The first ever discipleship training seminar held in Madurai, India this past June was an amazing success. God worked as deeply as I have seen Him work overseas, beyond any of the things I have seen Him do in and through Eternal Concepts in the past. The students were so hungry for God and a renewed sense of God’s presence in their lives. He seemed to reward the desires of their heart.

They literally ate up the materials that EC presented. At times, they didn’t want to go to meals because the discussion sessions were so compelling that they didn’t want the conversations to end. The prayer times were equally as vigorous as God’s presence seemed to tangibly linger. The fifty-three students who went through this intensive program that began at 6:30 a.m. every morning and concluded at 10 p.m. every night were exhausted by the end, but from the testimonies of their own mouths were filled with the same sense of exhilaration that I was personally experiencing.

In many respects, I feel as though the previous ten years of discipleship training have been a preparation for this next decade or however long God allows me the honor to conduct these overseas discipleship schools. It was such a surprising coup, so much so that the leadership there wants Eternal Concepts to hold one of these schools every year all over the nation of India.

The seminar that we organized with the students who were primarily from Emmanuel University was structured somewhat differently from the one we conducted in India the month before. Instead of holding classes from morning until late at night like we did in India, we intertwined a mixture of ministry outreaches and classes throughout all our days together. We began our time together in the city of Beuis which is located in the “Bible-belt” area of Romania.

I had spent a few days before the students arrived working with my aunt and uncle (Karen and Mike Sirman) in assisting a ministry called REMM (Romanian Evangelical Medical Mission). This ministry is doing a wonderful work in the city of Beuis and the surrounding villages. Besides having an orphanage, REMM has other mercy ministry outlets such as supporting foster families, reaching out to a gypsy village, conducting short-term medical clinics and making “agape runs” where they distribute food and clothing to the extremely poor in these neighboring villages.

It was such an honor for me to be able to join together with my uncle and aunt and the short-term mission team that they led over there to assist REMM. Eleven and a half years ago when I first shared the vision of Ambassadors For Christ through a letter that I sent out, Mike and Karen were the first to respond to that letter. The first check that AFC ever received for ministry purposes was given by them and they have been faithful supporters of this little ministry ever since. I thoroughly enjoyed being able to experience “doing ministry together” with my aunt and uncle for the first time.

After a few days of working with Mike and Karen’s group, the Romanian students arrived in Beius where we held the first two days of our Eternal Concepts discipleship seminar. We conducted a few introductory classes while also being able to serve REMM through various work projects. During this period we were able to distribute to the orphans some clothing and toys that I had brought over as a result of the funds raised from Race For Romania. We then left Beius and drove half-way across the country to the poorest region of Romania, to a city called Scornicesti.

Scornicesti is a city that has been devastated by drought and various clean water issues. It is a city that was home to the cruel communist dictator Ceausescu and in many ways is as dark as his heart was. While we were in this extremely poor and exceedingly hot region of Romania we had ample opportunities to share the gospel through various sport outreaches and service projects that we performed throughout the community. One night we even gathered in the city-center, and in what would be reminiscent of my dad’s early ministry experiences of the Jesus Movement days of the 70’s and did some street evangelism. The night culminated at about 1 am with me shouting to get everyone’s attention (which was about a hundred or so Romanian young people hanging out drinking) and asking them to consider a litany of questions that may be worth asking of their own lives.

The highlight for me in all the community outreaches though was when we were able to distribute much needed water to a village of 300 people who hadn’t had access to water in days. Their wells were completely dry and they were desperate for this life-sustaining liquid. Due to the generous support of many of you who had given to Eternal Concepts we were able to hand them a cup of cold water (actually 16000 liters of water) in the name of Jesus while praying for them and singing songs of encouragement over their households. It was an experience I won’t soon forget.

As memorable as all the ministry experiences were, the primary reason that I went to Romania was for the discipleship seminar. Again, the feedback I received from the Romanian students exceeded all my expectations. The students seemed to legitimately learn and digest many of the conversations and lectures that were presented and discussed. From the testimonies of the student’s own mouths God used that time to expand their vision of who He is and His purposes for their lives.

This was only our second international discipleship training seminar so we are still learning how to do this whole thing in various cultures. But I think the primary strengths of these first two seminars are: #1 that we encourage an environment where we guide students to ask questions that matter (even though they may not necessarily come up with an answer to those questions during our time together) and #2 that Eternal Concepts presents them with teachings that are worthy of their attention. As Calvin Miller writes, “practice loving worthy things, until all you love is worthy of your attention” which I personally believe is one of the best pieces of advice any follower of Christ could commit to.

Race For Romania,  was our 3rd annual 5K Race, which was held on Saturday, March 24th.  For the past couple of  years, EC (Eternal Concepts) has held this fundraiser in order to raise funds for their “Packets of Love “ project.  The “Packets of Love” project helps to bring packets of goods to orphans in the various countries that we are serving in. Included in these packets are school supplies, games, toys and candies.

Several organizations helped make this race a successful one.  The official sponsors were Little Ceasar’s of San Antonio, Sammy Tippit Ministries.  Other partner sponsors included Honer Chiropractic, The Beyer Boys, Alamo City Christian Fellowship, Aviango Air Maintenance, and Olson Properties.  Media sponsors included the radio stations KSLR and KLUP.  Again, thanks to all the race volunteers and to our sponsors for making this Race a successful one.

Eternal Concepts (which used to go by the name of Ambassadors For Christ)  was birthed in August of 1996 as the first set of students began the program. God deeply embedded within the leadership of the school that there needed to be an inter-denominational discipleship program dedicated to building Christ-like character and preparing this next generation to be representatives of the Gospel.

As a result, a nine month discipleship training school was established in the United States with the intent of training students in the basic disciplines of the Christian faith and giving them the opportunity to minister the Gospel both in the United States and abroad. For the first ten years of the organization this was the primary purpose it served. Yet, around the time of its tenth anniversary God seemed to be shifting the direction of the organization.

Currently Eternal Concepts no longer hosts a nine month discipleship training school in the USA. Instead EC hosts a few overseas discipleship seminars in various overseas locations each year. These seminars are geared towards college age students from those various countries we are ministering in. Over the years Eternal Concepts has ministered in a plethora of countries from around the globe and in a variety of manners.