The following is an outline of a workshop that my wife and I presented last Saturday after hearing an extended and more in-depth version a few weeks ago. The theme of the talk was “Ministry While Deployed,” but it included a lot of things that are just as applicable to ministry wherever you are. The meat of the workshop was guerrilla tactics used by Che Guevara and Fidel Castro during the Cuban revolution… and on the model of Christ’s ministry during His time on earth. Keep in mind what’s below is just an outline… if you want, leave me your comments and I’ll answer any questions you might have.

• What is your ministry?
• What misconceptions do we have about our ministries?
• How can we think forward to ministry during a military deployment?

BATTLE MINDSET: Ministry is spiritual warfare.

• I Peter 5:8-9 - We have an adversary.
• John 18:37 - We have a King.
  I John 4:4 - Our King is greater than our adversary.
  I John 5:4-5 - Our King is in us, and thereby we have victory.
• Ephesians 6:14-17 - Battle takes preparation (armor). Are we prepared?

1. Vision (Proverbs 29:18)

   Paradigm Shift 1:
   Ministry is a group of people.
   Ministry is an act towards an individual.

   1. What does your personal ministry look like?
   2. What is (or might be) your vision for your ministry?
   3. How might a military deployment change that?
   4. Consider:
      • What’s the point of my witness?
      • What’s the endstate of my personal spiritual development for the next {month, year, fifteen months, lifetime}?
      • Your vision should not depend on anyone else. It’s not about leading x number of people to Christ or leading a home study that draws 50 people every week.
      • Two biblical “vision statements” are in Mark 1:38 and Acts 13:47. Yes, it’s really that simple.
   5. My sample vision statement: My testimony is that Christ is the Lord and Savior of all who seek Him. I want to spend time growing in Him and be the best witness I can be for His glory.

2. Goals (Proverbs 13:12)

   Paradigm Shift 2:
   Witnessing means recruiting people to events (Church, Bible study, Christian movie night, etc).
   Witnessing means recruiting people to the cause of Christ. (Matthew 28:19)

   1. What are my spiritual goals?
   2. How do my goals support my vision?
   3. What are my other goals, and how do they support my spiritual goals?
   4. Are my goals tangible, attainable, and realistic, or are they likely to crush me (hope deferred)?
   5. My sample goals:
      • I will spend time in God’s Word daily (reading the Bible).
      • I will pray at least five times per day.
      • No unwholesome word will proceed from my mouth.
      • My words will be salted with Christ.

3. Perspective (Colossians 3:23-24)

   Paradigm Shift 3:
   We are laboring FOR Christ.
   We are laboring WITH Christ.

   1. Who do I really work for?
   2. Do I go to work every day to advance the kingdom? (If not, you should.)
   3. Am I focused on the temporal rewards ($$$$$) for my labor, or the eternal ones?

ALL AVAILABLE RESOURCES

Paradigm Shift 4:
We have secular lives and spiritual lives; there are spiritual assets and spiritual liabilities.
Everything is (and should be used as) a spiritual asset.

• Matthew 15:34 and John 6:9 - It doesn’t matter to God how little you have.
• Acts 2:45 - God expects us to use everything we have.
• Acts 16:22-34 - Nothing can prevent us from being witnesses.
• Acts 18:2-4 - Your job is a spiritual resource.

1. Sympathetic To The Cause (John 1:35-45)

   Paradigm Shift 5:
   There are “near” and “far” lost.
   Everyone is a step away from following Christ (Acts 17:26-27).

   1. What group(s) of people am I an “insider” to?
   2. How can this influence be an asset to my ministry?
   3. Whom do my attitudes and actions affect?
   4. Whose attitudes and actions affect me?
      • Is anyone around me seeking Christ at any level?
      • How can I make the non-believers around me an asset?
      • There are no atheists in foxholes (or at math tests).

2. Creativity and Opportunity (Colossians 4:3-6)

   Paradigm Shift 6:
   Wherever you go, you need to find accountability and fellowship.
   Wherever you go, you need to make accountability and fellowship.

   1. Can I How can I ask others about God?
   2. How about a hasty chapel service? Can I tell someone about a verse I read during my quiet time, or ask them to quiz me on my memory verses?
      • Do we have down time? Is there a lot of boring waiting around during our day? Is that an asset? Am I using it like an asset?
   3. How can I relate the love and lordship of Christ to others through our shared experiences?
      • Parables, metaphors, fables, analogies, illustrations….

3. Long Distance Fellowship (Philippians 1:3-7)

   Paradigm Shift 7:
   Fellowship means pizza on Wednesday evening, pot luck on Sunday afternoon.
   Fellowship means prayer and support.

   1. Who can I connect with through prayer?
      • Who am I praying for?
      • Who is praying for me?
      • Do we have a certain time of day set aside, even when we aren’t physically together, where we pray for each other or a common cause?
   2. What specific things are we praying about?
   3. Where does my support come from? Who will always be beside me?

I will leave you with this: God will ALWAYS be with us, EVERYWHERE we go (John 16:32). He is all we need and He is all we have. We are here to bring Him glory.