A while back in my ministry, I had a group of students that just doesn’t come along very often—seven or eight senior guys who really seemed like they wanted to grow. They were from strong families and had tons of leadership potential. I had very high expectations for what they could do as leaders that year, but there was a problem. There were too many of them. I didn’t feel like I possibly could disciple all of them. So what ended up happening? I pursued none of them.

There is never enough time to do everything. At times, I wish I could clone myself: Tasky Syler could finish all the tasks and People Syler could meet with all the people. Though the core of our job is to facilitate discipleship among the students, there are also events to plan, e-mails to write, meetings to attend and phone calls to make. So what can we do? How do we deal with this tension?

How do we spend the time we’ve set aside for discipling students? Do we simply pick the students we want to pursue? How do we choose? Doesn’t James 2 tell us to avoid favoritism? Those of us stuck in this tension end up ignoring all of the possible students we could be pursuing because we don’t feel like we can single out just a few. “All or nothing—that’s what Jesus wants, right?” Well, no; not exactly.

Shot and Bullets
Did you know Jesus Himself played favorites, in a manner of speaking? First of all, He chose just 12 disciples. He preached to the crowds; and in Luke 10, He sent out a group of 72, suggesting His ministry reach was broader than what the 12 could do on their own. His core was the Twelve, but among the Twelve, He also had three—Peter, James, and John—in whom He invested more.

So with Jesus as my model, here is my proposal for you and your volunteers as it relates to Strategic Discipleship: the Shotgun and the Rifle.

First, the Shotgun. When you shoot a shotgun, it fires a number of pellets that hits a broad target. In the same way, make it clear to whatever group you are leading (whether your adult leaders, student leaders or your small group) that you are available to all of them. If any of them wants to get together with you, you will make it happen. Perhaps you can set up office hours as a teacher would so they know specifically when you are available.

Then the Rifle. A rifle shoots one bullet at one target at a time. Choose two or three students from your group (as your time allows) to pursue. You don’t necessarily have to broadcast it to the world that you’re pursuing only them, but make it your personal goal to do everything in your power to see these few grow to spiritual maturity. How do you choose? That’s an imperfect science. Maybe it’s someone in whom you see exceptional potential. Maybe it’s someone who has pursued you. Maybe you just connect with them more. In any case, don’t apologize for it; pursue them diligently.

Another option would be to organize what one of my mentors calls a “commando” group. This would be a high-commitment, high-accountability group that is open to all, but where the bar is raised so high that only the truly committed are there.

You’re just one person—you can’t do it all; but what you can do, you must do.