Serving Part 3

In this post I will introduce two additional areas (our experiences and our abilities) that help us determine the place where we can make the greatest impact when it comes to serving. This post is a little shorter, but still important in discovering our service within the local church.

Our experiences and abilities have a tremendous impact in determining how God has uniquely designed each of us and how He wants to use us.

As we think about our experiences in life it is often easy to see how the high points of our lives have equipped us to serve God. But it can be harder at times to see how our experiences of failure, sin, betrayal, or violation can be fruitful when we surrender them to God. It is in times like these that we all need to embrace our experiences, both positive and painful, and allow God to use them to shape us so as to fulfill his purpose.

Just as our experiences play a role in determining how God wants to use us, so do our natural abilities. An ability is a natural or acquired skill or talent. God wants to use you and the abilities He has given you to touch the life or the lives of others.

God uses both our experiences and abilities to touch the world around us.

Serving Part 2

Just as we have been gifted to serve, we've also been given a passion (or a heart) to serve in a certain area. If we were to define our Heart when it comes to serving we would say...

Heart is the God-given desire that compels us to make a difference in a particular ministry.

Just as our Spiritual Gift(s) help us understand WHAT we should be doing, our heart or passion helps you know WHERE to serve; it gives you direction. It gives you motivation and energy to serve in a particular area of ministry. Identifying and articulating your Heart is an ongoing process. Some people know and understand their passion while some struggle with understanding the passion God has given them.

What is that thing inside of you that makes you stay awake at night? What is that thing that stirs the emotion of change from within? God has given you a passion. He wants to use your giftedness and passions to do amazing things. How has God shaped your heart? What do you love to do?

Remember...
Everyone has a heart that is passionate about something.
What are you passionate about?

Serving Part 1

I have the ongoing opportunity to teach a course on Serving at Jersey Baptist Church (Columbus, OH). As a staff we decided to help our members gain a better understanding of how God has uniquely gifted them as well as help them find a meaningful place of service at Jersey.

Over the next few posts I am going to flesh out some thoughts and ideas on serving within the body of Christ. Some of the information is taken from the Network (Willow Creek) and SHAPE (Saddleback Church) studies.

Comments and questions are welcome.

Serving Part 1...
The goal of our Serving with Joy course is to help believers to be fruitful and fulfilled in a meaningful place of service.

In Galatians 5:13 we read:
You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to
indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.

The word serve is a command. That means serving for the believer is not an option.
For far too long there have been too many that sit on the sidelines and watch what is happening. God intends for every believer to play a part in something bigger than ourselves. The impact we can make if we are willing to step on the field will reap eternal rewards. we have been called and gifted to make a difference in this world.

The purpose for serving in the church is to do two things...
Glorify God and Edify others.

What are Spiritual Gifts. We could spend weeks on this, but in short...

Spiritual Gifts are special abilities distributed by the Holy Spirit to every believer according to God's design and grace. Spiritual Gifts are given for the common good of the body of Christ.

All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines. (1 Corinthians 12:11)

Spiritual Gifts help us answer the what question as it relates to serving.

How has God gifted you?

In my next post we will explore the Passion(s) God has given each of us.

hope

As the events of our world continue to unfold it leaves many clinging to very little. We have watched the economy and its continued decline. Are gas prices finally receding or will we again sit helpless if prices increase? We watch leaders from other nations fail and we continue to question our leaders at home. Who will lead this nation over the next four years and can we trust what they say? Will it get better or will it get worse? In the midst of this uncertainty many people wonder if we will find light at the end of this darkness. To trust and hope are seemingly foreign thoughts, yet many still ask…Who should we trust? Where do we find hope? And it would appear as if those would be questions without answers if it weren’t for one thing…There is a Creator and He cares about what is happening; not only in our world, but in our individual lives as well. So when I hear those with failing hope I am reminded of one thing…

My hope is built on nothing less, Than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, But wholly lean on Jesus' name.
On Christ the solid rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground is sinking sand.

Where have you placed your hope?

how much extra for nice?

Passing along a thought from a blog (Seth Godin) I read this morning...
Thanks Seth. It's a nice reminder.

If I pay $1000 extra for a first-class seat, odds are the flight attendant will be nice to me.

If I pay $2000 extra for the presidential suite at the hotel, odds are the front desk clerk will be nice to me.

If I give the valet $50 to park my car, odds are he'll be nice to me as well.

So, here's the question: if all I want, the only extra, is for someone to be nice to me when I visit your business, how much extra does that cost? How much extra to talk to a nice person when I call tech support? How much extra to find a nice receptionist at the doctor's office? Would you pay $9 extra for a smile when you dealt with the Social Security bureaucrats and were filing a form?

I know you're rushed and stressed and stretched. I know your team deals with hundreds or thousands of customers, and a lot of them aren't very friendly or warm. And I know that some of your customers (maybe a lot) would happily pay a little extra to get that one thing they want most of all...

I think there's a huge gap between what people are willing to pay for nice (a lot) and what it would cost businesses to deliver it (almost nothing). Smells like an opportunity.

framing...

In this crazy world of political positioning we are inundated with a myriad of verbal absurdities. I like to watch and listen to the framing of the campaigns. It adds an element of entertainment in an otherwise dreadful attempt for someone to secure the highest elected office in the world. I read and interesting blog today (Kem Meyer) that discussed framing (see below). It is a quick read and it will change the way you listen to the candidates...


Framing is the practice of considering what's going on in the mind and heart of your listener or reader. (What are they thinking and feeling before you show up?) And, then deciding how to articulate what you want to say.

It doesn't matter if you are an expert with pure motive and open heart. How a person perceives what you say is even more real than how you perceive it yourself. So how ARE you gonna say what you're gonna say?

I went and gathered a few framing examples from some sources to help exercise this part of our brain.

"Words not only explain but motivate. They cause you to think as well as act. They trigger emotion as well as understanding."

	File sharing	or	Stealing music
	Assistance to the poor	or	Welfare
	Gun control	or	Firearm safety
	Estate tax	or	Death tax
	Crime agenda	or	Safety & security platform
	Drilling for oil	or	Energy exploration
	Gambling	or	Gaming
	Disease management	or	Prevention
	Denied	or	Should not be given

"Is it message manipulation? I do not believe there is something dishonorable
about presenting a passionately held proposition in the most favorable light,
while avoiding the self-sabotage of clumsy phrasing and dubious delivery.
I do not believe it is malevolent to choose the strongest arguments
rather than to go lazily with the weakest."

Quotes by Frank Luntz.

home improvement...why?

I don't get along well with most home improvement projects. Yesterday I faced the daunting task of hanging a new light in the kitchen. I will spare you the bone-chilling details. I will tell you that after approx. five hours of sheer torture the light is hanging. The cords are all twisted and the light does not work. All the twisting and turning must have knocked something loose. Tonight I will take it all down and start over. I am OK. Don't worry about me. However, if the light gives me anymore trouble it will find itself in the backyard.

i haven't posted in a few weeks

I haven't posted in a few weeks. Life has been busy and my brain continues to spend much of its time in the red zone. Some days it is hard to put my thoughts on paper. I find myself needing to turn things over to God. However, I struggle with whether or not I've actually done that. I think I have, but then I continue dwelling on the very thing(s) I thought I released. Wow, that was a mouthful. Until next time...

has your brain been re-wired?

I read a communications blog this morning by Kem Meyer. It was on an article that discussed how our brains are re-wiring because of how we're using them. Some paraphrased excerpts:

• The addictive nature of web browsing can leave you with an attention span of nine seconds - the same as a goldfish.

• Our attention span gets affected by the way we do things...we can get into a habit of not concentrating.
  

• Twitter reduces our thoughts to just 140 characters. 12seconds.tv does it in twelve seconds.
  
  
• The average length of the 12 billion online videos consumed by US users in May? 2.7 minutes. The more words you add to a page the more people skim it. Our short attention spans can’t handle long articles and we end up just skipping to the bottom.
  
  
• Shorter blog posts or posts chunked with headlines, bullet points or images get more comments than posts with lengthy blocks of text.
  
  
• Television, the internet and other external stimuli has rewired our brains to make it harder to absorb information that doesn’t come in bite-sized chunks. Our brains are ready to jump to the next stimuli before we’ve fully absorbed the first.

summer

Had a great afternoon at the pool this afternoon with family and friends. I only wish the summer wasn't moving by quite so fast.

what do I want to do with this site?

Just thinking out loud...
Is this site nothing more than a place to occasionally put my thoughts in writing?
Should it be more helpful to current and future subscribers?
I don't know. Until I figure it out I will just keep thinking out loud.

By the way...
Terri is back from Cambodia. I love my wife.

two weeks is a long time

Terri left for Cambodia last Monday. She is having a great time and sounds as if some amazing things are happening. I get an occasional e-mail update which is nice. Anyway, she will be home next Tuesday. My kids have been at various places (aunts, uncles, friends) so I have been a little bored with an empty house. To tell you the truth...being a bachelor doesn't come close to being a husband and father. I don't like an empty house. Two weeks is a long time, but I am glad Terri is having this experience.