All posts by Richard Harrell

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About Richard Harrell

Connecting life, art, and the power of story in ways that change my world. I am a disciple-maker and lover of Jesus living in a small town in Georgia. I am also on a spiritual journey, looking for points in life that point me to new and full life in Christ Jesus.

Now that I’m 60 – what am I committed to:

Creating an Extraordinary Life, Points Along The Journey - Living A Missional Life, Studies in Listening to God

There is something about entering a “new decade of years” that calls me to reconcile my experience with my values. As a reminder to myself more than anyone else, I am committed more than ever…

…to worshiping and serving Christ Jesus increasingly with my gifts, skills, time, and resources.

…to loving and honoring my wife till death separates us.

…to encouraging and influencing my son and daughters (and grandkids, when they show up for God’s purposes) toward loving and serving God with their lives.

…to loving what God says He is in love with: the lost, the broken, the lonely, the refugee, the hurting, the confused, the poor, the homeless, the enslaved, the imprisoned.

… to loving and lifting up the church local and global through my prayer, encouragement, time, presence and resources.

…to doing life with a small group of men and women for mutual encouragement, personal growth, and lifestyle ministry.

…to meeting with 2-3 men for discipleship on a regular basis to stay pure, live on target with my promises, and encourage each other toward a fruitful Christian life.

…to living a richer and riskier life in my finishing years by saying yes to each opportunity to give myself away, pour into others, explore new relationships, and influence my world toward Christ.

Black Mountain Morning

Poems, Songs, and Dreams,

Black Mountain Morning

-//–   -//- -///- -//-//-

Whispers of smoke, mystic and chilled.

Black mountains send up a signal to the dawn.

Silvery white like a fire swiftly dying.

Calls for light’s rising hymn.

Canopied colors in rosy opaque.

Nettles unseen, cloaked by the greys.

Sketches the peaks in dawn’s mottled lines

Silhouettes sketch ‘long the rim.

Each rising mist, a fire burning fierce

Mirror by longings begun at the Dawn.

Formed for the Journey, inform by the Voice

That calls me to the mountain with Him.

And from the path your voice begs me join,

Urges me reach for the day

Embrace the choice, leave safe far behind,

Lose  your life along the way.

Five weeks and counting…waiting on Italy.

Points Along The Journey - Living A Missional Life

Hello All!

Each time I write, I hope I can do so from Italy. We are five weeks to the day past the day the Italian Consulate received our visa applications (along with our passports). We saw the 7-10 days timeframe on the Consulate website. We even have a friend who received her visa in three days.

For now, Susan and I are in training, learning that waiting is the most spiritual thing we can do.

The Psalmist makes it sound easy:

“Wait for the LORD; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the LORD.” (27:14)

Believe me, we want to see God’s answer in the form of visas in hand and our flight to our new place to serve in Padova. There is an element to waiting on God that I don’t do very well. Standing firmly, quietly, at the ready while God gets me ready.

See if this verse helps make my point clearer:

“We look to the LORD our God for his mercy, just as servants keep their eyes on their master, as a slave girl watches her mistress for the slightest signal.” (Psalm 123:2)

So, as we wait on Italy to approve our visas, Susan and I stand at attention, our eyes on our Master, content to be near Him, recalibrating our ears to His voice, and staying open to serve Him where we are…as we wait.

 

Thank you for praying for Susan and me as we wait on our visas and wait on our God.

Rick

G.R.O.W. Assessment GIFTS Module – Spiritual Gifts Defined:

Core Classes

When you receive your Spiritual Gifts module results, you’ll notice a percentage score beside each gift. Some will be lower while others will land in the middle. This doesn’t mean you are deficient in anything or that God can’t use you in each of these gifts. In fact, God takes pleasure in using us in ways in which we think we are weaker. By all means, ask God to use you in all ways through any of His Spiritual Gifts. He’s in charge and gives good gifts to His kids!

Notice especially the gifts that are highest as these are the gifts that, at least according to this assessment, you will likely use most frequently in the Kingdom. Your top three are your best Spiritual tools! (In the event of a tie, make it the top four!)

Here are helpful definitions for each gift with a verse or two that describes each (by no means exhaustive in these definitions). This is what a person will likely do based on the Biblical definitions and church experiences and will help you with a basic understanding of your top Gifts. Further study, practice, and conversations with your friends and church leaders will help expand your understanding.

Here is a PDF of this list. g-r-o-w-gifts-defined

GIFTS (The “G” in the G.R.O.W. Assessment):

Artisan/Craftmanship (Exodus 31:1-5) –

  • Creates art that reflects God’s glory and unveils His character
  • Shows ability in one or more medium of creative art so as to connect the unbeliever with the Creator through that art

Celibacy/Volunteer (I Corinthians 7:7) –

  • Remains single through God’s provision in order to serve with greater intensity

Discernment/Distinguishing Spirits (1 John 4:1-6, 1 Corinthians 12:10) –

  • Perceives the intent and origination of spiritual matters
  • Recognizes whether a message is from the Holy Spirit or not
  • Distinguishes right from wrong, truth from error in a situation

Encouragement/Exhortation (Acts 14:22, Romans 12:8) –

  • Urges others toward action, faithfulness, and courage
  • Motivates others to have courage in difficult times or when faith wavers
  • Brings out the best in others and challenges them to meet their potential

Faith (Romans 4:18-21, 1 Corinthians 12:9) –

  • Sees what God is doing and believe Him for results
  • Trusts God to act on His promise in the face of great odds
  • Stands firm until God answers and/or the miracle happens

Giving (2 Corinthians 8:1-7, Romans 12:8) –

  • Gives much proportionately with pure motives
  • Invests resources generously beyond the tithe
  • Earns, invests, and give with Spirit-led success resources in order to support ministry

Guidance/Administration (1 Corinthians 14:40) –

  • Manages details to support to free other leaders to focus on their work
  • Sees gifts in other and connect them to ministry
  • Organizes resources, time, teams, and people for greater Kingdom impact
  • Coordinates multiple details and levels and accomplishes the goals of a project

Healing (James 5:14-16, 1 Corinthians 12:9) –

  • Prays in faith for others with the result that they are healed
  • Senses the prompts of God to pray for healing

Hospitality (1 Peter 4:9) –

  • Finds pleasure in housing or feeding others in home or through the church
  • Makes others feel welcome and significant

Intercession/Supplication (Ephesians 6:18-20) –

  • Prays faithfully until the answer comes
  • Steps into the place of a person, church, people group, or geographical area and prays consistently for the needs

Knowledge/Words (1 Corinthians 12:8, Acts 16:28) –

  • Speaks timely, Spirit-given knowledge that applies to a person’s situation
  • Comprehends and conveys spiritually revealed knowledge that helps a person with a specific need

Leadership (Hebrews 13:7, 17, Romans 12:8) –

  • Influences a group to accomplish it’s purpose or goal
  • Communicates purpose, direction, and vision to the group, team or church
  • Motivates others to work together to accomplish a ministry goal

Mercy/Grace (Luke 10:30-37, Romans 12:8) –

  • Empathizes with those in need and extend encouragement
  • Senses hurts and provide cheerful support to those pain, distress, or crisis

Miracles (Mark 11:23-24, 1 Corinthians 12:10) –

  • Prays in faith for God’s specific intervention in impossible situations and sees answers
  • Sees situations where God wants to move miraculously and prays for supernatural intervention

Missionary/Apostle (Romans 15:20-21,1 Corinthians 9:19-23, Acts 13:1-4) –

  • Shares with a God-given urgency the Gospel to others from vastly different backgrounds
  • Begins a fresh work of God in places that have no Gospel witness
  • Adapts readily to different cultures in order to serve in that culture
  • Seeks through the leadership and provision of the Holy Spirit to know about needs of other people groups and rallies resources to meet the needs
  • Compelled to communicate the Gospel through serving and speaking to others in a different culture than their own

Music (1 Chronicles 16:4) –

  • Plays an instrument or sings in a way that draws others to worship Christ Jesus
  • Creates worship through musical skills that presents the character of God and declares the Good News

Pastor/Shepherding (1 Peter 5:2-4, Hebrews 13:17) –

  • Exercises concern, care, and protection for a group or church that encourages growth spiritual health
  • Equips believers in Biblical world view and understanding of who Jesus is and how each can serve effectively
  • Models spiritual growth and service to members of group or church

Prophecy (1 Corinthians 12:10, 14:3, Acts 11:28) –

  • Delivers with persuasion God’s message
  • Discerns a current situation or potential future occurrence and delivers this message effectively
  • Understands the “big picture” of God’s redemptive and prophetic stream and relates it to the current church situation and direction

Serving/Helps (1 Peter 4:11) –

  • Sees needs easily and finds ways to practically meet those needs
  • Serves others personally and in church without need of recognition
  • Manages time and resources to solve individual or church needs

Teaching (Ephesians 4:12-13, Romans 12:7) –

  • Understands and explains Biblical truth in ways that believers comprehend and apply
  • Learns and is able to take others “with him/her” in learning

Tongues – Interpreting (1 Corinthians 12:10, 14:13) –

  • Understands words spoken in tongues and communicates it clearly to others
  • Interprets a message in a heavenly language or unknown tongue to those present

Tongues – Speaking (1 Corinthians 12:10, 14:2, 14-15, Acts 2:4-8) –

  • Prays in a language understood only by God
  • Speaks in an unlearned language or tongue to, along with interpreting, communicate God’s truth and give God worship

Wisdom/Word (1 Corinthians 2:1, 6-16, 12:7-8) –

  • Understands God’s perspective on practical life situations and conveys it in simple ways
  • Knows what to do, how to do it, and helps others do the same
  • Receives and conveys Spirit-given wisdom and application to a person or group

G.R.O.W. Volunteer Assessment – RELATE Profile

Core Classes

The G.R.O.W. RELATE Profile is derived from the Kirk Test, a profile developed by missional leader, Chip Kirk. This brief 20-question profile identifies your dominant personality type so you and the team you volunteer with can see how you work with others. Sometimes, there is one very dominant type out of the four. More frequently, there are two nearly equally dominant types. Occasionally, the types are spread equally across the four.The four types are like tendencies or impulses through which you tend to act and serve. All four can have strengths and weaknesses and will be a blessing to their respective teams. And all four can pursue the “good works God has prepared for (each) to accomplish.” (Ephesians 2:10.)

kirk-test-descriptions-web2