BLOG

Nothing Fishy About Sharing Your Life Experiences

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009 | Keith Durham

“Daddy, are we almost there?” I could read into this question from the backseat the excitement my kids felt as we neared our family’s favorite vacation spot, South Padre Island in Texas. This trip had us fishing in the bay, a first for us! We thought our fishing excursion would take place on the calm, relaxing, wave-free side of the bay. Instead, the captain – wanting us to catch lots of fish, took us outside the bay to the deeper, much rougher waters of the Gulf of Mexico. As the boat bobbed up and down we found ourselves holding on for dear life! We caught fish alright, but all five of us ended up experiencing sea sickness in one fashion or another! We still share that life experience with others and laugh about it when we tell it. Life reminds me of that family trip: At times unexpected things cause us temporary discomfort. Other times, unexpected things cause us much happiness.

continue reading…Nothing Fishy About Sharing Your Life Experiences

I’ve Taken A Thousand Spiritual Gift Tests Before

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.

continue reading…I’ve Taken A Thousand Spiritual Gift Tests Before