Page 9 - Winter 2016 Contact Issue 40
P. 9
INFLUENCER ACADEMY
Picture this dream - or rather, Christ’s
commission. Disciples who make disciples who
make disciples who never cease until all the world
knows of the glory and grace of our great God.
It’s big! How does it make you feel? Excited?
Overwhelmed? Shouting “Yes” or “No”? Longing to
play your part or looking to run? There’s no doubt
the commission of Christ for us to “go” invokes a
lot of feelings.
For me? It makes me dream! It’s great to dream.
To imagine the possibilities for impact,
transformation and Kingdom come as God moves
in power across the lands. To imagine what might Whilst we have dreamt globally we also think
happen in homes, schools, communities and even locally, and our hope for what we do is that it
looks something like this: 40+ young people from
churches, as normal Christians rise up and seize various denominations across Ballymena,
every opportunity God places before us.
gathered every other week to be equipped
practically and prayerfully in how to run the
Throughout these autumn months, myself and a
number of other youth workers in the town have Christian faith together; how to commit to their
church and invest in their church community; how
been dreaming the dreams above as we have met, to open, read and share the Bible; how to pray
shared, prayed and partnered with Exodus to roll
out and run “The Influencer Academy”. This is a with and for people; how to reach out and
specially designed course for young people aged introduce people to Jesus; and how to go from
16-21 that equips them to be built up as disciples here, our lives in tune with the Spirit.
who will be equipped to become disciple makers We can’t help but be excited by this and believe
themselves.
that we will see hundreds, if not thousands of
young people across this island come to know, love
and follow Jesus because of the influence of their
Spirit filled and equipped friends here in
Ballymena.
I pray that these young people and our young
people from this church will see and live their part
in this great and wonderful adventure as they step
into their calling of being disciple makers today,
not just for the future; living loved; bearing the
fruit that comes naturally from abiding in Jesus;
seizing opportunities as they move in step with
the Spirit; all the while living a courageous and
contagious faith to see lives changed and
transformed for his glory.
Andrew Dickson
