Thursday, June 17th, 2010 | Lisa Baker
In additions to church-wide surveys, PLACE Connection Sessions are an ideal environment to ask for church feedback. At Brentwood Baptist Church, PLACE is a requirement for membership. During the session, designed to assist individuals in better understanding who God created the to be and where they would be effective serving, we ask, “What drew you to BBC”? It’s exciting to hear all of the positive responses and then to be able to encourage our staff and lay leadership.
As a follow up to the positive, we ask, “Do you see any gaps”? The New Members (NM) coming in are generally apologetic when they make any negative remarks; after all they are excited about their new church home. At the same time that they are apologetic, they seem to grasp that we are giving them a chance to participate in making decisions that will better the church, so they let us know what is lacking. The perceived gaps may reveal an area of service for the NM, an opportunity to teach the NM the why behind what we do or a ministry area that needs attention.
If we, as church leadership, can remain teachable enough to learn from others and if we are steeped in a God-relationship so that we remain faithful to the path He has us on, we will do nothing but benefit. We will receive the privilege of seeing through fresh eyes to new perspectives that can shed invaluable light on how we are doing ministry and where we might consider looking in the future.
Tags: assessments, assimilation, church, ministry, place, spiritual gifts test
Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 | Quentine Lofton
I started my ministry of discipleship due to what I believe was a life calling. I have come to believe that God calls all believers to live out their life in a specific manner utilizing Spiritual Giftedness & godly Passions. This calling can be affirmed by a continuous awareness of how God speaks to believers today—His word (Bible)—His interpreter (Holy Spirit)—Prayer—Circumstances—The Church.
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Tags: church, ministry, place, spiritual gifts
Monday, October 19th, 2009 | Lisa Baker
Personality, spiritual gifts, abilities, skills, passions and experiences were all important in making the right choices at the crossroads where I found myself standing for several years. My immediate response to this yearning for a more clearly defined purpose was to better myself through outward disciplines; however, the hours of mastering my plan offered very little fulfillment in the way of defining my purpose.
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Tags: assessments, find my place, place, spiritual gifts
Monday, July 6th, 2009 | Kraig Kelsey
I repeated those words over and over to Jay McSwain on a weekly basis as his “D” personality persistently asked me to attend a PLACE class at church. Jay’s role as assimilation minister, lead to him to create the PLACE curriculum. Since my family was new to the church and Jay was piloting the new curriculum, I was a prime candidate for the PLACE class. Yet, having been involved in ministry all my life, I have taken several personality and spiritual gift assessments. Therefore, I felt I did not need to take another test. One Sunday, Jay asked me to attend the workshop yet another time. I quickly tried to make up an excuse of why I couldn’t attend. He then asked, “What do you do for a living?” I stumbled around and embarrassingly said, “I am currently unemployed.” His response was totally unexpected, when he said “Great!” He went on to explain how the PLACE class could not only help connect me to ministry, but also how it could help me in life. How the PLACE class could help identify my God-given strengths and gifts and how these things combined with my passion and life experience could actually help me find a job. Since I had three very young boys at the time, the word J-O-B, resonated. Jay also shared with me that a test is something that you pass or fail. PLACE includes five assessments, one of these being a spiritual gifts assessment. An assessment is an opinion of yourself, not a test.
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Tags: spiritual gift assessment, spiritual gifts, spiritual gifts test
Friday, June 19th, 2009 | Jay McSwain
I’m excited to announce that today we’re relaunching our blog! What began last February as a one-man show, with myself being the sole blogger, has since blossomed into a team of 12 seasoned professionals. While the team and topics discussed will be diverse, each individual is passionate about helping God’s people connect to meaningful ministry. Each individual also uses and understands the difference PLACE tools and resources make in church ministries across the country.
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Tags: Assessment Tools, Church Ministries
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