Letter from the Foundation Staff
Hi Everyone!
For all of our mothers out there, we wish you a wonderful Mother’s Day! Treat
yourself or your mother to one of our Motivational Gifts T-Shirts this month!
They’re just $19.95 for sizes S, M, L, and XL and $21.95 for 2X. Certified Gifts
Teachers don’t forget your discount!
And speaking of Certified Gifts Teachers, it is amazing how many people are
teaching Gifts classes this month! How exciting! God is stirring things up and
it’s wonderful to see you all out there helping so many people to Discover Their
God-Given Gifts. Keep up the great work - and remember - we’re here to help and
support you in your Gifts Ministry so don’t hesitate to call or email with any
questions you may have. Even if you’re not a Certified Gifts Teacher yet but you
have questions, we want to hear from you too. For more information on our
Certified Gifts Teacher Training Program,
Click Here.
Well, God has certainly got some new and exciting things coming up for us very
soon this year so keep an eye out for our newsletters and emails so you don’t
miss anything. And for those of you who were not able to attend the Gifts
Speaker of the Month conference call last month, you will not want to miss the
recorded link. Pastor Alex Anderson shared information on his New
Members/Volunteer Placement Training class using the Discover Your God-Given
Gifts materials. Be sure to call or send us your email address so we can get it
to you as soon as it’s posted. You can also check the
What’s New page on our
website under the Featured Gifts Speaker of the Month. There is a link to all of
our previous Gifts Speakers so you can go back and listen to them at your
convenience. We will be putting together Volunteer Training packets with a
sample agenda, what materials and planning you need as well as instructions on
how to facilitate some of the fun Gifts activities Alex shared on his call that
help people to really grasp the significance of knowing the gifts of those
around us. Click Here to request your packet and be sure to check out this
month’s Product Special so you can get a deal on the materials you will need.
We at the Foundation want you to know how much we appreciate all of you and how
important you are to our ministry. You know and can reach so many people whose
lives we might otherwise never touch. Be sure to share our information with
those you come in contact with. For a free brochure that you can download and
print, send your request to info@thefoundationonline.com. Remember, if you are a
Certified Gifts Teacher, for every person you refer to the Foundation, you
receive blessings back through our Blessings Program. For more information on
our Blessings Program for Certified Gifts Teachers,
Click Here.
We are looking forward to hearing from all of you again soon. And again, have a
wonderful Mother’s Day and a very blessed month of May!
In Christ,
The Foundation Team
 |
Study
Guide/Objective Questionnaire Combo
For orders of 25 or more
Study Guides, get the same number of Objective Questionnaires for
FREE. When holding a New Members/Volunteer Placement Training class
using the Discovering Your God-Given Gifts materials, you can save
time by handing out the Objective Questionnaire at pre-registration
and have them bring it back filled out when they attend the class.
Be sure to email a request for your Volunteer Placement Training
packet with a sample agenda and instructions on how to facilitate
some of the fun Gifts activities Alex spoke about on last month’s
conference call! Check our What’s New page for recorded links to our
Volunteer Placement Training conference call by Pastor Alex
Anderson. |
Gifts
Speaker of the Month - Bill Loader
http://williamloader.discoveryourgifts.org/
Dr. William “Bill” Loader is a Licensed
Clinical Pastoral Counselor and Licensed Clinical Christian Counselor. He
was the first Executive Director of the Foundation of Faith Family and
Friends. He learned quickly the importance of using the Romans 12 gifts
assessments and teaching in his counseling ministry in many ways.
These assessments have truly been a
gift from God through Don and Katie Fortune. Be sure to join us Thursday
night, May 22nd, to hear how knowledge of a person’s giftings greatly
improves the success of counseling in marriages, teenagers, substance abuse,
parenting, family therapy, church boards, church staffing and much more.
Don’t miss this opportunity to hear Dr. Loader talk about the ways he’s
ministered to many through counseling, using the Romans 12 gifts teaching.
May 22nd, 6:00 pm Pacific (9:00 pm Eastern)
Number:
PIN:
Featured Event -
Certified Gifts Teacher Training
Module I - Discover Your
God-Given Gifts
July 10th & 11th, 2008 - Sarasota, FL
We are breaking down our four day Certified Gifts
Teacher training into three 2 day modules to enable more people to become
Certified Teachers. We have received comments over the years that there was
just so much information packed into our training that it was difficult to
absorb it all in one sitting. Our new structure will offer separate two day
trainings on Discover Your God-Given Gifts, Discover Your Spouse’s Gifts and
Discover Your Children’s Gifts all about a month apart so we can spend more
time going over the details that are so important to successful teaching of
this life changing material.
If you are interested in becoming a Certified Gifts Teacher and would like
to attend this training, please call Stephanie at 1-866-395-2291 or email
Stephanie@thefoundationonline.com. If you have questions we’ll be more than
happy to assist you. We hope you will join our team of Certified Gifts
Teachers world-wide and begin your own Gifts Ministry in your area.
For more details on this event
Click Here
March’s Activity -
Training
230 Total Certified Gifts Teacher Ministries to Date*
Certified Gifts Teacher Ministries
-
5 in Canada
-
1 in Great Britain
-
187 in the United States
-
1 in South Africa
Advanced Certified Gifts Teacher
Ministries
-
2 in Canada
-
1 in Great Britain
-
33 in the United States
*Couples doing ministry together
are counted as one.
Blessings Program
-
21 Active Discover Your Gifts Websites (with Photos
and Bios up)
-
The Foundation gave back $116.50 in Blessings
-
4 Gifts Ministries Received Blessings
Gifts Classes
Discovered Their God-Given Gifts
We are excited about our new Discover Your
Gifts personalized websites for all of our Certified Gifts Teachers.
We look forward to the number of active sites increasing each month as our
Gifts Teachers add their personal photos and biographical information to
their home pages.
The Foundation wants to give back to our
Certified Gifts Teachers so they can concentrate more on teaching the Gifts.
Our blessings program tracks all website activity and provides a way to give
monthly blessings to those Gifts teachers who are actively pursuing the
mission of helping God’s people all over the world to Discover their
God-Given Gifts.
Whether you are a Foundation Customer or a
Certified Gifts Teacher, when you log in to your back office you can search
for Gifts classes near you using our Events Maps. For those in Canada and the United Kingdom,
be sure to change your map settings to your country. Gifts Teachers –
be sure to submit all your Gifts classes to the calendar. Your class
may be an answer to someone’s prayer!
For instructions on how to use these new
website tools, contact Stephanie at 1-866-395 2291 or email
info@thefoundationonline.com.
We can’t wait to help you get started!
Devotionals
Love the Overlooked
by Max Lucado
“Put on the apron of humility, to serve one another.”
I Peter 5:5 TEV
Servanthood requires no unique skill or seminary degree. Regardless of your
strengths, training, or church tenure, you can…love the overlooked.
Jesus sits in your classroom, wearing the thick glasses, outdated clothing,
and a sad face. You’ve seen him. He’s Jesus.
Jesus works in your office. Pregnant again, she shows up to work late a
tired. No one knows the father. According to water-cooler rumors, even she
doesn’t know the father. You’ve seen her. She’s Jesus.
When you talk to the lonely student, befriend the weary mom, you love Jesus.
He dressed in the garb of the overlooked and ignored. “Whenever you did one
of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to
me” (Matt. 25:40 MSG).
Daily Reflection
BY Mark D. Roberts, Laity Lodge Senior Director and
Scholar-in-Residence
Wrestling with God
READ Genesis 32:24-32
This left Jacob all alone in the camp, and a man came and wrestled with him
until the dawn began to break. -Genesis 32:24
What an extraordinary story! After Jacob had done everything he could to
prepare for his meeting with Esau, a "man" appeared in the wilderness and
wrestled with Jacob for a whole night. It turned out this man was a physical
representation of God himself. God, through the form of the man, wrestled
with Jacob, injured his hip, blessed him with a new name, and proclaimed
that he had been victorious in his battle with God and man.
Sometimes our relationship with God can feel like a wrestling match. We
sense God's call, but resist. We ask for God's favor, and when he doesn't
respond, we keep on asking. The example of Jacob encourages us to keep on in
relationship with God, even when it feels like a wrestling match. After all,
God didn't punish Jacob completely. He injured him physically but also
blessed him magnificently.
I can't help thinking of a book I wrote on this theme, No Holds Barred:
Wrestling with God in Prayer. In this book I examined the Psalms, finding
encouragement to hold nothing back in our relationship with God. The story
of Jacob wrestling with God makes this same point dramatically.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION: Have you ever "wrestled" with God? What happened?
Do you feel the freedom to open your heart completely to God in prayer, to
share your fear, your anger, your doubt?
PRAYER: Gracious God, I am deeply moved by the story of Jacob wrestling with
this "man." Though you and I have never wrestled physically, we have
grappled time and again in prayer. Thank you, dear Lord, for making yourself
so available to me. Thank you for not simply wiping me out because of my
resistance to you. Thank you for remaining in relationship with me, for
holding on to me with strength and mercy.
Dear Lord, give me greater freedom in prayer. May I hold nothing back in my
communication with you. As I open my heart fully to you, do your work in me,
so that I might do your work in this world. Amen.
© 2001 - 2007
H. E. Butt Foundation. All rights reserved. Reprinted with
permission from
Laity Lodge and
TheHighCalling.org.
That Incredible Christian
Chapter #36
The Wind in Our Face
Worth Suffering For
What has Christ to offer to us that is sound, genuine and desirable? He
offers forgiveness of sins, inward cleansing, peace with God, eternal life,
the gift of the Holy Spirit, victory over temptation, resurrection from the
dead, a glorified body, immortality and a dwelling place in the house of the
Lord forever. These are a few benefits that come to us as a result of faith
in Christ and total committal to Him. Add to these the expanding wonders and
increasing glories that shall be ours through the long, long reaches of
eternity, and we get an imperfect idea of what Paul called, the unsearchable
riches of Christ. To accept the call of Christ changes the returning sinner
indeed, but it does not change the world. The wind still blows toward hell
and the man who is walking in the opposite direction will have the wind in
his face. And we had better take this into account when we ponder on
spiritual things. If the unsearchable riches of Christ are not worth
suffering for, then we should know it now and cease to play at religion.
Prayer
Father, help me to clearly distinguish between what is eternal gain and what
is ultimate rubbish.
Scripture
What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing
greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all
things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ . . .
— Philippians 3:8
Thought
If we are not now in some measure experiencing the surpassing greatness of
knowing Christ, then indeed we may be tightly clinging to some things
fearing their loss.
©2007 The Christian and Missionary Alliance.
Operate in Wisdom
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unfathomable (inscrutable, unsearchable) are His judgments (His
decisions)! And how untraceable (mysterious, undiscoverable) are His ways
(His methods, His paths)!
—Romans 11:33
Without wisdom we can make poor decisions and
later wonder why we didn’t pray first. It is wise to seek God early each day
before we start making decisions in order to know ahead of time what we
ought to do, and then to receive the grace to do it.Wisdom keeps us from a
life of regret.
Jesus operated in wisdom. When others went home to rest, Jesus went to the
Mount of Olives to spend time with God. And early in the morning (at dawn),
He came back into the temple and taught people (See John 7:53–8:2). Jesus
always spent time with the Father before facing the crowds. If Jesus needed
time with God, we need even more time with Him. Walk in wisdom today.
From the book Starting Your Day Right: Devotions for Each Morning of the
Year by Joyce Meyer. Copyright © 2003 by Joyce Meyer. Published by
FaithWords. All rights reserved.
Testimonials
Lynn Pfeiffer,
Dahlonega,
GA –
lynnpfeiffer.discoveryourgifts.org
Very valuable and empowering!
Every person in the world needs to know their gifting and know they
are unique and valuable to God and in the Body...The world needs this!
Discovering my gifts was a
turning point in my life. It released me to go ahead and do what I
felt called to do, serve God whole heartedly but with direction and in the
anointing of functioning in God's will and gifts. As a result of the
gifts program, I was released, healed, set free to be who I am. I have
left my nursing carrier, and moved into Christian ministry.
Don and Katie are a great
teaching team! Had I had this information when my children were small,
how much easier life would have been! It would have been much easier
to guide them.
This material needs to be in the
hands of every Christian so they can understand their husbands/wives, their
children and themselves and other people. Jon and I were married in
'82 and found this material in '88. As we took the test and read the
material we saw in black and white what we had learned the hard way.
Luckily for us we had God walking us through those hard times and we were
listening. This material would have given us a giant leap forward
faster.
|
