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I’m KNOW I’m Gifted-But, WHERE Do I Serve?

Wednesday, August 11th, 2010 | Jay McSwain

This past week after talking with two ministers in different states I further committed to stressing an insight along with two keys to connecting people that I knew, but often don’t continually stress.  The insight is:

Churches who believe in helping people discover HOW they are uniquely created to serve must also be committed to helping direct people WHERE to serve.

I have watched many churches teach their people on HOW to serve based on helping them discover elements like their spiritual without any thought about how to help them know WHERE to serve.

Back to my two ministers I talked with this past week.  One was using our mobilyzr ministry guidehttp://mobilyzr.com/onlineguide/overview.html and pumped about how it was connecting their members to meaningful ministry.  The other was excited about the personal discovery going on through the PLACE assessments, but struggling on what to do beyond the personal discovery.  His church was even providing one-on-one coaching after the personal discovery, but still struggling with connecting people to ministry.

I am thrilled with churches that truly desire to help every individual in a personal and individual way discover who they are in Christ by providing insight to members and attendees into their personality, abilities, discovering their spiritual gifts and passions and connecting their life experiences to these insights and discoveries.  This is why I wrote the five PLACE assessments so God’s people can discover their personality, spiritual gifts, abilities, passion and life experiences as it relates to fulfilling God’s purpose for their lives.  But, I hope you will like me commit whether you are beginning your connection process or strategy or have already implemented it you will ensure to incorporate two key steps in your process and strategy.  First, create a ministry guide so your people will know WHERE they can pursue their purpose.  Secondly, provide one-on-one coaching to help your people know better HOW and then WHERE to serve.  The results will be worth the effort.  A commitment to this simple two-step process will avoid, “I’m gift but WHERE do I serve”.

Spiritual Gifts Testing & Ministry Placement – How Far Does the Process Need to Go?

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 | Barbara Valerioti

Many churches today are watching their bottom line and wanting to be certain that they are good stewards of their resources. Certainly financial resources are easy to track and show on a balance sheet – but how about your people resources? Are we being good stewards of those resources as well? Is it proper or even desirable to consider our ‘people’ as resources that we are responsible for making an account for?

continue reading…Spiritual Gifts Testing & Ministry Placement – How Far Does the Process Need to Go?

Starting PLACE in 90 Days Update

Friday, January 15th, 2010 | Kraig Kelsey

In October of 2009 I was given the challenge as a layperson to get PLACE up and running in 90 days! WOW! At first it seemed impossible, but once I put a timeline together and began working forward, it’s amazing of how it has all came together.

continue reading…Starting PLACE in 90 Days Update

Knowing Your Purpose…and Living It!

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.

continue reading…Knowing Your Purpose…and Living It!

Ministry…that’s Ministry

Monday, November 30th, 2009 | Susan Paul

Going through PLACE and leading PLACE for 5 years now, this has been a consistent question in the process.

I can’t tell you how many times, when a person has completed the PLACE process and we began to look at helping he/she find their PLACE of ministry within his/her local body, people discovered their ‘heart’s desire’ was not something they had conjured up, but in reality, was God designed!

continue reading…Ministry…that’s Ministry

Experiences of Joy

Monday, October 26th, 2009 | Ginger McSwain

The joy of the Lord is my strength” was the song of encouragement and prayer I sang to the girls this morning as we drove to school.  Their second day in a new school.  Their countenances and spirits were understandably a bit low….(not to mention their mama’s!).   But as I think about their feelings over the past few weeks transitioning from homeschool to public school I realized how often I’ve felt the very same things they’re feeling….but in ministry.  More than once over the past 15 years of volunteering in my local church I’ve experienced the excitement of the ‘dream’ or the ‘vision’ of what a particular ministry role will be like; the nervous anticipation of the first team meeting; the preparation and thrill of that first day on the job.  But then what sometimes has happened is the over analyzing of my performance and then eventually the comfort level of that position settling in and then the routine of it all just zapping my initial enthusiasm.

continue reading…Experiences of Joy

Just Help Me Find My PLACE

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.

continue reading…Just Help Me Find My PLACE

Lessons from Dominoes Leading to Disaster

Monday, September 21st, 2009 | Brad Sargent

I recently read where someone said they learned more from failures than from successes. This made me realize I’d been strategically placed, sadly, to … shall we say … “learn a lot” from my old home church about church ministries and recruiting volunteers. A gathering with such potential for life eventually reached a morbid state.

continue reading…Lessons from Dominoes Leading to Disaster

There’s a difference between knowing….. and owning

Friday, August 14th, 2009 | Jamie Parler

I am a PLACE cheerleader. Now I can promise you that you would not want to see me in a cheerleading dress, but when called upon, I will eagerly pick up the pom-poms if you will, when it comes to PLACE. It may be because this is the tool God used to call me into full ministry after 12 years in the business. Or it may be just be because of the vast amount of knowledge that I have gained through the PLACE process in the last 6 years. Either way, my desire is to help others understand the value of this process and the impact it can have on them personally, others in their church, and ultimately the Kingdom as people give their lives away for the glory of God. You might say that I have owned this.

continue reading…There’s a difference between knowing….. and owning

Making the Right Choice at a Crossroads

Friday, July 24th, 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.

continue reading…Making the Right Choice at a Crossroads