Stewardship of Abilities & Gifts

Forty years ago, Steve Bell began building cabinets in his garage. Those humble beginnings have grown over the decades into Bellmont Cabinet Co., an award-winning manufacturing company specializing in the minimalist “frameless” cabinet, of which Steve was one of the first pioneers.

But Steve has pioneered more than just cabinetry – he is redefining the workplace and what it means to be a working Christian. “Growing up, there was this sense that if you’re really called to faith, then you're going to go into ‘the real Christian work’ of full-time Christian service. Everything else was basically a compromise,” recalls Steve, whose parents were disappointed that he didn't want to follow in his father's footsteps into pastoral ministry.

One day in college, he was reading RG LeTourneau's Mover of Men and Mountains. LeTourneau experienced success in his business, so he asked his pastor, “Do you think I should sell my business and become a missionary?” The pastor said, “Bob, God needs businessmen as much as he needs pastors and teachers and missionaries.”

LeTourneau went on to become one of the great industrialists of the World War II era. Steve also realized that his desires for the business and manufacturing sector were a conviction from the Lord.

Steve said: “I think we've got generations of people growing up in the church who don't understand the importance of their work … God doesn't just love the cabinet maker; he loves good cabinets too. He actually loves the work that we do. I’ve got over 300 employees here that go out every day to make something that’s beautiful. And God loves beauty.”

Steve says, “This 200,000-square-foot facility with these 300 employees—this is my ministry … We want everybody that touches Bellmont to see Christ reflected in the way we do our business.”

Sometimes just taking part is what counts. Just ask Belgian shot-put thrower Jolien Boumkwo, who competed in the 100-meter hurdles at the European Athletics Team Championships after her teammates had to withdraw through injury.

After placing seventh in the shot put on Friday, Boumkwo turned her attention to the hurdles at the last minute and duly finished in a time of 32.81 seconds – 19 seconds behind the seventh-placed athlete.

Footage of Boumkwo carefully stepping over each hurdle while the other athletes race away ahead of her has since gone viral on social media. She smiled and laughed throughout before being congratulated by other competitors at the finish line.

Just having an athlete take part in the event earned Belgium two points and saved the team from disqualification. Boumkwo’s efforts weren’t enough to save her country from being relegated to the second division at the meet in Poland, finishing 14th out of 16 countries with 250 points.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Sometimes it is the taking part that really counts. In the church this might mean stepping up to help serve even though it is not our primary spiritual gift. We are part of a team and we all serve for the benefit of the body (1 Cor. 12:1-31) and we should do it with eagerness and joy.

To excel in the National Basketball Association, as in any sports league, a player must be in excellent physical condition. But according to a profile by ESPN senior writer Baxter Holmes, what sets NBA champion Nikola Jokic apart from his peers is not his towering physique or his Serbian heritage, but rather, his dizzying intellect.

Ognjen Stojaković, player development coach for Jokic’s Denver Nuggets, says, “You're as fast as you can anticipate. He anticipates situations two and three steps ahead. People don't understand, before the situation happens, he can predict it."

According to tracking firm Second Spectrum, Jokic assisted on 468 layups and dunks--the most of any active NBA player. All-time NBA great LeBron James describes Jokic as mentally exceptional. James said, “He sees plays before they happen. Maybe it's not talked about, because a lot of people don't understand it, but I do. He's special.”

Branislav Vicentic coached Jokic as a teenager in Belgrade, Serbia. He said, “The first time I saw him. I just fell in love.” Despite his substandard conditioning, at first Jokic was unable to complete 10 sit-ups or pushups, Vicentic said that Jokic simply didn’t make any mistakes on the court. Having only coached him for that one year, Vicentic said he’d never seen anyone like Jokic, either before or since.

Vicentic said, “Listen, I don't want to take credit. Some [people] ask me, ‘Hey, you create Nikola Jokic?’ I don't know how to make Nikola Jokic. I was blessed to have him on my team. He's Beethoven. You give him a piano. He makes music.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

Don't devalue the gifting and identity with which God has gifted you. Be yourself to the best of your ability, and don't worry about whether it matches the expectations of others.

By most measures, Selena Gomez and Taylor Swift are remarkable women. Intelligent and capable …. Both are the kind of mega pop stars who inspire convulsions of adulation and tears. They’re graced with a radiance that seems almost exclusive to celebrities, with skin so incandescent it needs no filter.

But they are not perfect. Nor do they pretend to be. A recent Apple TV+ documentary, Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me, offers an unsparing portrait of Gomez, now 30, and her experiences with bipolar disorder, lupus, anxiety, and psychosis. On her latest album, Midnights, Taylor Swift, now 32, sings about her depression working the graveyard shift, about ending up in crisis. In her song “Anti-Hero” she sings, “It’s me, hi, I’m the problem, it’s me ... Sometimes I feel like everybody is a sexy baby / And I’m a monster.”

This combination of external flawlessness and emotional vulnerability feels like a feature particular to contemporary female pop stardom. On one screen we see impeccable glam, expertly choreographed and costumed performances and startling displays of luxury. On the other screen, admissions of anxiety, PTSD, panic attacks, and sleeplessness.

For today’s teens, imagine that same relentless scrutiny—if not in quite the same proportions—and self-doubt. In the recent book Behind Their Screens: What Teens Are Facing, Emily Weinstein and Carrie James document what they call “Comparison Quicksand.” They quote girls saying things such as, “On social media everyone seems like they are far better and far ahead than me, which is stressful and makes me feel behind, unwanted and stupid.” And: “I scroll through my Instagram and see models with perfect bodies and I feel horrible about myself.” For teenagers who are susceptible to insecurity, Weinstein and James write, “going on social media can activate the ‘dark spiral.’”

Possible Preaching Angle:

In our society, social media and the news elevates celebrities to become role models that are impossible to emulate. Parents and mentors should realize this and help orient our young people to scriptural maturity. Each one of them is a unique creation with gifts and abilities which they can celebrate and humbly use to serve others.

Suzanne Simard writes about ecosystems from the viewpoint of adaptation and evolution. But her comments pique the interest of those who love the diversity and interconnectedness of the Body of Christ. She writes:

We can think of an ecosystem of wolves, caribou, trees, and fungi creating biodiversity just as an orchestra of woodwind, brass, percussion, and string musicians assemble into a symphony. Or our brains, composed of neurons, axons, and neurotransmitters, produce thought and compassion. Or the way brothers and sisters join to overcome a trauma like illness or death, the whole greater than the sum of the parts.

The cohesion of biodiversity in a forest, the musicians in an orchestra, the members of a family growing through conversation and feedback, through memories and learning from the past. Through this cohesion, our systems develop into something whole and resilient.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Members of the body of Christ, with different personalities, gifts, and backgrounds are “being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit” (Eph. 2:19-22).

Actor Charlie Hunnam has recently begun a transition to writing. About to turn 40, he had reached a place in life for some evaluation. Hunnam knew he would be out of work for a while due to COVID-19. And in his heart, there were stories that he had been carrying around. He shares, "They had been sort of given to me like gifts. And I wasn't honoring the gifts."

As he started the process of honoring these gifts, Hunnam found new energy. He started to get up around 4:00 am daily to go on a short hike. He would be back home, showered, and ate breakfast by 6:00 am. Then he would sit down to write until 7:00 pm. That's 13 hours! He explains the sensation this way:

I just started to get this really “now” feeling of life. Like there's nothing else in the world that would be better for me than what I'm doing right now. And the result of it was more positive than anything I've ever done in my career. ... And I've worked really, really hard to cultivate this gift and be proud of the work that I'm able to do now. But part of me feels like it's an uphill struggle.

But when I write, I feel as though I'm honoring the innate gifts that God gave me. I feel like I really can do this [stuff] at a high level. And that's a feeling that I've never had in my life before, in any regards. I feel like we all have one or two innate talents, and a task of life is to identify those and then do that as much as you possibly can. Because that's where the joy and the presence is going to come from. That's where the grace is going to come from.

Assembling your office team is like putting together a puzzle. To succeed, you need to find the proper combination of complementary talents. Hiring a bunch of go-getters is not the sole solution to creating a successful team. Big egos and arrogance can turn the office into a battlefield--a killer for a small company. Instead, strive for balance as you hire.

Here are the six personalities every startup needs:

1. The Dreamer: The dreamer is a motivating force in creating the company and a sustaining force every day after. The dreamer inspires, excites, and leads the company from a sky-high view.

2. The Manager: The manager takes a dream and makes it happen. They are pragmatic, reliable, and have the initiative to turn ideas into action items. It’s all about being approachable, trust-worthy, and forward thinking.

3. The Builder: The builder thinks like an architect and has a clear understanding of the company vision and knows how to create it. He or she is intuitive, bright, and inventive.

4. The Workhorse: The workhorse is happy to step up and do whatever it takes to make the company engine purr. You will never hear the words: “It’s not my job” come out of this person’s mouth. The workhorse gets things done behind the scenes.

5. The Penny Pincher: The penny pincher never commits to a cost without first considering the options. He or she is creative with budgets, doesn’t spend unnecessarily and understands the difference between need and want.

6. The Social Butterfly: The person has the ability to create connections among team members, laugh at themselves and others, and shift perspective at the right time. They are an essential ingredient to strong morale and a happy team.

Possible Preaching Angle:

This variety of personality types (with their biblical titles) is also essential for a healthy church. God supplies each church with a diversity of spiritual gifts to equip the local body to best serve the church and the community. For example, the “dreamer” has the spiritual gift of faith, the “manager” has the gift of administration, the “builder” has the gift of leadership, the “workhorse” has the gift of serving, the “penny pincher” may have the gift of giving, and the “social butterfly” the gift of encouragement or showing mercy.

In 1960, two men made a bet. There was only $50 on the line, but millions of people would feel the impact of this little wager. The first man was Bennett Cerf, the founder of Random House. The second man was named Theo Geisel, but you probably know him as Dr. Seuss. Cerf proposed the bet and challenged that Dr. Seuss would not be able to write an entertaining children’s book using only 50 different words.

Dr. Seuss took the bet and won. The result was a little book called Green Eggs and Ham. Since publication, it has sold more than 200 million copies, making it the most popular of Seuss’s works and one of the best-selling children’s books in history.

At first glance, you might think this was a lucky fluke. A talented author plays a fun game with 50 words and ends up producing a hit. But there is actually more to this story and the lessons in it can help us become more creative and stick to better habits over the long-run.

What Dr. Seuss discovered through this little bet was the power of setting constraints. Con­straints are not the enemy. Every artist has a limited set of tools to work with. Every athlete has a limited set of skills to train with. Every entrepreneur has a limited amount of resources to build with. Once you know your constraints, you can creatively figure out how to work with them.

There are a lot of authors who would complain about writing a book with only 50 words. But there was one author who decided to take the tools he had available and make a work of art instead.

Possible Preaching Angles:

God has also given us constraints, such as, lack of education, lack of resources, a painful past, a besetting sin, or physical disabilities. But as we rely on God to overcome, we showcase his power and bring glory to him (2 Cor. 12:7-9).

Susie Scott Krabacher had her 15 minutes of fame as "Miss May 1983" in Playboy magazine. What has happened in and through her since then is a testimony to the grace of God.

After her time at Hugh Hefner's mansion, Krabacher became a Christian, married, and began looking for a God-honoring purpose for her life. At the urging of a friend, she made a trip to Haiti. From that initial visit came the determination to devote her life to helping Haitian children.

The Haitians did not take the blonde American beauty seriously—at first. "They thought I'd pass out candy and toys, make promises, get my name in the paper, and go home as soon as I got scared," she says. But through her tough determination, God has smiled on her mission. Her nonprofit foundation has raised millions of dollars and used the money to build six schools, three orphanages, and a hospital. Hundreds of Haitian children call her "Mama."

"I was born to do this work," says Krabacher. "I was not put here to be a Playboy centerfold."

Kenneth Behring seemed to have everything. He was affluent and generous. But something transformed him during a trip to Vietnam in 2000. The retired construction magnate was helping a relief organization bring food and medicine to a village. It was there Behring personally delivered a wheelchair to a 6-year-old polio victim. The girl's reaction changed his life.

"She got a big smile on her face. She couldn't believe it," said Behring. "It's a sensation I've never experienced with anything else." Inspired, Behring, who used to donate time and money to other charities, created the Wheelchair Foundation, which today delivers 10,000 wheelchairs a month worldwide.

More of today's philanthropists are no longer satisfied with making a charitable donation. They want to see how the money is put to use and perform the benevolence themselves. Behring is part of a new wave of "engaged philanthropists" who choose hands-on involvement over writing checks. Some experts believe that donors who see the impact of their money ultimately give more.

In The Word and Power Church, Doug Banister writes:

The spring of 1940 found Hitler's panzer divisions mopping up French troops and preparing for a siege of Great Britain. The Dutch had already surrendered, as had the Belgians. The British army foundered on the coast of France in the channel port of Dunkirk. Nearly a quarter million young British soldiers and over 100,000 allied troops faced capture or death.

The Fuerhrer's troops, only a few miles away in the hills of France, closed in on an easy kill. The Royal Navy had enough ships to save barely 17,000 men, and the House of Commons was told to brace itself for "hard and heavy tidings."

Then while a despairing world watched with fading hope, a bizarre fleet of ships appeared on the horizon of the English Channel. Trawlers, tugs, fishing sloops, lifeboats, sailboats, pleasure craft, an island ferry named Gracie Fields, and even the America's Cup challenger Endeavor, all manned by civilian sailors, sped to the rescue. The ragtag armada eventually rescued 338,682 men and returned them home to the shores of England, as pilots of the Royal Air Force jockeyed with the German Luftwaffe in the skies above the channel. It was one of the most remarkable naval operations in history.

The church, likewise, is God's ragtag armada. The church is a mix of flawed individuals on a rescue operation commissioned by God.

Known for their luxury watches, Swiss watchmaker Patek Philippe has also become well-known for its clever advertising slogan: "You never actually own a Patek Philippe; you merely take care of it for the next generation."

So it is with what we "own": money, gifts, ministries, time, and our very lives.

We need to be coronary Christians, not adrenal Christians.

Not that adrenaline is bad. It gets me through lots of Sundays. But it lets you down on Mondays. The heart is another kind of friend. It just keeps on serving—through good days and bad days, happy and sad, high and low, appreciated and unappreciated. It never lets me down. It never says, "I don't like your attitude, Piper, I'm taking a day off." It just keeps humbly lubb-dubbing along.

Coronary Christians are like the heart in the causes they serve. Adrenal Christians are like adrenaline—a spurt of energy and then fatigue. What we need in the cause of racial justice and justice for the unborn is coronary Christians. Marathoners, not just sprinters. People who find the pace to finish the race.

We have nothing to do with how much ability we've got, or how little, but with what we do with what we have. The man with great talent is apt to be puffed up, and the man with little [talent] to belittle the little. Poor fools! God gives it, much or little. "Our part is to be faithful," doing the level best with every bit and scrap. And we will be if Jesus' spirit controls.

He seems to do nothing of Himself which He can possibly delegate to His creatures. He commands us to do slowly and blunderingly what He could do perfectly and in the twinkling of an eye.

Creation seems to be delegation through and through. I suppose this is because He is a giver.