Investing for growth

One of SF’s (formerly BLF USA) long-term partners is French evangelist (and former BLF Éditions board president) Alain Stamp. Every year Alain travels the French-speaking world, participating in special forums for evangelists and equipping them to mentor others.

In 2015, I accompanied Alain to an “investment seminar” in Togo. It was powerful. There I met Ghislain, a younger leader from neighboring Benin. Ghislain had attended an earlier forum, so I interviewed him to try to discern the impact of these events and the BLF books participants receive.

“It [the earlier French-speaking Evangelists’ Forum] was a great moment for my life and my ministry because it is at that great meeting that I discovered the purpose of God for my calling,” Ghislain explained. “From that day I started to get involved in the ministry of church planting and mentoring youth. The key point is the day I started reading Multiplier les leaders (Multiplying Leaders by Martin Sanders and Alain Stamp). We started studying this book with Papa Alain and inside the book I discovered so many, many, many things that have already radically changed my life and my ministry.”

Notice that what Ghislain received from Alain first-hand, and second-hand through Martin Sanders and the book on multiplying leaders,  was intentionally reinvested in others as he began to plant a church and mentor young people.

We could easily give many other examples of multiplication and yield from Alain’s ministry. It’s one reason we’re thankful for our ongoing partnership with him. Of course, Alain is simply being obedient and faithful. We all have our role to play. But ultimately Someone else’s role is even more important. As our first-century investment guru reminds us,

I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. (1 Corinthians 3:6-7)

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