WEST DES MOINES, Iowa—Only four days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the first Back on Track youth rally was held in the gym at Faith Baptist Bible College, Ankeny, Iowa. That day over 380 teenagers gathered, looking for answers to the questions our nation was asking. The Iowa State Youth Committee (a subcommittee under the Iowa Association of Regular Baptist Churches) believes that teenagers are still asking some of the same questions and that God’s Word has the answers.
Specifically designed for spiritual growth and refreshment, this year’s day-long Back on Track seminar revolved around the idea of committing the truth to faithful individuals who will in turn teach and train others (2 Tim. 2:2).
Two locations accommodated the teens and their adult sponsors: Harvest Baptist Church, Williamsburg, Iowa, with speaker Tim Jones, and Willow Creek Baptist Church, West Des Moines, Iowa, with speaker Doug Brown.
Tim Jones has led the singing and worship times at Iowa Regular Baptist Camp and helps lead The Loft youth ministry in Williamsburg, Iowa. He is a farmer at heart, but ultimately he loves “cultivating the soil” of the hearts of teenagers with God’s Word. Dr. Doug Brown is a professor at Faith Baptist Bible Seminary and the youth pastor at Faith Baptist Church, Cambridge, Iowa.
Both men helped the students understand the basics of Biblical discipleship. Discipleship, they say, begins with evangelism, continues through the initial grounding and assimilation of the believer into the life of the local church, and culminates with the teaching and training of Biblical truth. Doug and Tim each brought with them two men whom they have had the opportunity to disciple and encourage, demonstrating a living example of the discipleship process. Rather than waiting or assuming others will fulfill this God-given mandate, Doug and Tim say, students should look for opportunities to make disciples by investing truth in the lives of others.
One of the teens in attendance says, “At Back on Track, I was challenged about the importance of discipleship. I should always have a Paul and Timothy in my life, someone who is discipling me as well as someone whom I am discipling.”
