Issue link: https://cp.revolio.com/i/1506998
What Are Your Spiritual Gifts? Tom & Dee Sanchez/BSHDFC National Chaplains One of the steps in the mentoring process to becoming a Black Sheep missionary is to take a spiritual gifts inventory. This questionnaire is designed to help you identify what spiritual gifts you possess and provide you with some insight as to how you can best serve within your local Black Sheep chapter. Do you remember what your primary gifts are? There are many different lists within the Bible describing spiritual gifts. The most familiar are probably the ones found in Ephesians 4:11 where Paul speaks about how "he gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ…", or 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 "Now there are different gifts but the same Spirit. There are different ministries, but the same Lord. And there are different activities, but the same God works all of them in each person. A manifestation of the Spirit is given to each person for the common good: to one is given a message of wisdom through the Spirit, to another, a message of knowledge by the same Spirit, to another, faith by the same Spirit, to another, gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another, the performing of miracles, to another, prophecy, to another, different kinds of tongues, to another, interpretation of tongues. One and the same Spirit is active in all these, distributing to each person as He wills." And, again, in Romans 12, we find another list in verses 6-7, "According to the grace given to us, we have different gifts: if prophecy, use it according to the proportion of one's faith; if service, use it in service; if teaching, in teaching; if exhorting, in exhortation; giving, with generosity; leading, with diligence; showing mercy, with cheerfulness." 1 Peter 4:10-11 mentions the gifts of speaking and serving. Did you know there's even a list in Isaiah? He speaks of wisdom, understanding, counsel and strength, knowledge and fear of the Lord. Furthermore in Exodus, God told Moses that there were craftsmen who had spiritual gifts "in every craft to design artistic works in gold, silver, and bronze, to cut gemstones for mounting, and to carve wood for work in every craft. (Ex. 31:3-11). The key here is that there is not a single, definitive list of all the "gifts of the Spirit." What we know is that these gifts were given for the building up of the body. As a Chaplain, one of your duties is to "utilize the spiritual gifts and talents of others" within the flock. Spiritual gifts inventories are nice. Mine indicated that my major gifts are teaching and administration. Dee's gifts are worship, service and mercy. But, if you spend time with either of us, you will see that these areas are exactly where God is moving in our lives and using us. It doesn't take anyone long after spending time with Dee to see that she cares deeply for others in a supernatural way. So, we utilize that in how she ministers to our HOG chapter, our church and our community. My encouragement to you is that you spend time with your chapter. Get to know the people you serve with. Identify yours and their spiritual gifts. What motivates them? What do they enjoy doing in God's service? How is God using them? Then, seek ways to maximize these gifts to better serve the chapter and the community at large. a Chapter Retreat Gives Vision Shawn C. Green, Secretary Arrowhead Chapter, Arizona Seen here with wife, Brande Our chapter has made it a priority this year to conduct a chapter retreat! We ended up in beautiful Reserve, NM where we had no cell phone service and limited Wi-Fi, which challenged us, but was really good for eliminating distractions. The focus of the retreat was to re-capture our mission and vision, and to set goals in order to keep us focused and accountable. Prior to going on the retreat, everyone in our chapter completed a spiritual gifts assessment. The first part of our session began with us going through the results and learning what our individual spiritual gifts were. We learned that we all had different gifts. We also did a personality test to understand our strengths there as well. We also had time for some mentoring from national board member Doug Boyd. What an honor it was for us to hear and receive scripture, knowledge and wisdom from a man that has been serving in the ministry for many years! He gave our chapter encouraging words and we greatly appreciated his presence at the retreat. Lastly, we had a planning session. We discussed our vision for the next year, and on what events and activities we were going to focus, time and energy on. We utilized the SMART system to set achievable goals in each of our areas: Outreach, HOG, breakfasts, boot shines/bike blessings and fundraising. We were also able to designate a leader in each of the categories! Throughout this weekend we could feel the passion, excitement and investment that every member has and contributes to this chapter. By doing this retreat, our team is going into the next year stronger and more focused than the last! a