Around the Ministry (May)
 “If I were to die tonight, I don’t know where I would go.” So said a student at the University of Massachusetts to Navigator staff member Steve Yeakley. Such a statement captures Steve’s attention and usually leads to great talks around the hope of the Gospel. Steve serves with EDGE Corps, a ministry of The Navigators’ Collegiate work.  EDGE stands for Evangelism,
Discipleship, Growth, and Experience. The idea is to involve recent college graduates in full-time, student-centered ministry. It’s this generation reaching their own generation for Christ. Most EDGErs commit to spending two years working alongside Navigator staff at a college campus. Steve’s one of 78 EDGErs across the country and this is his second year at UMass. He leads a Bible study with a couple of upperclassmen, and has been discipling a freshman. He meets regularly with several unbelievers, answering their questions and deepening friendships with them. “Sometimes it’s been overwhelming with all the details to be done,” says Steve, “but God is moving in the lives of those around me, and I am grateful to be a part of that.” More information on our Edge Corps Ministries.  |
 "When the men in the neighborhood figured out we were not cops, they took us for landlords, looking to collect back rent," Peter says. "Now we are recognized as two crazy but harmless guys. We have planted seeds of caring and of God's love with every encounter."  Arturo says, “I began sharing God’s love in parks, movie theaters, buses—wherever I was. Other Navigators discipled me and I served God several years in the youth group. Then God excited me about sharing the Gospel in the slums, where I also began teaching people to read and write. God really loves the poor, and so do I. After my marriage to Ruth in 1988, we kept working in the slum area and built a modest two-bedroom home near there, where we still live.” Navigators Sam and Randi Edelstein have known Arturo since the late 1970s. “We first met Arturo while studying Spanish in Guadalajara,” says Sam. “He and his wife, Ruth, have discipled others and humbly served in leadership. With amazing skill, they counsel and strengthen marriages.” “We focus on multiplying committed couples to labor in God’s work,” Arturo says. “We serve on the citywide Navigator leadership team and are in the process of preparing the next generation of leaders. Our desire is to continue serving God, know Him better every day, and train others to work in His harvest.” |
  As Dan and Deanne Helmboldt
approached their fifth wedding anniversary in 1992, Deanne “surfed the
web” looking for a unique way to celebrate. Landing on the Glen Eyrie
website, she read how The Navigators’ conference center in Colorado
Springs offers a weekend retreat called “Marriage GetAway.” They agreed
that would be an ideal anniversary gift to each other, and they signed
up. “The atmosphere was beautiful, very secluded and private,” says Dan. “Shortly after we arrived in our room at the Castle, there was a knock at the door. It was the conference leader, Hal Denny. He said, ‘Your carriage is waiting.’ “I asked, ‘What? A carriage?’ He explained that there was a horse-drawn carriage waiting to give Deanne and me a tour of the grounds of the Glen. That was just the first of many amazing moments during that weekend. The conference improved our communication skills and showed us how to spend more time together in Scripture and in prayer.” The Marriage GetAway proved so valuable to the Helmboldts that they returned to celebrate their tenth anniversary. And their fifteenth. In February, they helped facilitate two of the workshop sessions with conference leaders Terry and Leah Green. See Glen Eyrie’s list of conferences at www.gleneyrie.org to learn more about the Marriage GetAway, offered several times during the year. If you are unable to attend one of the conferences, perhaps you know someone else who could benefit from the experience. So pass along the website! |
 People often ask me to explain our calling, “To Advance the Gospel of Jesus and His Kingdom into the nations through spiritual generations of laborers living and discipling among the lost.” The real sticking point for many is the phrase “living and discipling among the lost.” What does that mean?  I
understand their confusion. There was a time when I not only didn’t
understand what it meant to live and disciple among the lost, but I was
actually bothered by the whole notion. I remember attending a set of meetings with Jim Petersen, one of our most gifted missional and pioneering leaders. In these meetings he kept emphasizing the importance of all believers, including the leaders, to live and disciple among the lost. I kept saying to myself, “I do evangelism; I lead people to Christ!” I felt that Jim was simply a one-string guitar. On my return flight home I continued to silently argue with Jim. Finally I asked myself the fundamental question, “Why am I angry with a man for teaching that we should live and minister among the lost?” I concluded that I was really afraid to live and minister among lost people as he had explained it. I was also unwilling to give that much time to the lost. When I arrived home I had a long talk with my wife, Becky. We concluded that we had a problem and we should become like little children in learning how to relate to our neighbors and unbelieving friends. Over the last eight years we have had the privilege of experiencing some of the most exciting ministry of our lives. We have learned lessons about ministry that we would never have learned any other way. |
| More articles from our flagship publication One-to-One Ministry Review. |
