The following excerpt has been copied by the permission of the author, Phil Downer.   From his book, Eternal Impact, Investing in the Lives of Other. Eternal Impact Publishing, Signal Moutain, TN,  2005.

“God has taken a risk and called us to work with Him. He wants us to take people who are far away from Him and bring them near. He wants us to take people who are near and help bring them to maturity in Christ. The Lord has called you and me to mentor and disciple men, women, and young people so that they begin to reproduce themselves in the lives of others. God is calling us to join ranks with men like the Apostle Paul by faithfully helping other people grow up in Jesus Christ. Rather than merely achieving success at a career while we are on this earth, the Lord wants us to play a significant role in shaping the lives of others. That’s the job to which He has called all Christians – including you.

Paul understood his job. When writing to a young protégé, he once said, “You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to reliable men, who will be able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2:2). In other words, Paul understood his role: he was to pass on God’s message to trustworthy people, who in turn would pass it along to others. Paul became the spiritual father to Timothy, and as Timothy passed on the message Paul became a spiritual grandfather and great-grandfather. There are four generations in that verse: Paul, who trained Timothy, who trained faithful men, who in turn trained others.

Through the centuries, God passed on His message of salvation through ordinary people, and one day someone eventually told you. Most of us didn’t come to know Christ by watching a television preacher or reading about Him in a tract but through a relationship with a friend or family member who loved us enough to tell the truth. They became our spiritual parents, part of a chain that leads back two thousand years to Jesus Christ and His twelve disciples. If we are faithful ,that chain will lead forward into the future , adding more links than we can imagine.”