Apostle Baird- An inspiration to many

I do not personally know Apostle Baird, however, my girlfriend shared this with me, and I just wanted to share wisdom and acts of humility with you all! Be inspired, we need it! Thank you my friend.

Sayings of Apostle Baird and how my life changed as a result.

While living in Trinidad and Tobago for the past three years, sitting in Apostle Baird’s discipleship class was one of the most impacting experience I had. Although I was not able to attend many classes, what I learnt was indeed life changing.

A leader does not wait to be introduced; but introduces his/ herself- This impacted me greatly because over the course of my life I had developed insecurities as a result of feeling invisible. I realized that sometimes you have to take initiative and not wait to be seen to get things done.

Sex is not for love, it is for marriage/ I never saw my wife’s legs before we were married; and I did not die! – This is one of Apostle Baird’s classic statements. By giving us a ‘follow me as I follow Christ’ example, in this, I was reminded that I can be sexually pure before marriage (and also in marriage) and that it is possible to do so because it has been done and done well.

God is my source! This is one of my favorites. Sometimes I get caught up in thinking and worrying about how the future is going to pan out et cetera. I have to consistently remind myself in many situations that no company or man or institution of men is my source, but God alone is my source. I can rest securely with that knowledge.

A leader sees a problem before it becomes an emergency. This has encouraged me not to take things at face value. But to look for root causes so that I can solve the problem before disaster strikes instead of attacking symptoms of the problem or waiting for the problem to manifest before doing something.

Take the responsibility to lead without usurping authority- Now that I have returned home from Trinidad, I have found myself faced with many problems with authority figures in my life. I see many problems that have to be dealt with and my first instinct is to jump in and say something that I may later regret. I got this advice from Apostle Baird on skype and pondering on it made me much more aware of how dangerous and catastrophic threatening and usurping authority could be. So through prayer and with God’s help I have been able to shed light on small matters concerning me and will by God’s grace be able to make reasonable suggestions for change.

Learn to honour (I owe parents my honour). This saying made me question how well I honoured my parents. I always tried to be obedient to them and basically to not anger them, but I had never thought about owing them my honour. I realized that in my growing independence I had not been honouring them. I then began to try to inform my parents of my actions and ask for their advice even in situations where I thought I could predict what they would say or when it is not instinct to do so for example in relationships and looking for academic and social opportunities. Although this has not been easy to do, I now have a greater appreciation for their wisdom now.

Church needs accountability and discipleship/The more you isolate yourself the more you set yourself up to strengthen your weaknesses. In Apostle Baird’s discipleship class I learnt that I was in terrible need of accountability. I was not accustomed to going beneath the surface with anyone farless confessing my faults etc. When people asked questions I only offered generic answers and I suffered much pain as a result. I began to pray for persons to whom I could be accountable and God provided me with such persons. I am wiser as a result and also more mature in my opinion. I am definitely less lonely and think more carefully before doing certain things because I now have people who will ask me the difficult questions. Thank God.

The Importance of Self Government. This to me meant that I needed to put things in place for myself instead of allowing myself to walk into situations unawares. My decisions need to be well thought out and not done in a rash manner. I also need to know my frame and put things in place to support me. I have to know myself, what I can handle, what I am susceptible to and do everything that I can to protect myself and keep to the narrow path that God wants me on.

Dad loves you.  This is probably one that amazed me most. It always surprises me. I do not doubt its truth; yet it leaves me speechless. I have Christian parents and so I had never seen the necessity of having spiritual parents. Yet I have learnt so much from Apostle Baird that I now do see him as a father spiritually. To hear him say daughter I often felt strange and undeserving because I was not the most regular at discipleship class, but yet I felt accepted and affirmed. J

Apostle Baird is truly a man of integrity, a man of truth and a role model; a man of God and it was and is a great experience to sit under his counsel and discipleship. May God richly bless him and his lovely wife as they continue to labour in the soul vineyard. Great shall be their reward in heaven.