In Chi Alpha vernacular we say, “What Jesus does IN you, He wants to do THROUGH you!” We believe it! See it! And live it!
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Madelyn's story has dual vantage points of the discipleship process: the beautiful work of Jesus in her & His transformative grace through her.
Madelyn was for all practical admission of her own, ‘unchurched’, having little to any true understanding of the gospel and really having no interest in 'religion'. Madelyn voices that she was living for herself. Soon after Madelyn transferred to UT Austin, she openly admitted that before yielding her life to Christ, “I had a pretty bad ("potty") mouth!” But thankfully, Madelyn met a University of Texas at San Antonio XA small group leader named Mia who loved her authentically. Mia unselfishly poured into Madelyn. She eventually experienced salvation in Christ & yielded her life to Jesus and was water baptized by Mia (right)! Mia speaks fondly of Madelyn to this day. Just recently, Madelyn was honored to be one of Mia's bridesmaids!
When Madelyn transferred to Austin in her sophomore year, her new Longhorn XA small group leader, Sami (Serrano-Bassig), picked up where Mia left off and cared for her and called her forward. Sami mentored Madelyn and encouraged her to seek the baptism in the Spirit. As a young believer, Madelyn dynamically impacted others in Longhorn XA. She faithfully connected to worship gatherings & integrated new relationships into community. Madelyn eagerly signed up for our Discipleship Training Class in the Spring semester.
In Fall 2018, Madelyn was commissioned to lead her first small group and Patricia welcomed Madelyn into her “Resource Group” (ie. A small group for small group leaders). Madelyn was blessed from the maturity, wisdom & anointing on Patricia’s life. In Madelyn's first year as a small group leader, her character & influence produced fruit in lives like Kennedi! Madelyn voices her thoughts about that year with Kennedi:
“Kennedi is amazing. Before joining my small group, Kennedi had already given her life to Jesus but was still a baby Christian. Watching her grow over the past year has been so beautiful! It's truly been a gift to be able to guide her closer to Jesus.
She had no consistent devotional life at first; then, she grew to daily listening for God’s voice & direction from His Word. As she learned more of God's character, she wanted a more personal relationship with Him. Kennedi began to pursue the baptism of the Holy Spirit, so we prayed together at church. She was overwhelmed each time with God’s presence and love in a new way that she had never felt before. During a worship service at a South Central Chi Alpha SALT conference (Dec 2018), others like her came forward during an alter call hungry to be filled; and, she was baptized by the Holy Spirit as we prayed over her.
From then onward, she began loving Jesus on a deeper level which caused her to more deeply love people. Kennedi joined a XA spring break mission trip to Colorado where she actively, boldly evangelized on campus. Kennedi brought back a "fire" to save the lost here in Austin among her friends and family circles. Kennedi has grown so much this year and Jesus is doing something beautiful in her life. I’m so thankful that I get to see where Jesus is taking her.”
Madelyn speaks of another layer of disciple-making. Since Madelyn shared these thoughts about Kennedi months ago, Kennedi has completed her own process of discipleship training and interviews. In August, Kennedi launched out as a new small group leader and joined Madelyn in Patricia's Resource Group. As a disciple-maker, Madelyn reflects on the value of being discipled:
“Over this past year, Resource Group has made such a great impact in my walk with Jesus. I matured and was really encouraged by the testimonies of what God was doing in other leaders' lives in my RG. I also was blessed by having Patricia's guidance as my RG leader. Patricia is amazing at listening to what I am going through, and then gives me motherly, Godly wisdom. Patricia has challenged me to grow in areas that I could not have seen were issues without her vantage point. With every conversation, my mind is being refined to think more like Jesus. I find myself consistently seeking Him and asking myself, 'What would He do in this situation?' I would not love Jesus as much as I do today or carry the fruits of the Spirit to the degree that I now do if it wasn’t for Patricia in my life leading me."
In multiple church & ministry settings over the past few years, I've had the joy of hearing dear friends and currently my ministry overseers, Eli & Mary Gautreaux speak on this trans-generational disciple-making principle. In their distinct, humble manner the Gautreauxs inevitably offer an apology with an assumed fear that they're placing my ears at risk of exposure to 'a message of monotony?'... But, my response to the core of the message, methodology & mandate of Jesus and familiarity to the beauty of the Gautreaux's firsthand disciple-making anecdotes from the treasure-chest of their collegiate ministry years never grow stale to my ears! 
Imagine a grandpa & grandson captivated and lost in the wonder of a campfire's flickering flame. Then, the wide-eyed grade school grandson pleads for a re-telling of a story from Grandpa he's heard a thousand times, "Tell it again Grandpa! Tell it again!"
What authentic beauty & wonder captures my heart every time I hear of the trans-generational transformational power of the Gospel. It's like a song that I sang a lot after coming to faith in Christ as a boy. "I Love to Tell the Story" by Katherine Hankey. Ms. Hankey was born into the home of a wealthy British banker but became deeply impacted by the work of an evangelist by the name of John Wesley. After studying to be a nurse & teaching Sunday schools across London, she set off on a medical missions trip, but ironically fell extremely sick. During her long tedious recovery she penned this poem that was eventually set to music by William Fischer... I Love To Tell The Story:
I love to tell the story
Of unseen things above
Of Jesus and his glory
Of Jesus and his love
I love to tell the story
Because I know 'tis true
It satisfies my longings
As nothing else can do
I love to tell the story
'Twill be my theme in glory
To tell the old, old story
Of Jesus and his love
I love to tell the story
For those who know it best
Seem hungering and thirsting
To hear it like the rest
And when in scenes of glory
I sing the new, new song
'Twill…
Madelyn's story is not far off from the beautiful stories that my friends, Eli & Mary share. Mia's (and Sami's too) life was impacted by an 'anonymous' person for the sake of this blog, but certainly essential & beautiful to Mia. As Mia was changed by Jesus, she let Jesus use her life to become a catalyst of change for His Gospel to have an eternal effect in Madelyn's life! Jesus later impacted Kennedi through Madelyn. Kennedi is now letting Jesus use her life... and our story is dynamically expanding annually.
I love to tell the story...
Of Jesus and His glory...
The story of Jesus' disciple-making message, methods & mandate never grow old!
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