A new book released!

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I haven’t posted in a while, but my first post back is a big one! My latest book has been released by Wesley’s Foundery Books, the publisher of the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry of the United Methodist Church. Check out the video.

A step-by-step guide for hearing and claiming God’s calling for your life for students, mentors, and faith leaders.

Find clarity about how God has uniquely gifted you to participate in God’s ongoing mission for the sake of the world. This book provides a structure and step-by-step guide for discerning God’s calling and corrects misconceptions. Gibbs provides guidance and helps organize discernment into three intersecting categories: needs of the world, passions, and tools. [Read more…]

What Am I Called to Do? (Part 9): Minister from Your Experience

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To learn how tools are integrated into the entire notion of call, click the map.

To understand how this map illustrates discernment of calling, click the map.

Have you ever wondered how God was going to use some horrible experience that you’ve had in your life? Maybe you knew that some unique aspect of your life was significant for your life calling, but haven’t been quite sure how that fits into God’s plan for you. Like every other aspect of your calling, understanding how these experiences should be considered is actually quite easy, even if discerning call is still a lifelong process. [Read more…]

What Am I Called To Do? (Part 8): You Can’t Fix The Plumbing With A Basketball

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To learn how tools are integrated into the entire notion of call, click the map.

To learn how tools are integrated into the entire notion of call, click the map.

As I’ve explained in previous posts, what you love to do and the things that make you angry are good indicators of God’s call on your life. But you still can’t fix the plumbing with a basketball, no matter how much you like running water. Let me explain.
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The Bible Says Women Should Lead – Part 2 (1 Corinthians)

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20140109-163141.jpgSeveral passages in 1 Corinthians have been used to claim that women should not be leaders or teachers in the Church. I think St. Paul would be appalled by such an interpretation and that significant scholarly evidence would support this conclusion. (There are many places in this post where I am following the good work by Phillip Payne in his book cited below.)

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The Bible Says Women Should Lead – Part 1

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20140107-111250.jpgA little while ago I wrote a post about women in leadership that was viewed more than 7,000 times, still one of my most popular posts. Of those views, only 200 people clicked through to the N.T. Wright article that presented the biblical arguments upon which my post depended.

I know that many that viewed the post were those that already shared my opinion and had researched the topic. But many that I interacted with via social media complained that my article wasn’t biblical. Well here you go.

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What Am I Called to Do? (Part 7): What Is That In Your Hand?

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Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?” Then the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied. (Exodus 4:1, 2 NIV)

To learn how tools are integrated into the entire notion of call, click the map.

To learn how tools are integrated into the entire notion of call, click the map.

So far in this series I’ve said a lot about the passions that are a person’s internal motivations, animated by the Holy Spirit, to pursue a calling on their lives. But passion for something will not get you far if you don’t have the tools to do anything about it.

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What Am I Called to Do? (Part 6): When Anger Is An Act Of Discipleship

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I suggested earlier that God made us such that every person desires justice for all people. The result of being created this way is a lingering sense that what we see around us is not what God intended. Most people feel pretty overwhelmed by the injustices around them, as if there is nothing that they can do. I would suggest that those injustices you are most attuned to are a significant indicator of God’s call on your life.God's Calling Map

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