“Orchestrating a Life Change”

A Discipling Relationship that works

About a year and a half ago I almost left Vineyard Boise. 

I have been attending the church since the fall of 1998.  I remember sitting in church Sunday after Sunday, wanting to be a part of something bigger, while at the same time having a critical spirit about how the Vineyard “did church”.  Because of my critical attitude, there came a point where I was no longer really able to learn.  To be fair I think all of us are at least a little bit this way.  All of us, to one extent or another, look at the way other people do things and secretly say to ourselves, ‘I could do it better.’  However, that is really not a genuine attitude for an ‘Authentic Spirit-Filled Reproducible Christian Disciple’.

I reached the point where I wrote Tri a letter about how church should be done. I put some positive things in it, but tried to ‘inform’ him how it could be done better.  Fortunately he responded to me with gentleness and grace, otherwise I may have left.  Now I realize what it was that I was really looking for. I had a void that needed to be filled by God and God provided a mentor for me to help fill this need.

In Acts 17, Paul is in the city of Athens proclaiming Jesus to a people who worship about every god imaginable.  He was frustrated with their idolatry to the point that it provoked him in his spirit, and he got up and gave his famous sermon on Mars Hill.   Breaking into the middle of it Paul proclaims what God has done:

“Himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.  From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.  God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.  For in Him we live and move and have our being.” Acts 17:25-28  

These four verses hold infinite wisdom, and unsurpassing love.  This is one of the ways that God woos us.  He is so intimately involved in our lives to the point that He has determined the specific place where we would live in this world, and in what period in history.  Which ultimately means He determined who would influence us as well, because He determined their time and place to be the same as our own.  I find that remarkable!  God has been orchestrating the events of our lives, before we were even born, so that we might seek out and find Him.  I know that He has done that with me.

The person that has so influenced me here at the Vineyard is Saiman Kusin, and he is truly a discipler at heart.  I think Saiman is always looking for ways to positively influence the people who God has put in his life.  As he has an intimate relationship with the Lord, he truly desires that others would have that same intimacy and experience the richness that God has to offer.  

Shortly after Saiman and Amy were married, they invited me to their discipleship group that they lead.  After going with my wife Monica a few times, Saiman invited me to have coffee with him on a somewhat regular basis.  It was at our first encounter at Starbucks when he discerned what my problem was:  I was on what Tri calls the ‘evangelical extreme’.  I thought I was “all about the Bible”, but I was missing the personal experience that God can have in our lives.  But Saiman was patient with me. 

Saiman started to invest into my life.  He has given of his time, his talent, and even some of his treasure.  God really speaks to him through reading books; fortunately I am the same way.  He started buying me books, not just any books, but books for the heart.  He’s given me three so far; some really deep ones (Sacred Romance is a must!), and I’m sure he would give me more if I could keep up with him. 

Most weeks we meet on Saturday at our favorite coffee shop, and go over some of the more interesting stuff in the books.  We also talk about our lives and how God is working in them. This is an excellent and safe place for me to ask questions, talk about how discipleship group went, and try to learn through his experiences how to better lead and be led. 

Saiman also uses these times to speak truth into my life, and to call out gifts God has put in my life that I still can’t see.  He is always challenging me to press into God.  He has influenced my worship leading, Bible teaching, and he always reminds me to just be the person God created me to be and nothing else. 

I really can’t overstate how much I’ve learned from him.  Saiman has truly shown himself to be fulfilling the Lord’s command to make disciples of all nations (Matt.28:19) and he started with me.

There are not too many things in this world more flattering than for another person to want to spend time with you, to get to know you, to desire that you would be more mature and authentic, and lacking nothing in the Lord.  This is the relationship that the Apostle Paul had with Timothy and what Saiman has done with me.  He is my mentor, and my friend. 

In a lot of ways our stories will always be connected:  I will always have a mark on my life because of him, and he will be able to see how God can work through his own life to affect others.  The truth is that all these great things can be said about Saiman because he allows the Lord Jesus to run his life.  Every act of love, every deed of kindness, is Jesus doing it in and through his life.  God shines through Saiman!  That is what I love about him.    

The Lord orchestrated this relationship to draw me closer to Him.  I would encourage anyone who wants a deeper relationship with the Lord to find someone that can help disciple them.  A great place to start looking would be in a discipleship group.  Also if you are in a place where you can share the goodness that God has poured out on you, pray that God would bring you someone to influence for Him.