Around the Ministry
  If we are to live and labor among the lost, that means we need to be doing what we do where the people are. Right now, where people are is on their cell phones. According to The New York Times, the International Telecommunication Union predicts the number of mobile subscriptions in the world will pass five billion this year. The folks at NavPress saw a great opportunity to begin developing discipleship tools that are available to people in a format that they’re used to using. Last fall the NavPress team took a classic Navigator tool, The Topical Memory System (TMS), and created an iPhone application that allows people to memorize Scripture and check their progress—on their cell phones. “We had already developed a desktop version of the TMS,” said Michael Visentine, chief operating officer of NavPress. “About 350 people have already downloaded it. We adapted it and created an app for the iPhone, and submitted it to Apple. We expect it to be available by mid-summer.” UPDATE: now available here! Although the iPhone application is their first foray into developing tools for mobile devices, the potential impact is significant. “There are many areas in the world,” explains Michael, “where people will never use books. Production and distribution is too costly and cumbersome. But even in those areas, cell phone use is growing. This allows us to get helpful tools into the hands of people who might otherwise never have access to them.” |
 Jill and Rick Feldkamp were surprised when one of their international friends recognized a familiar Bible passage.  Because Rick and Jill Feldkamp minister to international students at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, they are used to explaining unfamiliar concepts to their friends from other lands. That’s why Rick was surprised when, in the middle of a Bible study, his international friend exclaimed: “I know this from somewhere!” Rick’s friend was looking at the Bible passage they were studying and mentally translating it into his native tongue. “I know this,” he insisted. “My mother used to say this to me every night when she put me to bed.” The passage they were studying was the Lord’s Prayer from Matthew 6. Rick says it’s not the first time he’s had that kind of experience with international students. Despite more than 60 years of official atheism in the country his friend calls home, it’s not uncommon to learn that some of the students and scholars Rick meets have a mother or grandmother who has been praying for them for decades. There are millions of believers around the world who have endured years of persecution and hardship to follow the Lord. Rick commented, “It reminds me of when the prophet Elijah thought he was the only follower of God left. But God told him, ‘I still have left in Israel seven thousand followers who have not bowed their knees to Baal or kissed the images of him’ (1 Kings 19:18, NET).” |
 There are numerous helpful tools for sharing the Gospel with others. You can take your pick from illustrations, booklets, books, and Bible studies that help present the Gospel in clear and compelling ways. But Navigator Don Allen at Cal-State Long Beach is impressed by a powerful resource that’s unlike any of those. “Last semester,” says Don, “I trained two students (Ben and Jacob) to lead a discussion group with students based on the Gospel of John. This semester, I asked if they’d be willing to pray with me weekly for our outreach.” Both students were eager, so they began to pray that God would present opportunities to share the Gospel. “Almost immediately,” Don shared, “I began to hear about doors opening for the Gospel among students and staff.” One student began to read the Bible with his friend. Another asked her friend to do the same thing. Yet another student had an opportunity to share the Gospel with her supervisor at work. “In the first three weeks after we started praying together,” said Dan, “I heard of 23 different open doors for outreach! It’s been amazing and we thank God for the way He’s been working.” Sometimes the best tool for sharing the Gospel isn’t a “tool” at all! |
 Dan (right, with Navigator Brad Jones) wants to impact others’ lives in the same way his life was impacted by The Navigators.  When The Navigators began working on the campus of the University of Alabama four years ago they didn’t know a single student. Not one. Today, after building relationships and living out their faith among the students, there are now 54 student leaders living out the mission of Christ on campus. Navigator Brad Jones shares that there are now approximately 200 students in Bible studies there, “due in large part to the help of our Student Leadership Team.” “We have students whose faith in Jesus has come alive during their time in college with The Navigators,” says Brad. “They are compelled by Christ’s love to live for Him and go to others.” That’s precisely what’s happening in one of the fraternity houses on campus. A group of students are studying the Bible together in community and several of them are joining Brad to reach out to their fraternity brothers. “Dan (see photo) is a good example of this,” says Brad. “Since his freshman year he’s grown in his knowledge and love for Jesus. Now he’s motivated to share that love of Jesus with his fraternity brothers.” Dan was significantly impacted by The Navigators his freshman year, and now he’s hoping to impact the freshmen around him in the same way, that they may know “the riches of God’s grace in Jesus” (Ephesians 2:7). |
 Who has had the greatest spiritual impact on your life? It’s probably not someone who was simply “busy” for Jesus, but someone who had a vibrant relationship with God and a hunger to know and enjoy Him. For someone like that, “ministry” isn’t just activity—it’s the natural result of their insatiable longing for God. It’s the kind of longing the psalmist captures: “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God” (Psalm 42:1).  Doug Nuenke President of the U.S. Navigators Knowing Jesus and deepening our relationship with Him is foundational to everything we do. Any genuine ministry we do, any lasting fruit we bear comes out of knowing Jesus and being in relationship with Him. We’re called to live out the mission of Christ among the lost. But that living out is the result of our longing for a deeper relationship with God and a desire for others to experience Him in the same way. |
