The XAi Leadership Intensive Training will be offered again this year from June 7 through July 19, 2022 on Tuesdays from 5:00 to 7:00 pm Central Time. The XAi team has already been praying for the students who will participate and cannot wait to minister to them during the summer.
Each of the seven weeks will revolve around a crucial leadership topic taught by one of three international presenters. The topics will range from the student’s God concept, their self-concept, their character as a leader, and their responsibility to discipleship as a Christ-follower. Students will take part in discussions on navigating leadership with the power and presence of the Holy Spirit as an international with unique cross-cultural obstacles. They will receive a devotional journal with five weekly devotionals. The devotionals corresponding to the week’s topic will have effects long after the intensive is over. During group time, students will learn how to facilitate small groups, and additionally they will be assigned coaches to help them grow throughout this immersive experience.
Campus pastors, we understand that leadership training is a lifelong pursuit. Our aim is to offer a robust training that will help your students visualize themselves as leaders—a critical part of the discipleship process for international students. We hope that it will prepare them to jump into your existing leadership training pipelines to serve the kingdom of God in their highest capacity on your campus.
Ideal XAi LIT applicants are internationals with a heart for Jesus who have been faithful participants in your Chi Alpha ministry and whom you would like to encourage to grow in leadership, specifically in leading small groups.
Early Bird Registration $40 through May 25.
Applications will be accepted until June 1. Regular Registration Price is $50.
When I moved to America, I got involved in Chi Alpha. They modeled what it means to be part of a community, taught me how to conduct fun and Spirit-filled small groups, and empowered me to be a better disciple of Christ. Indeed, that really changed the trajectory of my whole life. -David Kayembe, Bellevue College, WA
Dates: June 7 to July 19 Weekly Course Structure (Four Hour Weekly Commitment):
Duration
Time
Description
1 hour
Monday, 5:00-6:00 pm Central Time
Teaching: Live online teaching session by international presenter.
1 hour
Monday, 6:00-7:00 pm Central Time
Small groups: Weekly small group breakouts of five to six students co-hosted by two coaches/mentors. A different student will facilitate the group each week.
40 minutes
Scheduled individually with coach
Coaching: Individual coaching sessions with one of the coaches from your small group.
15 minutes per day x 5 days a week (1 hr 15 minutes)
Done individually
Devotional: Reading and journaling from the devotional booklet you will receive.
Module One
In the Bible, God claims to be Lord over all the earth, and both Father and Friend. Knowing who God is either brings freedom or constricts our realities. A true idea of who we serve is necessary to our spiritual development as leaders. In the first week’s module, students will briefly delve into the nature and character of God.
Module Two
Throughout history God has chosen and appointed everyday men and women across the nations to be part of His Kingdom’s history. When people know their identity in God, that identity supersedes any other to which they might prescribe. Identity in God is stronger than national identity, political affiliations, educational accomplishments and even familial associations. The second module will teach students exactly who God says they are and what His choice of us means for their lives.
Module Three
Jesus strongly implored His own disciples to not begin their public ministry before they were empowered by the in filling of the Spirit. Throughout the intensive’s third week, students will be introduced (or reintroduced) to the third person of the Trinity—the Holy Spirit—and the empowerment gifted to us through “The Helper” to do God’s work.
Module Four
Even though the men entrusted with the gospel were a mere handful, believers belong to the faith because they faithfully entrusted it into the hands of others, who continued the chain unbroken all the way to us. Discipling a few as we do life with them is the paradigm by which God changes lives and reconciles many to Himself. With Jesus as our model discipler, week four teaches students how to disciple as He did.
Module Five
The leadership God calls His sons and daughters to is an upside down leadership that builds a right side up Kingdom. To lead in the Kingdom, people must lower, not lift up, the posture of their hearts. It seems counter intuitive as students consider what leadership traditionally means, but in Jesus, all leadership can be summed up in one word: servanthood. In week five, students unpack the definition and application of healthy leadership.
Module Six
Following God here in the United States and back in your home country will be a challenge to returning international students. But, just as God calls His people to challenging journeys, He promises that He Himself will go with us wherever He leads. In the sixth and final week of the intensive, students will address some of the common challenges they face as an international person of faith by sharing stories from the Bible and personal testimonies to encourage them to follow God in spite of the obstacles.
In my final semester, I got to lead a small group and even though I went into it with the mindset that I was going to minister to these girls, I was being ministered to even more. Through this, I have also grown a lot in my relationship with God.
– Yolande Mbah, Oklahoma State University, OK
Teaching Team
Cynthia Dobbs
Born twelve time zones from her current home in Oklahoma, Cynthia shares a message of hope and encouragement using her understanding and reliance on the Lord forged through unique life-experiences including growing up in India, living away at boarding school, accompanying her diplomat father to America, and adjusting to the ‘Cowboy’ culture of Oklahoma.
Cynthia and her husband Destry lead Chi Alpha at Tulsa Metro Chi Alpha and Cynthia is the cross-cultural missions resource specialist for national Chi Alpha. Destry and Cynthia reside in Oklahoma with their son Obadiah.
Cynthia heads discipleship ministry training for leaders and often speaks at Chi Alpha services. Her thorough study and exploration of Scripture and exegetical approach to sermon-craft challenges groups to dive deeper into God’s Word for themselves.
Severin Lwali
Transitional Stakeholder, XAi Director
Sevo is the XAi director for Chi Alpha Campus Ministries, U.S.A. As an international student from Kenya, he attended Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri. He worked on campus with international students until coming to the National Chi Alpha Ministry Center.
In Sevo’s current role, he is an ambassador for international student ministry to Chi Alpha staff, students, and the church at large. By moving students from friendship to leadership, Sevo envisions making 100,000 disciples from all nations. Sevo and his wife Kristina reside in Springfield, Missouri with their four children.
Ryota Yogo
Ryota was born and raised unreached by the gospel in a small town in Japan. He came to faith in Jesus through Chi Alpha as an international student at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. Upon graduation, he returned to Japan and volunteered with Chi Alpha Japan and his local Assemblies of God church youth group in Tokyo while working full-time in the marketplace for four years.
In 2011, he returned to the US and pursued a M.Ed. in higher education administration at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), joining Chi Alpha there as full-time staff. His wife Shinobu was also born and raised in Japan, coming to faith in Jesus through the Chi Alpha ministry at the University of Texas in Austin. Ryota and Shin have three young children.
