Spiritual Gifts

so this last week our lecturer talked on spiritual gifts and also on the church doctrine. GOing in I thought oh great, same things I always hear but acutally it was really good. I learnt a lot this week and I also think a lot of practical things. We talked alot on spiritual gifts and all and took a few "tests" to see what our gifts or passions where. I came out sort of with what i was expecting. kids are a passion, kids to youth age. Give me anything with that age group and yah good times. My spiritual gifts, as according to the test include Intercession (prayer), Faith and Mercy, those were the top 3. My personal style was half way between structured and unstructerd and then a bit more people person versus tasks and all. It was interesting and we went through now at the end what we all learnt from it or one thing that we really picked up out of the course. Lots of people want to head home now and get involved in their own churches. I think that that is so awesome. I for sure want to get more involoved in mine as well and yah continue with youth work and helping out where i can. One thing that we also talked about were elders and deacons and the roles they play. Personally when ever they would get talked about in church i would tone out, as to me it was just a list of names, now that i know what the bible says about theem, the respect is so much more They really do have a big job. Something else i also found interesting was that the bible never mentions a pastoral position so to speak just elders and deacons so did we make that up ourselves over time? Another thing that sort of jumped out is not only the qualifications of elders and deacons, but the fact that if there isnt someoen with a passion to lead a certain area, such as say adult SS or 3-5 years olds or someting, you would be better off calling it off verus throwing someone int ehre who doesnt want to be in there. The lecturer gave a few examples of when that happend and how that part was meaningless and fell apart. He then also gave a few examples on churches that did call somethings off, one callin off Sunday school, and how when someonew ith a passion for it started it back up it thrived and is still thriving. Interesting thought. So yah, thats my tid bit for the week. lLet me know what you think, leave a post, email or something and then aslo think about your spiritual gifts and passions and ask, Are you using them the way GOd wants you to? Think about it