Five Important Minutes

The month of June has been a missions emphasis at the church I attend in Australia. As part of this focus one Sunday was devoted to the church becoming a home base for missions. This included things such as discpling Believers, training leaders, and sending out missionaries. The Friday before my pastor called and explained that he wanted to have illustrations of how the local church can train leaders. He asked if I could give a brief five or six minute overview of how the Bible College trains individuals through it's distance education program.

My pastor was very apologetic about only giving me five minutes and promised to let me come do a full ministry presentation soon. But the fact that it was only five minutes didn't really bother me. I was excited about having this opportunity to talk about the passion that God placed upon my heart. I did pray though that God would use the words that I said in those five minutes to make people think about taking classes.

I was nervous during the morning service sharing with others the CTT (Church Based Theological Training) ministry. Having only a few minutes made me think a lot about what I was going to say, and how I could say it in the best way possible. The day before I had remembered my favourite professor in College. What made him so influential in my life was his passionate teaching style in class. But he was also a mentor who was constantly giving advice to me along with other students. And not only that but he was a friend as well. This professor is one of the few I know of who would actually sit and eat with the students.

That Sunday morning I talked about that college professor who made an impact upon my life. And how that was what I desired for the CTT ministry to become. I ended by saying that I would love to become a teacher, mentor, and friend to any of them who desired training. It felt good to share with the church the passion of my heart. But I didn't feel as if a five minute story would spark any real interest. After the service a man from the church began asking questions about the classes that I would be teaching. He also asked for more information about the classes and showed interest in doing on in the future. This was exciting because up until that time nobody had expressed much interest in the classes.

That afternoon while eating lunch at the pastors house I had the chance to have a good ten minute conversation about the classes that I would be teaching. Another gentleman there began asking questions about what was taught and allowed me to describe my vision for the classes in more detail. While he did not express interest in taking a class he did ask a lot of questions about them. I could see him taking a class in the future if he has the time.

That Friday night I went to a Bible study that was held at a church members house. After the devotional and prayer time was finished the husband asked me in front of six other people if I would begin discipling him once a week! This would not be done using Bible College material but is still a wonderful teaching opportunity.

In less than a week two individuals showed interest in taking one of my classes at the Bible College, and another asked me to disciple him.  I can't help but think that happened as a result of my five minute testimony about having a passion for discipleship. My prayer now is that God's Will would be done in this situation. It would be a great encouragement if one of the men who expressed interest would start taking a class from the college. But even if that does not happen I am still amazed with what God could do with five short minutes.