Yesterday I flew out to Lake Charles, Louisiana, to give a Spiritual Gifts Seminar. (As a side note, American Eagle somehow lost my luggage on a direct flight. That is hard to do.) We had the first night of the seminar last night, and will conclude tonight.
Everyone has been very welcoming and has received me--and most importantly--the Spiritual gifts material--very well. One of the members, Jason Poynter, has been helping to start many good things at Enterprise Blvd., including life groups, a children's worship hour, and most recently, Spiritual gifts.
Jason had been searching on the Internet for Spiritual gifts material and the Church of Christ, and he came across my seminar on my website(s), Story of Redemption and the Missional Outreach Network. Then he went and attended a Dynamic Marriage training workshop that four of our elders attended. When he got back home, he put together my name and the church's name and talked with his minister, Paul Franks, about contacting me and using my book, Using Your Spiritual Gifts.
It turns out that Paul and I have a good mutual friend, John Dobbs, who is at the Forsythe Church of Christ in Monroe, Louisiana. And Paul was at one time next door neighbors with John Mark Hicks, who taught my Historical Theology class at Harding University Graduate School of Religion. It is a small world in the church!
Prior to coming, most of the church took the Spiritual Gifts Inventory that I developed, which gives people their top five Spiritual gifts. After the seminar, starting next Sunday, they will study through the gifts in a small group type of format. Out of these studies and discussions will come new ministries, people who find their place in current ministries, and great application in their daily lives.
Have you discovered your Spiritual gifts? If so, what are they and how have you used them? Does your church have a Spiritual gifts ministry?
