GSP 2008

the global student program is a unique opportunity to minister to & learn with young emerging leaders from around the world.

 I am excited to tell you: I have the honor of being invited to take part again in the Global Student Program, at the Navigator headquarters in Colorado Springs! 

It will be an opportunity to serve at this convergence of international young leaders, see more of God’s work among the nations, learn from diverse ministry settings & approaches which I can bring back & contextualize, be intensively involved in young people’s growth, interact with seasoned Nav world leaders, even meet with mentors & old friends, & be challenged to think & dream big in serving God who is sovereign in this world!

Being the only Filipino representative this year, I’m privileged to contribute our region’s own perspective, context, leadership & ministry style. I’ll be one of the team leaders selected from around the world who will closely guide a small group of guys for eight weeks. We will work together, have group Bible studies, spend one-to-one discipleship times, attend seminars, be stretched to grow in character & faith, & have fun while learning!

five guys from different continents! it is exciting to think how God may use us in our home countries :)  

bits and pieces here and there

some good friends

Back in the 90’s we were the “kids” of the UPD Navigators.  We were the Nav gang – new believers, church-goers, doubters, seekers – the youngsters our Nav staff invested in discipleship.  But by now, graduation was years ago for us, & the label Twentysomething will soon be squeezed to its last drop.

Yet there is still a bunch of us who meet Wednesday nights.  We are by now involved with different kinds of work: engineering, theater arts, education, various ministries.  What brings us together, after many years & changes, is the friendship that we’ve developed.  Our mentors taught us that influence is by relationship.  And that real change only happens in relationship.  Even as college kids we were attracted to the Navs because we sought to grow in the Lord, & to fellowship with those who also seek real faith.  And up to now, discipleship continues. 
 

UPD Nav Alumni!  One interesting thing about this group is that the members tend to be in & out of the city every so often.  We are mobile due to work, training or academic pursuits.  And so it is good to have a group we can count on to be constant, to be there to come home to. 

not my words

"There is nothing so whole as a broken heart." Reb Nahman of Bratzlav

When I read these words, for some reason, I was drawn to them immediately. 

I wish I was a rabbi also so I could elaborate, expound, explain, elucidate, and enlighten.  Alas, I can like you only try to humbly piece together what I think it may mean for me...

First, how are hearts broken?  Well, of course many hearts are broken (maybe all?) by other people.  We are all wounded, we are all scarred by the effects of living in a broken world and among other broken people and foolish people (and even some truly evil people).  So, we carry the heartaches of rejection, betrayal, broken promises, humiliation, abuse, and a host of other dark shadows and wounds which have scarred our hearts and broken them.  Some of us may hold these wounds and gaze on them and become self-absorbed by them, almost paralyzed by them.  Others among us brush them off and carry on with life and seem to be un-fazed by our bleeding hearts.  But all of us have had our hearts broken at one time or another.  There is also the heart that is broken for its own rebellion, sin, and darkness.  This is the thing that God seeks, a humble and contrite  -  broken  - heart, a heart of flesh as opposed to a heart of stone.  Finally, I think there is the heart that has learned to be broken on behalf of others.  Mother Teresa once said, "God, let my heart be broken wide open so that the whole world's pain can be poured in it."  I think God wants to break our hearts on behalf of the pain, the suffering, the hunger, the abuse, all the wars and greed and discrimination and poverty in our communities and around the world.  Of course my heart can't be broken like that, I don't think, unless it is also a heart of flesh, created new within me by God (Ps. 51), which may mean it first has to be in touch with the ways it has been broken by others, and that it also has to be first broken on behalf of my own darkness and rebellion.

I think broken hearts, or hearts that are deeply broken, are the ones that are ready for God to mend.  Hearts that are not yet broken, or resist breaking, or imagine themselves whole, are like the people who imagined themselves healthy and not in need of a doctor, and it is these people Jesus was unable to heal.  But when we bring our broken hearts to the One who created them, who holds them, who breathes life and blood into them, that One mends them and heals them and makes them whole and new... with scars, yet in a mysterious way, whole and new.  And I believe that the Mender of hearts also gifts us with enlarged hearts.  God enlarges our hearts so that the whole world can be held in them!

There!  Thank you for asking the question so that I would take the time to reflect further and put into words what I think the quotation means for me.  May we all have ever-increasingly whole and enlarged hearts!

Thursdays have been special for me the past four & a half years because it’s the night I meet with a particular bunch of students at the University of the Philippines (Diliman).  All these years, we have studied the Scriptures & learned about God together. These students are from the same batch, & are now in their senior year. Over the years, they have invited a lot their friends to this Bible study time. Many of them became believers through our study . Some did reject the Message. Some chose to stop walking with God after discovering Him. Some have returned to Him. Some have been called later to minister at other Christian fellowships.  Several from this Bible study group have developed a heart for leading & ministering with the Navs at UPD. And by this time, those of them with shorter courses have graduated.

Six have remained this year. They’d like to call themselves the Power Six. Although younger students simply & more fondly call them the Oldies. (if they’re old as college seniors, imagine what I am called :) ). They currently lead the Nav campus organization at UPD. Who would have known then which of them would stay and bear fruit in Him? Like all freshmen, they were young teens who came from different parts of the country, trying their best at school, seeking growth, learning about life, & seeking community. 

The great thing about discipleship through deep relationships is you become a witness to real transformation & maturity in Him. Every Thursday night that we are together, we always end up being thankful to a God who is faithful to us – whether we are full of excitement or doubt or praise or worries or longing for Him.  He has used us to sharpen each other. Now He is also using our group to minister to & lead other younger students who seek Him.

With this group I feel I have friends, siblings, children all in a package! Journeying this closely & consistently over the years has allowed for love for one another. It is true that real transformation only happens in relationship with others. Please pray with us as we keep walking towards the Lord, & as we trust Him to use us at the UPD campus, in big ways & small. 

serving with you,

ram de jesus

chuck, cha, vida, garner, (me), ceilo, & roy. this group of students currently spearhead the UPD navigator ministry. they have all served at different leadership positions in our org, & currently plan & execute strategies for building up people in our navigator campus ministry. do pray we'll love & serve Him well!

upd nav students spent two nights planning for the semester. their focus is developing spiritual generations who will lead out of a deep love for God. pray with us for that!

it was great to have two of our mentors visit our alumni bible study! the Cveliches have always encouraged us to live authentically for Christ. despite distance, they continue to mold us through their guidance.

UPD Nav guys at Ed Cvelich’s ‘coach approach to mentoring’ seminar. the following day, we headed outdoors for a couple of days - our time to touch upon themes in ‘wild at heart’, & talk about what its like to be men called by God to lead from His own heart & strength.