Growing a Passion for Discipleship

Pastor Tito Ruiz at Stonemill Church Atlanta

Navigators Church Ministries (NCM) partners with church leaders and volunteers to develop generations of disciples in everyday life—where they live, work, and play. The NCM vision is to grow help people to grow in their passion for discipleship and cultures through churches in every U.S. city to impact our world. 

Tito Ruiz first met Jesus through his passion for music. Tito came to the United States from Nicaragua when he was 19 years old. A friend invited Tito to be part of a church worship band and he accepted the invitation because he loved music, even though he wasn’t a Christian. Through relationships at the church, Tito soon learned about God’s love for him and he accepted Jesus Christ into his life as Savior and Lord.

Now, 20 years later, Tito has a passion for discipleship and a heart to introduce others to Jesus. Tito pastors Stonemill Church Atlanta, a fully bilingual (English/Spanish) congregation that is committed to discipleship and making a difference in their community.

A few years ago, Tito met Jack Bell, with Navigator Church Ministries (NCM), and Jack invited Tito into a coaching relationship focused on church discipleship.

As a result of this relationship, Tito has taken intentional steps to grow Stonemill into a church with a disciplemaking culture. Twenty emerging leaders went through The Ways of the Alongsider. At the end of their training, they were commissioned to make disciples of Jesus Christ and encouraged to share the vision of discipleship where they live, work, and play. Twelve of these leaders have been trained to lead or co-lead small groups using a follow-up tool for new believers developed by Jack.

Pastor Tito’s heart is for the people in his community to have the deep roots that are described in Jeremiah 17:8, so that their leaves will always be green and they will never fail to bear fruit:

Será como un árbol plantado junto al agua, que extiende sus raíces hacia la corriente; no teme que llegue el calor, y sus hojas están siempre verdes. En época de sequía no se angustia, y nunca deja de dar fruto.

Roots like this, developed by disciples who are committed to training other disciples, will lead to generations of fruit at Stonemill Church Atlanta.

While Tito rejoices to see emerging leadership take ownership of the vision to build a disciplemaking culture at Stonemill Church Atlanta, he is not content to stop with his own church. He has a vision to reach out to other multicultural pastors in the Atlanta area to share with them the vision and practical steps to growing a passion for discipleship in their churches.

Pray for a disciple-making culture to continue to spread in the Atlanta area and beyond!

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