Your Ministry Skill Set

The following is a list of things I can do to the glory of God which allows me to minister to others:

• Change oil in cars and lawnmowers
• Change brake pads
• Replace alternators (most cars)
• Paint
• Spackle
• Hang TV’s, shelves, pictures, and bulletin boards
• Set up and calibrate home theater equipment
• Hang out with sinners and heathens
• Play poker (and lose…a lot)
• Play darts
• Pretend I can play pool
• Fix computers
• Set up servers
• Set up / Configure back ups and home NAS’
• Set up / Configure  WiFi networks
• Build websites (as long as they are WordPress)
• Mow lawns / Do yard work
• Fix minor plumbing (install faucets, garbage disposals, stems, p-traps, etc)
• Minor electrician work
• Wash cars
• Change locks and deadbolts
• Cook (my wife says my eggs are the best!)
• Drink beer
• Eat
• Play competitive sports
• Landscape
• Hang ceiling fans (my newest and most awesome skill to date)
• Use a chainsaw and ax to cut down trees, chop firewood, etc.
• Put up a chain link fence (with help. lots of help)

I am sure there are many more things if I put my mind to this list. In reality, the list has grown a lot in the last couple of years thanks to being a home owner. Well, I have always been bad at pool.

Something that has irked me over the last few years has been how many excuses I have heard when it comes to sharing their faith with others. Before I get too “in your face” please know, I have used many of these excuses myself. Many of them in the last week or two. We often think we have to be well trained in theology and hold a Masters of Divinity in order to have any effect on the rest of the world. So many of us are waiting for that book, or that preacher, or that conference to help us motivate us to take the next, big, Gospel step.

We are failing to see the Gospel can be spread in our everyday lives. There are many things on my list (see above) which can be used to meet my neighbors (and their needs) and become friends with them. These activities can be used intentionally to serve our neighbors and to start intentional conversations with them. We do not have to be preachers or theologians in order to spread the Gospel.

Maybe it’s time to stop making excuses. Every one of us is gifted to do something. That something should be done to make God look really, really good while serving others for the sake of spreading the Gospel.

What is your list? What can you do? How are you using it?

-Don-