The Big Diehl

If you are or have ever been in a paid ministry position, this post is about you.
If you are or have ever been related to someone in a paid ministry position, this post is about you.
If you are or have ever volunteered for a church, this post is about you.

Many people who get involved in church ministry experience “burnout” for various reasons. One author is calling this “Mad Church Disease,” which is the title of the book she is writing. To help with her research, she is conducting a mass survey of anyone who is (or ever has been) in a paid ministry position, related to a someone in a paid ministry position, or a volunteer in a church ministry. If you connect in one of these three categories please take 5 minutes to fill out a survey for this very important book. You can find the surveys here.

What is your calling? I believe God has a calling (”gifting”) for every Christian. Are you called as an evangelist? missionary? pastor? teacher? mentor? worship leader? Are you called to share Christ at your factory job? What’s your calling?

Is one calling greater than others? I believe the answer is yes. Not all callings are equal. Keep reading . . .

The callings I listed above are the “DO” part of a calling. I think the “DO” part is about 5%. the greatest calling isn’t about the “DO THING.”

I love that Switchfoot song from a few years ago: “Are you who you want to be?” That’s a great question. Are you who you want to be in Christ? This is the greatest calling. We are called to be Christ-like.

So often we get focused on the “DO THING” of our calling and focus so little on knowing God. Really it should be the other way around.

*This post was inspired by a podcast I just listened to by David Perkins.

A great man passed away this week. Please re-visit the blog I wrote about him last December.

One thing I’ll never forget about this man is the way I felt when I left his room. I was always encouraged, but at the same time I was stunned by the presence of God that emitted from that man. I want to be that way. God, I want to be that way!

“I did not want to be mistreated, I did not want to be deprived of a seat that I had paid for. It was just time… there was opportunity for me to take a stand to express the way I felt about being treated in that manner. I had not planned to get arrested. I had plenty to do without having to end up in jail. But when I had to face that decision, I didn’t hesitate to do so because I felt that we had endured that too long. The more we gave in, the more we complied with that kind of treatment, the more oppressive it became.”

-Rosa Parks (emphasis mine)

James Blake got out of his seat and instructed Rosa Parks to move to the black section of the bus so that a white man could have her seat. She refused. This sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott. This obviously changed the city of Montgomery, Alabama. One person can change a city.

There was a young man involved with the Montgomery bus boycott named Martin Luther King, Jr. I don’t need to tell you the rest of the story. One person can change the nation.

Yet, as Christians we are not called to change a city, nor are we called to change a country. Our calling is far greater than this. We’re called to reach a generation.

“If you need something done, ask a busy person.”

I just moved into my house a few weeks ago and I don’t have cable or satellite or anything for T.V. I went to Wal-Mart and bought some bunny ears antennea, but I still cannot get decent reception on most channels. The Christian station, however, comes in loud and clear all the time - so I’ve found myself watching that a lot of the time.

The other day I saw a program on the Christian station of Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron. I still remember Kirk Cameron from being the older brother in Growing Pains, so you know I had to pay attention. Kirk said something that I want to reiterate to all my readers who got to my blog by searching for “Hot Sexy Webcam Girl Free Video!” in Google . . .

“Pleasure is not a good criteria to decide if something is wrong or right.” - Kirk Cameron.

Imagine a young boy holding a stick of dynamite. The fuse is lit and the boy is mesmerized by the sparkling fuse, not having a clue of what is about to occur. That’s how sin is. You may get your pleasure now, but you’re about to loose your life.

I can hear you now, “God would never condemn someone to hell . . . and if he would, then I don’t want to spend eternity with him anyhow.” Think about this - if I step off a high building, the law of gravity will continue to take effect and I will fall and die. The law of gravity will not lessen because of my situation - and it would be absolutely ridiculous to get angry at gravity! Don’t get mad at God . . . when you stand before God in judgment, the law of God will continue to take effect.

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I saw the most amazing fireworks show two nights ago. Seriously — it was high quality fireworks being shot up well above rooftops all around my neighborhood. I just took a walk and I saw constant explosions all around me. It just kept going and going, and it was completely random. Nobody planned it. It wasn’t organized. Lots of people in the community just decided they wanted good fireworks, and the result was an amazing show for EVERYONE!

It was amazing how such a show could be created by random people doing their thing. Lots of people got involved and ta da — there was a fireworks show for all of East Auburn. Just imagine what could happen if lots of people got involved in their churches . . .