How the “In Discipleship’ ministry ‘Call of Elijah” and living as a Disciple and Disciple Maker has benefited, blessed, or changed my life.
Thinking about my experience as part of the “Call of Elijah” Team, brings to mind Jesus’s parable in Mathew 13:45-46 about a merchant who when he found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it. I see The Call of Elijah Ministry as a treasure that has transformed my Christian walk and given me purpose in life.
My first encounter with pastor Don was when he was facilitating the Morning Manna at the Alberta Camp Meeting of 2018. As I listened to the presentation about the ‘unopened gift’ I got a strong conviction that that was the missing piece in the puzzle of my life. I was being called to share that powerful message with other people.
My first opportunity came right after Camp meeting when I got to share the 10 days of Revival with four ladies from my church. This served as training ground for me, because shortly thereafter, I was invited to go to one rural community in Ethiopia to call both young and old to revival. At the end of the two weeks, 25 people gave their lives to Christ and were baptized.
Upon my return, I shared with Pastor Don my conviction to resign from my job and my desire to be mentored by him, which he graciously accepted. It has been a great spiritual journey learning and living the principles of discipleship. The support through teaching and prayers has increased my knowledge and drawn me into an intimate relationship with my Saviour. This has in turn emboldened me to share with my family and many other people whatever I learn, thus becoming a disciples maker.
In the last eight months or so since the beginning of COVID-19, God opened doors for me to disciple over 50 women and over 40 youths and children worldwide via Zoom and face to face using resources prepared by Pastor Don. This has had a ripple effect because some of the sisters have now opened their own zoom lines and they are also discipling others.
The “Call of Elijah” is for everyone. It is a pearl of great price, because of its transforming power to everyone who accepts the challenge to be a disciple and a disciple maker.
Testimonial by Edith Kiggundu, Alberta Canada
God had been preparing our hearts to receive the message from the ‘Call of Elijah’ ministry for several years prior to meeting Don MacLafferty. We felt the call of the Holy Spirit on our hearts and had the desire to follow Him without really knowing what that meant or how to do it. We were lacking a model of what it meant to really surrender our hearts and minds to Him and His will. Spirituality in our home was often a second thought, inferior to our own desires for our life. We knew it was important, but selfishness in all forms and worldly distractions would repeatedly hinder the relationship we were building with Jesus.
It was through Don’s messages at Alberta Camp-meeting that we became involved in the ‘Call of Elijah’ ministry. It was an eye-opening experience to see and meet people who were daily surrendering their will to God and following where He leads… starting with that all important step of asking God to wake them up to spend time alone with Him. Being a part of the ‘Call of Elijah’ group allowed us to be constantly exposed to stories of faith, trust and examples of discipleship.
Since making the decision to “Follow”, God has wrought a transformation in our home, in our hearts, and among the people around us. Starting in our own lives, we began spending daily time in His Word and in prayer. Our family values were changing from worldly to spiritual, and we were impressed to be more intentional in training up our children to know and love Jesus. Little by little, the Spirit was shifting our focus off ourselves and revealing Jesus and the glory of His character. Encounters with friends, family, and neighbors were seen as opportunities to share messages of comfort and hope and bring glory to God! All this culminated in the desire to ‘go forth and make disciples’ in other families who were also seeking Jesus. A question Don had raised in one of our meetings was “What has God blessed you with, and how can you use it as a blessing to others?” We looked at our home and felt the call to make it a place of welcome, worship, and spiritual blessings to those who came. We began ‘Home Church’ and invited families and individuals to attend each Sabbath morning. The response was amazing, and our numbers grew. It revealed God’s leading in our lives and also in the lives of the people He brought to our home. Daily we ask for God’s leading in this ministry, as we impart the principles of discipleship that we have learnt principles that have brought us to the feet of Jesus.
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Testimonial by the Desjardins — Dani, Leslee, Brielle, Ezra, and Tyras, Alberta Canada
I met the “Indiscipleship” ministry in August 2014; early on, I realized that it was a ministry that focused on two major church needs: Daily search for the Holy Spirit and make home the # 1 discipleship center; so I felt God calling me to be part of that movement.
Another thing that really caught my attention was the format of the meetings; that deals with active learning; lots of group discussion, lots of group dynamics, lots of prayer times, meetings in the middle of nature, etc. I have two children who were teenagers at the time; the “Indiscipleship” ministry called my attention to prioritize their spiritual education. By studying the proposed themes, I have increased the consistency of my personal devotion, learned to disciple like Jesus and a new joy in the ministerial life has filled my heart. It is a great joy to be part of the “Indiscipleship” ministry.
Testimonial from Luis Antonio Dias — Brazil
I was far away from home, and yet I was right at home. I had accepted an invitation to work in the Lord’s vineyard for Indiscipleship in Nairobi, Kenya with Pastor Don. It was the start of Sabbath; I was standing with three generations of African Seventh Day Adventists gazing at the Orion constellation marveling at the facts that generations of Christians had looked at the same sky years ago here in Africa. I cannot describe the feeling it gave me; I can only say I felt the presence of God.
With all of this I was still troubled. I had just found out that I was expected to speak Sabbath at one of our sister churches as the main sermon. I really did not feel qualified or prepared for this duty, after all I was just an educator. I struggled with this for hours and finally went to Pastor Don for guidance. We talked, he reassured me, then we placed my bible with my sermon on top of it between us and we prayed. The next day I spoke before the largest crowd I had ever spoken before the tent was full to capacity, the words were delivered by the Holy Spirit I was just a vessel. It was well received, and we all were blessed. This was not to be that last time God delivered me during Indiscipleship missions, He has done it over and over again.
R. Gerard Carter – Georgia, USA
Life seemed on-track when I was working as an executive in a multinational financial company in Jakarta. While I was busy working in the office on weekdays, my wife, Mary took care of our children’s needs. We also wanted to ensure that our children received sufficient Christian education so we sent them to SDA school in Jakarta. My wife and I took active roles in Children’s Ministries and became hands-on in teaching the Sabbath School lessons for our own children. Just like many other parents, we also taught our children about the importance of cultivating good Christian characters. At a glance, our family had a comfortable Christian life. However, it was difficult to brush aside the lingering thought: why did we feel so powerless in our spiritual life?
In a strange way, the Lord led our family to step out of our comfort zone and let Him be the center of our lives. In the middle of our busy days God placed a strong urge in my heart to quit my job in the company where I had worked for 15 years. After a series of gut wrenching prayers with my wife before God, I decided to file an early retirement in the beginning of 2008. The company approved it and I was able to leave by mid of 2008. It was not an easy decision to make and we didn’t fully understand yet why God was leading us in this direction. However, a few months later, there was a huge financial crisis in the United States and Europe but the ripple affect also impacted many companies including the one where I used to work. With such tension and uncertainty being added to my day-to-day work, there was no way to tell how my health would have been affected had I still been working in the company. In His mercy, the Lord saved us from the crisis. But most importantly, as I became much less occupied with work, we had more time for a much more meaningful interaction as a family. And thus we discovered the joy of reading through the Word of God and worshipping Him every day with unrushed time.
As we asked the Lord for the wisdom to grow our family spiritually, God showed us just what we needed. In 2009, we were privileged to join the KID University training where we learned what it means to be Jesus’ disciples on a much deeper level. From principles to practices; we realized how being active in the ministry doesn’t automatically make us His disciples. And through cherishing our time alone with God and by His grace, we were able to discover the key to uplifting our spiritual lives; lives that used to feel powerless without it. In His goodness, the Lord has been guiding us through a more refreshing journey that places Him as the center of our family. Our daughters Shawnee and Shannon have just finished their medical education in the Philippines. Stanley is currently studying Computer Science in Manila, and Stanford will soon begin his college education in AUP. It is our hope and prayer that our children remain faithful to the Lord as His disciples. Just like Samuel said in 1 Samuel 7:12, “Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the LORD has helped us.” We had been discovering the joyful experience of becoming disciples of Jesus Christ and we are excited to share the good news with other families by involving them in this global discipleship movement in this end time.
Testimonial from the Hengky family.