Anything that is valuable is worth remembering. One of the things that is life changing for me is the day I publicly declared something important to me.

Even though I didn’t get to go regularly to youth services and church yet, Coach Christian Dionglay (my first Lifegroup leader) made it sure that I was being established in the right foundation. He was constantly engaging me, he was there through my questions, tears, fears and victories. It was a powerful moment! Someone was there through the things I’m experiencing.
When the time came for me to take the next step and go through this two – day retreat called Victory Weekend; I refused, not because I don’t want to, but because I don’t view it as my priority yet. But he was patient and he continually guided me through another year.

The time came when God had to be the one to move my heart and kuya Christian was there to guide me through it. Another Victory Weekend came and this time, I don’t want to miss it! It was a day of breaking wrong mindsets, hearing the truth, repentance and faith filled sessions. Indeed it was life changing! The second day is water baptism. I was excited because this is the day that I will shout out to the whole world that God loved me, Jesus saved me and the Spirit transformed me. Until now, I still look back at Victory Weekend as an important moment in my life, a reminder of God’s faithfulness and his grace to me.

But as good as Victory Weekend was, Kuya Christian made it clear to me that this is not the end. He said that pain, challenges and disappointments are still up ahead BUT he assured me that God will be there. He said that Christian life is not storm – free but storm – proof. True enough, couple of weeks after Victory Weekend, a major problem hit my family, but Kuya Christian and my whole spiritual family was there. Now, years since Victory Weekend, I still look back at that day when I publicly declared my faith in Christ.

Here are some principles I learned from that experience and from my experience in leading other people to Christ.

1)Value foundation.
– I realized that my campus leaders were making sure that I was loving Jesus, reading my bible, praying and repenting. One cannot stand the challenges of life without the right foundation. JESUS is the only foundation that can endure what life would bring and as campus leaders we must be clear that the students we are reaching out know that. We do this by coaching them in reading the Word, obedience, prayer and repentance.

2)Use the power of community.
– It was a powerful moment when my campus leaders told me that I’m going through this journey with someone else. It is amazing for young students to see other students give their lives to Christ and publicly declare their allegiance to Christ as a group. Let the students under your group meet other students from other schools and from different backgrounds.

3)Through milestones not stopping at a monument.
– A monument may be a majestic statue, a creative image, but it doesn’t move. It is inspiring, it has a story, but there is no progress. A milestone is an important point in the progress or development of something, basically a very important event. Baptism is the same thing. Biblically, every believer had no problem declaring their faith publicly. It was a major milestone in their lives that it was recorded in Scriptures, but it is a mistake to make it a monument. Practically it means that we move on. We work on our daily spiritual disciplines (bible reading, prayer, giving, testifying, etc.)

4)It’s a journey not  destination.
-When I was new at making disciples, I was so concerned with the process. Of course process is good because it gives direction, structure and accountability, but it became an unhealthy theme for me in making disciples. That was wrong. God and my campus leaders have to consistently correct and instruct me that discipleship is relationship. It is a journey and as long as we are here on earth we will never ‘arrive’ at our destination where we don’t need discipleship. As campus leaders we do this by maintaining connections with them and by celebrating their wins, crying with their losses, encouraging them in low moments and sometimes even being vulnerable accordingly.

5)Bring that person to the next step.
-Kuya Christian was persistent with me. He was clear that there is always a next step. He was pushing me to think, to reflect, to act. That is a leader. You go ahead then you turn around and get other people to go with you. As campus leaders what is your next step? Is it doing one2one? Guiding someone to Victory Weekend? For the people you are leading, what are their next step? Go through Victory Weekend? Encourage them to invite someone? Empower them to do one2one? What is your next step?