As I sit in my living room on Vancouver Island on Christmas Day 2013, I remember one quiet Sunday morning late in 2010. The boys and I went into the worship center at First Baptist Church, Euless, while Matthew took care of his responsibilities with the Single Adult Ministry. I listened intently that day to Pastor John preach on the parable of the talents, to multiply the gifts God has given us for His Kingdom…not to hide them away and waste them. Already being convicted to do more for the Kingdom, our family was preparing for our first trip to Vancouver to pray over the city and to see if the call Matthew already felt would be confirmed in Ethan, Joseph and myself. I listened to Pastor John urge us to be used of God, but how could my little family really multiply our talents for His use. Could he really use my talents? Dear Lord, if I have anything you can use, oh Lord, please use me. Then, to our surprise, we were each given an envelope with $5, $10, or $20 inside! Who gives money away to the congregation? Have they gone mad? Pastor John was challenging us to actually multiply our gifts for the Kingdom work. What an object lesson! So, we were to take our money, multiply it in some way, and return everything on the Sunday before Christmas. Wow! What would we do? What could we do? Honestly, I cannot even remember how much we received that year, or what we did to multiply it. I just remember thinking that God was giving me this small challenge…this one, small talent, to multiply as a first step in the things that were to come. There would be the need of much bigger talents and much greater responsibility as a church planting family.
Heather and her family. Photo Credit: Matt Miller
We did do something halfway creative with that money. I think we baked and sold cookies to our seminary neighbors. But more than that, God convicted me that year that I was to use all of my talents to multiply His Kingdom. As we walked the streets of Vancouver that December, amazed and terrified that God could use us in His Kingdom work, He confirmed to each of us that He is working in Vancouver, that we were to join His work here, and that He would equip us for every good work that He has prepared beforehand (Eph. 2:10). It is a calling that He confirmed as we walked the streets of Vancouver and prayed for the city. It is a calling that God confirmed every Sunday morning as Pastor John urged us to walk worthy (Eph 4:1) of our calling as Christians. It is a calling that God confirmed as He molded, and shaped, and developed our talents during those seminary years.
Now, three years later, I am still greatly impacted by the “Big Give.” As FBCE Church Planters on Vancouver Island, part of our support is provided through The Miracle budget. Those gifts allow us to live and work and love the people of Vancouver Island. We are planting Ekklesia, a Kingdom-Focused Church and we are engaging our community with the hope of the Gospel. We are using our talents of faith, love, teaching, and Southern hospitality to show the love of Christ and increase the Kingdom.
I have enjoyed following Ashlee’s “Big Give” journey through her blog. Seeing her excitement and anticipation of the coming “Parable Sermon,” and then her fear and anxiety of how she could multiply her talents, and her devout prayer to be used by the Lord. I fell in love with her prints and applauded her creativity in the way in which she used her talents. I had to have one of each print and was excited to have such beautiful artwork for our Sunday worship gathering and our upcoming community Christmas Eve Celebration. So I ordered them, printing the “O Holy Night” print just as Ashlee did in the 18x24 size and mounted it on a large canvas. I printed the other two 16x20 and framed them with white mats and chunky black frames. Oh, how I love them!
Christmas Eve finally arrived. We prayed, we advertised, we invited, and now we were hosting our first Christmas Eve Celebration at a local coffee shop. We have a display of appetizers and desserts, a musician playing and leading Christmas carols, free hot drinks for everyone, and of course our beautiful Christmas prints telling of the Hope of our celebration. Many people wandered in off the street for a cup of hot coffee, and were totally surprised when they found free drinks, appetizers, desserts and music. Many stayed and enjoyed the fellowship. We sang Christmas hymns, celebrating Advent by lighting the Christ candle, and read the Christmas story. Matthew read from John 1 and reminded us of the blessed gift of the Christ child. Many un-churched people heard the “good news of great joy.” We pray that these seeds fell on good soil and that in the days to come we will get the honor of seeing lives changed because of the reality of the birth of our Saviour.
You can check out the ministry of Ekklesia at ekklesiabc.ca
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