The effort that I am willing to put into this course and into my own spiritual formation during this module is best described by the word… Struggle. I think spiritual formation is the most difficult thing to teach, train, and build in the Church. It sounds so simple: "Just go read the Bible". Well, how? "Just go and pray". Well, how? Even when the principles and ways of getting into a devotional happen are learned, the commitment to do those things is difficult, if not impossible sometimes. Spiritual formation is a struggle, a struggle between growing in our knowledge and relationship with God, and taking care of the responsibilities and pressures that our family, friends, careers, and life in general put on us. God give us the strength to grow in our love, knowledge and understanding of who you are.

This is a bit of a worksheet from an intercessory prayer guide. My ministry of intercession: Specific people, concerns, needs I want to lift to the Father. The one burden laying on my heart today is for a couple of young men who were recently killed in a car accident. Their deaths were abrupt and unexpected, and as I attended the funeral of one of these young men today, I couldn't help but feel very sad for the loss they were experiencing. I know these kind of things happen in everyone's life, but it is just such a great tragedy when the very act that brought their death could have been prevented.

Based on the discussion of servant leadership, if I could accomplish three measurable objectives in the next 10 years that would make a 50 percent difference by the end of my life, what would they be? I think the first objective that I could measure would be in my personal time spent in devotion with Jesus. If I can maintain a daily, directed devotion time, I am almost certain that would make a 50 percent difference in my life. Secondly, I would measure time spent praying with my wife and children. If I engage on this in a regular basis, it would make a 50 percent difference in my life. Finally, I would measure time spent engaging in works of service. If I can engage in consistent, regular acts of service, I know it would make a 50 percent difference in my life.

"Christian ministry is the extension of the service of Jesus in our world, incarnating the healing, guiding, sustaining, reconciling work of Jesus in the lives of those with whom we work and live. If you are a Christian, you are called to Christian ministry. ·A servant is one who gets excited about helping someone else succeed. ·Christian leadership is humble service to others in the community of faith whose head is Christ for the purpose of enabling them, through modeling and teaching, to live their lives under the Lordship of Christ, and to understand, accept and fulfill their ministry to each other and their mission in the world. ·If our philosophy of life is based on a biblical theology of church and ministry, then our style of leadership will convictionally focus on the qualitative growth of the led as ministers of Jesus Christ, called to serve others in His name." I love the point made that leaders are to help individuals do three things with their ministry. First they are to help them understand their ministry to each other and their mission in the world. I think it is difficult to arrive at a destination if you do not know the means of getting there. You can certainly try to go, but without the an understanding of how to get there, you could be easily lost. The same is true for ministry. If you do not understand what God is calling you to do, how can you even expect to effectively play a role in the building of the kingdom? A leader must point people towards the mission of God, helping them explore their talents and gifts to understand what God has in store for them. The next point is accepting their ministry and mission in the world. I think this one can be tricky sometimes, because I think the idea of doing something in the name of Jesus can be challenging or scary. I think of a friend who gets shell shocked at the idea of speaking in front of a group of people. In the same way, the thought of stepping out of our comfort zone and getting dirty for the Lord can be tough! The leader must walk alongside these individuals as they test the waters of ministry and mission. Finally, we are called to fulfill our ministry and mission in the world. We understand what God has called us to, we have tested the waters and have accepted his call, now we must be proactive and get out and do it! I think this can be a tough part, often because our lives are filled with so many other obligations and responsibilities, we have a tendency to place the calling of God on level with all the other activities we engage in. We have a mighty calling in serving Jesus Christ, and we must not overburden ourselves with other things in the world to take away from that call.