JoAnnFlorenceLai LinMargaret with Chloe, Esther

and Bernice

The black sheep sits across the table from me. With her twinkling eyes and ready smile, she looks anything but...well, perhaps the resemblance is in those curly black locks.

Margaret, our staff from The NavTeens, just had three girls spend four months with her in Apartment Training. Now, she is recalling the days when she went through “modified apartment training” under Chew Lai Lin. “I was a black sheep and for two years (1992-1994), Lai Lin met up with me and brought me along when she did ministry. Apartment training means giving quality time to build relationships and cultivate shared values. I witnessed Lai Lin giving her life to her girls in discipling them for Christ.”

Lai Lin herself went through apartment training under Florence Tan who had stayed with and trained under American missionary JoAnn Ray, a pioneer of The Navigators’ ministry in Singapore.

In The Asia Legacy, JoAnn shared, “In my bible I have written ‘I will give women for you, and people in exchange for your life’ (a personalized paraphrase of Isaiah 43:4).” For Margaret, this spiritual legacy of life-to-life discipling seems particularly significant because she is a single woman who enjoys extending hospitality. She draws on the promise in Isaiah 54:1-3 where God calls the barren woman to enlarge the place of her tent because her descendents will be many.

“I see the need for me to cast the net wider and to be strategic in ‘giving my life away’. And it is a two-way street: the girls changed me too. After they left, I found that I have learnt to hang laundry their way, a better way! The point is that in four months, I could change a habit formed over thirty years. Likewise, a heart that is open to God can be changed by God.”

What do the three girls - Chloe, Bernice and Esther - who stayed with her, say?

Esther: Home is a very private place but I am thankful that Margaret let us stay in her house for training.

Bernice: I discovered that it is not a scary thing to have people around.

Chloe: Living together enabled me to see Margaret’s consistency in engaging God in all that she does. Simple phrases like, “Oh Lord, please have mercy on Chloe (when I was not prepared for school work or tests)” or “Oh Lord, You have heard all that we have said” made me realize her constant awareness of God’s power and presence. This taught me to walk my talk, because Margaret often says, “we’ve got to pray”. Now I know for sure that her speech is a reflection of her life and that there is great sincerity in it.

Bernice: I learnt most in the area of serving...the willingness and having the initiative to serve, observing how others serve, and serving without complaining or expecting others to do the same. The attitude is important. Sometimes there were frustrations but I’m glad that we were able to live in harmony. We compromised and accepted one another’s way of living. Definitely lots of love and grace granted.”

Esther: I enjoyed the morning quiet times together. We did household chores and [learnt to be] responsible for the place that we live in. The relationships that I formed with my housemates during the apartment training will be a treasured memory for me in the years to come.

God has given Margaret a mother’s heart for her girls in The NavTeens. Like JoAnn, Florence, Lai Lin and many others before her, she is the continuation of a spiritual legacy of life-to-life generational multiplication. The black sheep has turned shepherd.v

If you are a Nav alumni with a passion for God and a heart for teens, consider being a part of our NavTeens ministry. Email us at tnt@navigators.org.sg

Ministry Happenings

Alongsiders Retreat Has God called you to help another person know Christ and walk alongside him in the journey of following Jesus? Come and find out how to be an Alongsider in a 2-day retreat at Pulai Springs Resort, JB.12-13 March 2011For info and registration, email alumni@navigators.org.sg

Ngee Ann-SIM, S’pore Poly NavsMarch Camp -Build on spiritual basics over a 4-day camp. Designed for Polytechnic students.11-14 March 2011Email np@navigators .org.sg or sp@navigators.org.sg for more info.

tnt Thank God it’s Good Friday Partying at a funeral? Come and find out with The NavTeens why this is one death worth celebrating!Discover for yourself the truth about death and life.22 April 2011, for ages13 to 21For info, email tnt@navigators.org.sg

leading teens to perservere in their pursuit of knowing Christ. About 80 labourers and teens benefited from the workshops, got high on TMS quizzes, and built strong friendships. Pre-believers also joined us. We especially rejoice over the 2 students who accepted Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.v

NUS/NTU Community Service Trips - NUS and NTU Navs served among communities in Nepal and Indonesia respectively last Dec. We look forward to more such trips where they will also serve as outreach platforms to our campus friends.v

Jerry WHite, former International President of The Navigators and popular Christian writer, will be speaking to men in a conference “Challenges to Successes” - Critical Decisions Men Make. 14 May. info@mensconference.org.sg or call 6395-9085

Training Programmes are offered by our student ministries at various times of the year. Keep updated at http://www.navigators.org.sg

stories@singnav

Do you have a story to share about how you have impacted someone for Christ through disciple-making, or how The Navigators have been a part of your life? In two easy steps, share your story with us at http://www.navigators.org.sg

Ministry reports

TNT Camp 2010 - The highlight every year for many Nav teens is the annual training camp. Held from 7- 10 Dec last year, TNT Camp “The Real Race” was based on Hebrews 12:1-3, with the objective of teaching and

Alumni & FriendsC O N N E C T I O N S

If you know how to build an excellent barbeque fire, you will understand what is so remarkable about the course The Adventure of Discipling Others (AODO). Any Singaporean male worth his charcoal will tell you that it is in knowing when to fan it into flames and when to let it smoulder long and steady. The former is needed to start the fire and to rouse it every now and then, but overdoing it burns the chicken wings. It is the glowing embers of steady heat that cooks to perfection.

It is likewise with making disciples. Through the seasons of life, there are times when the passion to make disciples needs to be (re)ignited so that the glowing embers which sustain the vision and action of discipling can be a life-long ministry.

Yeo Yew Chye, a customer service officer who works shifts, understands the challenges of making disciples as a working adult. He is part of an AODO group. He had a “low-key” year in ministry in 2010. He reflects, “I did not lose the passion for disciple-making but it is true that other things may take a higher priority at a particular season of life.” For him, it had been about spending more time with his aging mother and helping an uncle get settled in a church. Working through

the material in AODO has helped him to see clearly the foundations he needs to build in another’s life so that disciple-making is intentional and strategic. Yew Chye intends to find a job soon with regular hours so that he can spend more time in outreach and mentoring.

Raymond Kwok was struck by Dawson Trotman’s ‘Born to Reproduce’ in session 1 of the AODO course. He recalls, “I rediscovered a missing ‘spark’ in my endeavours: the joy of disciple-making and the power of one-to-one.”

Mok Chok Sun, and his wife Song Imm, were also impacted by the AODO course to renew their vigour in disciple-making. God gave them a couple in their neighbourhood to minister to, and they also followed up on three other couples who had become believers.

“I am excited about AODO,” says Lim Ming Hock, “because it brings together the multiple aspects of the Navigator’s vision of disciple-making in a very practical way.” Ming Hock has been meeting with a group of working adults for the last 4 years. Since March 2010, they have been working through the AODO course. Covering 12 sessions, AODO is designed to be used simultaneously with the actual experience of

discipling at least one other person outside the group. NavAlumni Ministry is using AODO to help many working people disciple others in their immediate spheres of influence.

Admittedly, there are costs to disciple-making – like time away from the family on weekends, having less time for personal interests, and even job changes. What keeps Ming Hock and many others like him going is the belief that those they work with will rise up as labourers and go on to disciple others, even their own children.

Ming Hock rests his hand on the brown-covered book, “I end every session with the question: What is Jesus to you? And if he is Lord, what will you do with this information that you learnt here today?

Yap Kim Meng, our NavAlumni Director, sometimes gets ribbed by his friends, "You talked about evangelism and disciple-making 30 years ago. 30 years later, you are still talking about the same thing!" Keeping the heat on, my friends. And of course, if you need a spark to get going, find us, not the barbeque.v

We have just started three new AODO groups.

There are currently nine AODO groups of various Nav ministry affiliations and professions.

If you are interested to learn more about AODO and the NavAlumni Ministry, email us at alumni@navigators.org.sg

Who do you count as your spiritual mentor(s)?

In The Navigators alone, there was Bee Gek, who was my very first BS leader, Ming Hock, Tah Chong and most recently, Robert Yuen. There is also a spiritual mentor I had in Campus Crusade whom I respect and learnt a lot from; he’s called Tony.

You served with Campus Crusade as an undergrad. What was the most significant thing that you came away with?

One of the most valuable lessons I had when I was with Crusade was that God’s ministry is His. I can jump through hoops trying to make things work in ministry my way, but truly, unless the Lord builds the house we labour in vain. I learnt to observe what God is doing in ministry rather than just working to grow the ministry my way.

Why serve with The Navigators?

I truly believe in disciple-making and obeying the Great Commission. Primarily, I think about how Bee Gek first took me for bible study and discipled me and I think it is an awesome strategy with which to reach the world! One disciple at a time.

7 Questions For Roger Yeo, Our New NavTeens Ministry Staff

Use 7 words to describe Roger Yeo.

Are you kidding me?! Ask me out!

What is one experience with God that absolutely WOWs you?

I remember an evangelistic event during Easter 2008. I went with a group of teens to Orchard Road.

We approached a guy seated in front of Takashimaya. Being the labourer in the group, I remember thinking, “Ok, I need to put up a brave front and just show the teens that it’s not that difficult,” but the truth was, I was scared myself. When I started speaking to the guy, I realised to my horror that he was actually a Chinese national, and couldn’t understand English!! I barely scrapped through my mother tongue in school... so I fumbled my way through the small talk and and got to sharing the gospel in Mandarin. At the invitation, he said he wanted to receive Christ as Lord of his life! It was really God at work without a doubt.

Which spiritual discipline, in your opinion, is the hardest to practise consistently?

I will have to say, fasting. All the good food in Singapore! Ahh!

What will you bring to the ministry at The NavTeens?

I do hope to bring with me, my youth, or whatever that is left of it anyway :) I believe a teen ministry needs to be run with energy and vibrancy. I believe that, being younger, I can help to energise it a little more! More importantly, I bring another pair of hands for His work in The NavTeens.v

Doug ErdmannNational Director

Navigator ministry is carried out by two types of people … labourers and full-time staff.  Labourers have a regular job, and spend their off hours actively ministering to students, friends and work colleagues.  Full-time staff are financially supported by others, and so have their schedule completely free for ministry.

Right now we especially need more full-time staff.  We sense the Lord is telling us to, “Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.” (Is. 54:2).  Opportunities are presenting themselves to start works at several additional tertiary and secondary schools. We are re-engaging with our alumni, many of whom are asking for help to “labour in the harvest” once again.

To seize these opportunities we need people who, like the first disciples, are willing to “throw down their nets” and serve the Lord full-time. Roger Yeo (pictured at left) is a wonderful example of this. He left an excellent job at Mindef so that he could invest in the next generation. Is the Lord calling you, just like he did Roger, to leave your job and join us full-time? The costs are great, but the rewards are priceless!v

Their continued deep passion to see the Great Commission fulfilled motivates them to reach out, asking God to give them

Men and Women who will make a difference in people’s lives.