About us
What started as a discipleship ministry in Chattanooga has grown into a movement, making disciples in local churches, state prisons, and around the country through multiplication. Our ministry is focused on equipping men to be disciplemakers, and then encouraging them to build the Kingdom.
BECOMING A DISCIPLEMAKER
The foundation of DiscipleMaking Mission is one-on-one, Paul/Timothy relationships. We are a network of men leading other men to Christ and then developing long-term one-on-one relationships…spiritual fathers investing in spiritual sons.
EXPANDING THE REACH
DiscipleMakers are those men who desire to fulfill the Great Commission – “go and make disciples” throughout the nation. The DiscipleMaking Mission is establishing, equipping and mobilizing teams to carry out the mission.
We fulfill our mission by leading men through a 12-week discipleship program that is offered to individual groups, local churches, and in Walker State Prison and Lee State Prison.
The "DiscipleMaking Mission" is about disciplemakers- men with a desire to impact eternity by allowing God to use them in His desire to build generations of disciple makers.
Our Mission: “Making Disciples who make DiscipleMakers."
Our Purpose: The DiscipleMaking Mission exists to engage and disciple men so they can answer the call of Christ to Go and Make Disciples, by equipping them to make disciples who make disciplemakers.
Ready to join us? Contact us to join a 12-week program, or donate here!
Meet DMM 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, who together have 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 started discipling men through CBMC's Operation Timothy. He left the insurance business in 1980 and moved into full-time ministry with the CBMC and held positions as a member of the CBMC National Board, Vice President and Executive Director. He then served as President of CBMC International for ten years.
To this day, he continues in the spiritual reproductive process of weekly meeting with men and building disciplemakers. Roger's passion is just that - discipling men until they are able to disciple others, following God’s call to make disciplemakers one man at a time.
Drawing from his experience, Roger was inspired to found the Disciplemaking Mission and write a book, Fruit That Won’t Spoil. This book has become a training manual equipping men (and women) with the intangible tools necessary to be effective in fulfilling God’s Great Commission. He has taught spiritual reproduction in 53 countries around the world and prays that his book will help you to be a disciplemaker in obedience to this Great Commission, "Go and make disciples."
- The End -
But NOT the end - only the beginning of "making disciples who make disciplemakers" of Jesus Christ!
STATEMENT OF FAITH
We believe in the Scripture of the Old and New Testament as verbally inspired by God and inerrant in the original writings, and that they 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, and 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 not only the physical death, but also the spiritual death which is separation from God; and that all human beings are born with a sinful nature, and are sinners in thought, word and deed.
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, in His ascension into Heaven and in 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 thereby become children of God. Further, we believe in the eternal security of the believer.
We believe in the bodily resurrection of the just and the everlasting conscious punishment of the lost.
Meet Our board
Tom Kitsmiller
Tom Kitsmiller is an accomplished business leader with decades of experience in construction management, asphalt paving, and property maintenance. A graduate of Vanderbilt University (1975), he earned majors in Mathematics, Economics, and Business, followed by postgraduate studies in accounting at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He received his CPA license in 1980 (currently inactive).
His career began with the formation of Kitsmiller-Murray Company in 1975, an asphalt paving and maintenance firm where he served as President and later became full owner when the company was renamed Kitsmiller & Company in 1995.
From 2002 to 2014, he held several leadership roles at Stein Construction Company, Inc., including Sales & Marketing Manager, Vice President of Paving, and ultimately Chief Operating Officer.
In 2014, he founded Kitsmiller–Solutions, LLC, a consultancy that advises property owners on effective strategies for parking lot maintenance and long-term asset management.
In addition to his professional work, he has been deeply involved in community service. He has served as President of the American Cancer Society’s Hamilton County Unit, Treasurer for the Tennessee American Cancer Society, and a board member for organizations including Goodwill Industries, Brainerd Baptist School, and The Men’s Ministry Network. Since 2010, he has served on the board of the DiscipleMaking Mission.
He and his wife are active members of Citizens of Heaven Church, where they continue to invest in their community and faith.
President
Roger D. Haston
Roger D. Haston serves as an advisor and volunteer for special projects along with being a coordinator for fund raising initiatives. Roger brings 30 years of experience in both business and church leadership where he has served in numerous churches as an ordained Minister of the Gospel.
Prior to joining the DMM Board, Roger served in various leadership roles as VP of Human Resources. Roger is a former member of the United States Air Force where he served for 22 years. He is married to Doris and together they have four children and seven grandchildren.
AdvisorSecretary
Ashley C. Henderson
Ashley C. Henderson serves as the Secretary of DMM. He joined the board in 2023. Ashley was commissioned as a Paul after completing Roger Erickson’s Fruit that Won’t Spoil book and discipleship training program in 2018, and has been part of the DMM’s Walker State Prison ministry team since 2019. Ashley has a BA in Communications from UTC, and retired from WDEF News 12 after 27 years, having served in several roles such as news videographer, reporter, and producer, and commercial producer. He has also served as a deacon at Brainerd Baptist Church at the North Georgia campus, (soon to become North Georgia Fellowship), since 2020.
Ashley earned a commission in the U. S. Army and served for 15 years, mostly in the Tn. Army National Guard and the reserves. He is married to Debbie and has two children and one and a half grandchildren. (The second is due in June of 2026)
Our Ministry Goal: Multiplication
In 2 Timothy 2:2 we find words of guidance for implementing our call to disciplemaking. It says we are to entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.
Dr. Howard Hendricks (1924–2013) explained this essential ministry:
"The exciting thing about discipling is that every time you build into the life of another person, you launch a process which, ideally, will never end."
Spiritual multiplication is the desired end product of disciplemaking, having a vision for multiple generations of disciplemakers. The Paul and 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. “