Legacy Shepherding Updates

You may have noticed a new look for this month’s update letter.

It’s a blog!  I’m officially a blogger now!  I’m getting so updated, my brain is spinning.  Next I’ll be on Facebook!

Doing these monthly letters in this format will make it easier to include photos of the people I’m referring to (like these Chicago 20somethings on a retreat in MI).  Even if you’ve read the previous letters, take a look back at the photos.  You’ll see pictures of Gabe, Troy, Nuree, a scene from San Diego, some of the flowers in my yard, and a group of 20somethings supporting me.  I’ve included each month’s letter for 2008, as well as the last letter of 2007.

Another cool thing is that a notice will automatically be sent to you whenever I post a new entry (once a month).  You’ll just click on the link and enter into Legacy Shepherding Ministries world.

On the blog site, I’ve included a Book Recommendations list (under the Pages section on the left) for those of you who would like to journey along with us on your own.  The books listed are good books to start with.  I’ll add books as we go.

FYI: One weekend this month I went with some guys to a Catholic retreat center designed for solitude and prayer.  The 80-acre property in Stockton, IL has three secluded hermitages designed for one person each.  People can spend time alone with God in nature.  If you are looking for a personal get away.  This would be a great spot. Check it out at:
 “Christ In The Wilderness”. 

The photo is of a small chapel on the grounds.

 Prayer Requests:

1.  I gathered together a group of 12 people I mentor (kinda like the 12 disciples.  Hmmm.  I wonder which one might be a Judas).  We are engaging around how to intentionally shepherd and develop people.  This time we focused on how to uncover and discern a person’s growth needs.  I think it is wonderful, practical stuff.  There seems to be a lot of excitement around our meetings and what we are discussing.  Please pray for us as we put into practice what we are learning.

 
2.  That God would give me discernment, wisdom, truth, and love in guiding the people I shepherd through their various struggles and strengths.

 
3.  For support raising.  It’s a given that this will be an on-going prayer request, so I hope you will never get tired of praying for the financial support of this ministry and ministries like it.  It’s simply part of the beautiful package.  What I love about this support-raising model is:

• It blesses me – It keeps me dependent on God (Oh man, does it ever!) and helps me to receive the wonderful, surprising gifts God has for me, as he provides them through you.
• It blesses the young people I shepherd – It allows young leaders to receive without earning or performing or giving back to the ones they are receiving from.  They can only pay it forward.  For some, this has been such a gift, realizing that people they don’t even know are blessing them, praying for them, and believing in them.  Plus, most of these young leaders are used to being the givers.  Part of their identities are tied to being the ones who give, not the ones who receive.  For many it is a stretching challenge to be on the receiving end, receiving this opportunity and all the love without giving anything back – kind of like grace. 
• It blesses those who invest – It allows others, like yourselves, to join with me in an investing, participatory way.  It instills a spirit of generosity and giving, helping us all to be faithful in the little things (like money) so God can give us the big things.  Ultimately, I believe it draws people’s hearts into this ministry, for where your treasures are, there will your hearts be also – and I truly want your hearts to be with the next generations and in discipling them the way Jesus modeled.  We need to invest in young leaders and equip them so they can carry on in loving ways through future days.

4.  For Praveen and Val (a young couple I met in a ministry for 20somethings) and for Val’s family, as the anniversary of Val’s brother’s death approaches.  Val’s brother, Chris Foley, died on July 15, 2007 of a heroin overdose.  He was 27 years old and had battled a drug addiction for over 10 years.  He lost.  His family has organized Chris’Walk to help raise money for Hearts of Hope to continue the battle against substance abuse.  Please pray for their event - that it would be successful in bringing more awareness about substance abuse and provide help for those who struggle in this area.  

Enjoy looking around the site.

Love,
Randy

Legacy Shepherding Ministries, Inc. – Randy’s May 2008 Update

A couple months ago, Gabe Strom shared with me some challenging circumstances in his life. I listened attentively, believing that God uses the circumstance in our lives to bring about transformation, if we are receptive.

I wanted to pay close attention to what surfaced through Gabe’s stories, so we could join God in what he desired to form and transform inside Gabe.

Gradually, I noted a theme in Gabe’s stories – a longing for belonging. A nagging sense of loneliness, isolation, and restlessness was causing Gabe pain and suffering, making the idols, addictions, and temporary substitutes around him look rather appealing in the moment.

The truth about us is that if we can’t fill our desires in healthy ways, we’ll attempt to fill them in unhealthy ways.

After he shared, I had Gabe close his eyes. Then I guided him through a spiritual exercise of remembering – remembering a time when he’d felt a deep sense of belonging in the past.

Tears rolled down Gabe’s face as he recalled the feelings of deep belonging. In reverent silence, he basked in that moment and soaked in the feelings of belonging he felt. Then we invited God into those tender, tearful, longing places.

As God met him there, Gabe basked in the belonging he has with God currently.

Then we both pictured Gabe carrying his reawakened feelings of belonging into his current life circumstances.

I find that when we are not feeling fully loved in the moment, recalling how we have been loved in the past can give us the strength to face what we need to face currently and move through those things in a healing, life-changing way.

I think that may be why God continually encourages us to remember, throughout the Bible – remember how insanely loved you are. Your lovability is not in question, even when your life circumstances may seem to say otherwise.

When Gabe left, he felt renewed and ready to face what was ahead of him.

That day, I believe Gabe received a healing – a healing that was necessary to move on to the next layer of his journey. Over the past months, as we have addressed layer after layer, I’ve continued to see Gabe’s True Self coming to life.

Like all of us, Gabe’s journey has often been two steps forward, one step back, as he wrestles at times with tough questions, doubts, and unmet desires. It’s hard to watch Gabe struggle, yet I’m glad he is, because I see God working in Gabe’s life through his wrestling. I see God uncovering the truer, deeper, and more pure desires of Gabe’s heart, and making Gabe more loving.

Please pray for Gabe. There is so much potential within him. He seems to be at the doorway of great things, but as with all of us, there are barriers holding him back from fully surrendering and entering into the abundance God has for him.

Gabe asked that you would specifically pray for the following:
1) that he would align himself with God’s will
2) for the ability to let go and surrender his false self, and
3) that God would fill his life with overflowing abundance.

Thanks again for your prayers and for supporting this ministry. Lives are changing, young leaders are being developed, and entire ministries are being impacted in positive ways.

Love,
Randy

Bonus info – FREE for reading this far:

A Spiritual Exercise:

Here is an experiential spiritual exercise some of you may wish to try (It is inspired, in part, by a book called, “Belonging”, by the Dennis, Matthew, and Sheila Linn). I’ve noted that these types of spiritual exercises often help us move things from our heads (knowing about) to our hearts (experiential knowing). Enjoy:

1) Sit comfortably with your eyes closed. Take in a couple slow deep breaths and let the air out slowly. Take a moment to grow quiet inside. Feel God’s love around you and inside you. Trust that he wishes to communicate with you. Listen, without putting any pressure on yourself to hear.
2) Place your hand on your heart (and on your forehead, if it is helpful) and ask God to bring to your mind a moment in your life when you felt that you really belonged. Imagine yourself there again. Let yourself live in that moment. Breathe in that feeling of belonging. Feel it filling up your whole body. Stay in the moment for as long as you desire without rushing passed it.
3) Invite God to show you his presence in that moment. Feel your sense of belonging with him. Picture his loving interactions with you.
4) Allow yourself to feel the gratitude of such a moment. Let your heart, filled with gratitude, thank God for the experience of such a beautiful, life-giving moment. Use words if it is helpful.
5) Imagine yourself bringing these feelings of belonging, love, and gratitude into your current life circumstances – picture what that might look like. If it causes you unrest, simply return to the memory and feelings of deep belonging.
6) Breathe deeply again and rest in this moment. Let yourself feel God’s loving presence around you and inside you. Sit quietly and peacefully until you are ready to come out of this exercise. Slowly and gently open your eyes and enter into your world with your re-engaged sense of belonging.

Gabe’s Testimonial:

Here is Gabe’s testimonial as seen on the Legacy Shepherding Ministries, Inc. website at
http://www.legacyshepherding.org/Testimony4.html

Meeting with Randy has been nothing short of life changing! Growing up as a pastor’s kid, I always felt loved and encouraged. However there has always been a yearning to grow and develop as a person and with God. I have read dozens of books, and prayed vigorously for truth but always seemed to come up empty. Since meeting with Randy I have gained tremendous insights into who I am and who God is. Randy has a passion for his ministry, and it shows in his love for me and my growth. I am a firm believer in a coach’s coach, and am grateful for the insight he has helped me discover in my life. My passion is in helping others, and I have already seen the fruit of Randy’s work in the lives of others around me. The mentoring that Randy does flows into my life and touches the lives of those around me who look for guidance. I feel blessed to pay forward what Randy teaches me, and look forward to continuing on the journey. I not only view Randy as lighthouse for my life, but also as a role model for serving God in faith. I am extremely grateful to have him in my life, and desire to pay forward the gift he has given me!

I believe Gabe will pay it forward. In many ways, he already is. Please keep him and all the other young leaders in your prayers.

One more sidenote:
I love and am so proud of the young leaders I have the honor and privilege to shepherd. I want you to love them too. It brings me great joy to give you the opportunity to get to know a bit about these amazing young people through my letters. There is great hope for our future! Here is a chance for you to see one of them via the internet presenting a message on Philippians. His name is Todd Katter and you can check him out at http://www.willowcreek.org/philippians/week6.aspx. (When you get to the site, press the PLAY arrow on the video box). Go Todd! Look out Bill Hybels! TK is in the house!

Legacy Shepherding Ministries, Inc. – Randy’s April Update

“Genuine transformation requires vulnerability. It is not the fact of being loved unconditionally that is life-changing. It is the risky experience of allowing myself to be loved unconditionally. Transformation…also requires that we stay long enough in his loving presence to allow our shame to begin to melt away…we must linger long enough for it to penetrate our woundedness.” – David Benner, “Surrender To Love”

I think it is important in our transformational journey that we experience God’s love, not simply know about it. I often attempt to guide young leaders into a journey of experiential knowing of God and his love – allowing God to guide them on a journey of the heart, not simply a journey of the head.

Troy is a 27 year-old leader. He has had some amazing experiential moments with God since we’ve been meeting – experiential moments that are transforming him. Troy described of one of his experiences, as follows:

“I left a relationship a year and a half ago – a relationship that I was deeply hurt in. The pain, the hurt, and the sadness still lingered in my soul 18 months later.

“I sat with Randy talking about Codependency. Yep, I was codependent in that relationship. I wanted to be loved. I wanted to be cared about. I stuck around for 11 months with someone who really couldn’t love me, but instead continued to hurt me.

“As Randy and I talked, I started to share the experiences I had, the stories of hurt and pain that took place over those 11 months. I almost started to cry a few times. Wow, the pain was still very much there. It scared me to death to recall those painful memories.

“As I talked to Randy I held back the pain from coming to the surface. Randy just listened.

“Then he explained to me that sometimes we need to go back (with God) to those hurt places, to grieve the pain, in order to let it go.

“I could feel the pain in my soul but I didn’t want to go there. It was dark and very scary. What would I find?

“I didn’t want to go there and I didn’t want to let God go there. I was blocking God out of a deep place in my heart.

“Randy asked if he could lay his hands on me. I said, ‘yes’. He came over to the chair I was sitting in and put a hand on my forehead and a hand on my chest. I think he was praying because I started to feel God pressing on the walls of my heart wanting to travel with me to that pain in the deepest part of my soul.

“I resisted. I fought back the emotion. I fought going to the area of my heart. I was scared.

“Randy spoke soothing words: ‘This is a safe place. You’re safe,’ ‘Give it to God,’ ‘Let it out,’ ‘Its Ok. You were doing the best that you knew how’.

“Finally, I couldn’t fight God knocking at the door. The dam broke. I let God in.

“Memories flashed in my head – the feelings, the pain, and the hurt.

“I wept as I began traveling deeper and deeper into my heart. I had never been that deep in my whole life. As I was in that place, I felt like I was handing over the pain to God. It was his now.

“It was a Holy moment and God’s love was poured out over my pain. Wow, it was amazing.

“I left Randy’s house very tender and thinking that I was done. But God wasn’t done. He still had more to do.

“As I got in my car and pulled away, a Hillsong United Worship CD began to play. I started to worship. God just kept loving me as I drove home. More and more of myself started to pour out. God was filling me up with his love.

“As this was happening, God gave me an image – The Cross. I saw the crucifixion in ways I have never experienced before. I saw God’s love poured out and the pain that he experienced on that cross.

“He knew my pain. He came to heal the broken hearted like me.

“God was saying to me, ‘I loved you this much, to send my son to die on the cross. I love you, Troy. I love you even in the deepest, most broken areas of your soul.’

“There in my car I experienced God. I experienced him in a way I have never experienced God before in my whole life, and I have been a Christian for a long time.

“Since experiencing God and feeling his love that day, the scriptures have taken on new meaning, prayer has taken on new meaning, and I see the Christian walk in a whole new way.

“That day Randy guided me to an experience with God that I will never forget. That day God healed my wound as I gave the pain to him. The deep sadness that I carried around for a year and a half is gone.

“Now I can continue my journey with God into other areas of my heart that need redeeming.

“I feel so fortunate that God guided me to a man like Randy and for the community of Axis that has allowed me to heal over the course of this last year and a half. I have grown more than I ever have before, by getting very real with God, taking time to work on the junk of my past, and learning to experience His love more and more. Praise God!!!”

Troy Creamer (Abba’s Child)

Hearing what God is doing in people’s lives is so powerful and inspiring to me. Hopefully, you felt God’s spirit stirring in you as you read Troy’s story.

Prayer requests: Please pray for Troy as he continues his journey. Please pray for all of us – that we would experience God’s love, not simply know about it, and having experienced perfect Love, we would love others respectfully, extravagantly, and unconditionally.

Thank you for supporting this ministry with your prayers and treasures. It has been an amazing experience of God’s abundant love.

Love,
Randy

Legacy Shepherding Ministries, Inc. – Randy’s March 2008 Update

A friend pointed out a typo in last month’s Update. The book title for the Fear Bonds-Love Bonds chart is “Living From the HEART Jesus Gave You.” My letter said “Living From the HEAT Jesus Gave You”. My friend liked my title better.

This month’s update is in the form of Prayer Requests:

1) I’m in the process of a periodic re-evaluation of the mentoring/discipleship relationships I have been investing in. I would love your prayers in the discernment process: how to optimize the current opportunities, which to continue, and which (if any) new opportunities to invest in. I want to be right where God wants me to be, joining him where he is working.

Some potential new opportunities might be: a) bringing some of the leaders I meet with one-on-one together into a transformational small group – there are aspects of growth that happen best in group settings, yet I don’t want to overtax the leaders with one more involvement, b) a 28 year-old woman with a heart for discipleship within the 20something generation, c) a pastor considering a House Church structure for his flock, d) a 23 year-old man desiring to mentor/disciple people within his ministry, e) opportunities a rising via a Church study showing a strong desire in people to be spiritually mentored and the importance of disciple making, and f) possible opportunities within the expanding 20something ministry at Willow Creek.

Those are some of the new opportunities on the horizon. Please pray for discernment, that God would continue to make me aware of which opportunities he desires for me to invest in.

2) Discernment and guidance for some young leaders (and me!) as they wrestle with questions and doubts brought up by their interactions with people of other faiths, the societal views they grew up with, the complexity of our world, personal issues they struggle with, and new ideas within the Christian church world. It can be very confusing and scary. Thankfully, wrestling with questions is growth producing. I think that’s why Jesus often raised more questions than gave answers, and why some things are left rather vague, forcing us to wrestle with life’s issues and paradoxes. We could use your prayers as we journey this together. It can be hard, scary, exciting, and life-changing, all at the same time.

3) Leadership support and community. I believe it is important for leaders (and everyone else) to have a solid support community around them – a community that knows them, loves them, understands ministry life, is a safe place for them to process – a Christ-centered community that fills up their love tanks, so they can truly give out of the love overflow rather than dipping into their own needed love reserves. Community like that isn’t always easy to find. Please pray for these young leaders and myself for the love and support we all need to lead, live, and love well.

4) Support-raising. For 2008, I am at about 67% of my support-raising goal. Please pray that God would continue to put this ministry on people hearts, that he would lead people to support it generously, and that he’d bless those who support it. I hope you all realize how much your prayers and financial support are making a difference in people’s lives.

Recently one young man wrote, “I’m a changed person through this experience and hope others have the same opportunity that I have.”

Thanks for all your prayers. Keep living from the HEAT Jesus gave you!

Love,
Randy

Legacy Shepherding Ministries, Inc. – Randy’s February 2008 Update

“The opposite of Love is not Hate, the opposite of Love is Fear” – unknown

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear…” 1 John 4:18a

During one of my meetings this month with a young leader named Nuree, I randomly mentioned the above quote about fear being the opposite of love. Whether we agree with this quote or not, I think it is worth pondering.

 For most of us, it is fear, not hate, that keeps us from loving people. When we are filled with fear (or to the degree with which we are filled), it is impossible to love. When we allow love to flow, fear is chased away.

It was as if Nuree heard the jarring sound of an old time record scratching out of groove in his brain, as something shifted in his inner world. He was suddenly seeing his life through a different paradigm. He was seeing anew how fear has held him back from giving and receiving love.

Most of his relationships, including his relationship with God, have been ruled or defined by fear.

He would rather have people like him and be pleased with him than truly know him.

In many ways, Nuree has been living with fear bonds as opposed to love bonds (See the descriptions, later in this letter, for the difference between fear bonds and love bonds).

I find many people have fear bonds with God, filled with “shoulds” and “have tos”, trying to avoid negative things like distance, disapproval, punishment and hell.

Rather than seeing that we are always in God’s loving presence, he is always with us and is continually drawing us closer into deeper intimacy, we often think we have to work our way into God’s presence and love. We should read our Bibles more, pray more, do more spiritual disciplines – all good things. Unfortunately, they are often seen as “shoulds” attached with guilt, and “shoulds” with guilt are fear bonds. God desires us to move into love bonds with him.

I believe Nuree is moving from fear bonds into love bonds.

Nuree has taken some real risks this past month, opening himself up to God and people like never before, being real and honest with who he is, instead of trying to be who people want him to be, trying hard to please them so they will love him.

He is discovering many lies he has believed about God and about love. He is at a place of truly being able to invite Jesus into the fearful parts of himself, parts I believe Jesus desires to heal and restore. And he is feeling the pain that comes with the process.

I’m already seeing changes in him. He is opening himself up to loving God in new ways, deeper ways. He is also loving people in new ways. Recently, his encounters with people have brought a whole new level of ministry, as he allows himself to become an authentic Wounded Healer, a true pastor, a shepherd who guides people into love bonds rather than passing his fear bonds onto them.

Please pray for Nuree, the other young leaders I shepherd, myself, and everyone who receives this letter (including yourself), that we will not bond to God and to other with fear bonds, but with love bonds. That perfect love will cast out all fear.

Thank you so much.

Love,
Randy

PS Please also pray for my financial support.

PSS Have you checked out the website at legacyshepherding.org? It’s still in process, but getting there!

Love Bonds versus Fear Bonds in Relationships:
From “Living From The Heart Jesus Gave You: The Essential of Christian Living – The Life Model”
by Friesen, Wilder, Bierling, Koepcke, and Poole

Fear Bonds                                                            
1. Based on fear and characterized by guilt, shame, desperation, pain, humiliation, manipulation and/or fear of: rejection, abandonment, or other detrimental consequences.                                                                  

2. Bond is avoidance driven. (I bond because I want to avoid negative feelings or pain or loss.  I have to be with you.)

3. Fear Bonds only grow stronger by moving closer or by moving farther away. (The closer we get, the scarier it gets, so I have to avoid the closeness, or the farther away we get, the scarier it gets, so I have to manipulate closeness).

4. We cannot share both positive and negative feelings. The bond is strengthened by:
a) avoiding negative or positive feelings, or
b) by sharing only negative feelings or sharing only positive feelings, not both.

5. Participants on only one end of the bond gain advantage; the bond actually inhibits people from acting like themselves.

6. Pretending and deceit are required. We must hide “unacceptable” parts of ourselves.

7. Fear Bonds increasingly restrict and stunt growth, keeping people from finding their true heart.

8. Fear Bonds operate from the back of the brain, and govern “How do I get what I want?” or “How do I get people and God to love me?”

Love Bonds
1. Based on love and characterized by truth, closeness, intimacy, security, acceptance, joy, peace, perseverance and authentic giving.

2. Bond is desire driven (I bond because I want to be with you).

3. Love Bonds grow stronger both when we move closer and when we move farther away. (When we move closer, I get to know you better.  When we move farther away, I am still blessed by the memory of you.)

4. We can share both positive and negative feelings. The bond is strengthened by this truthful sharing.

5. Participants on both ends of the bond benefit; the bond encourages all to act like themselves.

6. Truth pervades the relationship.  No need to hide any part of ourselves.

 7. Love Bonds continually grow and mature people, equipping them to find their true heart.

8. Love Bonds operate from the front of the brain (the joy center), and govern “How do I act like myself?” or “How do I be fully me?”

May we all grow in Love Bonds with the Lord, for perfect Love cast out all Fear.

Legacy Shepherding Ministries, Inc.  – Randy’s January 2008 Update

As I journey with people, I hear many stories about their parents – parents who did the best they could to communicate love to their child, but who may have expressed love in a way their child couldn’t connect with. For example, the parents may have provided well for the child materially as a sign of love, but what the child really wanted was their parent’s time and presence. It was a loving home. The child knows intellectually they were loved, yet the child didn’t truly feel loved. It was as if the parents were saying, “I love you”, in a language the child didn’t understand.

I see this with spouses as well. Both may be putting forth great effort to communicate love, but one or the other may not feel loved because the love is being communicated in a language they don’t understand or desire.

There is a book by Gary Chapman that refers to five “Love Languages” – five ways in which most of us give and receive love. The five Love Languages are: Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Receiving Gifts, Acts of Service, and Physical Touch.

I’ve learned it is important to love people in their “love languages”, otherwise they can’t fully internalize or feel the love that is being communicated. It is so important that they feel loved in the process of transformation – Love heals, love melts away the walls and helps us blossom and become the lovers God intended us to be.

What are your love languages – the ways that you receive, experience, and feel love in a deep way? (Note: We tend to give love in the ways we wish to receive love, so you may want to pay attention to how you express love to others.) What are the love languages of the people you love? It’s worth discovering.

Recently, a young man I shepherd spent an evening with me outside of our usual meeting time. He wanted to spend time with me, getting to know me more, letting the evening be more about me than him, which seemed like a good sign. We’d been discussing this topic and he desired to love me in my love languages.

My top languages are Time, Words, and Touch. My biggest language, not specifically mentioned by the author, is to be listened to in a knowing way – if someone feels safe and shows sincere interest in knowing me and actively listens to me, I feel loved.

This young man spent time with me, asking me questions about myself and listening attentively.

I asked him if he would speak Words of Affirmation to me, as I often do for him. He said he’d never done that before (though internally I disagreed with him – he does it all the time. He’s a natural encourager, who is in the process of discovering his Voice.) He was willing to give it a try.

For the next 15 minutes or so, he spoke words to me – beautiful words, like he’d done this his whole life. I felt very loved and cared for.

He emailed me the next day and told me he really appreciated the opportunity to practice affirming someone, risking and growing with me in a safe environment.

He grew through ministering to me and I grew by letting him minister to me. I believe it was an evening that will live on for years to come, as this young man continues to practice loving people in languages they understand.

Who do you desire to express love to today? What are their love languages? Are you willing to love them in their love language, even if it is a language not your own? It’s hard! Have fun with it!

Love is risky business. I’d like you to pray for everyone receiving this letter and for all the people I shepherd that we would all grow in love, that we would all take risks and love extravagantly this year.

Check out the new website at legacyshepherding.org!

Thank you so much for your continued support!

Love,
Randy

Legacy Shepherding Ministries, Inc. – December 2007 Update

 I thought this month might provide a great opportunity to answer some questions I get asked about the ministry work I’m doing. Here are some of the more frequently asked questions:

How is the ministry going? What impact/life-change have you seen so far?
One example that the ministry is having an impact and leaving a legacy happened a couple months ago.

I attended a meeting of the leaders of a 20-somethings ministry. A young man, whom I’d never met before, said he was glad to finally meet me.

He informed me that I had mentored the man who is now mentoring him. He couldn’t say enough about how meaningful and life-changing this mentoring/discipleship process has been for him.

 He wanted to thank me for pouring into his mentor, because he has indirectly benefited from my (and your) investment.

My heart felt very full. This young man is now being personally developed.

He has been coached out of the bleachers and onto the playing field, where he is already beginning to pass on what he has been given, by leading a small group of people trying to find freedom from addictions.

Through this process he is currently being equipped and supported as he takes his first steps into loving, transformational leadership.

 What are you doing?
I was introduced to the concept of discipleship when I was in my early twenties. We studied the method God modeled to show us how to best impact the world in a loving way.

Jesus’ strategy was to lovingly invest deeply in a group of individuals who would then be able to invest in and love others well. He told them to do the same – make disciples.

I’ve personally experienced the power of his investment strategy. I know it works, having received it and lived it out for the past 20 plus years.

I’m attempting to follow his model by investing deeply in individuals who will be able to pass it on, specifically individuals in the next generation.

It involves a wide range of activities: leadership development and training, personal development, character development, spiritual direction, spiritual formation, mentoring, helping people find their unique role and voice, doing whatever it takes to help people remove the barriers that keep them from Love and living out their full redemptive potential.

The goal is Love; that more people may enter into deeper, more loving union with God, with themselves, and with other people – just as we were designed to do – and then live that love out in a their own unique redemptive way.

Where/How do you find the people you develop?
They are everywhere. The people are plentiful. The workers who are skilled and equipped to effectively shepherd them seem few.

There is such a great need for what I am doing, that finding the people isn’t much of an issue. Many times they find me.

The issue for me is less about finding people and more about discerning whom, out of the overwhelming number of people, I should invest in.

My desire and strategy is to impact the largest number of people possible. I believe that happens by impacting people who are gifted in leading and shepherding others and who desire to pass on what they have been given.

Paul told Timothy, “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men (and women) who will also be qualified to teach others” (2 Tim 2:2).

Everyone I meet with has shown me that they are reliable, qualified, influential, loving, and they desire to multiply. They are difference-makers and the more people we can get out there making a loving difference the better.

How many people are you developing?
I’ve been meeting with around 35 leaders, some more regularly than others. Those leaders currently have influence over approximately 2,500 people, which is making a huge impact.

Are you doing this ministry just with Willow Creek Community Church?
No. About half of the people are connected to Willow Creek, because I have many ties there, and there are many young people there. The other half are at various other churches in the Chicago-land area.

I desire to see this type of ministry happening in The Church, not simply in one specific church. I’ll go wherever God leads. The beauty of this ministry is that it can happen anywhere. The needs are great everywhere.

Do you charge people who meet with you?
No. I don’t believe people should pay to be discipled. The Church should provide that free of charge. It should be at the very heart of our mission.

I believe in the Church. I also believe there is room for improvement in the Church in the ways we engage and develop people in their twenties. This ministry is attempting to fill in some of the perceived gap, by investing in and developing future leaders.

Currently, generous people cheerfully support this ministry so that we can provide development to young people free of charge, allowing them to receive it as a free gift.

I encourage the people I meet with to someday pay it forward, or to support this ministry in the future so others may receive and experience what they have received as a gift.

Part of the beauty in this model is that it creates a more generous, giving, self-less spirit in everyone involved.

How’s your Dad doing (after your Mom’s passing)?
Dad is doing very well. He went to a grief support class at Willow Creek Community Church shortly after Mom died.

I can tell that class was a true blessing for him. It gave him permission to feel his feelings. It was a place where he could talk freely about Mom and about his feelings.

It’s so important for us to talk out our grief, yet so many people feel uncomfortable listening because they don’t know what to say in return.

The truth is, you don’t have to say anything, just listen, ask questions that invite them to share, let the person know that you love them and are willing to sit in the mystery and pain with them.

None of us knows exactly what to say, but we may have an idea of how to best love them in our own unique way. That’s all we need to do.

What do you need from us?
I need your continued, consistent prayers for me and for those I lead.

I appreciate your words of encouragement. They mean more than you may realize.

I also need your financial support to be able to continue to make this happen.

I know I’m biased, but I think this type of disciple-making kingdom work is well worth investing in.

It is directly engaging the Great Commission (making disciples) and the Greatest Commandments of Love (love God, yourself, and others). It invites deeper union with God and sends and multiplies more love out into the world.

I hope you’ll prayerfully consider me, and this kingdom work, as you contemplate your year-end giving, as well as your future giving.

Your contributions to Legacy Shepherding Ministries, Inc. (a Charitable non-profit organization) will be tax-deductible.

If you have any questions, you can reach me via email at:
randy@legacyshepherding.org.

Love,
Randy