Both Moses and Joshua enjoyed a close relationship with God. Moses was one whom the Lord spoke to face-to-face (Deut. 34:10). God spoke to Joshua too. It was this close relationship with God that helped them out of many thorny situations.

God speaks to us too. God communicates with us today in many ways—the Holy spirit reminds us through an inner witness, through nature and created things, through other people, certain events and circumstances, and many other ways. But God speaks most clearly through the Bible and by it we can more clearly hear what he says through other means.

As leaders, we get personal with God through his Word. The Lord commanded Joshua to deeply think on the Scripture day and night, keeping the words on his lips and being careful to do according to them (Josh. 1:8). And it is as we delve deeper in His Word that we too could better discern and conform to what God wants for our ministry.

Or as Psalm 119:105 points out—God’s Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.

And as we do according to his Word, the Lord blesses not only our ministry but our lives as well. “For it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.” (Deut 32:47)

Joshua faced problems, he faced temporary defeats, he was tricked, and his enemies ganged up against him. This would drive him to his knees, make him call out to God. In the end, with God by his side, he triumphed. And the Israelites achieved their dream.

As we enter the places where we hope to implement our vision we face opposition. May it not derail your plans but instead drive you to get personal with God. God who “is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think.”

Our God who turns dreams into reality.

This post is part of the Youth Connection articles. Other YC articles can also be downloaded or seen in the Resource Section of this website.

As we enter the places where we hope to implement our vision we face opposition. Going against the way things have always been is hard work. One guy who experienced this was Joshua.

In the latter parts of the book of Deuteronomy and the beginning of the book of Joshua, there is one phrase that sticks out.

“Be strong and courageous,” Moses tells Joshua twice. (Deut. 31:6,7).

The Lord commands Joshua three times, “Be strong and courageous,” (Deut. 31:23; Joshua 1:6, 7 & 9).

The men of Israel give themselves to follow Joshua ending with the words, “Only be strong and courageous.” (Joshua 1:18)

Why this phrase?

Israel would be doing a lot of actions in the coming days. Actions require strength to initiate and courage to complete. As we fight against the status quo, leaders will require both strength and courage in the things that they will do.

If you have recently taken any of our seminars, would you do something for me? Turn to the back of your student notebook and go over those plans you wrote down. And as you look at them, be reminded of what the Lord said to Joshua “Be strong and very courageous.”

In our ministry as we step out in faith He will guide us and prepare our people. He will go ahead of us into the places where we face opposition. Even the troubles we encounter and our own weaknesses He can use to fulfill all his promises to us. The Lord always ended his command to Joshua with the promise “for the LORD your God is with you.” And He will be with us. The Lord Jesus himself says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matt. 28:19-20)

This post is part of the Youth Connection articles. Other YC articles can also be downloaded or seen in the Resource Section of this website.

Today the weathermen also announced Tropical Typhoon Basyang has left the country and won’t be back. Which is good news.

Today will also mark the start of something new, mentors for the Heart of the Leader Seminar arrive in the Philippines a few hours from now.

Over at our Facebook page we are doing a Book-to-School contest (Since school just started in the Philippines).

Join and you get the chance to give your youth leader a book. Here’s how it works:

On our wall, just write the contest phrase, a youth leader’s name and church name.

Example: “I would like to give the Pro-Tips book to Juan dela Cruz of Brown Christian Church”

As a start, we will be giving a copy of Pro-Tips by Maloi Salumbides. and then other books weekly.

This contest will be open to anyone in Philippines or Asia, so don’t hesitate to join as we’ll mail you the copy if you don’t live in Manila. If you do live in Manila, aside from joining the contest you can drop by the GYMN office and browse or borrow our selection of books geared toward the youth worker.

Click here if you want to join the contest.

Click here if you want to know more about our GYMN library.

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Another option is subscribing by RSS.

A GYMN Level 1 Youth Strategy Training was held last May 28-30, 2010 at the Child Evangelism Fellowship Center in Antipolo City. This was hosted by YouthRED of the Lord Jesus Our Redeemer (LJOR) Church. Twenty-three participants from different parts of greater Manila area attended the training. This was the first GYMN training after the trending of a new Filipino youth culture popularized by the Jejemons- a group of young Filipinos who has a different and often difficult to understand system of writing text messages. Like the Jologs before, Jejemons have also widened their identity with the jejecap and other accessories. When the youth leaders were asked to describe the Filipino youth of today, the Jejemon was a highlight among the common descriptions.

The three-day seminar started with the discussion of the need for youth ministry. The participants devised purpose statements that will lead the young people in their local churches to know more about God and live a Christian life worthy of imitation by the younger generation. The participants agreed, as seen in their goal setting sessions, that it is good to create an atmosphere of love and acceptance in their youth ministry. A youth group that would make Jejemons and the rest of the Filipino young people feel loved and accepted for who they are.

This seminar was very special to me because: First, this was my first time to handle four sessions in a training, I usually handle two sessions only. Second, the participants gave us a warm welcome and the camaraderie among the youth leaders was very heart-warming. Third, the venue was in sunny Antipolo but I felt one of the first rainfalls of Amihan on the first day. Fourth, this was the first partnership of LJOR with GYMN Asia and I hope this will be the first of the many more trainings to come. Lastly, some participants were just so sweet- aside from writing good comments and testimonies in the evaluation sheet, they wrote letters for the trainers. Some participants suggested ways in how we can improve our teaching, some made notes of appreciation and some just made funny remarks like I looked like one of the characters from the TV series “Heroes”.

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Here are some highlights of the training:

A jejemon’s point of view on what is a disciple

Kris, one of the participants, attached an origami along with his letters for us.

The Young leaders of LJOR YouthRED

A good friend told me this would be a totally different experience. But for me it almost looks like the Philippines (my native land). There are buses and taxis,

jeepneys songtheaw,

and even unfinished train stations.

The climate though is a few degrees higher. Which means air conditioning here is more a necessity than a luxury.

Okay, the food is indeed different. Spicy delicious stuff unique to this culture. And English speakers have a harder time here than they would in the Philippines.

That being said, it’s been a great few days, five days in and we are done with the Thailand leg of our GYMN training. One of our volunteers, Wakka, has done a great job live-blogging it over on Facebook (click the Facebook link on the right side of our website to see his posts and some pictures).

A couple more training to go and that would be in another land. Right now, we are taking a pause to meet up with old and new friends, observe the culture and sample the cuisine.

Time to look for some Thai food.