Tues 9.14 LaunchDate-2/9/11

Tues 9.14 LaunchDate-2/9/11
That's the day my training will begin in order to leave for the Mission Field.

I started a discipleship class this week and have been unable to focus on anything else. I have been endlessly thinking of how all other scriptures in the New Testament about discipleship are founded upon Jesus' discipleship model.

He called and invited 12 people He had chemistry with to follow Him.
He was WITH them for three years. He was with the three, Peter, James and John more than the other 9. Some infer that the special three each also discipled three. That would be an interesting model, huh.
Then he sent them out to do the same.

I have spent the last few days thinking about which students I taught professionally but mentored above and beyond that. There are some, I wish there were more.

My work with children in After school programs and Youth Groups and Young adult Ministry has been more fruitful. I think the hardest part for me is the sending out. We don't really have to plan this part with young people because they go away to school, they marry, they move, they have kids, they move, they get a new job, they move again.

Most of the folk I have had the pleasure of either discipling (intentionally), some as they discipled me in return, have moved to other parts of the state, country and world.
The "WITH" part is my favorite, my forte. I love the word and engaging Bible Study but being WITH people as we work out our salvation together with joy, pain , fear and trembling is fulfilling in a way I cannot measure.

Most of the folk I've been "WITH" for the last few years are newlyweds with young children and growing careers. They are "WITH" other families in small groups or ministries making their own mark and impacting the livs of another generation. I don't see them often enough but I pray for their strength. And I miss them. That has been the hard truth that is sinking in this week after that first amazing class with YNSI.
As I work on support-raising and plan my departure I don't feel I'n "with" anyone. I am having to rlly lean on Jesus thru this time. My loneliness tells me that some part of me hasn't surrendered to the simple truth that He is more than enough.
I am grateful for the new partners gained over the last week.
Every single one is someone I made disciples WITH over the last decade. They are family and friend all wrapped in one.
Pray we would be fully funded and that more people would catch this dream of disciplemaking abroad.