During those trips I learned how to read a state road map. I still carry an old-school atlas with me in the car, just in case. But today we can open an app on our phones or on the car dashboard to provide us with cues for our travels. The GPS tells us when to exit, merge with traffic, and change lanes. It can provide alternate routes based on traffic, suggest the closest coffee shop, or exclaim “Recalculating route!” when you miss your turn.

But what’s the one thing necessary for a GPS system to function as it has been designed?

A Destination.

When it comes to raising disciples, we should set our eyes on the destination.

I believe that one of the reasons parents and caregivers struggle to disciple children well is that we haven’t clearly identified the destination for their discipleship and the directions that guide them toward that goal.

How would you describe a child who is entering adolescence as an active disciple? Would you choose words that describe their character: loving, joyful, obedient, self-controlled? Or would you choose words that describe behaviors: reads the Bible daily, asks spiritual questions, worships God? Perhaps you would choose words that describe their depth of knowledge and understanding about God and His Word.

Public and private education systems have stated objectives when it comes to student expectations. Lists of student learning outcomes articulate the goals for students at the conclusion of each grade level. Each child is unique and develops at their own rate, so there are those who will exceed the expectations and others who will struggle. But teachers begin each year knowing the goals and guiding students along the path toward achievement. Like a GPS, they might have to find alternate paths for some or help others get turned back around, but with a clear goal and markers on the way, teachers are able to guide their young disciples.

This is what we’ve been missing in our homes and churches — a discipleship map that states the goal for raising disciples and provides directions toward that goal.

In some Christian traditions, the goal for children has been a public confession of Christ; in others, submission through the act of baptism. In yet other traditions, it has been the completion of confirmation classes. Regardless of our tradition, our goal for raising disciples should be the same as the goal for all disciples: to become more and more like Christ every day.

For three years, Jesus taught the crowds, His enemies, and political leaders, but most often, He was teaching twelve ordinary men from various backgrounds, vocations, and experiences. When He chose the Twelve, He had a goal in mind. Jesus knew that at the conclusion of His earthly ministry He would redeem the world through His death, return to God the Father, and equip His followers with the Holy Spirit to disciple others. He needed a core group of leaders who would follow Him daily (Luke 9:23), continuing His mission “to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10) and to “make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19).

As Jesus prepared to leave the Twelve to continue His mission, He met with them to give them some final encouragements and admonitions. Woven through Jesus’ conversation in the upper room (John 13–17), we find descriptions of what it means to become like Christ:

• Follow His example (John 13:14-15),
• Love others (John 13:34),
• Believe in God (John 14:1),
• Keep God’s commands (John 14:15), and
• Remain in Christ (John 15:4).

These descriptors provide some direction toward the goal for all disciples.

With the destination of becoming like Christ as our goal, we can utilize childhood development information from the fields of social science, learning theory, and psychology to create a map for discipleship from infancy to adolescence.* Beginning at birth, there are seven directional discipleship markers — approximately one for every two years of life — that parallel the biological, cognitive, social, and moral development of children. Just as Jesus discipled the Twelve from spiritual infancy to spiritual maturity, we can use this map to raise disciples who become increasingly more like Christ.

Did you like this article? Check out Teresa Roberts’ full book, Raising Disciples, as well as the accompanying free 8-week parenting curriculum today!

Discipleship Tip:

When discipling someone, consider verbally setting discipleship goals. With a destination in mind, you can orchestrate milestones and implement accountability, making sure that you both are progressing forward in their discipleship journey.

*The faith research of James W. Fowler (Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development and the Quest for Meaning, San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1981) and insights of spiritual development from John H. Westerhoff III (Will Our Children Have Faith?, 3rd. ed., Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse, 2012) has also informed this discipleship map.

Meet the Author

Teresa Roberts is Professor of Ministry and Christian Formation, Program Director of Children’s Ministry, and a vice president at Ozark Christian College. She is an expert in children’s spiritual formation training with more than 25 years of ministry experience.

Dr. Roberts holds a Master of Arts in Family and Youth Ministry, a Master of Divinity, and a Doctor of Ministry. She serves in children’s ministry at Carterville Christian Church where she attends with her husband and step-daughter. Learn more at discipleshipguides.com/.

The Holy Trinity is a mystery to me, with its three in oneness and its oneness in three, and I can just barely grasp the deep relational nature of how the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit touch and spin and dance off each other and with each other. Hospitality — that generous making room for others and giving and receiving to and from each other from our plenty and sometimes from our scarcity but we do it anyway — seems to flow out of that communal and relational and so generous nature of God. Being holy as God is holy, if we can believe it, catapults us into relationship with others and the practice of hospitality. Holiness is relational, and that is why hospitality fits holiness like a soft leather glove.

Hospitality involves the holy practice of gratitude.

All of this is made easier alongside the holy practice of gratitude. I have this place, this food, this book; please take it and enjoy it as well. We try to believe that everything we have comes from God, and so it is ours not to own but to share. So hospitality is almost always best when it is gratitude adjacent. However, the discipline of hospitality can happen also while you are still a grouchy, miserly mess. Disciplines take discipline. Not everything is easy or feels good right away, but that might mean it’s even more worth doing, and not less.

Hospitality invites humility.

In Luke 14:12-14, Jesus tells us how to throw a dinner party. Dinner parties are, after all, what most of us think of first when we think about hospitality: “‘When you put on a luncheon or a banquet,’ he said, ‘don’t invite your friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbors. For they will invite you back, and that will be your only reward. Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. Then at the resurrection of the righteous, God will reward you for inviting those who could not repay you’” (NLT). In Luke 14:8-10, He even discusses seating plans: “When you are invited to a wedding feast, don’t sit in the seat of honor … Instead, take the lowest place at the foot of the table” (NLT).

Jesus knows me so well. He predicts my thirst for status. When we practice hospitality as part of our holiness, we will come face-to-face with our desire to invite first our friends, the people we especially like or those whom we want to especially like us, along with the relatives we are most comfortable with, and, of course, our rich neighbors. We might strut around like a peacock in our own dining room and not even realize we are doing it. Again, our intentional moves toward holiness will show us how far we have yet to travel. Our efforts to do good on the outside will show us how far we are from good on the inside, and in that gap, we learn again of our need for the forgiving, restoring love of God in our own lives and hearts, and how much we need him, even when we are serving macaroni to friends.

We learn something about ourselves — and therefore move deeper into our holiness journeys — when we pay attention to whom we want to welcome in and how we want to welcome them to our homes, our tables, and our lives.

Hospitality helps us to examine our hidden motivations.

As we consider ourselves, we can confess ourselves to God and ask for help. Why am I making this so fancy? we can ask our inner hostess, in an examination of motivation that is a daily part of pushing into our holiness. What is my motivation? Also, Why am I talking about myself so much? And why can’t I stop?

Our honest answers do not bring the dinner party, the coffee date, or the open house to a screeching halt, but instead provide us another opportunity to be honest with ourselves and with God — who is the ultimate and gracious host of heaven and earth now and the new earth that is to come. Make me holy in my hospitality, we might pray. Kill off my show-off-ness, we might ask. Help me listen more than I speak, as my blunt spouse has said I need to work on.

Help me not to be so needy, I can pray as I juice blood oranges for udon noodles with fried tofu and orange nam jim from my expensive hardcover Ottolenghi Flavour cookbook propped open on the counter. Perhaps for a little while, as part of our own healing, we will make a simple spaghetti Bolognese, accept the offer of our guest to bring store-bought garlic bread and let Maureen help with the cleanup, like she always wants to do. We will resist the temptation to offer our guests a tour of our new barbeque and satisfy our thirst for thanks by turning it outward to gratitude to God. What if whenever we yearn for someone to say, “Thank you, you are marvelous for all you have done,” we accept that as a prompt to whisper, “Thank You. You are marvelous for all You have done.”

Hospitality exercises a variety of spiritual disciplines.

Food is just one expression of hospitality. Conversation is another. When we practice holiness through hospitality, we create a space in which other pursuits of holiness can be practiced, such as listening well and not interrupting, putting others first, and offering encouragement and companionship to the person God has placed and we have invited in front of us. From the way Jesus tells us to invite, and the humility presumed in His recommended seating plan, we can assume that we don’t invite people to our table so we can imprison them to hear all and only about us. We don’t tie them to their chairs with our story and our glory.

We can stretch our ability to put others first, and to forgive.

We can practice patience, a fruit of the Spirit we get to work with, toward friends who arrive late (or even worse, early) and those who stay too long. We practice not biting off the heads of those with whom we disagree. If we do bite their heads off at dinner, we can practice the art of unequivocal apology. Apologizing is a holy act. I’m sorry are holy, healing words. Through hospitality’s gift of space opened up and time slowed down, we can “be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep,” which Paul told us to do only two verses after he reminded us to “always be eager to practice hospitality” in Romans 12:13-15.

Discipleship Tip:

Hospitality isn’t about impressing others — it’s about making space for them. This week, invite someone into your home or life with gratitude and humility, focusing on listening and encouraging rather than showcasing. Ask the Lord for opportunities to be hospitable in your community in order to point others to Jesus.

About the Author

Karen Stiller is a senior editor of Faith Today magazine and writes frequently for magazines like Reader’s Digest, Ekstasis, In Trust, and other publications across North America. Stiller is a three-time winner of the prestigious A.C. Forrest Memorial Award from the Canadian Church Press for excellence in socially conscious religious journalism. She is author of The Minister’s Wife (2020, Tyndale Momentum); co-author of Craft, Cost & Call (2019), Shifting Stats Shaking the Church (2015) and Going Missional (2010); editor of The Lord’s Prayer (2015) and coeditor of Evangelicals Around the World (2015). She lives in Ottawa and has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Non-Fiction from University of King’s College, Dalhousie.

This article was originally published on the DiscipleMaker Blog by NavPress. You can also hear more from Karen Stiller through her book Holiness Here and NavPress’ new podcast, “Good Books, Big Questions,” where Karen hosts bold, loving, and sensible conversations about faith.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. –The Navigators, a movement in which men and women who follow Christ share God’s grace and love among the nations, today announced the selection of Joe Maschhoff as the sixth International President in its 92-year history. Maschhoff’s 10-year term will commence at a commissioning ceremony on May 4, 2025. He will succeed Mutua Mahiaini who has served as International President since 2015.

The Navigators’ most recent census counted a total of 6,088 ministry leaders in 123 countries, reflecting The Navigators’ worldwide impact and commitment to advancing the gospel of Jesus and His Kingdom. As a global movement, The Navigators ministers in diverse ways, supported by the International Executive Team (IET) and seven regional directors who provide leadership across these nations.

Joe Maschhoff has faithfully served in various capacities across the Worldwide Partnership. As a child, Maschhoff was discipled by his father, also a Navigator staff member. His heart was captured by the Navigator vision during his tenure at the University of Minnesota. He spent 16 years in ministry in southern California before serving as one of the first leaders of The U.S. Navigators work among college graduates in their 20s. Maschhoff and his family later moved to the Dominican Republic to open and lead the Navigator work in the Caribbean. They returned to the United States in 2021, and Maschhoff began serving on the International Executive Team (IET) in January 2023.

“Being selected to serve as International President of the Navigator work is an honor,” said Joe Maschhoff. “Only in God’s strength can I step into such a contribution. It has been a blessing to serve under Mutua’s wise, godly, and steady leadership.”

The Selection Council, made up of 42 representatives from across the Worldwide Partnership of The Navigators, gathered in Colorado Springs to prayerfully consider the selection of its next International President. The council unanimously affirmed God’s leading of Joe Maschhoff, followed by the formal appointment to the role by The U.S. Navigators board of directors.

“Joe Maschhoff brings a deep love for God and heart for those who do not know Jesus. He is known as a man who leads from the Scriptures and listens to God,” said Mutua Mahiaini. “I appreciate Joe’s tenderness toward God. He is a strong and gifted leader, who has a winsome commitment to ensuring that people are listened to and taken seriously.”

About the Worldwide Partnership of The Navigators:
The Navigators is a global movement working to advance the gospel of Jesus and His Kingdom in more than 100 nations. Founded in the 1930s, The Navigators is led by the International Executive Team (IET). Mutua Mahiaini is currently serving as International President. The IET collaborates with seven regional directors who provide support and guidance to men and women ministering in diverse ways around the world. The International Office of The Navigators is based in Colorado Springs, where The U.S. Navigators is also based. www.navigatorsworldwide.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 7, 2025
Contact: Chris Muller, VP of Communications, (719) 594-2269, chris.muller@navigators.org

After some conversation, John asked her, “What’s the name of your skin condition?”

“Neurofibromatosis. NF for short,” Angela said.  She then went on to explain how it affected her daily life.

“Would you like us to pray for you?” John asked.

Without hesitation, Angela said, “Yes,” and John led her over to take a seat at his Healing Corner stall set up in the market, a booth designed for healing prayer.

A Call for Prayer in East Asia

John became a Navigator in 1972, but it wasn’t until 1975 that he felt a calling for world missions. “The Lord gave me a promise: Isaiah 49:6,” John says. “‘I will also give you as a light to the Gentiles, that you should be my salvation to the ends of the earth.’ I began to take steps to figure out where that would take place, and how that would happen.”

After visiting East Asia in 1980, John felt a calling to serve the people there, and so he moved as a full-time resident two years later. Now, over 40 years have passed, and John continues to do faithful ministry in the region. 

John’s work has taken a number of roles over the years, from leading Bible study groups and mentoring church leaders to counseling others through deep emotional and relational healing. However, over the past several years, John has been introducing a new form of care to his ministry — healing prayer. 

John himself has experienced the power of the Lord’s healing, once when an injured rotator cuff in his shoulder was miraculously healed, and another time this year when a woman who was a new believer prayed over an inflamed tendon in his right bicep. “With my arm, after we prayed together, the pain was gone by the end of the day,” John says. “And it’s been gone since. It’s the example that Jesus is always ready to do something. Anytime, anywhere, with anyone.”

After the first time John experienced healing in 2015, he and several others began to offer healing prayer services before their church meetings. “We’ve tried to develop the expectation that all things are possible because Jesus is the same yesterday and today,” John explains. “He has no limits. If we invite His presence to be with us, then anything can happen.” In 2023 alone, he has seen people experience some degree of healing over 250 times. 

Prayers for Emotional and Mental Healing

The Healing Corner ministry began as an extension of the work John was already doing in churches. The market was sponsored by John’s wife who leads an outreach to prostitutes. Each stall was operated by Christian organizations that sought to sell inexpensive products to the residents of a low income area, and they provided a food stand that gave out free ice cream and desserts. 

John decided to set up the Healing Corner stall as part of the market, offering services of prayerful healing to those who were interested. During the market, John would ask people if they would like healing for various ailments and then would offer to pray for them. “It was also an opportunity to say, ‘This is what Jesus did for you,’” John says. “‘And He’d like to have a relationship with you.’ For some folks, it might take two or three of those experiences for them to get serious about wanting to know Jesus.”

When Angela sat down at the booth, John asked her about her background and condition. She had been adopted and endured abuse while growing up, but fortunately, she had become a believer and was in a fellowship group to support her healing journey. John and his wife prayed over Angela’s skin condition and internal healing, and at first, Angela didn’t experience any change.

“We chatted a bit longer, and then I said I wanted to bless her faith,” John says. “So we prayed again, speaking about her identity in Christ and her future in Him. When we finished, she opened her eyes and her face beamed with joy! God had touched her spirit and revived her hope for the future.”

Jesus’ Prayers for Healing

Angela was one of 15 people that and his wife prayed over for the two-day Healing Corner ministry. Nine of the people they prayed over experienced some degree of relief or improvement for their condition. 

One woman realized her joint pain was gone and she was eager to learn more about Jesus, taking a Gospel of John booklet home with her. Another woman, who had needed a cane to walk due to knee pain, found her pain totally gone after several prayers. She walked out of the market without using her cane, and later, she testified to others how Jesus had healed her.

“Every place Jesus went, He revealed God’s kingdom through a combination of verbal proclamation of God’s truth and visible demonstration of God’s power,” John explains. “Activities like the Healing Corner simply create an opportunity for Jesus to demonstrate His power in public places, giving an opening to proclaim the truth of who He is and what He loves to do for people.”

Praise God for the ways that Jesus revealed himself to these people through healing and prayer! You can join John in his ministry in East Asia by praying that he continues his focus on the Lord and that Jesus continues to work through his faith and prayer. 

“Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.” Matthew 9:35 (NIV).

*Names changed

Discipleship Tip:  

Sometimes a person’s physical, emotional, or mental healing leads them to spiritual healing and a desire for a relationship with Jesus. Is there someone in your life who needs healing? Begin praying for their healing and watch for God’s movement in their life.

“My heart was just drawn to the area,” Mapula recalls. She and her husband, Navigator staff Rocky, began to pray for an inroad to bring the gospel to the impoverished community. They longed for the settlement to be transformed through the love of Christ.

In January of 2022, Mapula asked God to bring her two young women there who she could disciple and mentor. A few weeks later Mapula dropped by Lion Park to visit a friend. She met her friend’s teenage daughter and two of her friends. Mapula began chatting with them: What were their plans for the future? Did they believe in God? (Yes.) Did they believe He answered their prayers? (No.)

Mapula showed the girls how to pray. She challenged them to talk to God every morning. Two of the girls met with her again the following week. They wanted to know more about God! Mapula began studying Proverbs with them.

Soon Mapula learned the girls were struggling with math and science in school. Rocky began tutoring them. Mapula mentored them on life issues beyond spiritual growth.

The girls told their netball coach about Mapula. “The coach was excited about what I’d done with the girls and wanted to meet me,” Mapula reports. The coach wanted her to work with the 20 girls on her team!

Rocky and Mapula plunged into the youth sports community, attending netball and soccer games and helping to raise funds for equipment. They built relationships with coaches, players, and parents. Rocky began helping the boys.

“It was a miracle,” Mapula says. “God just landed these two girls in my hands. They multiplied to having about 50 kids we can assist.” This was the opportunity Mapula and Rocky had prayed for for seven years! Mapula is now studying the Bible with the mother of one of the girls.

Rocky and Mapula recruited some of the kids to plant and maintain a community vegetable garden. They raised funds to build a simple structure where tutoring, mentorship programs, and Bible studies can take place. But relationships are the core of their ministry.

“Just popping in and saying hi is a ministry on its own,” Mapula says. “Building that relationship, so people don’t just see you as ‘Mapula who comes to share the Word of God,’ but as ‘Mapula who is living the Word and also just wanting to be with us.’”

Discipleship Tip:

You have what it takes to disciple others. Pray that the Lord opens your eyes and heart to those in your circle of influence. Start to pray for them.

Yoichi was with Wayne Meyer at a doughnut shop close to the Utsunomiya University campus in Utsunomiya, Japan. It was the beginning of Yoichi’s senior year of college. As he considered graduation and heading toward the workplace, there were many questions on his heart about what he would do with his life. However, one of the biggest questions was about having a relationship with Jesus. 

Wayne, who met The Navigators in 1965 and has served in Japan since 1971, shared The Bridge to Life Illustration with Yoichi. This wasn’t the first time Yoichi had seen this illustration. He first met Wayne through the BEST (Bible, English, Sports and Travel) Club on campus at Utsunomiya University his freshman year and even attended weekly Bible studies in Wayne’s home his junior year. 

“Yoichi and I discussed other things after I talked through The Bridge to Life Illustration,” Wayne shared. “As we got up to leave, Yoichi asked me again, ‘But how does a person enter faith?’ I thought to myself, I haven’t had someone ask me that twice in the same conversation, and definitely not that directly.”

Wayne responded to Yoichi’s repeated question, “Yoichi, would you like to try?”

“Yes,” Yoichi responded.

Wayne and Yoichi prayed together in Wayne’s car. Yoichi invited Christ into his life, by admitting his sin and need for a Savior and believing Jesus is God’s Son who died for him and was resurrected so he might have eternal life. 

Yoichi’s faith and trust in Jesus  became one of the answers to decades of prayer for Japan.

This story from 20 years ago continues to have an impact on Japan today. 

Reaching College Students Through an On-Campus Club

The Navigators campus ministry in Japan started in 1966 following a Navigators one-year worldwide prayer focus for the country. Wayne mentioned that at that time the average of only one out of 100 students responded to invitations to join small group Bible studies. God pursued hearts, but the interest and response to the gospel had yet to surface. 

“Most students we met had never read the Bible, never attended church and never had a Christian friend,” shared Wayne. “There wasn’t an interest in God and only a small percentage were open to the Bible.”

In the 1980s, The Navigators staff in Japan created the BEST (Bible, English, Sports and Travel) Club, which opened up more opportunities to build relationships with students, even if they had no initial interest in the Bible. 

As The Navigators team passed out brochures for the BEST Club Yoichi’s freshman year, Wayne walked over to Yoichi’s cafeteria table and asked the guys sitting there where they were from. 

“I’m from Sendai,” Yoichi shared. 

“I lived in Sendai my first three years in Japan,” Wayne responded. “Where did you live in Sendai?”

Yoichi responded with the location and Wayne realized that he had lived a block away from Yoichi’s parents house, but before Yoichi was born. This common ground led Yoichi to joining the club. 

“Often what happens in the BEST Club is that people who have interest in one of the areas besides the Bible join and during that first year they build relationships with Christians, they become more open to the Bible,” Wayne shared. 

While many Japanese have a negative image of the Bible and religious things, Yoichi felt differently. He said he had been exposed to the Bible through the Christians who led this school. 

“Before the BEST Club, I hadn’t heard the gospel. When I was in preschool, I remembered hearing the Christmas story and learning about Jesus being a gentle man. These were the only things I remembered,” Yoichi shared. “The club staff were very kind and because I was invited, I joined.”

Yoichi’s faith journey had ups and downs and even during his sophomore year he decided not to participate in the club for a time. However, as he started his junior year he thought about his future and what he had gleaned from the BEST club—friendships, learning about God’s love and grace, and growing step-by-step. 

“I decided to join the club once again as I wondered how I should live my life. I thought, Maybe I can learn from Jesus,” Yoichi shared. 

Lead a Bible Study for the First Time

At the beginning of Yoichi’s junior year, Wayne invited a group of students into his home for Bible study. During that first semester the group lost momentum and Wayne wondered about what to do next. 

Before the second semester started, the Lord gave Wayne an idea about how to approach leading the study. 

“There was actually only one believer in the group. However, I told the group that second semester that I would lead this first time and then everyone would take turns leading,” Wayne shared. 

This approach to Bible study changed Wayne’s perspective on John 16:13, “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come” (NIV). 

“I used to think that this was just for believers,” Wayne shared. “Not once over the next three years of leading Bible study this way did anyone get off track. The majority of the time the people leading were not believers yet. Over the next few years, many of these students who took turns leading the Bible study came to Christ. Then they started leading their own Bible studies, inviting others to join them.”

Yoichi smiled as Wayne shared about these Bible studies. He remembered thinking these studies would be similar to the Japanese education system where Wayne would be the teacher and he would be the student. However, Wayne had a different style of teaching that Yoichi wasn’t used to. 

“When I asked Wayne questions about the Bible like, ‘What does this verse mean?’ Then he would always ask me back, ‘What do you think Yoichi?’” Yoichi shared. “At first I was frustrated because he would always ask me a question back. This helped me think about the Bible and its truth, taking it seriously. I had to consider how I would answer the question first and, overall, helped me remember what I was learning.”

Yoichi shared how Bible study transitioned for him, moving from attaining knowledge to seeing how God’s Word changed his heart. 

Expand Spiritual Generations in Your Community

Today, Yoichi is with the Japan Navigators as Campus Director at Utsunomiya University, where his discipleship journey began. His family often opens their home to students for small-group Bible study.

Through Yoichi’s time at university, many Navigators staff in Japan impacted his life through their intentionality. Wayne mentions that he is only one small part of Yoichi’s story. 

The Navigators BEST Club continues at Utsunomiya University and its student leader recently became a Christian. Even a  number of the participants when Yoichi was a student stay connected with The Navigators and continue to meet regularly.  

“Today when students ask me questions about the Bible, I respond with a question, ‘What do you think?’” Yoichi shared. “That’s a very practical way they can learn. Also, I always pray before meeting with students that the Holy Spirit will lead the conversations and that my words will be seasoned with salt (Colossians 4:6 NIV).”

Yoichi is praying for and watching for doughnut-shop conversations like the one he had with Wayne, when he asked about entering the Christian faith. Yoichi sees the many invitations God gave him throughout his life, even through Wayne, to learn more about God and His love. 

“I want to encourage students to know and memorize Scripture, so it may help them like it does me,” Yoichi shared. “That energizes me.”

Due to the disruption of the pandemic, in 2020 the program had to quickly adapt and change to a virtual format which included large group teaching times, small groups, and other interaction online. With more time to plan, the 2021 Global Student Program eXperience (GSPX) grew to be a more robust eight-week training curriculum and multiple opportunities for the 60 participants and 10 staff to connect virtually across 11 times zones and more than a dozen countries. This was double the number of participants who are part of the on-site program.

Leihlyn Tinio co-directed GSPX 2020 and 2021 with Dennis Schauer. Leihlyn will be the 2022 GSPX Director. She shares about the program: “Thanks to virtual media platforms, participants who were previously unable to attend can participate in the focused training time. People who could not obtain visas to travel, who needed to continue their work schedule, school requirements or family responsibilities can now be a part of the beauty of the GSP eXperience! This access to training multiplies the disciplemaking efforts around the world and boosts the capabilities of local Navigator ministries in many countries.”

Transformed Lives

Hlengiwe has been a Navigator staff member at the university in Harare, Zimbabwe for 17 years. She met The Navigators as a first-year college student, when she reluctantly went to a Bible study. She was determined that she would not continue with the Bible study, but she found that it answered so many questions she had about Jesus and faith, that she kept going back. She established a strong foundation in her relationship with God.

She knew first hand the impact of GSP from a student who attended in 2019. “The transformation I saw from GSP made me want to have more women participate in the program. I saw how this woman was now sharing the gospel on campus, sharing from her quiet times, and applying Scripture to daily living. She came back as a completely different person.”

Hlengiwe and other women from Zimbabwe were limited in their ability to attend the in-person program because of the challenges of funding and getting visas. With the virtual format she was able to encourage several women to participate.

Leihlyn asked Hlengiwe to serve as part of GSPX staff and to meet with some team leaders from Asia to encourage and coach them as they poured into the women in their groups. This provided cross-training between cultures and ministries for further development from different perspectives. Hlengiwe says, “I was excited to learn from the other staff women and to serve in this role. I was also glad that women I have been working with in Zimbabwe had the opportunity to participate online and learn from those in other countries who are following Jesus. They are growing in their heart and vision to disciple others. Seeing other Navigators pour into these women provides a beautiful picture of 1 Corinthians 3:6 where Paul says, ‘I planted the seed, Apollos watered; but God has been making it grow.’”

Nompu is a recent graduate with a degree in mechanical engineering from Harare, Zimbabwe. She has been involved with the Navigator ministry at the university for several years and has already been discipling and mentoring other students. She served as a team leader for GSPX.

“As a team leader, the one-on-one sessions with Leihlyn were really helpful and eye opening,” says Nompu. “My main responsibility was pouring into the ladies I was assigned to. That left me little oil to run on for myself and I truly didn’t mind as I am the type of person who cares more about pouring myself out in service.

“The one-on-one sessions with Leihlyn poured into my cup. She walked with me through the whole program, which I found so refreshing and encouraging. I loved having someone I was accountable to and who helped me lead and kept me fueled so I could serve the best way possible. My highlight was studying Acts 1:8 together, it is such a key Scripture for those who are passionate about disciplemaking—’But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’”

As a wife and mother, Mishelle, from Yaounde, Cameroon, has been involved with The Navigators locally for many years. She shared, “I didn’t have the opportunity for training because of life circumstances.” Mishelle is helping her husband launch and elementary school in their village.

She reflects on her growth during the program: “At the beginning, I was timid and afraid, hesitant about the requirements of the program. Then I found courage to serve in leadership in my small group and recognized that it was God’s power not mine to do things. Having Leihlyn as my coach made a real difference in my attendance. Most of the time, when I was about to give up, her faithful kindness, grace, and mercy strengthened me. I really bless the Lord for this new friendship.”

Praise God for the way He has multiplied disciplemakers through the virtual program of GSPX. Pray for the plans for 2022, that God will continue to give wisdom into creative ways reach and train more students from around the world.

On this journey, people endure 90-percent humidity and 90-degree heat (on average). Most sleep in hammocks stretched above the boat’s deck. Need emergency medical attention? If you’re lucky.

Max, a Brazilian chemist from Parintins, knows this trip well. He traveled up and down the rivers multiple times a year, for about eight years. These exhausting journeys were the price he paid to earn his doctoral degree in southern Brazil while maintaining contact with his wife, children, and extended family in Parintins.

These sacrifices also led him to God’s grace. In 2010, when he started his doctoral degree, he linked up with a few Brazilian Navigators in the city of Campinas, home to his university. They connected him with João Augusto Libardi and his wife, Elaine, who serve on a team of Navigator leaders in Brazil.

João met Max for the first time at a padaria (bakery) in Campinas. After a good conversation over strong coffee, Max said he would enjoy reading the New Testament with João, after he returned from a visit with his family. João offered to take him to the airport and pick him up upon his return. That small act of service marked Max’s heart. He wondered, What kind of person offers to take a near-stranger to the airport?

When Max returned from Parintins, João invited him to a churrasco (Brazilian barbeque) organized by the Navigator community in Campinas. As smoke rose from the BBQ pit, Max encountered a multigenerational group of friends who followed Jesus. Babies, kids, teenagers, parents, and grandparents mingled and ate. Then they studied what the Bible said about prayer.

A week later, Max told João that he had been deeply impacted by the people he met at the churrasco. He had never seen a such a wholesome, fun, family-oriented, and spiritually substantive network of friends. He could tell that God’s Spirit was among them, in their relationships. Max later called his wife, Eliziane, in Parintins. “I want that type of life for our family.”

“At that point,” said João, “Max was eager to read the Bible with me and other friends. Everything we invited him to, he wanted to participate. He was always reading the Scriptures, learning, and growing in Christ.”

Months later, Max told João that he wanted to share all that he had been learning about God with his family. Before another of Max’s trips, João printed out a couple of short studies on the Gospel of John. When Max arrived in Parintins, he set up meetings with his entire extended family to share the Scriptures and his story. More than 25 people showed up at each of his gatherings. Today, almost everyone in his family network is following Christ.

Back at the university in Campinas, Max also invited his fellow students from Amazonas to read the Bible. Almost all of them accepted the invitation. João and Elaine, and many other Navigators in Campinas, supported Max in that effort through hospitality, friendship, and Bible discussions.

When Max finished his doctoral degree, he faced a tough decision. Professionally, it would have been better to stay in southern Brazil. But he also wanted to help people in his home city to learn more about Christ. He decided to move permanently to Parintins.

“I understood my responsibility to my family. . . I didn’t want to leave the care of my parents to my siblings,” Max said. “Also . . . the people in Parintins that God had given to me [to disciple] were my responsibility. Despite the financial and professional difficulties, I believed that God would take care of me if I followed him.”

Even though he has a doctoral degree, he has struggled to find permanent work. The pandemic has not helped, limiting his ability to teach. But in the midst of these hardships, with the support of friends like João and Elaine, Max continues to help his friends and relatives in Parintins grow in Christ. And the other students from Amazonas have the potential to carry the Gospel all over Brazil.

By God’s power, the Gospel is flowing up and down the Amazon River.

Roberto Blauth is the regional director for our work in Latin America.

Most citizens in our adopted country belong to a religion that is hostile to the gospel. The people around us have grown up hearing all kinds of untruths about Jesus. Their hearts tend to be resolutely closed to following Him. What a privilege and honor it has been to rub shoulders at work, day in and day out with people who would not or could not set foot in a church building.

“God is teaching us that the only metric for success in the business world, or any other sphere, is love.”

We steward a business with the goal of spiritual transformation. Our prayer is, “May Your Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven,” as people in our community are changed through our business activities.

This calling is birthed—and bathed—in prayer. Our business manual is the living, breathing Holy Spirit—His written and spoken words. What a Guide!

Stewards, Not Owners

The Holy Spirit is actively involved in every area of the business. God is the CEO and exclusive owner of the company. We are the stewards of what He has given us, not the owners. This subtle difference changes everything.

When the economy collapsed, we realized that if we were the owners, we would have been stressed and sleepless. As stewards, we made an appointment with the boss to inform Him of the situation: “Boss, there’s an issue with Your business . . .” We discovered, of course, that He saw the collapse coming. We left the problem on His desk and walked away greatly impacted by His peace.

God is in the Details

We’ve set aside a special “office” for the CEO. We call it “the prayer and reflection room.” We invite everyone who enters the premises to come and meet God in the prayer room and spend some time in His presence. Many take us up on it, providing meaningful opportunities to pray with our staff. We have made it our goal to be with the Owner in His office as much as we can. We are learning that when we spend time in His presence, we begin to see things the way He does.

One night our staff was working very late, implementing new software to manage business operations. After dinner, we were on our way to a prayer meeting when traffic became so bad that we decided to give up and head back home. The Holy Spirit spoke up: “Go and drop by the office and encourage the workers there instead.” We turned around and surprised the staff with snacks to keep them going. We quickly discovered that they had encountered a problem that they expected would take four days—and nights—to correct. The entire business would be on hold until the issue was resolved. We interceded right there, asking God for a creative and quick solution. The next morning, the staff told us that within an hour after we left, they had a breakthrough and miraculously resolved the issue!

God Cares for Hearts

If God is so interested in the operational details, how much more so is He passionate about the hearts of the people. Jesus Himself is actively pursuing every individual we hire and every client we work with. Recently I asked four of our staff if they’ve ever seen “the Man in white” (Jesus) in their dreams. (In this part of the world, dreams are a way that God breaks through to people.) One of them answered right away, “My daughter sees Him all the time.” Another woman described a dream she’d had just the night before! The Holy Spirit is at work in amazing ways here, wooing and drawing hearts to Himself.

To sustain and encourage us, God has given us multiple promises for the salvation of the people we work with. The other day, I was in the prayer room when one of the promises, Zechariah 8:21 _(ESV), came to mind, in which one group says to another, “Let us go at once to entreat the favor of the Lord and to seek Him; I myself am going.” I began to praise God that His promises are Yes and Amen in Christ (2 Corinthians 1:20), and as good as done.

Minutes later, there was a knock on the door. Fatima walked in, followed by Gül. “I don’t know why, but it’s like God drew me here with a magnet,” Fatima said.

“Yes,” Gül continued, “She came to me and said, ‘Let us go at once to the prayer room and ask Elizabeth to pray for us. I myself am going.’”

Loving the One

As He woos their hearts, He’s also drawing us in. God is teaching us that the only metric for success in the business world, or any other sphere, is love. We take the time to treat each person as valued and deeply loved by God. A few years ago, the Lord challenged us to pray with every person in our company who became ill. Soon one of our leaders had major surgery, and we went to see her in the hospital to pray. We discovered that she had developed an infection and spiked a fever. The doctor had told her she couldn’t leave for at least another week, and that her recovery would take six months. I shared the story of the paralytic with her and asked permission to lay hands on her and pray in Jesus’ name.

After I finished praying, she said, “WHAT is in your hands? I felt this HEAT  . . .” That evening, the doctor confirmed that her infection and fever were completely gone. He sent her home the next day! Two—not six—months later, our CFO was back at work, telling everyone, “Jesus heals!”

God’s mercy and love expressed in practical and miraculous ways in our business give us hope for gospel transformation in individuals and society. “And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” Romans 5:5 _(ESV).

*All names have been changed.

Praise God that His Spirit is active even in cultures where there are restrictions on Christians. Consider how you can live out your faith in your business and neighborhood, being salt and light for those the Spirit has prepared to hear and respond.

Steve Trice, chairman of the board for Jasco Products, a home electrical and electronics company in Oklahoma City, reflects on the generations of disciples God has been raising up over the years. “Navigators has been a huge part of my life. Gene Warr discipled John Repass. John discipled Dan Williams. Dan discipled me. My life, my family, and the business I steward have been transformed as a result. I started discipling Dr. Rick Kopke while Dan discipled me and we walk through life together.”

Dr Kopke, president of Hough Ear Institute, says, “I met Steve about 15 years ago and he started discipling me. He has mentored me in business and spiritually, encouraging me as we shared the joys or challenges of life together.”

The disciplemaking movement continues as Dr. Kopke disciples people in his organization. Steve says, “Dr. Kopke disciples others who are on the research team, some have come from East Asia and the Middle East. I don’t know how he gets it all done, but the Lord does a lot through him! He also disciples Matt Hangen who is the CEO at Water4.”

Water4 is a faith-based nonprofit that helps people—primarily in Africa—solve the water crisis in their own communities. Dr. Kopke says, “It has been fun to see how Matt’s been a big influence in his organization to keep discipleship going in Africa.”

 “From the beginning discipleship has played a huge role in my spiritual life,” Matt shares. “Dr. Kopke taught me to love and serve people and focus my heart on my relationship with Jesus. Having that shown to me through discipleship is the model that we use for everything in Water4. The gospel will only have an impact on the world through multiplication. We are seeing families who had no faith at all now baptizing people in remote Congo—sharing safe water all while focusing on sharing the true Living Water.”

The commitment to provide clean water for communities across Africa is personal for Matt. When he and his wife, Grace, were missionaries in Togo, West Africa, they saw firsthand the cruel reality of lack of access to clean water. A friend’s adopted child died due to water-borne illness—an illness that would have been prevented with regular access to safe, clean water.

What is accepted as normative across so many areas, that children will die and life is uncertain, became a call from God on Matt’s life. He researched inexpensive well drilling methods to change the water situation in this one village. His friend said, “But Matt, there are other villages that have the same problem with disease and need this kind of well too!”

While researching water solutions, Matt learned about Water4, which works in local areas through a business as mission model. When an autoimmune disease meant he and his wife had to move back to the United States, Matt still wanted to dedicate himself to safe water, and to pair water access with discipleship and life transformation in communities through local pastors and churches. He now serves as the CEO of Water4.

With clean water comes purification, a parallel to the cleansing of salvation through Jesus. This is the analogy those who live and work in Africa for Water4 use to share the good news and help others to know God and grow in Him. The gospel and clean water are spreading.

While access to clean water is essential for healthy communities, water kiosks are also gathering places for people. During the coronavirus pandemic, the challenge is to provide clean water in a way that does not spread infection through a community. Water4, in partnership with the local government, has added handwashing facilities and soap at water access points, a simple yet essential step in community health. Many of the practices to reduce the spread of disease are difficult to implement in developing countries and their populations are vulnerable not only to disease, but to poverty and hunger among children and entire families.

A robust network of churches and pastors is core to the work of Water4. Not only do they emphasize sustainable water resources for local communities, they equip pastors to spread the gospel and multiply discipleship throughout their villages and towns.

“We emphasize very simple solutions that work around the world,” says Matt. “We train Christians to build relationships and study God’s Word. In one region of Ghana, we have seen thousands of people receive clean water and also be discipled. Now this work is multiplying as each person who is trained commits to discipling others. The impact of this multiplication transforms lives across a region.

“While churches cannot gather now, we can still do discipleship the way Jesus did, one person at a time. During this crisis, we have intensified our efforts to equip local Christians and pastors. Jesus is in the storm (Mark 4:35-41). Jesus is present with His people in this crisis, His voice can calm our anxiety. We regularly send out WhatsApp videos with reminders of God’s care and presence to our network of pastors to give them extra encouragement in this season.”

From generation to generation—from Oklahoma City to Africa—the gospel is transforming lives and offering the living water to those who are in desperate need of hope and salvation. 

Pray that the work of providing water and the hope of Jesus, the Living Water, will continue in less-developed regions of the world. Praise God that disciplemaking continues even in the midst of difficult circumstances.