Set Me on Fire!

Sometime last year we were approached by our pastors here in Kampala with the prospect of starting up a discipleship training program for young adults at Life Church. Because we’ve been involved with such hands-on ministry training schools for the last nine years (having met during one, and marrying after our second year, then leading new classes of students ever since), we were the natural choice. After prayer, we decided that making disciples in the context of the local church fit our mission in Uganda and we gladly put our hands to the plow and began gathering students for the first ever program of its type in Uganda.

We began “Ignite” in January this year, armed with a mission statement to “set young adults on fire, train them to be radical followers of Jesus Christ, and prepare them to operate as disciple makers within their own spheres of influence.” Twenty students attached themselves to that purpose, and we hit the ground running. We always begin with a “Transformations” weekend – a time to clear out the past in preparation for the great future God has purposed in the months and years ahead. From the outset, many students found freedom from controlling issues that had plagued them for years and started their year off on the right foot.

Classes commenced with a teaching staff from Life Church’s pastors and leaders, and mentors were assigned to each student to walk through the course with them and lead them deeper in relationship with Jesus. Opportunities for service were organized inside and outside the Life Church compound, and the goal of becoming like Jesus began its painful process.

For months we met each morning to exalt Jesus in worship and prayer together. The typical shotgun approach to God was gradually replaced with a focused devotion and unified cry to know Him more. Many students began hearing the voice of God for the first time; some were baptized in the Holy Spirit, while others would step out with a prophetic song or words for the group. All were challenged to life change as they looked their God in face each morning and became more like Him.

As time went on, the students’ age mates began to notice the difference in their friends as they rapidly matured spiritually. “They even talk different” one young man told me. “I want to be the first to sign up for next year. I’m really missing out.” Outreach times began to bear fruit as the small bands of students would visit the community surrounding the church building each Saturday. Stories of neighbors coming to church and devoting their lives to Jesus became commonplace, as were miraculous healing and deliverance. God was easily pouring out of the vessels He was pouring into. The hands-on discipleship training approach was working and the students were loving it. Mostly.

Of course we’ve had our challenges. Confronting sinful attitudes and actions in maturing young people is never easy or fun. Some never fully yielded to the transforming work of the Holy Spirit. Some were like the soil on shallow ground, where the seed sprung up quickly, withering quickly once the safety of the immersed environment was removed. Some learned to put on an external godliness without internal revolution, with a “fake it ‘till you make it” attitude right up to graduation. Others caved to the pressure to feed their selfish lusts.

Disciple-making is extremely difficult work full of frustrations and disappointments, but it is definitely worth the challenge. The stories of personal victory far outweigh those of backsliding and compromise. Our students have come out the other side changed for eternity; our entire congregation has not only noticed the change, many of them are living proof of the impact of fiery lives upon others.

We took the team to Bunjako Island at the culmination of our program. Six months of training upon transformed individuals converged on the shores of Lake Victoria for a week of soulwinning with miraculous results. Very many lost souls found themselves singing praises to God, bodies were healed, and demons chased from their former victims.

During the morning hours some members would stay at the local churches and teach the believers many of the things they had been taught in regards to following Jesus while the majority would hit the streets, sowing the great news of Jesus’ life, death, & resurrection to all who would hear. The evenings became Gospel crusades – open air evangelistic meetings full of song, dance, and intense preaching. We would baptize our new brethren in the murky lake while the community looked on. Seth invented the “goodbye wave” as the last glimpse of the former life went down into the waters to die.

On our final night, after a wonderful street crusade, some of our guys literally chased down a demonized man that needed deliverance and drug him to the church to work upon him. Hours of demonic manifestation finally gave way to freedom as he gave up his witchcraft fetishes at last and let the team raid his house and pray. The man came to our campfire as we celebrated the victories of the week and proceeded to lead our team in praise to God.

I enjoy the months of our time together in Ignite, but I especially enjoy seeing how each life is changed as they finish training and enter the land of the living. Right now, many of our former students are now actively teaching with us on the islands in weekly seminars on the character of Christ. One is about to marry a godly man from the church. Others are leading ministries at Life Church, while a handful are attending university and standing strong against a godless, self-pleasing culture. Nearly all of them are yearning to continue what they began with us in the short season we called Ignite.

We are presently enrolling a new crop of world-shapers for next year’s program. The excitement is growing among the eligible, and applications are being licked up as fast as we can print them off. What a great privilege to have a hand in setting ablaze those who will burn for Jesus for the rest of their lives.