John Dill, director of missions, Saluda Baptist Association, said, “When the word discipleship comes to mind, I think of David Blizzard.” Blizzard is the 20-year pastor at Oakdale Baptist Church, Townville, in the Upstate of South Carolina.

“We want discipleship to be a process that moves people from the classroom to action, sharing their faith through personal conversation and including the truths of scripture. Discipleship becomes a lifestyle,” Blizzard said.

Blizzard said discipleship begins with expositional, verse-by-verse preaching. “I believe the word of God is going to make disciples, and I try to make our people students of the word. Our philosophy is that we are going to share the word of God.”

In tandem with worship, Blizzard said Oakdale is intentional about getting people into a Sunday school class. “When they come to our church, we get them to a Sunday school class. We feel like we have 90 percent of our Sunday attendance in a class.” To support Sunday school, Oakdale provides annual onsite training for its teachers. Blizzard also meets with teachers on the first Sunday of each quarter, encouraging them and providing a gift for them. The gift is often a book “that I hope will feed their souls.”

From preaching and teaching ministry, “We work to get our people involved in missions and to go out on trips,” Blizzard said. “The discipleship strategy is to move people from being in a classroom to action.”

Director of missions Dill said, “David is a consistent, caring pastor with consistent growth in the church. He’s our associational kingdom growth coordinator and an asset to the discipleship ministry of our association.”