This is a rough transcript of a video presentation. Forgive the typos.
This is another video in a series on how to start and run a successful ministry, so as you had hurt in some of the other videos, and you know, I was led to finally follow my own vision of what the Lord had for me, and that I found my vision and began to follow it, and so what we want to talk about here is identifying who you want to serve. Now this is important because this helps us to lay the groundwork for the planning and implementation of your ministry. To know who you want to serve. Now I want this to be different separate from another video that I’ll do on how you will serve them because that’s a different question about how you serve.
But you first need to have what they’ll often referred to as an avatar. You have to have sort of an ideal view of of the the your niche of individuals, your subpopulation of who you want to serve. If you begin by saying I want to serve everybody. That’s really even more than a shotgun approach. That’s just sort of a scattering with no focus. So this is when he began to tap into the vision that you have. Now. It is tempting at first to say that your vision is to lead people to Christ. Well. That’s what all of us are doing. So that’s just a subtext us an understanding that we all have and everything we do is to lead people to Christ, so that in itself in my estimation, this is just. Laughs from street Bishop’s talking.
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I don’t think that is your main focus. That is just an unspoken understanding in everything we do. That’s the backdrop of everything we do is bring people to Christ, and then we each have our own colleen, and our own mission through the activities that we will engage in that will then lead people to say. Why do you do this work? Why are you being good to me? How can I be more like you? You know they’ll ask the questions that will lead you to having the talk with them about knowing the Lord, But if you just only talk about knowing Christ without any other context without providing service to them without loving them in a way that is not surrounded around religion,
If you come to them with the human element you as a person feeding them. Clothing them housing them, teaching them a new skill, help them out of certain kinds of jams, helping them figure out problems. Whatever it is that you’re doing as a from one human being to another, Because in the New Testament stories of Christ going around just being human in a godly way, right, washing feet
are praying over the sick. No, he was being human brain himself as a service to others,
but doing it in a godly way, and that’s what your ministry.
I believe should be. It should be your vision should be. How am I going to act in this life? What am I going to take to the people in terms of service and understanding that will lead them to look at me and say? That guy or gal knows Christ, and that must be why they’re so awesome. I know that sounds sort of weird self serving, but I remember when the first person said to me and I will never forget as long as I live when they said, Hey, Mike, And how do I know that I’ll go to heaven
and I love that question right because I didn’t have to. Try and dig and get into their personal life and ask them if they know Jesus and all this in. I was just being me serving them doing a service for them and we were, and we had become friends and are the clear blue sky. They felt the comfort level to say to me.
Hey, how it up, I’ll go to heaven, and and I was, I was prepared to answer that, but I was sort of like stunned that. Me these asking me right, and so that’s what I mean, in terms of knowing who is it that you want to serve. You need to look into your vision. I want your vision not to be to bring people to Christ. That’s an unspoken backdrop of everything You do. We already know that. Now we want to know how are you going to bring humanity the human experience to that individual A. Away. It helps them or guides them to answer questions, so that then within the context of being a part of your life now you have a relationship with them, whether you’re giving them a sandwich or helping them find a place to live or or taking care of their child or helping them start a ministry. Whatever they do, okay now that you’re doing that you now that you have a part of their life, then then they’re comfortable to look at you and say.
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Wow, you really. You really care about me. You love me. You’ve shown me in real ways that you care about me and I want to know the God that you know that’s power. That’s evangelism.
Help them dig the well, and when they say, why are you here helping us dig the well, Because Christ commanded me, too, and as a Christian, I go where Christ tells me to do. Why are you helping me get close today?
Because I love you and the Lord in the spirit led me here to be with you, and after we get your clothes gets you sell them. Then we can talk about how the Lord can help you in your life.
You have to know who you want to serve, so we need to take a look at your vision if your vision is to do something for teenagers. Then teenagers is your avatar. If your vision is to do something for seniors and seniors is your avatar. If you want to do something for middle aged men who are struggling with their faith and who may be struggling with marriage.
Then that is your specific avatar, thirty five to forty, four, thirty five to forty five year old male who may or may not be religious. Who is struggling in their marriage and they may or may not have a substance use problem, but they just may be struggling? That’s my. That’s my target audience
and my audience may be a youth elementary school youth to do programming for them to help them know from an early age, but love and compassion and and and selflessness is let me teach them that through puppetry. War through and stage performances, maybe I’ll have a Christian healthcare outreach where mothers who cannot afford childcare. We can have a couple of mothers get together and our ministry will be to provide. Some may be temporary or short term child care for these mothers.
While they get work. He didn’t get on their feet. It doesn’t matter what you do as long as it’s from your heart, It’s what drives you. Maybe you’re someone who carves wood, and you want to do wood sculptures. It’ll bless others to look towards Christ or a mechanic who wants to take five hours out of every week or five hours a month, and you want to devote it to families who have car problems, but cannot afford to get their cars fixed. It’ll be a burden on them, so you repair their cars, and then after you’re done repairing their car use you know then you can say you not really love sturdy you. And do you know, and so I’d love to pray with you and and the beak and stay in touch with you?
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I could you’ve developed relationship. You’d given them something they really need. But seeing that case, it would be your avatar would be on individuals families who have car repair needs. I can’t afford to get them done, and the childcare would be men or women who need childcare to keep employment to move their family forward, so you? Really need to take a look at. Look at your vision. Look at what you want to do in terms of you know beyond lead people to Christ. That’s the unspoken thing we’re going to do that with everybody.
We’re talking about what service as a human through your ministry. Are you going to bring to them now? Some people would say he was just having a church and have people come and worship as elementary it is and that may be your ministry is to is to gather people and to, and not just preach the word of God Because that gets old real fast for people but. Give stories of life and then give talk context of how Christ may have handled it or what Scripture says about those particular veins, so yes, happy to church is a ministry, but even a church needs to have outreach, and I say, instead of starting to church, and then figuring out outreach, do outreach and figure out the church
touch the people versus Christ, would have you touch them then. It gathers folks together who decide they want to worship.
That’s great, but to me the worship services, not where the rubber meets the road. That is not where we act as Christ. As best we could, are The most effectively It is we can always get together, the God squad and and enrich ourselves through worship a being on the streets with people and and and touching their lives in very real ways and providing services to them that they would not have access to otherwise. Whether it’s feeding the hungry, give them closed at our other examples that I have already mentioned, be working and touching the people, and, and that’s because if you look at your vision enough, you’re going to find an area that God has shown you. You’re good at that. It’s not about preaching. That is about service to others.
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God can reveal to you what is good for you and then you are going to be able to then focus on that core group of people that you’re looking at. Your avatar of who you are lucky to surf, then in my following videos here, you’re going to be able to then plug in how I tell you to grow that, take for example the the childcare for many women who need you know, I’ll show you how to then operationalize how to put though the workings in the play so that you can. Address the avatar. Address your target individuals that you want to serve okay,
So that’s what in this video. I hope speaks to you and says is that Remember bringing people to know Christ. That’s the backdrop. We’re all doing that, But that’s not the mission. The mission is what are you bringing to the people. What piece of humanity are you sharing with them? How will you going to enter into relationship with them through service? So that that you never relationship that lives on beyond that and you can charge them through your relationship. Okay, So that’s the first thing going to want to do is to identify who is our avatar. Who are the people that we want to minister to not preach to minister to so.
I’ll see you guys in the next video and remember. Stop by three bishops Dot Com and join the email list and also remember that the Lord God loves you. That’s for sure, . So I want to thank you for coming by and watching this video today. Please be sure to click on the subscribe button below If you’re watching this on Youtube and I want you to also mark the bell, so you get notifications if you’re watching this video somewhere else head on over to Youtube. The street bishop’s that channel and go ahead and subscribe while you’re there, so that you can get additional videos, and you come by our Facebook page at St. Bishops, and so we just want to connect with you and hear from you. Often. You can also write to me at secretary at St. Bishops Dot Com. I have a great day and we look forward to see you in our next video.
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