Sacred or Secular?

My friends,

Thank you so much for your servant hearts-- the lock-in was a great success, the kids seemed to feel encouraged and exhausted and had fun, and as for the "regulars", everyone was encouraged to see Special Forces in the form of the Availables and other friends walk through the doors., but I was especially gratified... You guys are such good friends, such special people to me, and my heart melts when I see you walk in the room. I feel like a mother when I see you... I have such dreams for each of you, and such a desire to guard and protect your hearts from anything that would hurt you--- and like an older sister, I have to constantly resist the desire to give you a hard time about the cute, funny things you do that beg chiding. But that can wait til you're in your late 20's/30's and far enough from that stuff that it would actually be funny to give you a hard time :)

You guys ministered this weekend. When I saw this article in a YWAM alumni newlsetter this morning, I thought of all of us, and of the way you served the Lord and ministered to the kids and their parents this weekend. Thank you for giving selflessly of yourselves, for loving the Lord and being willing to serve in any way.

I love y'all--
Sam

(PS-- if you see Mulekicker on Myspace, know that Don caved and let me create an account for him-- friend him!)

Matters that Matter - Sacred or Secular?

A lot of us believers seem to think that spiritual gifts are designed for ministry in the 'church' only (mainly by recognized leaders and 'gifted ones' - the ministers). It is part of the whole misunderstanding of what is sacred and what is secular - in our lives.

I believe that everything a true Christian does is sacred (or should be). What happens is the continuation of the theory that the 'lay' person and the'ministerial' person are in different categories. This has created a dividing wall between followers of Jesus that has stood tall for centuries and is so ingrained into our thinking that we have come to take it for granted. One of my favorite trick questions when I meet a person is to ask,"What is your ministry?" Just about everybody answers with, "Oh, I teach Sunday School" or "I'm on the worship team" or an embarrassed, "I don't have one." We ALL have a ministry.

So we, as followers of Jesus generally believe that Christian ministry is essentially a Sunday-kind-of-thing based around a building; and what we do with our lives from Monday to Saturday is secular and worldly (unless we happen to attend a church-type meeting during those days).Paul, in Eph. 4:12, clearly states that spiritual ministry gifts are for the"equipping and building up of the whole body"; these gifts are not just for leaders to own so they can tell us what we should do. We're all in this together.

I believe that a person's ministry is simply 'what we do with what we've got.'As you can see I am very simple in my thinking; to me, to be an evangelist or a prophet or a teacher, etc, is to bring your ministry gift into whatever you do, be it butcher, baker or candlestick-maker. It's your ministry and you're using your gifting.Was tent-making any the less of a 'ministry' for Paul? Is a businessman any the less 'spiritual' than an ordained clergyman, simply because he 'works in the world' by managing a company and making money? Is being a mother less spiritual than having a title and a position in a church or other Christian organization?...

from Peter Jordan, inTouch Ministries, Youth With A Mission