And the Award for Most AMOK Christmas Song Goes to…

The Little Drummer Boy!

Now I know what you may be thinking, that song is so unbiblical. There was no Little Drummer Boy. Or you might be thinking only a percussionist would think a drum solo was an appropriate gift for a baby and if you think those things, you’re right on all counts. But Jesus isn’t a baby anymore and now it’s entirely appropriate.

Think about what the drummer boy says in the song. Essentially, I don’t have a gift worthy of a king, but I can play my drum for Him. He doesn’t stick with the excuse that he doesn’t have enough, He looks at what he has been given and does that for Jesus.

I’ll play my drum for Him. I’ll play my best for Him.

That’s pretty much the philosophy of AMOK. Take what you’ve been given, give it your best and give it to God. If you play a drum, play it for God’s glory. If you paint pictures or write stories or whatever else you do, do it to the glory of God.

Each one should use whatever gifts He has received to serve others… 1 Peter 4:10.

What is the gift you bring, to set before the King?

Pa Rap Pa Pum Pum

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.

My Church Doesn’t Accept My Gift…

One of the most difficulty things for artists in the church is finding acceptance for their work. I have talked to many people who have said some variation of “My Church Doesn’t Accept My Gift…” What do you do when your church and your gift don’t seem to line up?

Some people get prideful and hurt and leave the church, shaking the dust off their shoes as they go. More often than not, this is not the correct approach, after all pride is the sin that made the devil fall, as such it is not a good motivation for anything done in the house of God. What should you do instead?

1. Pray. I know it’s the Sunday School answer but it’s the truth. The first step in anything we attempt to do in service to the Lord is prayer. Ask God to give you the right ideas for your gift. Ask God to open up the doors, to show you the opportunities and give you the ability to do them
2. Humble yourself and show yourself faithful. In other words don’t put too many things beneath you. You may be a very accomplished artist with accolades from all over the world, but your church may not know what to do with that. Look for the needs, do the small humble job, show yourself faithful in the small things and the doors will open to those dream projects. Most of the time those dream projects are visions from God and sometimes we just need to serve faithfully until everyone catches up. So do the mural in the nursery, do the coloring pages, the bulletin cover, face painting at the community outreach and give it your best. Be a team player and humbly offer your gift. Remember those who humble themselves will be exalted. You usually can’t skip the humbling step nor should you try.
3. Check the fit. Sometimes what you are making does not fit the venue. At this point you have two choices, change the gift or find the venue and neither solution is wrong. Sometimes you have to be humble enough to meet people where they are and sometimes you have to find the people that are ready to meet your creation where it is. Either is an appropriate alternative.

The truth is breaking fellowship over your gifts and talents is almost never the right thing to do. Better to submit your creation to the Lord’s will and let Him work on the hearts of those who will receive it even as He is working on the heart of the one who created it. If God gave it to you, He will also give you the way to use it. It may not be easy, and it may take a lot of work, but God is faithful so follow His example…

Be faithful.

Talented?

This post might sound bragadocious but it’s not. I am talented, maybe even very talented. I’m not bragging, it’s not for me to brag about. My talents and yours are a gift from God. Talents aere not something to brag about, they’re an investment from God in our lives. They are a responsibility. As we look at the parable of the talents we see Jesus showing us clearly that God expects us to use what we’ve been given, that we should be investing our talents in the Kingdom of God.

I am talented, you are too. Admit it. It’s okay, admitting it is the first step. After that, it’s time to put those talents to work to the glory of God.

You are talented. Now put your talent to work.

Lead, Follow or…

I once heard the story of a person passed over for a ministry because “the more traditional Christians might not respond well to his creative approach.” Needless to say, I resonated with this story.

A couple thoughts came to mind. In a world where everything humanity knows doubles ever 1.5 years, a creative approach is not an option for the church, it’s a necessity. How else will we take the unchanging message of the Gospel to a rapidly changing world? Our declining numbers in the church prove this to be true.

But here’s the other thing. If a person has been a follower of Jesus Christ long enough to become a “traditional Christian” I think one of the following must be true. They should be qualified to lead. If they don’t feel the call to be leaders (and not everyone does), they should have been under the authority of Christ and the local pastor/body of Christ long enough to be amazing followers able to follow their leaders into new and fertile mission fields or at the very least they should be able to get out of the way.

Now when I write get out of the way, I’m not meaning they should leave the church or that they are irrelevant or unnecessary. I’m simply stating that they should have the spiritual maturity to realize that just because something does not appeal to them, does not mean it will not appeal to someone and that they should stand back, allow the effort to proceed, pray that it bears fruit and not get in the way of what God is trying to do. Of course I’m not talking about righteously opposing something unscriptural, that is a mandate for us all. I’m talking about opposing things because they’re not the way we’ve always done it. If we only do what we’ve always done, we’re doomed or at the very least way off task.

Truth be known, a lot of this has been caused, in my opinion, by the way we view our leaders in the American Church. We’ve started to see them as employees to be hired and fired at will, based on whether or not they take us where we want to go. My next words will sound cold, but it’s not about you and where you want to go and your pastor is not your employee. Your pastor is called by God to take you where God wants you to go. Of course there are checks and balances in place to ensure pastors don’t abuse power, but if you are opposing your leaders because they are taking you where God wants you to go, who are you really opposing? Check yourself.

I used to say the church exists for those outside it, to reach people beyond it’s walls and while I still consider that (as well as worshipping God) to be our primary purpose, I have mellowed just a little. Ephesians 4 calls out five gifts that were given for the purpose of leading the church: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Now one might think these are the people who are supposed to do the work of the church, but that is in fact not the case.

The job of church leaders according to Ephesians 4:12,13 is “to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” Translation, your church leaders’ jobs are to help YOU to do the work of ministry, build up the body (reaching out and discipling), uniting the body behind Jesus, and teaching us to follow Him until we become like Him. Their job is to help you find and do your job to the glory of God.

Once you consider how many different people and different jobs there are that could be being done, you will gain a greater realization for the need for creativity in the church and especially in church leadership. And once you start to do your God-given assignment, you’ll see that you want people to do one of three things…

Lead, Follow or get out of the way.

Which one are your doing and are you getting in anyone’s way?

Quote of the week

From the Art of Manliness Blog
Seeking your vocation isn’t selfish. Robbing the world of what you could have done with your gifts and talents is.

The Bible says it this way, “Each one should use whatever gifts he has received to serve others…” 1 Peter 4:10

You were created on purpose, for a purpose, so live on purpose.

What’s your purpose and what will be lost if you don’t live it out?

What Will You Do?

We’ve looked at our identity as children of God and how this is ultimately who we are. We’ve looked at the underlying motivation of glorifying God that should drive our efforts. Now it is time to look at what it is that we will actually do. This is the actual “work.”

I believe this is ultimately guided by a couple of factors:
First what did God make you to do? Each of us has been blessed with gifts, talents, aptitudes and experiences that will open doors as to what our “work” will be. I believe there was something each of us was made to do and when many different people do the many different things we were created to do in community, we form the body of Christ. So the first step is finding what God has created us to do and doing it to His glory, while seeking out others to share and collaborate with.

Next what are you passionate about? I believe God makes us passionate about the (positive) things He wants us to do. For example if you see something that makes you say someone should do something about that, especially if that thought keeps you up at night. Chances are the someone who should do something is you.

Next what is the need? Ultimately I believe this needs to be secondary but it is vital. Sometimes we need to go beyond our giftedness and so something just because it needs to be done. Sometimes someone needs help right now and simply can’t wait for a uniquely gifted person to show up. Sometimes “you gotta do what you gotta do.” I believe in these moments God gives us the grace to do what must be done. In some cases, God will even use these times to show you a gift and a plan you didn’t recognize.

There is a very big caution here though. We all have a temptation toward self-importance that forces us to just keep on taking on one more thing. I’m not convinced this is Godly but rather becomes a pride issue. Working outside our giftedness is okay for a time, but we should always be looking for the person for whom the activity will be their “sweet spot” and when we find that person we should step aside and let them take over.

Ultimately we will do our best, most God-glorifying work in our gifting. We need to seek out that gifting and develop and use it to God’s glory. We need not wait until we are perfect. Rather we need to give God our best today praying and believing and knowing that giving our best today will help us to be better tomorrow.

What will you do?

Post 400! How AMOK started, about the new features and more.

In this, the 400th post to the AMOKArts blog, I share a little bit about an event that changed my life and made AMOK possible. Someone found a use for my gift in the body of Christ. That really made all the difference. You can make a difference too. Thanks to the AMOKArts tribe, for viewing, commenting, supporting and spreading the word. I look forward to the next 400 posts.

The Three Best Ways to Ensure Failure

The three best ways to ensure failure are to feel sorry for yourself, focus on what you don’t have and give up.

Join us for a quick look at the story of Gideon where we’ll see these things in action and how God combats them. It’s three minutes that will change your day and maybe even your life.

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