The Apostle Paul had a decade of experience doing ministry work with a young man named Timothy when he wrote to Philippi:
“I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you. For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know Timothy’s proven worth, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel” (Philippians 2:19-22).
Paul’s trust in Timothy wasn’t just an affection that grew from knowing him a long time. It was full confidence in Timothy’s heart and skill for ministering the gospel. Through time and testing, Paul confirmed Timothy’s knowledge of the content of God’s Word (2 Timothy 3:14-15), his character as Jesus’ representative (1 Timothy 1:18-19), and his competency to serve and lead the church (1 Timothy 4:11-15).
Those three Cs—content, character, and competency—are the focus of Faith Bible Church’s Aspiring Men ministry, which seeks to cultivate young “Timothys” for future spiritual leadership at Faith as well as other churches. The ministry has existed from the beginning at Faith, though in slightly different formats over the years. Early on, it was called Men of God.
Dave Belch has led Aspiring Men since 2019 and has worked with about 30 participants since that time. His experience training up leaders for the churches he helped plant in Venezuela and Spain made him a good fit to continue the same type of ministry when he retired from full-time international missions.
The goal, Dave explains, “is to grow these men in their capacity to be involved in spiritual leadership at the church,” as elders, pastors, and missionaries. Current leaders understand that the next generation of leaders isn’t just going to spring up out of nowhere with the skills and experience required; they must prepare successors to carry on building up the church.
Daniel Dougherty, Troy Caselli, and Logan Long, three of the eight currently in Aspiring Men, are in their 20s and are still discovering the specifics of what spiritual leadership will look like in their careers, families, and ministries over the long term. It’s a blessing to have wise and mature men walking with them as they sort out the details.
The Aspiring Men group in September 2022. Photo courtesy of Dave Belch.
Aspiring Men currently involves two main components: monthly meetings of the group and quarterly meetings of individual participants with their mentor teams of three elder-qualified men. Participants must also be involved in ministry in the church, where they can learn “on the job” – in Growth Groups, in Children’s Ministry, as youth or college staff, and preaching in churches that don’t have regular pastors.
Each of their group meetings includes teaching and discussion of a specific area or task for which church elders are responsible. Dave or another pastor or elder teaches the group on subtopics about preaching, teaching and shepherding the church. Generally, the monthly meetings will address all the major areas of spiritual leadership over a span of three years, then start the cycle over again. Some of the Aspiring Men have been involved for several years and no longer attend the monthly meetings, but they still benefit from the ongoing mentoring component.
Daniel Dougherty, who has been involved since 2019, says the monthly meetings have presented useful challenges for the young men to work through. He recalls a meeting in which the group had to go through realistic case studies involving shepherding through tough scenarios such as divorce and church discipline. “How would the eight of us, if we were on an elder board, work through something like this? And are we looking at Scripture first and then knowing the whole picture, not just one side? That was a really helpful picture of what our pastors and elders are doing on a regular basis in real time and in real life, which is heavy and hard. You’re contending with people’s souls and hearts.”
The complexity of many real-life situations is one reason participants are also encouraged to attend Faith’s elder meetings, which are open to all members. “Part of spiritual leadership is learned by observation,” Dave says.
At monthly meetings, the Aspiring Men also practice preaching by giving short sermons and participating in critique of each other’s handling and presentation of Scripture. Dave points out that even if the men aren’t planning to be full-time preachers, elders must be able to teach when their situation calls for it, such as if they are serving a small church that has no full-time preacher.
In fact, Aspiring Men helps Faith provide an important service for churches around the Inland Northwest. Dave manages requests for “pulpit supply” in churches that are too small to support a staff preacher or for some other reason need a preacher. When he receives a request, Dave asks one of the Aspiring Men to practice their preaching by serving those churches. Some return regularly to the same churches and end up building relationships with them.
“To all be arm in arm, seeking to honor the Lord and pursue being elder qualified, has been a huge blessing.”
But first and foremost, they want to properly teach God’s Word. Daniel recalls being told in one of their monthly meetings that one of his mini sermons had missed the whole point of the Scripture passage. “It was a sting to my pride, but it was really good, because this is the point. The point is to grow in our ability to handle God’s Word … I want to actually get the right meaning.”
For Logan, the monthly meetings are also for solidarity, “to walk alongside one another, arm in arm, as we’re striving to serve the Lord. Not all of us want to do full-time ministry in the future. Some might want to go be missionaries, others might want to just be a lay elder in the church, but to all be arm in arm, seeking to honor the Lord and pursue being elder qualified, has been a huge blessing.”
Because each man’s calling is different, individual mentoring is also a big part of training men to be leaders. Aspiring Men are asked to assemble a mentoring team of three elder-qualified men who meet with them quarterly for advice, encouragement, and accountability toward the growth goals they set for themselves in each of the “three Cs.”
“My conviction about leadership of any sort, but in particular spiritual leadership in the church, is that you need to have some self-initiative,” Dave says. “You need to take action. … We ask them to keep it simple, but try to identify one area in each of those three areas that they sense God calling them to grow in during the year.” The mentor team helps evaluate their progress and asks good questions to help them choose their next steps.
Troy’s mentors “really put the pulse to my spiritual life,” he says. “How I’m being useful in ministry. Meeting every three months has just been really helpful for me, for them to see and to give some helpful tips to help me navigate.”
“One thing that has challenged me most is just the pursuit of personal holiness,” Troy says. “That’s something that is constantly encouraged and is a focus, and it’s a great challenge, but it’s also one of the hardest things to do.”
Dave’s encouragement has been particularly helpful, giving Troy opportunities to practice teaching and developing his gifts. Dave even created an opportunity for Troy to teach some longer, more in-depth sessions early next year at a church in Spain.
Mentoring from his team has been helpful for Logan to “get a grip on how to handle ambition and desire for missions. … I originally started like, ‘Oh, I’ll get trained up, and they’ll send me out the door and I’ll go conquer the world.’”
Logan is interviewed for an upcoming video on Aspiring Men.
Dave and others helped Logan understand he needed to see ministry as “long-term and long-suffering.” Logan is thankful “to have older, godly, wiser men kind of shepherd you through that and help you bring some of that zeal in, but not stamp it out, and really just focus it and harness it.”
Logan’s mentors have been “walking alongside me with all the various questions, like career and marriage and all these other things that are just different moving parts. They’ve been able to help me see clearly and thinking through what’s the best next step.”
But as he prepares for his future, Logan’s present is teaching the middle schoolers in youth ministry. The practice he gets in Aspiring Men and in pulpit supply is also helpful in teaching young people. Plus, they hold him to a high standard of integrity: “They’re watching your life.”
The name of Aspiring Men comes from 1 Timothy 3. Writing to Timothy, Paul detailed the rigorous skill and character standards for a man who “aspires to” leadership in the church. Daniel, Troy, and Logan all referred to this passage and pointed out the excellence of the standards, regardless of what career path or type of ministry God calls them to.
“Are those things you want to exemplify and live out in your life?” Troy asks. “Do you want to do that alongside elder-qualified men who are willing and able and desire to bring practical, hyper-specific counsel and guidance to actually achieve these goals? If the answer is yes, I think Aspiring Men is for you.”
Young men who wish to grow in spiritual leadership, in their homes and workplaces as well as in the church, are invited to talk to Dave or to Dan Jarms about getting involved.
“We’re all called to serve,” Logan says. “Aspiring Men provides a super-helpful way for wrapping your mind around what that might look like. … It’s a sweet meal that the church has prepared.”
Lynn and her husband, Doug, lead a Growth Group. Lynn serves as a writer and editor for Living Faith magazine and other church communications.
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