Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
10 30 2026
Calling All Soldiers of Grace
Part 3 — Who Will Go Looking for the Missing?
What if the person God wants you to disciple is someone you’ve already met? What if they’re not waiting for another sermon, another program, or another invitation to a church event, but for someone who will genuinely care about them?
And what if that someone is you?
For the past two days I’ve been sharing something that’s been weighing heavily on my heart. I don’t want to grow old and disappear from the work God still has for me. And I can’t stop thinking about the nearly one hundred men who started our Courageous semester but are no longer attending regularly. But today I want to go beyond those men. I want to speak to the men and women who love God. To the Christians who have tasted His goodness, experienced His mercy, and know what it means to be forgiven when they didn’t deserve forgiveness. I’m calling out to the soldiers of grace. Not soldiers looking for another argument to win, another person to correct, or another reason to divide the Body of Christ. I’m talking about men and women who want what God wants, who love what He loves, and whose hearts still break over the things that break His heart.
I’m talking about people who understand that mercy isn’t something we simply receive. It’s something God intends to pour through us. People who recognize that the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance, as Galatians 5:22–23 describes—isn’t given merely to make our own lives more pleasant. It is evidence of Christ living within us, and it ought to bless the people He places around us. We are called to be His hands extended, His compassion demonstrated, His love made visible in a world that is becoming increasingly lonely.
And sometimes that calling begins with something as simple as noticing who isn’t there anymore.
I wonder whether we’ve sometimes become so comfortable receiving the blessings of Christian fellowship that we’ve forgotten the responsibility of extending that fellowship to someone standing outside it. Jesus didn’t tell His disciples to build comfortable communities and hope people found them. In Matthew 28:19–20, He told them to go and make disciples, teaching others to observe everything He commanded. And discipleship is so much more than getting someone to attend a meeting. It’s walking alongside another person. Listening when they’re hurting. Praying when they don’t have the strength to pray. Encouraging them when they’re discouraged. Helping them discover the Word of God and learn to recognize His voice. Being willing to share our own struggles instead of pretending we’ve always had everything figured out.
It’s allowing someone to see Jesus living in us, even when life gets messy. And sometimes it’s having the patience to stay in someone’s life when progress is slow and the relationship isn’t particularly convenient. I think that’s where some of us struggle. We love the idea of reaching people, but relationships require something from us. Time. Attention. Vulnerability. Sometimes even sacrifice. But isn’t that precisely what Jesus demonstrated? In Philippians 2:4, Paul tells us not to look only to our own interests, but also to the interests of others. And I wonder what would happen if every Christian reading this decided to take that instruction personally.
What if we stopped assuming somebody else was checking on the person who disappeared from our Bible study? What if we stopped waiting for church leadership to notice every empty chair? What if we began seeing the people around us not as interruptions to our schedules, but as opportunities to demonstrate the love of Christ? Imagine what could happen if every one of us committed to intentionally reaching just one person. Not simply inviting them to church and considering our responsibility fulfilled, but getting to know them. Understanding what they’re facing. Helping them find meaningful Christian relationships. Walking with them as they grow in faith, until they begin doing the same for someone else. That’s how disciples make disciples. And that’s how one life can influence a family, a workplace, a neighborhood, and perhaps generations we’ll never meet.
I’m not suggesting we can rescue everyone. We can’t. Some people won’t respond. Others may need time, professional help, or support beyond what we can provide. But we can refuse to let indifference be the reason someone feels forgotten. So I’m asking you to do something today. Ask the Holy Spirit to bring one person to mind. Someone who stopped coming. Someone who has grown distant. Someone whose smile may be hiding a struggle. Then reach out. Make the call. Invite them for coffee. Ask how they’re really doing. Listen long enough to hear the answer. And if they’re willing, begin walking alongside them. Don’t make it another project. Make it a relationship. And don’t stop with an invitation. Be willing to become the kind of friend who helps another person become a disciple of Jesus Christ.
I want those hundred men. But I want something even greater. I want to see an army of believers rise up across our churches and communities, people who refuse to let others quietly disappear without someone caring enough to look for them. Because every person matters to God. And if they matter to Him, shouldn’t they matter to us? I don’t know how many more years God has given me. But I know what I want to do with the ones I have left. I want to keep finding people, loving people, encouraging people, and helping people discover the Savior who changed my life. So here’s my invitation to you, my brothers and sisters in Christ: Will you join me? Will you ask God for one person and then take the first step toward them? Not someday.
Not when life becomes less complicated. Today.
Because I don’t want to retire from loving people. I don’t want to retire from making disciples. And I certainly don’t want to retire from following Jesus. And I don’t want you to either.
Two Questions to Carry With You
1. If you asked the Holy Spirit to place one person on your heart today who needs encouragement, friendship, or a renewed relationship with Christ, whose name might come to mind, and what is keeping you from reaching out?
2. What would change in your life if you made a personal commitment to walk alongside one person, not simply inviting them to church, but helping them grow into a disciple who will someday do the same for someone else?
My prayer is that these devotionals do more than give you something to think about… that they draw you closer to Jesus Christ, deepen your love for Him,
and encourage you to live out your faith.
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