The Paul - Timothy Effect

“You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.

In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God^[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work….”

2^nd Timothy 3: 10-17

I believe God is raising up forerunners in this generation. He is doing a marvelous thing which includes the youth in his great plan. Many are accepting the call of the great harvest and are seen in the enthusiasm, passion to serve the church and eagerness to learn more from his word.

He is raising up people like Joshua, David and Stephen in this technological age. They are making impact in every part of society and the world at large.

As leaders, we have an important role to fill-in of this great move. They need to be trained, equipped and mentored in the right way.

With these in mind, how then can we impart, train and develop these young ones to become effective influencers in our society today? What is our model in doing so and how should we see the outcome of all our efforts?

One great example is shown in the last few pages of the scriptures through the letters of Paul to Timothy, a young man in Ephesus. As many of us would know, Timothy took on the role as pastor in one of the biggest churches in biblical times. He was a young disciple of Paul and perhaps, as the scripture says, a “spiritual son” of Paul.

Paul and Timothy’s relationship is one of our great examples for today. Paul and his mother and grandmother were able to mentor him in the ways of the Lord. Paul specifically taught him how to minister, teach and lead the body of Christ at an early age.

If you read the 2 letters of Timothy, Paul was actually giving instructions on church organizations, teaching, ministerial gifts and sustaining church growth amidst future challenges (like false teachers and prophecies).

He was telling Timothy that because he is already old, he must now rely on Timothy and how he can train others, who will be equipped with the ministry as well.

The Epistles shows Paul’s character when it comes to mentoring:

1. Paul was able to give clear and sound instructions about ministry and Timothy’s calling
2. Paul had the experience, authority and influence over the subjects he discussed
3. Paul was also able to target (identify) the right audience in the person of Timothy, leaving him a legacy that the modern church is patterned hereof
4. Paul believed that Timothy can do it and he can share it to others

Also, the epistles also shares about Timothy;

1. Timothy was trained in the godly way as a child
2. Timothy received in his heart the prophecies and teachings given to him by godly men
3. Timothy was ready to take the challenge
4. Timothy was mentored by Paul and took part in the ministry since the start of Paul’s apostolic ministry
5. Timothy never abandoned his calling

Paul and Timothy are considered the perfect example of mentorship. It went beyond weekly bible studies and all, it became stronger through the years and the very foundation of Paul’s ministry was also seen in the life and ministry of Timothy in Ephesus.

Conclusion:

With our goal to develop the right strategy and program for youth programs, it’s my prayer that we do it with the mindset of Paul and the positivity of Timothy.

God is doing something great, he always is. Our challenge is taking part of that work and making sure that we listen and accept these things that we may be able to share it to others and give God the glory.

God Is In The Search

God is in the search.

He is searching for people whose hearts and minds are set in building the kingdom of God in this world. He is calling out from every tribe, people and tongue a generation to proclaim the blessings of God and live their lives selflessly and whose visions is to ignite this generation to run the race and fulfill the destiny.

In history, God called young people to fulfill God’s purpose in his time;

1. He called out Joshua to lead the people to conquer the promise land.

2. He called David out to become the victor of Israel and later on the well known King of Israel.

3. He called out Daniel from captivity to become the wise adviser of the King of Persia and the next 2 kings after.

4. He called out Samuel when he was just a child to speak in His behalf to the rebellious people of Israel.

5. He called out Stephen in the book of Acts to testify that Jesus, whom the people crucified, was truly the Son of God!

Being young and inexperienced, our mindset has been set to think that we can never do what the older generation did. We are set to think by the enemy that we can do little in God’s kingdom.

God who is a God of equal opportunity.

We are as important and effective as the older generation. We are to run with them, fulfill the great commission with them and stand with them for truth. It is with the same blood that we are purchased and saved, the same Holy Spirit that fills and direct us as we carry the burden of reaching the lost.

We have the same gifts of the spirit and the same character of Christ in us. We are qualified to do what God has set in our hearts to do. As Paul’s instruction to Timothy was to “not look down on himself because he is young…” rings true even today.

I believe that we are part of the fulfillment of that promise, part of the people who is set apart and part of this prophetic generation He is raising up in this last days. 

God wants your heart and mind to this task, He wants you and your heart only.

God has set you where you are for a purpose.

He has set you in that particular place to become a firebrand.

He will fulfill that purpose in you.

He will take you out to the nations of the world to become a testimony of his goodness.

He will breakforth in your life blessing, destiny and call to become a strategic generation.

As the Apostle John has heard, “ Those who have ears to listen, should hear what God is saying to the church today…”

Of Leadership and Workshops

Viz and I had the opportunity to conduct a leadership workshop to some leaders of the Inter-Youth Fellowship in Tanjay last Monday, September 21, 2009. There were a total of 18 youth leaders from the ages of 17 to 26 years old. (I’m still 26 by the way)

Viz was able to facilitate 2 getting to know you games that allowed the leaders get to know others and learn the value of thinking and unity to solve issues or problems. We had fun trying to untangle ourselves without cutting the rope.

I also did an activity that made them aware of their strengths and weaknesses, as well as their plans in the future and the fears they have growing up. We shared to them the importance of being honest and being there especially when the hard times comes in.

After letting them write down everything, I asked them to put their papers in the board forming a cross and reflect how our common ground, Jesus Christ did for all our fears and weaknesses and the essence of growing up with the strengths and good plans for our futures.

Another highlight was the tearing of the notes that they had. I gave each individual a piece of paper from another person, and asked them to tear it to pieces symbolizing trust and acceptance no matter what they did or will do in the future.

It was a perfect opportunity to share what we have learned through the years as a leader and we are all the more excited to know how we can help out with the team in creating their vision and goals for the rest of the year and early of 2010.

Of Leadership and Responsibilities

I just got out from the youth meeting for the inter-youth fellowship. To my surprise, I was the one who facilitated the meeting and discussed a lot of other issues from dating to church-hopping.

Just to share with you, the Ministerial Fellowship of Tanjay gave their approval in realizing a long dream for their youth - an inter-denominational organization who can strengthen, uplift and develop the different potentials of their leaders. I am excited for this project!

To be honest, I like the group ( a total of 15 youth leaders) from the different churches in Tanjay joined the event plus another 60 plus youth who joined the pre-launch fellowship. This is a big number if you tell me. The pastors were also there and I was blessed to know they fully support the said gathering. It was surprising to expect only 20 youth to be present to an 80 young and vibrant young people from the different churches.

I was also ask to exhort and share the benefits of fellowship and the opportunity impart something to this new breed of leaders in the christian community. I have to admit, it's humbling enough to know that I still have the charisma, the personality and the mindset of a servant-leader. I thank the Lord that He is indeed faithful to let me grow in many ways to mature with my God-given potential.

For the 3rd time, I said "No" in becoming a leader. I guess I work effectively out of the core group.  I am not saying I'm not available but my vision is to see young people to rise up as leaders and I believe part of the plan is giving the authority to someone else.

Please pray for me guys, I am being asked to become the adviser, together with Viz and the pastors of the ministerial fellowship. I am all the more excited how  Viz and I can help out with the core group, developing this new breed of leaders for God's glory!

Thank You For Reading!

Thoughts About Fellowships

I'll be joining the first meeting for the Inter-Youth Fellowship in Tanjay City. The venue will be in our Church with the invitation from the different denominations in the area. This will be a second run of the former group Viz and I used to help out with around 5 years ago.

Well, most of the leaders we had before are either married or out of the country. And it leaves us with Viz and me helping out the group.

Just for the record, I was the former president for the Inter-Youth for almost a year before it went to it's "desert times". I call it desert times because it's the time or the season wherein everyone seems to be busy with their own churches forgetting that the travel and journey requires all christians - from all denominations alike - to walk and finish the journey set before us.

Unfortunately, when I was leading the said group, not all youth groups from the area was interested in pursuing fellowship and togetherness. There were other agendas from the different churches except for the leaders who passionately pursued togetherness even when there were a lot of hard times in the ministry.

I loved the time when the youth leaders from the different churches would meet in Rizal Park just to discuss what we can do and prayed for one another. It was exhausting on my part because I was studying in Dumaguete at that time and the rest were working as well.

Another reason why some churches pulled-out their youth at that time was because of dating and relationships. There were issues about where the newly weds will go to church and stuff that I believe was not supposed to be a good reason for a pull-out. But since the one involved was a former youth pastor of another church, they decided to pull-out.

Well, let's hope and pray this particular group will not do the same mistake as before. Of course, I am not being pessimistic about this one. There are just a couple of things I want to clear to the group before they decide whether they'd push through or not.

I dont want them to start out with so many youth joining only to find out a few months after that it became less than 10 youth joining with the leaders included.

Here are a couple of things I'd be asking them, just in case you want to know:

• What drives them to establish the youth fellowship again? This is one important question these youth have to ask themselves. This will determine whether their plan has sprouted out of the desires of God implanted in their hearts or it's just another man-driven activity because they long for something else.
• Have they prayed about this? Another important factor we need to remember is that, every activity or event needs to be covered and lifted up in prayer. It just doesn't count when we just speak about it in public. It needs to be speak forth in the spiritual realms through prayer in the inner rooms.
• What is their vision for the group? Although this may sound weird, but fellowship is not enough for a group to survive. It needs a vision to let them move on and continue. The people of Israel forced themselves to travel for more than forty years because they have envisioned living int the promised land. As a youth group, they need to have a bigger foresight on how this group can become effective witnesses to society, the nation and the world for God's Kingdom purposes.

Of course, there are a lot of other things I want to discuss with them but I believe this 3 important questions are what matters most before they start. And yes, I will definitely fully support this cause because I strongly believe in unity and fellowship of believers to reach this nation for Christ!