the year of the nudge
- Filed under: Bible, ministry, mobap, reflections, relationships, vision, worship
- Date: Aug 25,2008
This last Saturday, I had the privilege to serve and worship alongside 40 MBU students – who make up our traveling ministry groups – at Cornerstone Farms in St. Jacob, IL for our first annual all-MBU ministry group retreat.
It’s pretty amazing to think about the ministry that is done by these groups. Last school year, our groups ministered in over 100 churches/youth groups/events in the Midwest and beyond. Next year, SpiritWing – the group I direct – will celebrate its 25th anniversary. These students are the cream of the crop on campus at MBU.
As for the retreat, we served Cornerstone Saturday morning by doing a variety of service projects. We grilled hamburgers and hot dogs for lunch. We played games in the afternoon. And we closed out the day by a short devotion from myself, hearing the amazing testimonies of Dave and Cortland Hendrick – the owners of Cornerstone – and worshiping through a ‘concert of prayer’ for our campus and future ministry.
During my time with the students, I ‘declared’ this school year as “The Year of the Nudge” for all our MBU ministry groups. The idea of the “nudge” comes from a little devotion from J.I. Packer’s devotional book, Knowing and Doing the Will of God. The devotion is from January 16 and uses the text from 2 Corinthians 13:5.
Unpacking the text, Packer says:
Impressions belong to the authentic reality of Christian living. When we have a “vision” or “burden” for something, we are testifying to an impression, and when our concern is biblically proper we are right to treat our impression as a nudge from the Holy Spirit.
I challenged the students to be aware of the Spirit’s leading this year as they step into ministry. And to obey the ‘nudge.’ It means God is at work and He wants us to join Him…
Here were some other big ideas I shared with the students, jumping off of Packer’s thoughts:
* God doesn’t add members to a team accidentally
* God builds a team to match the assignment
* God builds a team, gives it an assignment, and equips the team to carry out the assignment
* You should pay close attention to the people God adds to your team
* When you find out where the Master is, then you will know that is where you need to be
* A tender and sensitive heart will be ready to respond to God at the slightest prompting
* God has not changed. He still speaks to His people
* If you have trouble hearing God speak, you are in trouble at the very heart of your Christian experience
* The moment God speaks to you is the very moment God wants me to respond to Him
* The moment God speaks to you is God’s timing
* God develops my character to match the assignment He has for me
* He has a right to interrupt your life. He is Lord. When you accepted Him as Lord, you gave Him the right to help Himself to your life any time He wants
* When God speaks, your response requires faith and obedience
* Obedience is the outward expression of your love of God
* If you have an obedience problem, you have a love problem
* When God gives a commandment, He is not restricting you, He is freeing you
* When God lets you know what He wants to do through you, it will be something only God can do
* When God’s people and the world see something only God can do, they come to know God
