Around the Ministry
 When was the last time someone asked you to be their friend? If you’re on Facebook, we’re asking! We have a Facebook fan page—http://facebook.navigators.org—and we would love for you to be our friend.  Facebook is one important way we can be part of the worldwide conversation. With nearly 1,000 fans as of this writing, we’re hearing inspirational stories from people all over the world. If you’re unfamiliar with Facebook, it all began as a way for college students to communicate with each other and eventually became open to anyone ages 13 and over. It’s like a group e-mail of friends who can read one another’s messages. Facebook boasts more than 140 million users worldwide. Facebook is a venue to communicate what’s important to you. Users can post videos, links to other sites, and tell other people what they’re doing. One way to tell other people what you’re about is by joining groups that share similar interests. Consider joining our Facebook fan page. We’d love to have you involved in the worldwide conversation of Navigator friends. |
 Anyone who believes teenagers aren’t interested in spiritual things ought to look over the shoulders of Abe and Lizzie Chavez, Navigators in Albuquerque, New Mexico. While in past years Abe and Lizzie have worked primarily among adults, last year they started a Bible study with the younger crowd. “We recently taught them a devotional method called Lectio Divina,” Abe says. This includes five steps: lectio or divine reading; meditatio or meditation; orotio, or prayer; contemplatio where people contemplate throughout the day on what they received from God during the first three steps; and actio, or action, applying what God has said to everyday life. “When we shared this with the youth group, they were very excited and saw how meeting with God wasn’t such an impossible task—it was really simple!” Abe says. One middle schooler, who struggles with health problems, sensed God speaking to her from Philippians 4:4–13. She believed verse 13—“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”—was God saying to her, “I want you to trust Me for things you can no longer do on your own. I will make up the difference through My strength working through you.” “Others in the youth group mentioned how much fun they were having with Lectio Divina,” Abe says, “and how they really felt they were meeting with and hearing special daily messages from our God who no longer seemed so far away.” |
  Joel Helms and a Clemson University student named Matt recently tried a new approach to get guys to talk about God. They invited men from Matt’s dorm to come to his room for pizza and spiritual discussion. The price of admission: one question.Joel, on Navigator staff at Clemson in South Carolina, recalls the first question. “How can heaven be perfect with the diversity of people who will be there? I mean, right now, there’s nothing but war.” “My goal was to answer each question with a verse from the Bible,” Joel says. “So I prayed hard and then shared the verse God prompted me with.” A second student came in and asked, “Is the devil a real entity or a metaphor?” Then a third: “Is there hope for me?” Eventually some 10 guys crammed into the dorm room, eating pizza and asking questions. Afterward one of the students—who had surprised Matt by showing up in the first place—told Matt, “That was really cool. Are you going to do something like that again?” And that was a question easily answered—yes! |
 The desire to “see the world” prompted a Taiwanese college student to spend a year in the United Kingdom. There she connected with Navigators and other followers of Jesus who showed her something bigger than the world—God’s love. “From the first day I arrived I saw many Christians devoting themselves to international students because of Jesus,” she says. “They sacrificed their leisure time to spend time with us. They befriended us.” She told her Navigator friends how difficult the smallest things could be—like making a phone call. She also struggled with homesickness and loneliness. “I felt God’s love through the small things these people did and I really want to love Him back,” she says. “Now I can’t wait to tell people how God loves me. I am different because of those who trust and obey Jesus.” |
  The Gospel is meant to spread naturally and organically through the lives of everyday people. God uses the live, personal stories of ordinary men and women who have been rescued and changed through the influence of the Lord Jesus. My wife, Pam, and I are living testimonies of God’s work through friends. It started out during college, where a group of students—Mary Ellen, Cary, and Dave—lived out and spoke the Gospel to us. During the years since, we have been influenced spiritually by men and women who live out their vocations as teachers, nurses, camp directors, husbands, and wives. We find that ordinary men and women long for three things:
I stand with you as clay pots, filled with God’s glory! |
