Why Wilberforce?
by Tim Echols
Ever been on a remote hike? Grow up in the Scouts, maybe? If you have, you learned to use an old-fashioned compass. These instruments are a great analogy for our life as a Christian man.
First, if you store your compass near objects that have strong magnets in them (such as your car speakers) it can demagnetize over extended periods of time. The same is true for these future leaders (and us for that matter). If the magnetism of habitual sin or a secret life is held close to your life, it will impact you. All of us need to see the gravity of this.
Second, bubbles can form within the compass housing when doing big ascents or changes in weather. These bubbles often go away upon descending or when the weather changes back. However if the bubbles get large enough it can cause some inaccuracies.The same thing happens in our personal lives as we experience the mountain tops of success or the depths of despair. Without returning to the level ground of God and His Word, we risk pursuing inaccurate paths.
Finally, traveling to a different regional magnetic zone from which your compass was designed can cause it to malfunction. I am told by the Great Outdoors people that compass needles are often balanced based how much dip a magnetic zone has. This allows the needle to sit level within the housing. The northern hemisphere is lucky to have a similar magnetic zone throughout, but if you travel south with a northern calibrated compass you might run into troubles. The same is true in our life. There are places that we can go, even virtually on the internet, where our compass can malfunction by our mere presence there. We all need to understand that decisions have consequences and in a moment we can shatter everything we have worked for. A good functioning compass can keep you on the right path and away from danger.
At the Wilberforce Fellowship, we want to help you get and stay on the right path as a man trying to live and work in a culture that is drifting away from God. I hope you will join us for one of our training weekends.
Tim Echols
Founder