I met Eric a few weeks ago at our Saturday Fellowship. He is one of the leaders of a group of
Bible students at Bethel Baptist Church in our town and they have been a huge
help as our numbers continue to grow each week. Eric has been my partner with the high school students and
he has been a big help for me as we continue to reach out to the more rural areas
that don’t speak English. This
group has just committed to stay with the ministry, so we have a consistent
teacher when I leave in a couple of weeks.
Yesterday, we started a series with the older high school
kids since the Awana program isn’t really for youth their age. We will do a six-week program that will
walk them through basic foundational elements of Christianity and prepare them
to serve and share their faith.
The hope is that we can challenge these students to eventually help the
other teachers in sharing the Gospel with the children as our numbers grow each
week. I told the students that I
wanted them to eventually be able to share their testimonies publically, so to
set the standard, I told Eric and another one of volunteers to share their
testimonies. I like putting people
of the spot.
It was obvious that Eric is gifted with public speaking, and
as he shared his story, I watched the students follow his every word. Even though it was in Visayan and I
couldn’t really understand it, I was able to pick up on parts and I could tell
the kids were challenged by it.
The youth here are so pressured with negative influences because there’s
really nothing else for them to do.
Eric told them that when he was growing up, he was just like them and really
did whatever he wanted whenever he wanted. Eventually, God changed his mind and his heart and now he is
pursuing the calling to be a pastor.
I visited his church last week and he is the interim worship
leader while the church is transitioning the other man to be a missionary in
Malaysia. It was a blessing to
visit their church and really get to know Eric for the first time. He brought a group of his fellow students
this past week to the jail and they were able to preach to all the cells. I always love when other people come to
minister to the jail and see the work that God is doing. I’m thankful for these students because
they are definitely an answer to our prayer for more help. I feel good with leaving my students
with them and letting Eric lead them once I leave.
