Discipleship is a lot like the process of baking. For my original analogy, I thought about cookies. Cookies become cookies as the correct ingredients are mixed, the chef puts them into the oven, the oven changes and prepares them, and they finish with a pleasant aroma ready for dessert. When cookies aren’t allowed enough time to bake, they may seem good on the outside but inside will be doughy and ill-prepared. Cookies that are too long in the oven, or who keep going back to the place of preparing, come out burnt and exist as ruin in the midst of the greater batch of cookies.
Disciples are founded by the Father who designs and mixes them perfectly with their giftings and His Spirit. He then puts us in the places of preparation in life that tests and changes us. As we grow up into maturity in Him, we find ourselves in places of effectiveness, a “sweet aroma” in the midst of a dying world.
Disciples who leave the place of preparedness too early are ill-prepared for the world and have trouble holding their ground. Disciples who keep going over and over again back to the places of preparedness when they should be out and serving become burnt, crisp, and only serve to ruin the fuller body of Christ with their bitterness.
As leaders, our job is to identify that crossing point in the lives of the disciples in our churches between preparedness and trust. There are many that still need development, and there are many that just need to be deployed. Nobody likes a burnt cookie.
[And for your interest, I also though of using the pottery analogy, but really doesn’t the cookie one connect a bit better with your experience?]
And yet, and yet... 
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