TRANSCRIPT

NATHAN JONES

This month, we head to Puerto Rico to hear from Luis Campos, Mobilization Specialist for Dare 2 Share Ministries. Luis has a front-row seat to see how God is moving among youth, both locally and around the world.

I'm your host, Nathan Jones. Thank you for joining me on this episode of the Inspiring Stewards podcast.

Luis, thank you for the time. I've been looking forward to this ever since I got to know a little bit of your story and the work that you're connected to. So, give us a little bit of your background, where are you from, where you grew up, that sort of thing.

LUIS CAMPOS

Thank you, Nathan. I have a little bit of a multicultural background. My father is Ecuadorian. My mom is Puerto Rican. They met in the city of New York, and that's where I was born. Later on, I moved to Puerto Rico, and I'm the oldest of two siblings.

But since I'm part of a blended family, as my parents were divorced, I grew with two other siblings that they're older than me. So, in a sense, I'm kind of the middle child. So, family Thanksgiving activities, Christmas activities – it's kind of like all over the world. Like, where are we going next year? Or what are we doing?

So, it's kind of fun in that sense. But at the same time, our family has grown incredibly. And it's been a blessing to just be able to get to know different cultures, languages, and just share all of that together as a family.

NATHAN

How did you come to a saving relationship with the Lord? And what impact did that have on your life?

LUIS

My family went through a very difficult process when I was around 11 years old. Some misleading information from a neighbor and my mom's illness had child services intervene, causing that we had to leave our home and be around a year out of our house, and in seven different foster homes during that period of time.

And our last stop was actually at our grandmother's house where she took care of us, and she began to teach us about God. She shared the gospel and she taught us how to love Him, how to love His word and to understand that implication. Because to everyone's surprise, my grandma did not know how to read or write, but she came to faith by listening, and she was able to share the gospel with us.

And I remembered that she gave me a small pocket-sized New Testament that had some questions in the back, and I was very curious at the time. And during that time of need, I started looking up for those questions and trying to find answers in the Bible.

And I can't pinpoint a specific date, but I could say that definitely my relationship and my salvation was not narrowed or pinpointed to a date, but to a process that led me to believe in God, in Jesus, to believe in His work, His awesome work in each and every one of us and also, how I've been able to grow spiritually since then.

And as I grew in my relationship with Him, I've been serving in church. I remember that a friend of mine from school invited me to her church, and that church was in my community. It was walking distance from my school and my house.

So, my grandmother had taken me to the Pentecostal church, and that's where I started my first steps. But then when I moved back in with my parents, that church that I was invited by my friend was walking distance. So, I started walking to church, and my family started following after.

And little by little, I started growing not only in my relationship with the Lord, but also spiritually and as a leader. I became youth leader at a very young age, around 15 years old.

We grew up our youth group from 5 to 50 within a year and a half. We did amazing stuff, thanks to the Lord, definitely, because He's the one who has been leading everything.

And I was in that church. I was called by the Lord to be a pastor. So, I have been growing since. I was able to lead the board, for that church. It's a centennial church. So, being a historical church and having a 20-year-old basically leading a board is kind of amazing for me now that I look back at it.

And I’m so thankful because the Lord has put everything in place for this time. And I believe that little by little, around all the stories of my life, He has been with me as a good shepherd, teaching me and leading the way for what He wants to do at this time.

NATHAN

That's great. What a powerful story. Well, catch us up to today. What work does the Lord have you involved in, a couple different hats?

LUIS

So, currently, I serve as Dare 2 Share’s Mobilization Specialist. It's a ministry focused on every teen everywhere hearing the gospel from a friend.

So, it's been a blessing since I started in January of this year to participate and have a role in this ministry: training, recruiting and equipping leaders for them to train their students to share their faith. And seeing that played out in different contexts, it's quite amazing.

Because this year alone, I was able to see it at work in Nigeria, where I was able to teach a group of around 14 leaders and around a group of 30-something students on how to share their faith. And seeing how they were bold to share their faith in a country where there's persecution against Christians, for me, it was amazing!

And knowing that the Lord still is working in their hearts and there’s desire of sharing the gospel and this revival that's happening. For me, it was amazing to not only see it with my own eyes, but also to be part of it and have a role in it.

So, that's on my side of Dare 2 Share. But also locally, I serve as the Youth Director for the Disciples of Christ Church, and I attend all programs that have to do with youth ministry. That includes summer camps. I'm a Bible Institute professor. I also deal with the youth committee. So, having all those programs and leading and making sure that everything is in place and is reaching the goal that we're expecting has been a blessing at this time.

And definitely, it's a lot. People would say, well, there's a lot in your plate. But I know that little by little at this point, the Lord has opened doors. And He's the one who, by His grace has been able to encourage us, and give us the strength, and the strategy to be able to work all of this out, because it's played out perfectly in His will.

NATHAN

That's great. Thank you for pouring into the next generation. It's so critical.

So, this is the Inspiring Stewards podcast. What role does the biblical principle of stewardship play in your life and work?

LUIS

Stewardship: it's curious because that's one of the topics that I'm most passionate about. And knowing that you're being entrusted with youth ministry is not an easy task.

Having to study, to work, to lead a church because I was a senior pastor in two different churches before. Assuming these roles was kind of or is kind of hard in a sense. But being a good steward requires responsibility. It requires humbleness. But it also requires good stewardship in terms of what you're doing.

Because when we think about stewardship, people usually tend to think about economic phase of stewardship. But it's not that.

You need to be a good steward of your health, of your relationships. You need to be a good steward of your work, what you're doing, your talents, your ministry. You need to be a good steward of everything because we can't separate ourselves of what we're doing.

Human beings are complex. And definitely that's something that we need to take into account when we're talking about stewardship.

NATHAN

I like how you frame it up to say that you're a steward of youth ministry and you're a steward of the position or the station that God gave you in this world to say, “Where does He have me for now? I'm going to steward that,” which is so important.

Well, in a unique place in the world, how are you seeing God at work in our world today, whether it's local or on a more global context, which you mentioned you have a front seat with your work in Nigeria and other places?

LUIS

This year alone, I was able to visit Argentina, Dominican Republic. I was in Denver for a global cohorts and student activation events for Dare 2 Share. Recently, I was in the Philippines for a conference. And we hosted an event here in Puerto Rico as well.

So, I've been seeing the same results all over the world, where you have teens empowered, when you have the youth empowered, and you believe in the power of the gospel, and the potential of teenagers. That's something extraordinary because that's the way God is working at this time.

And we have a generation in reach. I mean, recently, we as a ministry, we launched this research project. And we were amazed by the results because definitely youth groups that are gospel advancing have more growth in their youth ministry, but they also grow in conversations with others about the gospel.

And seeing that played out, I mean, Nigeria was the greatest example because I was able to train around 14 leaders. And then, as part of the program, we went to train students at a church where we equip them and train them on how to share the gospel with their friends. And they left that place, let's say, for like two hours. And within two hours, 30 students had 128 gospel conversations, and 28 people made a decision to trust in Jesus that day.

So, that was incredible. And seeing that laid out in Denver in July when we had our event, the Lead the Cause event in Denver. But then seeing it laid out in my own country here in Puerto Rico. Just a week ago, we had 152 students trained as leaders, and they had 210 gospel conversations and 15 people decided to trust Jesus that day.

Same event, same strategy all over the world. That is amazing!

So as a ministry, we were able to host, I would say, like the largest event that I know of, and it's the Day of Global Youth Evangelism. And that day alone, basically a quarter million teenagers and students were mobilized around the world with 87 countries represented. And people around the world were hearing the gospel from a friend.

So, definitely that is something that I am amazed by what the Lord is doing currently with youth ministry. And I'm so passionate that I believe that the Lord has something to do amazingly with the youth at this time.

And I see it laid out with my youth here in Puerto Rico, the youth committee I lead. But also, wherever I'm going, and the Lord allows me to travel, I see how the youth are able to share the gospel and be bold by doing it and sharing without hesitation.

And I do know that at some points, they could experience fear. It could be maybe their first time. But once they do it, they just start and there's no stop for them. So, for me, that's definitely a win in this process.

NATHAN

That's amazing. And I know that the mission you just began to describe of how God has a heart for the next generation of youth, lines up with so many other youth-serving organizations that are recognizing the same thing. So, I think God has something big for the youth of our next generation.

Well, Luis, thank you for your time. Any final thoughts as we wrap up that you'd like to share for those listening?

LUIS

I would say that if we are good stewards of what the Lord has placed in our hands, we cannot forget that the youth is also placed in our hands, and we need to entrust them. We need to give them opportunities because they're just there waiting for that opportunity to be given to them, just to be launched, just to share, just to show their talents.

I mean, this generation has many talents, and they're able to help us and help the church in many ways. So, we just need to trust, first in the Lord, but we also need to trust them and never forget the power of the gospel and the potential of teenagers.

That's how Jesus led ministry two thousand years ago. For me, He was the greatest youth leader, because if you think about it, He was able to mobilize this group of twelve disciples. And they continued sharing the message, and that's the message we're sharing today.

So, for me, it's amazing just the way as we read the passage and we look at the background and the context, we would identify that definitely Jesus was basically our first youth minister, youth leader, or youth pastor.

And He was, above all things, He was a great steward. So, if we want to model what Jesus did, we also need to have the youth in place and empower them to continue sharing the gospel.

NATHAN

Great word. Thanks, Luis.

LUIS

Thank you, Nathan. Definitely.