Thursday, February 15, 2007
The Navigators
From time to time we have heard Pastor Stout mention his involvement with The Navigators during his enlistment in the US Air Force. Have heard of the strong discipling influence that organization, and in particular his personal mentor, had on his life. Therefore, today, I thought I'd post a link to The Navigators website and add it to the side bar on the right. Furthermore, in the coming days, I'll probably highlight some areas of their website that could be of particular use to our church body as we endeavor to "become disciples of Christ and to help others to become disciples of Christ."
2 comments:
The Navs, as they are fondly referred to by those intimately involved with their ministry, base their ministry focus from Colossians 2:6-10. This passage emphasizes the importance of believers being rooted, built up, and established in their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Historically, the most popular materials published by the Navs include, but are not limited to: The Bridge Illustration (Gospel tract), Lessons on Assurance (Basics of the Christian Faith), The Colossians 2:7 Bible Study series, and the Wheel Illustration. These materials are Biblically-based and have been used for years as the foundation of their discipleship focus. When I attended Barcroft Bible Church (Fairfax, VA) from 1982-2000, I was privileged to minister with many godly brothers in Christ who loved Jesus and had hearts to make disciples in the Washington, DC, area. They genuinely applied Matthew 22:37-39 in their daily lives and ministry to people. I ministered closely with six of these brothers (i.e., Bob Schneider, Ed Blankenship, Phil McConnell, Kari Kepi, Mark Campbell, and Edgar Fruit) in the church's evangelism, new beleiver follow-up, and in-depth discipleship/biblical counseling ministries. All these brothers in Christ had one special thread in common: they were discipled through the Navs at different times and in different places in their walks with Jesus! I was blessed to have been discipled by them through ministering in the local church.
Over the time that I've known Joe Gearo, I have heard him speak of Barcoft Bible Church on a number of occasions. His comment on this post enticed me to visit BBC's website. I found there that the Senior Pastor has been serving in the church since 1981 and as senior pastor since 1988. That means he has been at this ministry for about 26 years and the church itself is celebrating its 75th year next month. It looks like a church I would like to attend should I ever find myself in Fairfax, VA over a weekend.
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