This week's class has been on Evangelism and has been very good for me in many ways. I've had so many people ask me how I was going to use my music in ministry in Odessa. My response has been that I don't know and don't want to assume that I'll be able to. I just want to serve in the ways that God would have me serve. But then when I got here to training, people were asking me what my desires were for ministry in Odessa. And I guess I didn't know that I could have my own desires for ministry development.
I had a nice, long talk with our teacher last night and he really encouraged me. He was asking all kinds of questions about music, my background, education, jobs, etc. and then asked how I planned to use it in ministry. When I gave him my reply, he said, "Why aren't you planning on using music in your ministry?? God gave you those gifts, talents and desires for a reason."
This morning we were going through different types of evangelism and the one that really struck me was personal evangelism:
"The sphere of influence of each individual believer within the local church(reach out to the people within your own sphere of influence). Each person within the church body will have a completely different sphere of influence, because of his interests."
And then he literally almost brought me to tears when he said, "You know, I really want to free Anna to use her abilities to reach out to the music community in Odessa, to reach gifted music students or those studying in conservatories-who other believers might not be able to reach." And you know what? That really excited me and freed me up emotionally to believe that God will use my love for music in ministry there and isn't asking me to set that aside. Two more thoughts that I really liked:
"God never minimizes the person that He is using. He uses the best in us(through our gifts and talents)to minister to others for His glory."
"International Messengers exists to empower called people to do what they're called to do."
4 comments:
This is beautiful! And, I think he's so right! You do a sphere of influence (or will have) that most of us won't ever have. That's a great vision to have for ministry in Odessa! Praise the Lord that He will use ALL our talents when we give them to Him! Love you! Mom
That's awesome! I can't wait to see what kind of doors God might open up for you to be able to serve using your gifts in music!
Yes! I've seen that God usually uses our gifts, talents, interests and joys. True, sometimes He asks us to step out of our comfort zones or make sacrifices, but it seems that He enjoys our joys more often.
That was beautiful and made me happy to think of how God is using you now and how He will use you in Odessa.
Also, ditto to what your Mom,Tapley and Phyllis wrote. Anna,it is such an encouragement to read about your time in the missions training school. =)
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