Linda Gilbert - L25275920
CHMN 201-D14
The Part I Play in the Kingdom
PART ONE: My Fit in Ministry (Before):
Prior to enrolling in this class I’ve been serving in a Presbyterian Church in Marianna, Florida as
the Chaplin, an elder, and as the mission director. Additionally, I have set up a faith-based non-
profit corporation serving our community through a food pantry, soup kitchen, clothing ministry,
and household furniture and appliances in order to assist those less fortunate in Jackson County,
Florida. I feel that what I am presently doing in the Kingdom is a reasonable fit for me. My goal
with taking classes at LUO is to deepen my knowledge of the Lord as well as furthering my
education with a master degree in order to become a teaching elder in my church. Due to chronic
health issues including diabetes, gastro paresis, and chronic pancreatitis, I was called back to the
USA after spending six years as a resident missionary in Nigeria, West Africa, which was a big
blow to ‘my call’. I struggled for a long time trying to get settled into this new role. It is so very
easy to say that you trust God in all things but when my service as a missionary came to an end I
was confronted with how very little I was actually trusting God. I loved missionary work, living
in another culture and even the sufferings one goes through due to the many challenges. But
when God called me home, I was devastated. It took several months for me to actually realize
that it is not ‘MY call’, but it is ‘His call’, ‘His work’ and I serve at ‘His pleasure’. That sounds
so fundamentally simple yet it is so very easy to lose sight of that fact when you think that
somehow you are in charge. But I am now happily serving again and even in the area of
missions, for which I am extremely grateful. I have finally accepted that I will not return to
Nigeria except perhaps for a short visit. Upon my return, I first started a feeding program, then
expanded it to include hot meals, and finally settled into my church duties and mission works so
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I am once again happy and complete. I so appreciate God’s grace and mercy as I continue to
grow in Him. I don’t really feel I am pursuing any particular path except to continue doing the
next thing until He calls me home. I’m 65 Years old and have several health issues that could
prevent my continuing the work at any moment but until that time, I am happy to just serve
anywhere I can.
PART TWO: Spiritual Gifts:
The results of the Spiritual Gifts Analysis revealed Administration and Pastor/Shepherd as my
dominant gifts. The third ranking was tied between Teaching, Exhortation and Serving. This
analysis appears to be accurate as to the role I have in the Body of Christ. For the past 15 years I
have served as a missionary, having established, organized and administered many diverse
projects including homeless shelters, food pantries, and soup kitchens (USA); hospital, widows
& orphans center and chapels (Africa).
My greatest area of weakness is pride. It is dangerous to others whenever I get the least bit
prideful. I find that prideful behavior intimidates some and antagonizes others, which always
lead to numerous problems within the Lord’s projects. I also struggle with discouragement and
working too hard. Whenever I get discouraged, my family becomes very concerned which causes
them distress. And when I fall prey to overwork, my relationship with the Lord suffers as I take
less time enjoying His presence.
Over the years I have learned to guard against these temptations by submitting to pastoral
oversight in my church, allowing family members and coworkers to speak into my life, and to
quickly repent and obey when convicted by the Holy Spirit. The issue of my returning to the
states and the doubts that followed was clearly a pride issue. How could I entertain the idea that I
knew what was best more so than God? That was a very close call! I am grateful that the Lord
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and my pastor put me in my place. Everything is back in balance now and I am enjoying the
result of God’s grace, peace and forgiveness.
My strengths become my weakness whenever I forget to humble myself before the Lord. To not
lean on my own understanding and remembering that pride goes before a fall is difficult for me
but Phil. 4:13 always reigns me back in when I do all things through Jesus’ strength and not my
own!
PART THREE: Church Evaluations:
Doing the web site evaluations was an eye opener for me as each site focused a great deal on
corporate prayer. I have always understood the importance of prayer on a personal level but now
I better understand the need for team prayer meetings. In my church there isn’t much of a focus
on corporate prayer but if all these other churches rely on it I felt that I should utilize it in my
ministry. So, instead of merely suggesting that we need to pray for our various ministries, I now
have a prayer meeting each week where we not only pray for one another but we seek the Holy
Spirit’s guidance for the work, seek the Lord’s insight as to how we can do a better job and ask
for the strength to complete all He has given us to do. I believe it has helped, not only for God’s
answers to our prayers but it also has cause us to become closer as a team. As for the other areas
covered by the web sites, I feel they are already being utilized in my ministry and so they did not
particularly draw my interest. However, if I ever wanted to create a web site for the mission I
now would have good examples as to what it should look like. I really enjoyed this particular
assignment.
PART FOUR: Interaction with Church Leaders:
My interaction with my pastor was very enlightening in that I realize how similar we all are,
even senior pastors, as we all deal with personal issues as well as family issues; we all have
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difficulties regardless of our callings and giftings. I also realized how much we all need to
receive encouragement as well as needing to give encouragement. I believe this assignment
impacted my ministry path because I will now give greater notice when someone needs
encouragement and will also try to do a better job of giving others the hope snd confidence they
need in doing their work.
PART FIVE: My Fit in Ministry (After):
I definitely feel I am on the correct ministry path, but of course I’m closer to the end of that path
than most in my class. My advice to others is to learn all you can and to follow your heart. This
course is great for anyone wanting to know if ministry is for them. It gives us a sense of what
real ministry is as well as who ministers are. I realize this is shorter that the assignment calls for
but I feel I’ve answered the questions the best I can and don’t want to drag on and on just for the
sake of being sure it is long enough.
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