You Can Put Square Pegs in Square Holes

Grace was insistent, "Since you now have an 'Empty Nest' you have to fill it."

Our son Kevin had recently left to attend school in another state, and our daughter, Rhonda, was married and starting a family of her own. My wife and I looked forward to a quiet house with just the two of us, while Grace, a friend from church wanted us to take in a refugee from Ethiopia. Grace had a passionate compassion for refugees and their families. Since the end of the Viet Nam war, she had sponsored and settled many tens of refugees. Unfortunately, our passions for serving God took us in other directions. we were teachers, encouragers, and leaders.

We sincerely believe that the Lord has placed within each of us a desire to serve Him in specific ways. He has also provided the spiritual gifts for us to be successful in what we are called.

To paraphrase the apostle Paul in Romans Chapter 12: Although there are many members in the body, they do not all have the same function. Each has been given differing gifts appropriate to the call that God has on them. It is important to realize that it is the Lord that builds the church and He has placed within each body all of the gifts and callings that are required for that particular body to perform its God-given mission. Even the smallest of churches has the gifts it needs to do God's will at a particular time.

Paul continues to list seven gifts that are common in most bodies - prophecy, serving, teaching, encouraging, giving, leading, and a shower of mercy.

Grace was a shower of mercy.

For many years as a pastor and church planter, one important task was to develop a functional team that would follow the Lord's direction and fulfill His call. An effective method we used was to recruit and employ members to function in their particular area of call and gifting. Teachers teaching, leaders leading, servants serving, encouragers encouraging, those with the gift of prophecy, speaking forth, givers, giving, and showers of mercy touching lives.

Begging for volunteers, and putting warm bodies in a position, just because they are available does not work. Assigning someone a leadership position, because of their secular success is not always helpful.

Early on we made those same mistakes. It wasn't until we found a method to identify a person's motivational gifting that we began to find success in our recruiting and deploying. It not only worked at the church, but we were better able to understand our family dynamics. We required our immediate family to discover their individual gifts.

One of the first things we did in a new church was to teach a series on motivational gifts from Romans 12, then allow everyone to take a gift assessment test that Rita and I had developed. People then were allowed to opt out of a task if it did not fit their gift mix but would be asked to fill positions in their specialties. Not surprisingly we had stronger ministries and fewer people burning out.

Not long ago we published a short book that includes lessons on gifts, descriptions of the characteristics of each gift and a gift assessment test. If this is something that you might be interested in, it is available free on our website Aslan Ministries The book is available in most electronic formats.

What has been your experience of using spiritual gifts to organize your church?

Motivational Gifts

Don was an evangelist. 

He was not in the manner of a Billy Graham or even a Greg Laurie. Don never filled a pulpit, nor spoke to large crowds. Don just loved to talk about Jesus. You could not be in a conversation with him for very long when the subject would turn to his Lord and Savior. There was no forcing the conversation, no hype, just a mention in a normal conversation which always turned to what God had done for him. Don did not drive to his work six miles away. He preferred to ride the bus. He told us, “You never know who you might meet on the bus.” Often people would show up at church on Sunday morning or Sunday evening and tell us, “Don sent me.”

The church began an outreach and evangelism program and who better, we thought, to head it up other than Don. A few months later we realized there was a problem. Our new program was not going anywhere, and worst of all Don had quit talking to strangers about Jesus. We belatedly realized that while Don’s motivational gifts were encouragement and proclamation, he was not a leader, and his failure to lead the evangelism program bothered him so much that he no longer had the passion to share Jesus.

This is what happens in many churches as we try to fill positions of ministry and leadership with whatever warm body will accept the job. Then, because the task does not fall in their area of gifting, they burn out rapidly.

Spiritual gifts are talked about throughout the Bible, one of which is found

in Romans 12:5-8

"so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. ⁶Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; ⁷or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; ⁸he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness."

These seven gifts listed above are called the “Motivational Gifts.” God gives to each person one or more of these gifts which motivate that person to be iserve Him in a specific manner. When a person is operating in these gifts he or she feels that they are fulfilling their purpose and mastering their role in life.

After seeing the problems with Don and many others over the years we made a very conscious decision that anyone taking on a role in our church would complete a motivational gifts assessment questionnaire and find out where they fit in. We later extended the questionnaire to all members. In that way, when a position came open, we could go through the membership gift listing to identify the best candidate. This is much better than just grabbing a willing warm body but it still requires confirmation by the Holy Spirit.

Identification of your motivational gifting is not just an intellectual exercise to allow you to learn more about yourself. Obviously with the results of your questionnaire you are able to identify ministry areas which you feel most comfortable.

Our book, "Motivation, Your Guide to Fitting In' is now available, for a limited time at aslanministries.org or just click on the book icon below.

Click here to Get your free Motivational gifts book today!

Bill Johnson

The Leader versus The Manager

Today we are reaping the results of a switch from leading to a rise in the influence of managing. 

In our politically correct society leadership has become immoral. Without leaders progress ceases and we begin to stagnate. Leadership and management are synonymous in the minds of many and there is a belief that a good manager is a good leader. This is a false assumption. We need leaders today more than ever in our history. 

I am currently reading the book, "Killing Patton" by Bill O' Reilly and note that while leaders may be hard to put up with, they are needed when the stakes are high and there is a difficult job to be accomplished.

Several years ago I attended a US Military program review held at the iconic Hotel Del Coronado outside the gates of North Island Naval Air Station in San Diego. The room was filled with brass from the Army, Navy and Marine Corps. We had all gathered to review program activities which shared a common technology but were run differently by the three services. Speaker after speaker described their service’s methodology, resources, encountered difficulties, and progress. The Army and Navy used teams of presenters - civilian managers and engineers and uniformed military, each a specialist in a particular discipline.

The final presenter of the meeting was the lone Marine in attendance - a major with a chest full of medals. His presentation was brief, complete, and described a succession of victories over the technological issues plaguing the other services. Despite limited budgets and minimal contractor support they were demonstrating great strides.  When the Marine finished, the Navy Captain leading the review arose and made a terse statement,

“What we have here is the difference between management and leadership. The Army and Navy both have great managers on this program and are showing little progress. The Marines are demonstrating that leadership can resolve even complex technical issues. They have succeeded while we still struggle.”

Author, Virginia Postrel[i] in her 1998 book, “The Future and its Enemies” warned us of the coming battle between managers and leaders, who she identified respectively as “stasists” and “dynamists.” The stasists want to control all things so that mistakes do not happen, while dynamists want to be free to learn and grow by trial and error. Postrel claims the internet would never have developed if stasists were in charge.

Organizational consultant and author, Warren Bennis,^[ii] widely regarded as a pioneer of the contemporary field of Leadership studies, lists twelve characteristics which distinguish a leader from a manager.

1.     The leader innovates - The manager administers;

2.   The leader is an original - The manager is a copy;

3.     The leader develops. - The manager maintains;–

4.     The leader focuses on people -The manager focuses on systems and structure–

5.     The leader inspires trust -The manager relies on control;

6.     The leader has a long-range perspective.-The manager has a short-range view;

7.     The leader asks what and why -The manager asks how and when;

8.     The leader’s eye is on the horizon -The manager has his or her eye always on the bottom line;

9.     The leader originates -The manager imitates

10.  The leader challenges it -The manager accepts the status quo;

11.  The leader is his or her own person -The manager is the classic good soldier;

12.  The leader does the right thing - The manager does things right;

While it may not be politically correct to strive to become a leader, our nation’s political system, religious communities, and industries need leaders who are not afraid to take the reins and lead us to a better future. In politics, the attitude has changed from what is right for the nation to what is right for my party. In the church pastors have devolved from leaders to managers, giving in to church factions rather than stand for the word of God. And in business and industry we have given up the future for immediate rewards, the bottom line has replaced innovation and progress. 

It is no wonder live in a declining society. But when new leaders are allowed to step forward and lead, they can lead us back on the right track. Romans Chapter 12 includes the spiritual gift of leadership. It tells us to lead with diligence. The Greek word translated "lead" is to be ranked above or head and to take charge. This is not a politically correct term but it is what this nation needs today.

Romans 12:8 (NKJV) he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. 

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[i] Postrel, Virginia, The Future and its enemies, The Free Press, a division of Simon and Shuster, Inc, NY, NY 1998

[ii] Bennis, Warren, On Becoming a Leader, Basic Books; Fourth Edition, Fourth Edition (March 3, 2009)