This year, I have selected a word to represent what I think the Lord is leading us to this year. That word is “empowerment.” In truth, this has long been my philosophy of ministry because, in essence, this is what happened to me. You see when I first walked into the church, at least in my adult life, I was pretty far from God. As I began seeing my need for God, I started looking for my place to fit. The thing is, I didn’t have any of the gifts that we usually associate with the church. I was terrified to speak in public, I didn’t have enough knowledge to teach and my lack of musical ability is nearly legendary. I figured I was destined to be a consumer, and that is not a good place to stay in the church. What I did have was some artistic talent.
Long story short, my pastor found that gift and tapped into it. It was a small assignment. A backdrop for the VBS skits, but it opened the door and changed my life. The Lord through my pastor had empowered me to serve. The end result, today I am a church pastor with a speaking ministry that takes me all over the U.S. Empowerment is a wonderful, powerful, miraculous force that can change the entire direction of a person’s life.
Today the church I pastor is a blessing. Great people who love the Lord and His Word. When I hear my unbelieving friends speaking negatively about the church, I wish they’d come and check out mine and when I hear my ministry friends speak of the troubles they have in their churches, I become increasingly aware of how blessed I truly am. We’re not perfect, but Springfield Church of he Brethren is a pretty good place to be. There is only one major thing we lack and that is simply that a lot of the people who really need what we have, don’t know we’re there.
How can we fix this? I think it has something to do with empowerment. It’s not that my people don’t serve. They do. I just wonder what else lays on their hearts. We in the church tend to only see certain gifts and talents as usable for the church, but what if we saw that differently? What if we realized that ever good gift comes from God and that all of them are useful to the Kingdom?
What if we gave people the ability to ry new things? This is the sole of empowerment, and so we extend an invitation for people to try the new things God lays on their hearts. Sometimes this will be a one time thing. Sometimes it will be continual.
What do you need to have to do this? You need a dream. You need to be faithful. You need to finish what you start and you have to be trying to honor God. You need to accept humble beginnings, starting with available resources and working toward growth.
One last thing, your calling is your calling. In other words, if you have an idea you want me to do, the answer is probably going to be no, unless it’s a really phenomenal idea that’s right in the middle of my wheelhouse and clearly God’s call. Empowerment is about helping you to do what God is calling you to do and helping you to be what God has created you to be. Empowerment can change your life.
What can we help you to do and be?
May God bless you as you seek to do His will.
Happy New Year,
Pastor Dave