Made on Purpose and for Purpose!

A recurring theme throughout our teaching is that we each have been made ON purpose (Psalm 139) and we also have been made FOR purpose (Ephesians 2:10).  Many of us, who are not involved in a formal (institutional) church ministry, sometimes wonder whether or not we are doing something that matters or whether it matters to God when we use our gifts for making things, cooking things, building things, serving people, and so on. 

So we try to remind people over and over that the call in Genesis 2:15 to work and care for the land is a good and holy thing! We are the Church Scattered!

While I'm stuck in Grand Rapids and not able to get out to be with the people I love in so many parts of Africa, I like to look in the eyes of those who have accepted the call to be a Minister in the Marketplace.  So the other week, I made this video to the music of Stephen Curtis Chapman's song, Meant To Be.  The words are below and it beautifully captures these Biblical thoughts.  Some of our team have suggested that this song could be a theme song for DML!

Please watch this, be encouraged for yourself in whatever it is you do, but also look at the eyes of the beautiful business owners in these pictures and say a prayer of protection for them!

Long before you drew your first breath
A dream was coming true
God wanted to give a gift to the world
So he wrapped it up in you

Every step that you've taken
Every move that you make
Is part of his plan

You were meant to be touching
The lives that you touch
And meant to be here
Making this world so much more
Than it would be without you in it

You were meant to be bringing
The gifts that you bring
And singing the songs
You've been given to sing

You are perfectly, wonderfully,
Beautifully meant to be, yeah
You were meant to be

Long before you took your first fall
You stumbled to the ground
God started telling the story of you, to the angels gathered around
Every failure and victory
Everything in between
Its all in his hand

(Steven Curtis Chapman, Meant to Be - used with permission)