Traffic will be the death of me. Either that, or it will be the thing that makes me leave Mexico. There’s never a direct route to get anywhere. You can’t watch for signs and stay out of the way of taxis, other cars, busses, and pedestrians all at the same time. Most of the time, you cannot turn left. You are forced to take 3 right turns in order to get where you need to go when one left turn would have been plenty.
Traffic is my number one sermon illustration. If I’m speaking on anger, I use traffic as an example. If I’m speaking on being nice to others, I use traffic as an example. If I’m speaking on just about anything, I can use traffic. It is my biggest gripe about Mexico City. I don’t understand the roads. I don’t understand the “rules.”
Today we went to the World Trade Center. It was a fun day. Except for, you guessed it, the traffic, or the traveling to and from. Anyway, if you want to pray for me. Pray for my patience and calmness in traffic! Seriously. Please.
Here’s a definition of discipleship I came up with one day as I was thinking about the subject.
The (intentional) influence on the life of another person that helps them grow spiritually, becoming more like Christ in their character, with the purpose of reproducing themselves in the life of others.
There are a few assumptions made by this definition:
- This influence is intentional? Although not necessarily true, it will be true for those who willingly enter into a discipleship relationship. There’s a lot of influence that takes place unintentionally.
- Our life and influence is the kind that helps them grow spiritually. This implies an imitable life. A life that helps people grow. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who have influence who are not worthy of imitation.
- The person on the receiving end has the desire to be more like Christ (i.e. make the necessary changes). You can be influenced without your desire, but you will not be changed to be like Christ without this desire personally.
- The person’s change will reproduce itself in others. The change in me will affect those I influence. Will I reproduce myself? That is the goal, allowing the discipleship process to be repeated in others.
Here are a few observations:
- Every one of us leave a part of who we are in the life of the people with whom we spend time.
- The more time you spend with other people, the more like you they will be.
- Disciples learn through both seeing and listening.
Technorati Tags: discipleship youth+ministry church
Here are a few of my heroes from history:
Rich Mullins: His life, music, and example have all inspired me to truly be an arrow pointing to heaven.
Jim Elliot: His sacrifice and devotion to reach the Auca indians have inspired me to give all I can to the cause of Christ.
C.S. Lewis: His book Mere Christianity is one of the foundational works in my life.
Jonathan Edwards: One of the greatest theologians and revival preachers in history. His life is an inspiration to study and live out what you believe.
D.L. Moody: His example of devotion to Christ and his ministry and preaching are an inspiration.
Mike Yaconelli: One of the fathers of youth ministry. Yac always challenged us to rethink what we were doing both in youth ministry and in our personal spiritual lives.
It will be awesome to get to see all of these guys someday. They are some ordinary people who discovered an extraordinary God and inspired people with their extraordinary abilities.
Who are your heroes?
I teach in middle school and high school chapel at Mexico City Christian Academy (an English speaking school serving the missionary and foreign community in northwest Mexico City) every other week. This week, the director isn’t here, so I am also teaching the all-school chapel this morning. For some reason, I’m not exactly thrilled about it. Maybe it’s because you never know what to expect from little kids. Maybe it’s because the age range is just so big (K-12th grade). Anyway, if you think about it, pray for me.
Ooh. Aah. We are the featured blog in the Youth Specialties update this week. Don’t believe me? Check out the online version of the update. Anyway, that just means that maybe we’ll get a few more visitors from the mention in their update.
If it’s your first time here, thanks for visiting. Here are what I would call the top 5 posts to get to know us.
Also, be sure to check out the various categories on this page. That way, you can sift through the stuff I write here. I didn’t realize how much I put up here until I started trying to narrow down our five posts for getting to know us. Anyway, welcome. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment. Thanks, YS, for linking to us! If anyone who visits has a blog, please let us know (Comment!). We’d love to get to know you, too.
