Motivational Friday | 8. Destiny

Vendredi, 27 Mars, 2015

Verse of the Day: « Sur Dieu reposent mon salut et ma gloire; Le rocher de ma force, mon refuge, est en Dieu.» Psaumes 62.7

Quote of the Day: “The man who loves only himself hates nothing more than being alone.”—Blaise Pascal

«L’homme qui n’aime que soi ne hait rien tant que d’être seul.»—Blaise Pascal

French Fun Fact: France is the most visited country in the world with 75 million tourists yearly. (confessedtravelholic.com)

What’s Really Happening Over Here:

Weather – Cloudy, Precip. 10%

Temperature – 53⁰F, high of  56⁰

News – Co-pilot suffered bout of 'serious depression' (thelocal.fr)

More News – http://www.lequipe.fr/

A Day In the Life:

As promised, here’s my pastor’s interview from the other day!

-          When did you become a Christian?

When I was twelve years old

-          How did you become a Christian?

At a Christian camp for kids

-          How long have you been in the ministry?

Depends on what you mean by “the ministry”. If you mean where I didn’t have any other job, then it’s been 18 months. But if you mean involved in any way, then I became an elder at this church in 2007, so that was my first real introduction into the ministry.

-          What did you do before this?

Before this I worked for a company in their IT department, doing programming and things like that. And then right before I left I became a project team manager, so I actually got some good practice in managing individuals and teams which has been helpful to me in the ministry.

-          What led you to make this decision?

It was something I had been thinking about for a while, but I just felt His call in that direction. I think it’s really important to sort of have be in both the ministry and the world, so that you can have an impact on those you work with and serve on a daily basis – but I just don’t have that luxury right now. I’m just trying to be obedient.

-          What do you enjoy most about your job?

I like working for the church. I love the church, and the people involved, so it’s really a pleasure to serve them.

-          What is the hardest part of your job?

Being alone on a pretty regular basis. Most of my time during the week is spent here in the office, so it definitely gets lonely and that’s never fun.

-          What are some other difficulties you have to face?

It’s just serious work; there’s always different decisions that you have to make and you want to be fair and considerate, but you can’t please everyone, and my job is to please God. And sometimes that means telling people things that they don’t want to hear, but that’s part of the job.

-          What are some lessons you’ve learned so far during your time in the ministry?

That it doesn’t always turn out how you expect. I really like to have a plan and to follow it, but things don’t always go according to plan. You just have to be able to adapt.

-          What is a story of triumph you’ve had during your time in the ministry?

That’s a tough question, because I think it’s really more of a matter of perspective. My perspective is that for me, it’s not about having a bunch of little projects – it’s about a lifestyle. I only have one project: my life. And so as I try to live out what I believe each day, the triumph will come from doing my job well and honoring Him when the race is finished.

-          What is the spiritual climate here in France?

It’s hard to say really. I don’t know too much about all the statistics and things, but we definitely still have a lot of work to do. I know here in this city the goal of our Baptist Federation is to have about 1 church for every 1,000 people who live here – we’d need about 30 more churches to reach that goal. So we have a lot of work to do, but we’re definitely grateful for what He’s done so far.

-          What is the cause of this?

It’s tough to put a finger on it, put a lot of it is because of the history of the church here. The Catholic church was more religious than anything, and they had so much power and they caused so much pain, that when people had the chance to break away they took full advantage of it; they wanted nothing to do with a god like that.

-          Is it difficult to share the Gospel?

It can be, yes, because people have a lot of preconceived notions about God and the church, they don’t really want to hear what you have to say. If you were to try and start a conversation about either of those subjects it would definitely come as a surprise and probably wouldn’t be very effective. You really have to build relationships first, and that takes time.

-          What are some effective tactics for sharing the Gospel?

Really one of the most effective tactics is to invite people to church. You really want them to see that the way it was is not the way it is or the way it was supposed to be. You want them to experience the difference, the love that comes from the body of Christ – and then use the Gospel as an answer to their questions.

Destiny

I love the concept of destiny. I love the concept – and I believe there is truth in it – that we were predestined with certain gifts to accomplish certain works. Be motivated to accomplish them!