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My Experience in the Wilberforce Forum's Centurions Program
This evening I spoke at the Wilberforce Forum's Wilberforce Award Ceremony. The topic of my speech was on "How Did the Centurions Program Influence Me and Contribute to My Growth Over the Past Year?" I have included a transcript of my remarks below:
Good Evening, Ladies and Gentleman.I am privileged to tell you a bit of my story over the past year. During my time in the Centurions program I experienced growth and development within this community of fellow disciples. But I am getting ahead of myself; let me go back to the beginning of this part of my story.
Meeting Chuck. As so many of you know, meeting the man behind the organization hosting this awards dinner, is an event you will never forget. Chuck, with his down-to-earth nature, came along side me and encouraged me to continue my studies in the area of Biblical Christian Worldview. When we met in Virginia in 2003, he had recommended the writings of Abraham Kuyper to begin me on this journey of understanding all of life through a Biblical Christian Worldview. It would be one year later that we saw each other again in Florida. Now when Chuck requests to have breakfast with you, you don’t turn it down.
At breakfast on that morning late in 2004, Chuck asked me about what opportunities I had been taking advantage of to grow closer to God and to learn to engage and redeem the culture at large. I came up short… in the prior year I had not been taking advantage of any significant opportunities to grow.
Chuck suggested that I consider the Centurions program for this opportunity to develop as a leader within the Body of Christ. He said that it was his passion to choose 100 men and women each year in all spheres of influence… to encourage and develop them as leaders like the men of Issachar, we hear of in 1st Chronicles 12, who understood the times and knew what needed to be done. Chuck expressed the need to fulfill this cultural commission through the Great Commission. That is, influence culture by developing and discipling men and women who become truth in a world searching for truth.
So after a breakfast like that, I decided to relax by the beach…. Wait a second, no I didn’t. I was stirred to thought and soon action. I couldn’t get Chuck’s words off my mind. He was encouraging me, exhorting me, choosing… me to be discipled by him and other leaders and teachers for one year. Me. Choosing me? I felt like Simon, Andrew, James and John must have felt when the hotshot Rabbi who was the talk of the town came walking on that seashore and chose them. In the words of Paul, Chuck was saying, “Imitate me as I imitate Jesus.”
I couldn’t continue to rest on the beach any more than those boys could stay on the shores of the Galilee that day when Jesus called them.
At first I was excited, but this excitement soon turned to uncertainty. Could I make it, could I take on this rigorous call to discipleship in the Centurions Program?
The Spirit was at work because soon after that challenge from Chuck, I completed my application and received word that I was accepted into the Centurions Program.
For those of you who are first hearing about the Centurions program tonight, take heart… You are where I was last year. The program involves three conferences held in the northern Virginia area, a reading schedule along with web or teleconferences with authors or experts in various subject areas, a web forum for discussion about readings, film viewings and writing critical analysis based on the films viewed, 30 weeks of devotionals guided by T.M. Moore, and much more. We aren’t on the beach anymore.
Throughout 2005, I was part of a community of Jesus followers from across the country and across the world. We bonded together at a conference held in January to kick off the program. As we came together, we realized just how diverse this group was. There was a common bond, though. We were all servants of the King and wanted to serve God as we brought about this renewal in our culture and in this world. It was this community that contributed significantly to the growth that I experienced as a Centurion. I could count on my fellow Centurions to encourage and exhort me in my studies and then challenge me with the application of what I was learning.
It was not just my fellow Centurions that contributed to this accountability and encouragement, but the program also involves a member of your local body of believers who mentors you through this process. My mentor and I met every other week and caught up on how I was growing in the Centurions Program. We continue to meet even after the program has finished and I continue to be supported in this way as I seek to follow after Jesus and engage the culture.
Today, I am teaching others to think critically about all of life through this lens that we call the Christian Worldview. I am doing this in my local fellowship of Jesus followers. I disciple 6th grade boys every week… I have also begun a small group called the Transformers and find myself teaching Worldview in formal and informal settings inside and outside of my local fellowship of Jesus followers. The Centurions program prepared me for all these opportunities and two weekends ago sent me out, commissioned me, to be salt and light in the world around us.
We have been given this ministry of reconciliation and we are engaging our culture to shed light and life into dark and dead places. Jesus is our light and life and he has shined light and life into us and calls us to do the same.
In closing, I want to challenge you with the same challenge Chuck gave to me… How are you growing in your love for Jesus and seeking to bring about His Shalom in the world around us?
Are you being discipled by someone?
Are you discipling someone?
Be encouraged, Aslan is on the move, the King is on the throne and He is raising up an Praetorian Guard for His triumphal procession. He is calling you as a recruit…
Will you enlist?
Thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. - 2 Corinthians 2:14
