 2024 we’ve published three new books and over one hundred articles on various realities that Christians around the world face. These articles and books are aimed helping address discipleship in everyday life as well as church leadership needs. We’ve also labored in cultivating writers in the last year. Our two most read articles were written by members of our Writers’ Mentoring Cohort. Here’s an overview of the resources and people that GCD has been developing.
New GCD Books in 2024
The three books we published this past year have something for everyone but specifically aim to develop and build leaders in Christian ministry.
Rusty McKie's The Art of Stability is a deeply helpful book for anyone looking for steady ground in an anxious and chaotic world. His sage wisdom guides us on a journey "to the safety, love, and resilience that has always been available to us in Jesus."
Dave Kraft, a seasoned ministry veteran, provided another toolbox of wisdom in Finish Line Leadership. Kraft's insights into leadership characteristics and needed skills help us serve Christ well. But more than just another leadership book, Kraft gets to the heart of character that every leader must possess.
In Church Planter: Nine Essentials for Being Faithful and Effective, Tony Merida supports church planters and church-planting churches by highlighting the necessary elements needed to glorify Christ and see the gospel spread in faithful and fruitful ways.
We hope these books will be evergreen resources for strengthening and building up disciples of Jesus in the local church.
2024’s Most Read Articles
Five articles stood out as our website's "most-read" posts. The top three articles reflect how we discern and live throughout the entire scope of physical life. That specific traffic trend tells me that we are hungry for understanding how to follow Jesus in the milieu of everyday life while the curse of the fall physically wages war against us. I commend these five articles to you for your thought and reflection.
#5. Tolkien’s Treebeard and the Root Problem of Hastiness by
#4. Why Only Pastors Can Baptize by Kevin P Emmert
#3. What a Rare Brain Cancer Is Teaching Me about the Art of Remembering and Forgetting by Courtney Yantes
#2. The Neurodivergent Believer by Allyson Reid
#1. How Not to Be a Grumpy Old Woman by
GCD’s People
GCD is more than just the resources we write and publish. Behind these articles and books is a whole team of folks who serve to edit, polish, share, organize, and encourage a growing community of "GCDers" who are engaged in discipleship all around the world. Most of them serve and support this organization in the background and yet have labored to help produce high-quality publications of beauty, truth, and goodness. As the Executive Director, I am extremely grateful for our team and the contributions that each one makes. If you are not familiar with who our editors, writers, and support team members are, please visit the "Our Team” page.
In this new year, we are welcoming a new managing editor,
, to lead our editorial staff and website publications. Matt resides in Stockton, CA, where he is an associate pastor at Reality Stockton. His vision for GCD's online publication captures our heart for cultivating writers and resources that make, mature, and multiply disciples of Jesus. If you have an article you'd like to pitch or write for GCD, please reach out to Matt via our submissions link.We continue to coach writers through our Writers' Mentoring Cohorts, which will have another season in 2025 (and perhaps a new summer experience). Additionally, our Writers’ Guild is an online social community for writers of any capacity and ability who want to connect, encourage, and build their skills in written form. I'd invite you to join both if you are a writer looking to be helped in your craft.
In 2025, we will be publishing new books and articles on discipleship and developing a growing community of disciple-makers in the local church. As we mark fifteen years of presence on the internet, we’d love to hear from you about your favorite articles, resources, or ways that GCD has made an impact in your life and walk with Christ. Send us an email or drop a comment on our social media platforms. Let us know what you’d like to read about or ways GCD can write to serve you in discipleship of Christ. Our prayer is that many more disciples of Jesus would continue to be made, matured, and multiplied for the glory of God.