I Was a Bookfair Chairperson

So, I'm chairing the Scholastic bookfair at Oscar's elementary school. I know--that's not really me. Anyone who knows me knows I'm about as organized as a pile of leaves. Still, we felt like it was something we should do to help out at the school and to make connections with teachers, students, and their families. It's not really an area of strength for me, but we believe the opportunity was given to us for a reason. Let me explain.

Last week, Barb and I went to a seminar at Mount Vernon Nazarene University put on by the Gallup Organization called StrengthsFinder. Backed by 30 years of research and development, it consists of a battery of 180 questions that lead you to the discovery of your strengths. Some of them may be obvious to you, others may not. There are 34 different ones and you receive a personalized list ranking them from most dominant to least. At this seminar, we received our top 5. Just in case you're curious, mine were: Adaptability, Ideation, Input, Intellection, and Connectedness. That doesn't tell you much, but you can look them up if you're a stalker and really want to know.

While I think there's a lot of good that is going to come from seeing pastors and congregations use this (think: spiritual gifts test tailored more toward personal talents and strengths), I also had to think about the Apostle Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 12:9, "But [God] said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me."

In looking at my strengths, there are certainly some things that lend themselves to church planting--Adaptability, Connectedness (seeing things as having a purpose; understanding that all of us are created for Someone greater than ourselves)--but the others aren't quite so strong. In fact, I would think that strengths like the Achiever, Maximizer, Developer, Activator would all be more suited to what we're doing here in Toledo. Then I remembered Paul's words that in our weakness, Christ becomes our strength.

I often tell people that part of the reason I'm planting Emmaus Road is for my own salvation. I NEEDED to be in a place where my faith was challenged on a daily basis, where I was counting on Christ's strength instead of trusting in mine. I came to the point where just going through the motions and playing at being the church were leading me to a place where my Christian walk was dying. The disjunction between what I believed Christ died for and what I was experiencing was too great. It was time for a change.

In stepping out of our comfort zone, taking a leap of faith to a city where we knew noone and had no prospects, doing something we've never done before or even been trained to do, we have come to a place of complete dependence on God and His power through Christ and the Holy Spirit.

I prayed this morning, as I've prayed many times in the last 6 months, that God would do what He wants to do here. That He would fulfill in us what He's designed for us. I have to believe that the many literal "signs and wonders" that we've witnessed are testimony that He's at work in ways more awesome than we can imagine. I also prayed that I would be open and diserning enough to see exactly what it is He's calling us to do. That I would follow each day His direction. That I would work alongside Him rather than being an obstacle to Him.

So, if God wants to be in charge of the Old Orchard Elementary Bookfair, then so be it. Even with my weakness, I'm in.