Is Your Church Harnessing the Power of It’s God-given Creativity?

We live in a world where things are changing at an unprecendented pace with no sign of slowing down. How does the church respond to all this change. Very creatively. Let’s face it, no matter how much things change, the message of the Gospel remains the same and rightfully so, the Gospel is the hope of Christ to our broken world. So how do we take that unchanging message to an ever changing world? Again, very creatively!

I’m not saying change the message, it’s the Word of God and it’s good all by itself. I’m saying that God has empowered His people in the church to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth in a multitude of ways, designed by God Himself to reach a multitude of people. Is your church tapping into that creativity? Is it utilizing all of its people in all their glorious giftings? I’d like to help. You see I was one of those people. A new believer, struggling to find where I fit in the system. I’m not musical and I was terrified to speak in public. Those are the two main gifts we use in the church. Then one day something awesome happened. My pastor found a use for my gift and gave me permission to use it (art, in my case) to serve the Lord. It radically changed my life. Today I go to churches all over the US and preach and teach and use my gift of art to reach unbelievers and challenge believers to find and use their gifts.

That’s what I’d like to do for your church. I’d like to come in and share my gift and be used by the Lord to fire the imaginations of church members and churches alike. I’d like to share the Gospel with your community, but I’d also like to talk to the person who thinks his gift has no use in the Kingdom and I’d like to help the congregation to imagine what it would be like if all these diversely gifted people were putting their God-given gifts to serve the Lord in the church and community. How many people in your community could be reached if you just got a little creative?

I’m here to help. Contact me at amokarts@aol.com for more information.

By the Spirit for The Common Good

I was doing my Be the Body Presentation recently when something came up that I knew needed to post about. In 1 Corinthians 12, we read about all these great gifts that God gives us. It’s a really exciting list and it reflects two very important things about those gifts. First over and over and over again, Paul, the writer of the passage, takes great pains to remind us that all these gifts are the work “of the same Spirit.” This is hugely important. In our world there are a multitude of gifts and talents, some may be seen as spiritual while others may not. Frankly I see them all as gifts from God, because He is the giver of all good things, but I digress, when it comes to our gifts, they all come from the same place. They are the work of the same Spirit.

So why are the gifts given? Well in verse 7 tells us, “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” The gifts are given for the common good. We may be differently gifted individuals but we are gifted for the common good, that is to do good for others, we have individual gifts but they are to be used in community with others for the good of the whole body! We don’t just exist for our own good, we exist “for the glory of God and our neighbor’s good.”

One gift is not more Spiritual than another, and they are given by the same God to different people to fulfill different parts of the same mission, to worship and glorify God and to do our part in drawing people to Jesus Christ. There’s no need to compare or complain, we are different parts of the same body and when we all do our part, the body flourishes and the body grows.

Your gifts and your talents are a gift from God. How are you using them? Is God being glorified? Are you serving others and are you contributing to the local expression of the body of Christ (your local church)? Remember to use your Spirit-given gifts for the common good.

IllustrationFriday.com Challenge: Puzzled II

One of my favorite images from the Bible is the image of the church as the body of Christ. That we are all part of something bigger than ourselves, that all the parts (everyone) are needed for the body to function. That we all have a role to play. That’s what this symbolizes. Are you plugged in, are you serving, are you using your gifts to the glory of God or are you the missing piece?

Why would anyone not want to become what they were created to be?

I, for one, am puzzled.

IllustrationFriday.com Challenge: Contraption

The IllustrationFriday.com Challenge this week was “Contraption” so I constructed a Rube Goldberg Device. A group of seemingly unrelated parts grouped together to do a necessary function. I’m tempted to make a connection to the Body of Christ here, but I’ll let you draw your own conclusions.

Here’s a live example of a really cool device.

Need a Speaker and/or Painter for Your Next Event or Service: Check out Dave Weiss and AMOKArts

Artist/Pastor/Speaker Dave Weiss would love to come to your church and share his unique ministry. Dave is the founder of AMOKArts.com a ministry dedicated to helping people find and use their God-created purpose. Dave’s life was transformed when a pastor found a use for his unusual gift and his mission is to do the same for others. If your congregation has anyone in it that is having a hard time finding their purpose and where they fit into the body of Christ. Dave’s presentation is for you. For more information contact Dave Weiss at amokarts@aol.com

Be The Body New Blog Announcement

If you’ve been following the AMOKArts blog you’ve been hearing about this for a little while but I’m also starting a new blog specifically for Be the Body and while I will repeat a lot of these posts on both blogs, (yes the AMOKArts blog will continue) my reason for starting the new blog is pretty simple. The arts are just one part of the Body. Be the Body is for all the Body of Christ. The purpose of Be the Body is simple. I want to help people to find and become what God created them to be. I want to help people find and use their God given gifts and to do it in community with other believers so that we truly become the Body of Christ.

As soon as I start to talk about gifts and using them for God, I can almost see the walls go up and the excuses start to fly, I’m not enough, I’m not good enough, maybe some day but not now. Now I’m all for improving and developing and all of that, but what will you do today? Each of us has to start where we are. We have today to give God our best today. Stop pressuring yourself to be what you’re not yet. Take what you have, give it to God and be faithful. Trust Him for improvement and results, you just be faithful to do what you can do and offer it to Him. Give God your best each day and if you feel like you’ve failed to do that, don’t wallow in guilt, that will only mess up tomorrow and the next day and the next and, well you get the idea. Instead, tell God you’re sorry and and ask Him to help you do better tomorrow. Keep moving forward in Him.

Philippians 1:6 says “being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it through to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” In other words God started the good work in you. He did that when He gifted you with whatever He gave you. He did it when He planted a vision in your heart. He began it and if He began it, it is a good work. God can’t do anything but good. Further it says He will carry it through to completion. In other words God started it and God will see it through until it’s finished. All you need to do is be faithful to serve Him as He leads. He has it covered. Trust Him and Be the Body.

To see the Be the Body blog go to http://bethebodyministry.wordpress.com/

Collaborate!

Col-LABOR-ate

Look at the word collaborate. Now strip away the first three letters. Then strip away the first three letters and you’ll see something interesting. Right there in the middle of it all is the word “labor” and that is exactly what collaboration is, sharing the work.

Collaboration may well be the best illustration of what it means to be the body of Christ. when a few people bring what they can do to the table and work together, weaknesses are erased and more is accomplished than we could ever accomplish on our own.

The apostle Paul even went to far as to call himself and his partners in ministry God’s co-workers (or co-laborers if you will) in 2 Corinthians 6:1. That is the best collaboration of all. After all the best effort we can make—the best investment of our time and talents is to be a part of what God is doing.

What are you waiting for? Seek the Lord. Find people with a similar vision. Utilize all your gifts in community. Be the Body of Christ.

Collaborate!

Bible Reading Guide
An important part of following God is knowing what He wants and a great way to know what He wants is to read His Word. Follow this plan and you will finish reading the Bible in a year.
Exodus 40; Leviticus 1,2; Psalm 27
You can also download your own chart here.

What Is A Dot? A FREE Sample of my new teaching resource

The first video for my new teaching resource, this video teaches the importance of each part of the body of Christ. You were created to do something very special, very specific AND you were created to do it in community.

There is a full study guide available with this video, which will be available for download as a FREE sample at http://www.amokarts.com/whatisadotbooklet.pdf Try this resource with your youth or artists group and let me know how it works.