You are God's Workmanship!

"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
Ephesians 2:10 NIV

"There are things only you can do, and you are alive to do them. In the great orchestra we call life, you have an instrument and a song, and you owe it to God to play them both sublimely. Play on!"

 Quote is from Max Lucado's book: The Applause of Heaven

God's Call: Just a few questions that may help.

Read a good book recently:

 Answering the Call: The Doctor Who Made Africa His Life.

From “The One-Talent People.” Christian Herald. Sept 1949. P. 64  

 

“Always keep your eyes open for the little task, because it is the little task that is important to Jesus Christ.  The future of the Kingdom of God does not depend on the enthusiasm of this or that powerful person; those great ones are necessary too, but it is equally necessary to have a great number of little people who will do a little thing in the service of Christ.” 

            “The great flowing rivers represent only a small part of all the water that is necessary to nourish and sustain the earth. Beside the flowing river there is the water in the earth-the subterranean water-and there are the little streams which continually enter the river and feed it and prevent it from sinking into the earth. Without these other waters-the silent hidden subterranean waters and the trickling streams-the great river could no longer flow. Thus it is with the little tasks to be fulfilled by us all.” 

 

Just a few questions you may want to ask yourself

What is God calling me to do?  Have I asked Him?

What is my passion?  My Spouse’s

Where do the world’s needs and my passion intersect?

Have I taken the ONLINE SHAPE Assessment at Eastbrook Church?

http://www.pointsnorthsys.com/SHAPE_Eastbrook/Logon/Logon.aspx

Have I taken the FREE Strengths Test?

http://freestrengthstest.workuno.com/

Have I taken the Strengthsfinder 2.0 Assessment to see what my “strengths” are?

http://amzn.to/1GolKdD

What are my dreams?

What can we do?  (Add spouse’s name if married)

How am I spending my time?

What is important to me? What are my interests?

What can I do that will outlive me?

What experiences have I had that may give me a clue to the above?

Am I a good steward of my Spiritual gifts, talents, time, abilities, etc.?

   Am I using them in my church? Why not?

What would I do if I had a million dollars or more?

Do I have enough information or do I have info overload?

Who do I need to contact, email, call?

Do I need some more training in some area?

Have I prayed about this?

Are these the correct questions to ask myself? And my spouse if married?

Some excerpts from:  God’s Best for My Life by Lloyd John Ogilvie 

“What are we daring to attempt which could not be accomplished without His strength and intervention? So often we plan our lives around what we could do without Him on our own.  A sure sign that we are in communion with the Lord is that we are attempting what only He can do? Can you identify that in your life?”

A few thoughts today on "Calling":

“The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”
― Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC

 "God sees everything at once and knows what you are called to do. Our part is not to play God, but to trust God-to believe that our single, solitary life can make a difference"-Zig Ziglar

"Let my heart be broken with the things that break God's heart."-Bob Pierce. Founder of Samaritan's Purse.
 

 A word from The Call by Os Guinness

"Calling is the truth that God calls us to himself so decisively that everything we are, everything we do, and everything we have is invested with a special devotion, dynamism, and direction lived out as a response to his summons and service" P. 29

 My Latest TWEETS 

How your Church, School or non profit can use "Linkedin" as a tool for creating community.

What is "Community" How important is it?

 First your church needs to have a passion and desire to see the importance and understand what community is!

 Community 101 by Gilbert Bizezikian

"If you had to answer, in a single word, what God's dream for human beings is, what would you say?  Community?
God's dream for the creatures made in his image is that they begin to realize the beautiful words of the psalmist: "How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity" (Psalm. 133:1 NRV

 Then, start a Linkedin GROUP! 

Linkedin is a great "tool" that can help connect people.
That is the first step. Although not everyone is on Linkedin, it is very easy to create a short and basic profile. And it is FREE!  Linkedin is NOT like Facebook. As Author Wayne Breitbarth says, "Linkedin is Facebook on steroids"
Wayne is the author of The Power Formula for Linkedin Success. Also a member of our church. Thanks Wayne for teaching me 99% of what I know about Linkedin!

Benefits of having a private church or school  linkedin group:

1. Easy to see all the profiles quickly of everyone in the group. 2. Easy for "new" people to connect with others. Assimilate    quickly!
3. Can pray for each other better as you know them better!
4. Can be of help to people finding new jobs. Jobs at individual's place of employment can be posted! Person looking and applying for that job has a "friend" at the company. As we know, it's all about "relationships"!
5. Easy to start a discussion or ask a question of the group.
6. Group is searchable: Can find people with similar interests. Now you can call them and meet for coffee, etc

All this helps create "community"

Someone from the church or school can easily start a "GROUP".
Not a job for the pastor to do! Find someone with an interest and passion for this!

It helps if the staff is on board with this new endeavor!
Without promotion with the pulpit...the group will not flourish.

Someone from the church can easily start a "GROUP".
That's what I did shortly after joining Linkedin.
It's called Eastbrook Community. It is a closed group, meaning only people who have a relationship with Eastbrook are let in. WHY? My vision for starting the group was to help connect unemployed people from Eastbrook with employed people. Members can post available jobs on the site and unemployed people then know someone in the company.
That's part of the secret of getting a job.

Here is our PROFILE: 

Private group. To request membership, click Join and your request will be reviewed by the group manager.

As our pastors and church office give us names of new members, they will be invited to join our group!
What a great "tool" to use to get acquainted with fellow Eastbrookers!

We all have a place in our church. We should be radically welcoming as a church. A place for new people to experience community and get "connected" Our Groups 288 + members are only a small part of Eastbrook but we can take a lead in welcoming new people.
This is just a bunch of people whose lives have crossed in this place to come together with a view toward advancing the cause of Christ through God-honoring work.
If you have a desire to be a resource for our unemployed, either by posting job openings from your place of employment on this site or desire to pray for our people, please join our group.

This is a place for Eastbrook people to connect with the purpose of enabling careers, ministries, and new business opportunities. The depth of experience available in Eastbrook's people is remarkable. This group could enable Eastbrookers to reach out in new ministries, to start new businesses, to grow in their careers.
Wouldn't it be exciting if, as the economy languishes, Eastbrook people came together to start new things.
Mission statement and goals may change, so come back again. Your input desired!

_________________________________

 While on staff at Eastbrook I had a weekly prayer group for unemployed people. Anyone could attend, not only Eastbrookers. Besides praying for each other, we learned about using Linkedin as a "tool" for finding a job. It worked. People did find jobs!

Anyone who faithfully attended even if they were not a member of Eastbrook, I let in the group.

Also, a great benefit is that all 288 people can easily see each other's profiles!  
What is the benefit of that?

Well, we can easily get to know people better! 
New people from our church can see the other 276 members of the group. 

Can call them, invite them out for coffee or lunch...

The members of the group are searchable!

Wayne Breitbarth even found a golfing partner using linkedin. Great way for finding new friends!
Possibilities are endless!

If you are going for an interview and know the interviewers name...find them on Linkedin and you will know all about them. You can be sure that they have already looked at your profile. 

So, the bottom line is: Start a group on Linkedin! Your vision or mission statement may be different. 

Would love to hear how you are doing!

Blessings

Discovering our Abilities and applying them in service.

 Why we are interested in Discovering our Abilities!

Why always comes first...before How!

 The Lord created each of us individually with different Spiritual Gifts, Passions, Abilities, Strengths and a unique Personality with different Experiences. This class will help people put the pieces of the puzzle together, so we each can be most effective in our families, church, community and the world.  When we serve according to our SHAPE, we leave a legacy that gives glory to the LORD so when we stand before Him one day, we will hear, "Well done, my good and faithful servant." 

Goal of Sunday's class:
We will be transferring our top 10 enjoyable and well done events in our lives to the IDAK Talent Discovery Guide.
Will then see all the abilities we have!

FIVE MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT ABILITIES

(Skills and Talents)

1.      Myth: People aren’t born with skills. All skills must be learned by experience. This simply is not true. There are a number of skills, which seem to be inborn and develop very early in infancy. When people say, “He just seems to have a natural talent for it”, it’s probably true.

2.      Myth: Those skills, which must be learned, are learned primarily in the classroom. Actually some of your most basic skills were learned at home, “in the street”, or somewhere outside the classroom.

3.      Myth: If you have certain abilities, you will be very aware that you have them. Again, that is not true.You're probably using a number of talents or skills that you are not even aware of. You need some process of skill identification.

4.      Myth: Skills that I use at work are only usable in that environment. I couldn’t use them in ministry. Hopefully, by the end of this class, you will see the fallacy of that idea. Be creative.

5.      Myth: Most people only have a few abilities. The truth is that many national studies have proven that the average person possesses from five hundred to seven hundred different skills.

  Preceding comments on "Myths" attributed to Rick Warren.

HOW TO DISCOVER YOUR MOTIVATED ABILITIES

At our next S.H.A.P.E. Class, we will be taking our top 10 Experiences... where we enjoyed what we did and did well and transferring them to the IDAK Talent Discovery Guide.

Apply My Abilities

“There are different abilities to perform service.” 1 Cor. 12:6

“I (God)…have given him skill, ability, and knowledge in all kinds of crafts…” Exodus 31:3

One of the most common excuse people give for not getting involved in ministry is, “I just don’t have any abilities to offer,” Nothing could be further from the truth. They key is matching your abilities with the right ministry!

This is just one of the goals of our class!

A good book  you might want to check out: 

What You Do Best In The Body of Christ.

Discover Your Spiritual Gifts, Personal Style, and God-Given Passion. By Bruce Bugbee

Review of Sunday's Class: Using Your S.H.A.P.E

In a  nutshell...the theme of our class is discovering our Passion and Calling from the LORD.

We are and will be using several exercises in and out of class to recall and review some of the top experiences of our lives...from childhood to the present to document things we  have done well and enjoyed doing. These experiences give credible clues to our abilities and passion(s) that are helpful in showing us where the LORD is leading us...in ministry both at Eastbrook and out in the world. 

These common threads show us where the LORD has, is and will continue to lead us in ministry.

 Many of us are already very active in ministry at Eastbrook Church. That is great! Our churches should be the first place where we can use our spiritual gifts, passion or heart, abilities, personality and past experiences.  

For those who may not be active in a current ministry at Eastbrook: All our discovery of abilities, strengths, gifts, etc. in the near future...we will be able to enter them into a computer database at Eastbrook and easily find where we can be most effective use these "gifts". Isn't this exciting?!!! 

Our Eastbrook mission Statement:

"To proclaim and embody the love of Jesus Christ in the city and in the world."

That is the goal of our class: "In the city and the world" includes our family, neighborhood and our job or business.

In the coming weeks, we will see clearly how and where we can do that! 

I will be updating this blog daily as I have inspiration from the LORD.

Many of you don't know me...so you could check out my Linkedin profile to get a better picture of where I am coming from.
Richard Dassow: Linkedin Profile
 

More on "Strengths" http://strengthsforyou.blogspot.com/
Will be exploring more on this in coming weeks.  

Any questions...please email me. 

Have a great day!

S.H.A.P.E. Class Introduction notes

Some thought provoking comments and questions to start our class. 

Personal Assessment

Only you will see this. Bring to class next week. Will input some of this info in another form.

Other info for your personal reflection.

1.  Some of the books you have read in past few years that    have made an impression on you.

 

2.      List a few of your most important interests, hobbies.

3.      Have you taken any seminars, attended any conferences…outside of your career field?

4.      Your major organizations that you have made donations to in the past few years.  What motivates you to donate to these organizations?

5.      Your present or past involvement in Eastbrook Church.

6.      Do you volunteer in any other organizations besides Eastbrook?

7.      Are you involved with social media? Linkedin, Twitter, Blogs, Facebook.

8.      Some known abilities, talents, strengths, gifts you have?

9.      What is your passion? If someone gave you a million dollars…what would you do with it?

10,    Have you taken the S.H.A.P.E. assessment on Eastbrook Church page? http://www.eastbrookchurch.org/10809/ministry/ministry_id/394593/Serving

Assessment at bottom of page. You can take it as many times as you wish…update it. Save it. Bring to class. Will be inputting some of this info into a form for your personal use.

11.    Where do you see the LORD leading you up to this point?

Our class description or goal for the class!

The Lord created each of us individually with different Spiritual Gifts, Passions, Abilities, Strengths and a unique Personality with different Experiences. This class will help people put the pieces of the puzzle together, so we each can be most effective in our families, church, community and the world.  When we serve according to our SHAPE, we leave a legacy that gives glory to the LORD so when we stand before Him one day, we will hear, "Well done, my good and faithful servant." 

Richard Dassow