Class Response Four: Andy Landers

There were three main areas our guest speaker spoke on yesterday that really gripped my heart. Andy Landers is the director of Youth with a Mission in Louisville and it was such a blessing to be able to converse with him and my class yesterday afternoon.

After only an hour and a half of talking, it was very clear that he is a genuine man of faith who is passionate about Jesus' call to take up your cross and follow him. Every discipleship-focused class we have, I know I can go in expecting to learn such great, applicable, and exciting things that reveal more of God's heart... this week wasn't any different :) I just want to spend the rest of this post writing about the things from class that keep resonating in my heart this weekend.

Each of these three main areas connect pretty closely... they're all really about family. Andy shared  great words of wisdom with us about the ways he keeps loving and being there for his family even with a busy schedule and both he and his wife working in ministry. He told us girls how important it is to marry the right person. Marry someone who God has also given a passion for ministry. As Andy spoke about the ways he involves his whole family in their ministry, he said that if someone said to their children, "Your parents are missionaries, right?" his son and daughter would likely reply, "Yeah. And I am, too." That's a big dream of mine.. to have a family actively involved in discipleship where everyone lives that discipleship and ministry isn't just a job... it's a lifestyle and a choice to follow Jesus. Really encouraging to get a few tips from Andy on that topic. :)

He shared for a few minutes on the area of team building and used such a great word picture. He asked us who we would want to be with in the trenches. In the hardest times of ministry... who would you want to have praying with you? Who could you depend on to not leave just because things didn't go as expected? I am so grateful for the friendships Luke and I have already with couples who would be our answers to these questions. I am so excited for a future of following God with Luke, our family, and some on-fire-for-God friends with whom I can already picture us praying with in the trenches and stepping up to fight with, too.

The last of these three connected areas was the area of community within a discipleship team like ours. Andy shared a little about the way his program uses small groups and one on one mentoring. I loved hearing about the way they do things... but our schedule is a lot different. I described our schedule to Andy a little and asked how, with a 7:30am-2pm time slot, we could find more time to just laugh together, rest and talk together just like a family. He responded that what he was hearing was a hunger for community. That was right on. I am so thankful to minister in a program that does so many things well.. but I've really been feeling this challenge lately. Sure, there are times when the team "hangs out" but usually those just have the feeling of being "out of class time"... and it can be hard to pull people back together to really understand that we can be honest with eachother. That we can have fun AND be growing as disciples... growing to be more like Jesus... at the same time. It's so important for a team to get deep and really know one another. I think God is already blessing me with some ideas about growing in this area of our program and in my life as a whole. I want to spend some time praying about this tonight and this weekend. But my heart really is hungry for this tonight. Not to force people to spend time together... just to be together as a team... growing together and falling more in love with Jesus... and experiencing that life with Christ IS fun and IS an adventure. And God surrounds us with people to help us grow, laugh, and heal. I really want our team to operate in that. I'm so thankful for who You are and for who you've surrounded me with, Jesus.