In this episode of The Hope + Help Project, Christine Chappell interviews pastor and author Jonathan Hayashi. They discuss his book, Ordinary Radicals: A Return to Christ-Centered Discipleship to learn how the gospel of Jesus Christ informs the way we foster genuine, mission-minded Christian community within the context of the local church. Jonathan shares how God used intentional discipleship relationships to radically alter the gang-related trajectory he was on as a teenager. He explains some of the reasons why the church-at-large is failing to faithfully commit to making Christ-centered disciples, while also highlighting some of the unbiblical beliefs church members have about what it means to belong to the body of Christ. Jonathan encourages believers to remember that there are no special qualifications for making disciples, and offers practical suggestions for pursuing a discipleship relationship within the respective "mission fields" everyday Christians find themselves in.

The Hope + Help Project podcast offers compassionate biblical conversations about life's challenging problems. The purpose of the podcast is to share Christ-centered comfort and clarity for those seeking biblical solutions for the struggles they face. The podcast accomplishes this by offering a mix of interviews with seasoned biblical counseling professionals and ministry leaders on a variety of topics. Listeners can expect to receive biblical wisdom as well as practical steps for facing suffering, struggling and sin with courage and grace. Hosted by author/writer Christine M. Chappell.

Jonathan Hayashi completed his Bachelor’s in Pastoral Ministry at Moody Bible Institute in 2012 and his Master’s degree in Organizational Leadership at Moody Theological Seminary in Chicago in 2014. He is currently a Doctoral student studying Biblical Counseling at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville.

Pastor Jonathan Hayashi has a strong desire to serve the local church by leading, equipping, and shepherding the flock into authentic mature followers of Jesus Christ. While serving in ministry for nine years at two churches in Illinois and Missouri, Jonathan has also had the privilege to be a camp pastor and speak at multiple revivals.

God has tremendously blessed Jonathan with his wonderful wife, Kennedi, and they live with their two beautiful daughters in the Greater St. Louis area.

Ordinary Radicals: A Return to Christ-Centered Discipleship • How do we live out the gospel in our lives? What we believe about the gospel determines how we will follow the Great Commission and make disciples. Radical Discipleship lays bare the roots of the gospel, reinforcing the command and privilege of the Great Commission.

Church leadership must be focused on discipleship. If you have a leadership problem, you have a discipleship problem, and if you have a discipleship problem, you have a Great Commission problem.

Why bother with discipleship? Because the cost of non-discipleship is too great! Living with radical abandonment for His glory, faithful adherence to His person, and urgent obedience to His ministry is the only way to live a successful, fruitful Christian life.

This book offers a step-by-step process for living out the Great Commission to revolutionize the world through the local church.