About DiscipleMaking Mission
A movement of people, making disciples who make disciplemakers.
For 14 years, what started as a discipleship ministry in Chattanooga has grown into a movement — in local churches, in state prisons, and across the country through multiplication.
Our Story
Equipping disciplemakers to build the Kingdom.
Our ministry equips disciplemakers and then encourages them to build the Kingdom. The foundation of DiscipleMaking Mission is one-on-one Paul/Timothy relationships — a network leading others to Christ and developing long-term relationships, mature believers investing in the next generation.
DiscipleMakers are those who desire to fulfill the Great Commission — “go and make disciples” throughout the nation. We establish, equip, and mobilize teams to carry out the mission, leading people through a 12-week discipleship program offered to individuals, local churches, and inside Walker State Prison and Lee State Prison.
Mission & Purpose
“Making Disciples who make DiscipleMakers.”
The DiscipleMaking Mission exists to engage and disciple people so they can answer the call of Christ to Go and Make Disciples — by equipping them to make disciples who make disciplemakers. It is about people with a desire to impact eternity by allowing God to use them in His desire to build generations of disciplemakers.
Meet Our Founder
Roger Erickson
Roger M. Erickson was born and raised in Michigan. He attended the University of Miami in Florida and graduated with a degree in business. He served as an officer in the United States Army as an Airborne Ranger and, while in the army, met his wife, Mary Ann, with whom he has four children. Roger and Mary Ann moved to California, where he enjoyed a career in insurance management over the next 20 years.
In 1968, the Lord brought a faithful believer into his life — a man from CBMC who discipled him one-on-one for a year and a half. Feeling both blessed and excited, Roger realized his calling and followed the Holy Spirit in building an intentional lifestyle of making disciplemakers, growing and reproducing followers of Jesus Christ.
In 1973 Roger began discipling through CBMC's Operation Timothy. He left the insurance business in 1980 to move into full-time ministry with CBMC, where he served on the National Board as Vice President and Executive Director, and then as President of CBMC International for ten years.
Drawing from his experience, Roger was inspired to found the DiscipleMaking Mission and write Fruit That Won't Spoil. The book has become a training manual equipping men and women with the tools necessary to be effective in fulfilling God's Great Commission. He taught spiritual reproduction in 53 countries around the world.
“Not the end — only the beginning of making disciples who make disciplemakers of Jesus Christ.”
“Every time you build into the life of another person, you launch a process which, ideally, will never end.”
Dr. Howard Hendricks (1924–2013)
Our Ministry Goal
Multiplication to the fourth generation.
In 2 Timothy 2:2 we find guidance for our call to disciplemaking: we are to entrust to faithful people, who will be able to teach others also. Spiritual multiplication — a vision for multiple generations of disciplemakers — is the desired end product.
The Paul and the Timothy adopt discipling as a lifestyle, establishing a plan and priorities for making it a central part of the rest of their lives. That is what the DiscipleMaking Mission is all about.
Leadership
Meet our board.
100% of our board gives financially and is actively engaged in the mission.
Lee Truax
Lee serves as President and a member of the DiscipleMaking Mission Board of Directors, leading the ministry's growth and expansion. He holds an MBA in Leadership from Liberty University and has completed doctoral coursework toward a DBA in Leadership. A past President of CBMC and former Vice President of Strategy for CBMC International, Lee brings decades of ministry and organizational leadership to the mission.
Tom Kitsmiller
An accomplished business leader with decades of experience in construction management and property maintenance. A Vanderbilt graduate (1975) with postgraduate studies in accounting, he founded Kitsmiller & Company and later served as COO of Stein Construction. A longtime community servant, he has served on the DMM board since 2010 and is an active member of Citizens of Heaven Church.
Roger D. Haston
An advisor and volunteer for special projects and a coordinator for fundraising initiatives. Roger brings 30 years of experience in business and church leadership as an ordained Minister of the Gospel, and previously served as VP of Human Resources. A former member of the U.S. Air Force for 22 years, he is married to Doris with four children and seven grandchildren.
Ashley C. Henderson
Joined the board in 2023. Commissioned as a Paul after completing the Fruit That Won't Spoil discipleship program in 2018, Ashley has served on DMM's Walker State Prison ministry team since 2019. He holds a BA in Communications from UTC and retired from WDEF News 12 after 27 years. He earned a U.S. Army commission and served 15 years.
S. Douglas White
An original member of the DMM board, beginning with the ministry in 2011. Doug has been active in prison ministry since 2008, focusing on disciplemaking and evangelism. Vocationally he is Senior Area Director of the Chattanooga chapter of CBMC. He is married to Melanie with two sons and one granddaughter.
Bill Henshall
Bill serves on the DiscipleMaking Mission Board of Directors, contributing his experience and leadership in support of the mission's disciplemaking work. Full bio coming soon.
Lane Keith
Lane serves on the DiscipleMaking Mission Board of Directors, contributing his experience and leadership in support of the mission's disciplemaking work. Full bio coming soon.
Roger Erickson, Founder
Founder of DiscipleMaking Mission and author of Fruit That Won't Spoil. Roger's passion was discipling people until they were able to disciple others — following God's call to make disciplemakers one life at a time. His legacy continues through every Paul and Timothy in the mission today.
What We Believe
Statement of Faith
- We believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are verbally inspired by God and inerrant in the original writings, and are of supreme and final authority in faith and life.
- We believe in one God, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
- We believe that Jesus Christ was begotten by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, and is true God and true man.
- We believe that man was created in the image of God; that he sinned and thereby incurred physical death and spiritual death (separation from God); and that all human beings are born with a sinful nature.
- We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice, and that all who believe in Him are justified on the grounds of His shed blood.
- We believe in the resurrection of the crucified body of our Lord, His ascension into Heaven, and His present life there for us as High Priest and Advocate.
- We believe in that blessed hope — the personal and imminent return of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
- We believe that all who receive by faith the Lord Jesus Christ are born again of the Holy Spirit and become children of God, and in the eternal security of the believer.
- We believe in the bodily resurrection of the just and the everlasting conscious punishment of the lost.
Ready to join us?
Step into a 12-week program, or help fund the growth and expansion of the mission.