In one small town a pastor once asked during his sermon: "Do you think that God can bring 200 people to our church service???" The people in the congregation thought for a moment, but then, knowing that for God nothing is impossible, they answered unanimously: "Of course He can!" The pastor was expecting that response and asked his next question: "So why hasn't God done it? Do we pray for our loved ones, relatives, friends, acquaintances, neighbors and coworkers?" No one said anything. The pastor continued, "God can bring 200 people to this church right now, but he isn't doing it because we aren't able to help that many people."

 

Many times my own experience has confirmed the accuracy of the words of that pastor. Many times I have seen that people need attention, care, assistance, mentoring, spiritual counseling. Where can we find that many competent leaders? How can we train that many workers? It turns out that all things are possible in Jesus Christ who strengthens us. This is just one of many topics that were discussed at the seminar, which was held at the Christian Ministry Center on October 5.

"Pass it on! " was the name and motto of the seminar, which was organized and prepared by the global church movement of the missionary organization "Ukraine for Christ." The objective: to convey biblical values​​, strategies and skills to achieve transformation, organizational change and multiplying of service. The close-knit team, the great organization, a sincere leader and an experienced presenter showed a true example of service and teaching. Attendees were present from the Poltava, Kharkiv, Cherkasy, Kirovohrad and Volyn regions. The pastor-teacher David Toss paid warm and loving attention to all the 69 participants and was not distracted by "off-topic" questions and discussion topics. Clear testimonies, instructive videos, a detailed and comprehensive synopsis, lively discussions - all this was useful for practical application in the field of mentoring. Everyong was enthusiastic and left with new knowledge and fresh inspiration from the Holy Spirit.

Finally Pastor David told the story of his own life: "Thanks to the testimony of a cousin my wife and I came to know God and started to serve Him. Sixteen years later that cousin fell ill, but before he died he asked me to preach at his funeral. When he died, I had to keep my promise, so I came to the funeral and went into the little church. There I found about two hundred people in attendance. I was surprised that there was no end to the number of people arriving to honor my cousin. People kept coming and coming. We had to bring more chairs, but there still weren't enough seats. The church got fuller and fuller. I was shocked that they all called my cousin their "personal mentor". It turns out that my cousin taught many people in the store, on fishing trips, at the factory where he worked, in churches and other places ... At the funeral, there were people who did not know my brother personally. They were students of his students. When it came to my message, after all that had already been said about my cousin, I had nothing more to add. However, my cousins funeral taught me a lot.

For homework, everyone at the seminar had to write at least two names of people we pledged to begin mentoring in the near future. Each of us, either in our notebooks or just mentally, made a note as an obedient and faithful disciple of Jesus Christ, directly fulfulling the command: "Go therefore and make disciples!" And you, do you already know who these two people are in your life?!

Irina Kovalenko