What Team has God placed YOU on?

Your Team During Survival

As a student, if you hadn’t already noticed, at the beginning of the Survival week, you were assigned to a team. But you didn’t perform as a team right from the get go, did you? As Daniel explained in his talk, your team probably started out as a group (democratic decisions, uncertain outcome, cautious communication, etc). But throughout the week you were given various challenges that would most efficiently be completed if you worked as a TEAM! (common purpose, leadership structure, functional roles, etc.) Now, over the course of the week, how did you go from a group to a team? What were the main contributing factors? Here are a few of the ones Daniel talked about, just to jog your memory.

• Identifying your role as a guy or girl and walking it out
• Soliciting ideas
• Identifying your spiritual gifts and using them
• Encouraging your teammates

Your “Team” Back Home

After such an AMAZING week at Survival, what do you have to do? You have to say your goodbyes and head back…HOME. *sniffle sniffle* Back to “reality”. The same old, same old, where various responsibilities, school assignments, due dates, family issues, peer drama and the mundaneness of life are right at the front door, waiting to greet you! (I know it’s not always that bad; just trying to make a point.)

So was Survival just a week-long experience where you met cool people, heard cool messages, did cool stuff and then left all that behind to get back to “real life”? Does what you learned at Survival ( such as how to change from a group to a team) have to be cut off from the rest of your life, or can application be made back home?

More specifically, are there any “teams” God has you on right now? Think about it. It could be your family, your church, your school, your workplace, or even a literal team(sports/competitive). Even if the “team” you’re on right now seems boring, random, stressful, etc.,  God has placed you there for a reason! And that’s exciting!  Ephesians 2:10 says:

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

God has work for you to do, where ever you are.

Participating on Your “Team”

 

How could you apply any of the factors I mentioned in the beginning to where God has you now? What people do you come in contact with everyday whom you can encourage? If you’re a girl, what guys are in your life whom you can support & encourage to lead? If you’re a guy, how can you practice loving leadership and taking initiative instead of being passive? For both guys and girls, what gifts has God given you to use right where you are? 1 Peter 4:10-11 says:

“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides…”

So do you think God would want you to take the team building skills you’ve learned at Survival back home? I think so! And get this, God knows you can’t just set out to do so on your own strength. That’s why, in Christ, He’s given you the Holy Spirit to empower you to put what you’ve learned into action!

Now lets not forget the whole point of why we’re called to use the gifts and resources God has  given us  on our “teams”. What does the last part of verse 11 in 1 Peter 4 say?

“ so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.”

May this be your motivation in applying what you’ve learned at Survival, back home!