By Daniel Theophilus

A young lad that I was – 10 years ago, I was very passionate about drumming, and also had all the foundations and biblical principals intact since I was from a very good Christian family. When I happened to meet this man (Ps.David Selvan) in my school, I found him quite interesting, and he in turn took interest in me and gave me a lot of attention and importance. At that chance encounter I was not aware that he would be the agent that God had sent to mould and shape me,and help me to discover my actual purpose in Christ.

The last ten years have been an eventful journey. I must say that I have had both hard times and good times together. As an immature boy, many times I took the corrections and confrontations of my mentor in a negative sense, but soon God helped me see the positive side of it. Spiritually I was at cross roads like any other young, untrained person, having the passion to serve God, but not knowing where and how. In discipleship I learnt how to wait on God and understand what God has called me to, how to discover my niche in ministry, and how to accept God’s will for my life.

Indeed, discipleship has played a vital role in my life, and shaped me into who I am today. As I trace my journey over the last decade of my life, I have come a long way in every sphere of my life. I am grateful to God for having blessed me with this mentor. A mentor always grabs every opportunity to shape and build his disciple and tries to help me realise my potential to the fullest. My mentor has always wanted me to pursue excellence. At the end, ironically the disciple gets all the appreciation and not the mentor.

My mentor was not just providing spiritual guidance, but he was a spiritual father figure for me. Behind every correction, confrontation, and guidance, I could clearly sense the father heart and the genuine love and care for the son. This in
turn played an important role in my relationship building with my mentor and created a secure atmosphere for me to grow.

I should say that discipleship has played a pivotal role in my life and it has helped me to guide and correct those that God has entrusted to my care. Today we value discipleship as a family. I am now a husband, a father, a youth pastor and I run an orphanage, as well. Who I am today is truly an outcome of the discipleship process under my mentor, Pastor David Selvan, who was like a faithful shepherd, who took care of me in order to give an account to God (Heb 13:17).