By, Harry Chambers Jr.
The Sixth Avenue Baptist Church-Bible Study Class was a roaring success. Thank God from whom all blessings flow. What a rewarding experience to share your spiritual gifts and spiritual issues with other Christians who are seeking to answer the question posed by the book written by Linda G. Chambers. The excitements of seeing how God can use you to produce a tangible product that can impact people’s lives and encourage them to find their place in ministry is truly awesome. Several years ago before writing the book and leading this class my wife was wrestling with the question of how she could use her gifts to improve the church and its mission, to win souls for Christ. Writing the book required her to research articles and books about spiritual gifts, temperaments, scripture references and being obedient to those spiritual gifts that God had placed on her heart. Then being willing to share what you have learned can be scary because you always feel as though you are inadequate or unworthy to share how good God has been to you in your spiritual walk. You wonder if anyone has had similar spiritual experiences and if writing a book is worth reading. The blessing is in knowing that fear is not of God and that he wants us to live life more abundantly. Can an accountant write a book about being accountable to God for your spiritual gifts and giving your gifts to the church? Once you get over the fear, the answer is yes. We are blessed when we become a blessing to others. That is what I have observed while helping my wife get over her fear of being rejected because wrote a book. It has reminded me that all of us can live life more abundantly if we listen to what God has called us to do.
There is a blessing in being obedient. Church volunteers are very important to the mission of the church when they are obedient to Gods call on their life. For example, my wife is an excellent accounting professional and accounting professor in the secular world. Those gifts were offered in obedience to God to our church through her leadership in helping to improve the annual church budgeting and review process and monthly church financial reporting.
The bible says the servant is the greatest in Gods kingdom. There is a need for more workers in the church who do not compete with each other but see Christ example as the ultimate servant of mankind. Your church family deserves your spiritual gifts to make the church relevant in the lives of your family, friends, community and the un-churched.
Linda’s involvement at our church has helped ministry leaders become more aware of why it is important for lay leaders of the church to focus their annual budgets towards winning souls for Christ and not having an exclusive social club gatherings throughout the year. As her husband, her book has reminded me that saving souls and encouraging each other in Christian ministry work should be the focus of every Christian. We sometimes after a long days work in the world want to give the church our worst, but the church deserves our best. I think her book is the best and the participants in the Bible study class would agree. The bible study class allows you to further the conversation with God. If you continue to read the word, God will show you those areas of church ministry where you can be a blessing to others and an effective witness to the saving grace and mercy of GOD. We are excited and encouraged by the bible study participants and there conversations of spiritual encouragement. We also know that others can teach this bible study course and we have designed a teachers guide to give that opportunity to other Christians who want to answer the questions of the book. Are you open to teaching the book? Have you allowed your gifts to be used in building Gods kingdom on earth through your involvement in ministry? God wants to bless you to be a blessing to others. If you ready to make a decision to use your spiritual gifts in ministry we can help. Email us a problmslv@aol.com or call us at 205-780-0141. My God continue to richly bless you and your family.
