In Which I Attempt to Pursue My Gifting.

So, I'll just say it. Coffee with Rain is ending (as though it still had life in it at this point - the last time I posted anything was months ago and the only comments this thing gets are spam). I'm going to shut this thing down. But fear not, all three of you who still read this! It is being reborn as something different. What form it will take and what the content will be is something that I am still fleshing out, but the short story is: I am in the process of creating a new blog.

What's brought this on, you ask? A lot of things. But mostly it's been my thoughts about gifting.

In leadership circles at Mars Hill we talk a lot about roles of Prophet, Priest, and King. Each of us is gifted differently, and every leader falls generally into one of those 3 categories as their primary - though not always their exclusive - gifting.

Prophets are gifted message-givers. They are excellent communicators. They gravitate naturally toward speaking, declaring, and teaching. They are capable of inspiring and effective calls to action. (Caveat: we use the word "prophet" here loosely to describe a form of gifting in terms of leadership and communication - this doesn't mean someone gifted this way is infallible or that they speak for God with the same authority that the Old Testament prophets did).

Priests are people-focused. They naturally gravitate toward caring for the flock, and they love walking alongside people in discipleship. They are extremely relational and have a deep, caring heart for the people they lead, being very concerned about their spiritual well-being.

Kings are organizers. They are planners (sometimes to a fault!). They are often gifted administratively and are good at creating order from chaos. They see the big picture and understand how systems and processes need to be put in place in order to make the big picture function.

I can say with total, utmost certainty that I am definitely not a Priest type of leader. I've wrestled with this for a while, tried to change it, and to some degree there is growth God is and will do there (we all fall under the Great Commission to make disciples, after all), but it's not my natural wiring. And I'm coming to a place where I'm learning to accept that.

I've been told I'm a bit of a King - and I think there's probably some truth there. I definitely have some organizational anal-retentive obsessions abilities, as anyone who's ever seen my apartment or my desk at work can attest. I do like processes and putting them together. This is probably also why I enjoy working in Supply Chain so much - a supply chain is really one big huge process web.

But when I read that list, the one that I gravitate the most toward - the one I think I may be gifted more for because it just gets my heart pumping - is Prophet. This is where writing enters the equation.

There are few things that bring me greater satisfaction than spending time putting a piece of writing together, reading it, re-reading it, molding it, and then putting it out there - and having someone later tell me "Man, what you wrote there really spoke to me and got me thinking," or even just "I really enjoyed that last blog post you wrote." It is such a wonderful thing to have fruit come from your labor in that way.

Writing is a way for me not only to process what I'm learning but also to help others learn. I enjoy trying to convey an idea in a way that helps people not only understand but also perhaps moves them or inspires them in some way.

Whenever someone asks me, "If money wasn't an issue and you could do anything you wanted to do, what would it be?" my answer is:

I would write.

I would build a cool home office (perfectly organized and tidy of course), and I would write books. I would write blogs. I would write novels. I would write articles. About all kinds of stuff. I would just write and write and think and think and write some more. I'd escape into fictional worlds of my own creation and savor the thrill of being inside a story even as I create it. I'd have serious moments of contemplation, pondering the hard issues of life, and trying to untangle them with the written word. I'd relish the joy of creating something and sharing it.

Two things have held me back from doing this. One is that I have always questioned whether the picture I just outlined is really only me pursuing my own comfort and creating a world where there are no stresses, deadlines, problems, or real responsibilities. And maybe that's partially true.

The other is the lack of practicality. Unless you're an established author, it is very difficult to make a living with writing.

Right now, this isn't about making a living. I still love my (new) job and don't plan on quitting anytime soon. This is about using my time outside of my vocation to try and build something that is both enjoyable and fruitful. This is about pursuing a gifting that God has given in terms of writing and using it for His fame. This is about being effective and not wasting my life or my talents.

Which brings me back to the subject of the new blog/website. The idea is to create something more than just a blog where I complain talk about what's going on in my life. My vision is for this new site to be:

• Glorifying to Jesus, declaring truths about who He is and what they mean for us
• A fruitful use of a talent I have been given for the sake of the church and even more so for those outside of it
• A way to organize my thoughts - what I'm learning, reading, etc - and put them into a format that (I hope) might prove useful for others as well
• A place to share my writing, both Gospel-focused and fictional, and to practice and develop that skill
• A means to encourage me to think more deeply on the things of God, on Scripture, and on what life as a Christian looks like - and then to share those things with all of you.
• A place non-Christians - those curious, uninformed, or even hostile - can engage in discussion, ask questions, and gain a greater understanding of what it means to be a Christian

That's the vision. What exactly that's going to mean in terms of structure, content, style, etc is something I'm still figuring out. In the coming weeks I'll be setting up the domain, designing the site, and getting it set up and ready to go. Once it's ready I'll post it to Facebook and Twitter.

I hope you'll join me in this endeavor - I invite you (once it's up) to read along, learn along, and (if I do my job right) grow along with me. Like we always say: it's all about Jesus, and at the end it's all for His fame, because everything else is just temporary.

Here we go.