009: Embodying Discipleship and Disciple-making with OlaDele Okuwobi
In this episode of the 100 Movements Podcast, host Lindsey Harwood sits down with OlaDele John “Dele” Okuwobi to explore disciple making as the heartbeat of movemental Christianity.
Dele shares his own story—from Lagos to New Orleans to Cincinnati—and unpacks a practical, concrete framework for disciple making that goes far beyond programs or classes. Together they explore how discipleship always involves a teacher, a bank of teaching, a student, embodiment, verification, and eventual transfer of the teacher’s “bank of knowledge.”
They also wrestle with the Western church’s discipleship gaps, especially around speed, success, individualism, and justice, and why the law of love must test every form of teaching and embodiment.
In this conversation:
Dele’s story and ministry context in Cincinnati with his wife and daughter
A practical definition of disciple making: teacher, teaching, student, embodiment, verification, and maturity
How seasons of discipleship shift as we move from student to co-laborer
The cost of discipleship: embracing the humanity and personality of your teacher (without accepting abuse)
Why the Western church’s discipleship is often incomplete rather than absent
How APEST (especially apostolic, evangelistic, and prophetic) shapes what we value
Justice as a discipleship issue—and why the West’s fragmentation reveals who has (and hasn’t) been discipling us
The difference between information and embodiment
Evaluating your teachers, your learning, and your embodiment through the law of love
“Reality wars”: how all embodied teaching (godly or ungodly) creates the world we live in
Key idea:
If we ever stop teaching and embodying the ways of Jesus, we lose the reality war.
Next steps:
Ask: Who is my teacher in this season? What bank of knowledge am I embodying—and where?
Take the mDNA Strengths Assessment at 100Movements.com to see how disciple making and the other MDNA elements show up in your life.
Watch for Dele’s upcoming book “Reality Wars” and follow his work online to keep learning.