Torch, Fall-Winter 1998 optimized

n 1966, the Association of Baptists for World Evangelism (ABWE) started the China Baptist Theological College in an effort to train leaders. Our vision was to send national leaders out to reach Hong Kong and other places in Asia. But how could we train national leaders? How could we undertake that essential task? Of course, there are many scriptural examples for us to follow. But the example of Barnabas depicted throughout the book ofActs is my favorite one. Scripture tells us much about this man; in particular, there are at least five ways the Scriptures reveal to us how Barnabas carried out the task of training leaders. First, Barnabas trained leaders by majoring on encouragement. Acts 4:36 introduces us to his character when it says, "Joseph, a 6 Torch Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas" (which means "Son of Encouragement"). His name originally was Joseph, but the disciples gave him a new name which identified him as a person who encouraged others . The same word translated "Son of Encouragement" in Acts is used in John 14: 16 when Jesus said, ''And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter." Of course Jesus was referring to the Holy Spirit. But as the disciples discerned the character of Barnabas, they noticed that he was an encourager, a comforter, a helper. They changed his name to Barnabas to reflect that character. In 2 Corinthians 1, we get an even clearer picture of what his name meant. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 states, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God." The word "comfort" is used half a dozen times in these two verses, both as a noun and as a verb. Again, it is the same word that the apostles used to rename Joseph. They called him Barnabas because he majored on encouragement by acting compassionately and as a comforter to those with whom he came into contact. Secondly, Barnabas used God– given vision. Acts 9 tells us that. By this time, Saul had become a Christian. Following his dramatic conversion, Saul traveled to Jerusalem. When he tried to join the disciples there, they were all afraid of him because they did not believe he really was a disciple. The Christians in Jerusalem saw a man