Today I preached at two of the eleven weekend worship services at Victory U-Belt (aka University Belt).
I think I need to go to the U-Belt more often. Going back to where it all started is good for my memory, and good for my soul. The U-Belt reminds me why we stayed in Manila beyond the one month we signed up for. That was twenty-eight years ago. Hard to believe it has been that long ago. Time really does fly when you are having fun.
I was twenty-five. Deborah was twenty-two. We were clueless. We knew two things: campus ministry and small group discipleship. So we got busy doing small group discipleship on the campuses of the U-Belt. Soon those students we were discipling started small groups of their own. Then others did. And others. And others.
Now there are over five thousand people leading Victory discipleship groups all over Metro Manila. And, that church we helped start in Manila’s U-Belt twenty-eight years ago is healthy, strong, and influential, meeting in sixteen Metro Manila locations. It has sent missionaries and planted churches all over the Philippines, Asia, and the world.
As I look back on twenty-eight years of making disciples, training leaders, and planting churches in Asia, I am convinced that ministry success is relatively simple. Not easy. Simple. At least it was for us.
Long-term ministry success simply comes down to this:
1. Dare to believe.
2. Refuse to quit.
If you are young and clueless, just starting out in ministry, DARE TO BELIEVE. If you have been at it for a couple of decades, REFUSE TO QUIT.
Over the years we have had countless opportunities to quit. I am glad we passed on every one of them. Every time we rejected a good opportunity to quit, another would soon present itself. And we would pass on that one too. No regrets for not quitting.
Too many people believe for too little and quit too soon.
If you will simply dare to believe and refuse to quit, you will wake up one day amazed at what God did in, for, and through you.
