Mark Conner Personal Development, Soul Food

Soul Food Episode 15 – Your Why

One of my favourite items in the kitchen is the ice cream scoop. What an incredible invention! I don’t know how many bent spoons scattered the planet before some genius came up with this idea. It’s designed NOT to bend and to scoop out even the hardest ice cream effortlessly. 

Now there are a lot of other things you could use this item for. You could dig out weeds in your garden with it. You could hammer a nail in. You could use it as a paper weight. Yes, there are multiple uses for an ice cream scoop BUT it functions best when used for the purpose its designer created it for. 

In the same way, I believe YOU were created for a purpose. No one is an accident. 

Your purpose is your why – why you get up in the morning, why you do what you do … the way you do it. Every human being has an innate longing to be useful – to do something meaningful with their life. Our soul has a need for contribution – a inner yearning to make a difference somehow. 

And I find that your why is something you discover as much as something you decide. 

You night have heard the motivational statement, “You can be anything you want to be!” Really?? Come on, that’s not really true, is it. I’d rephrase it to say “You can do anything you were created to do!” 

As we think about our life it is vital that we realise we have one life to live. This is it. It’s not a dress rehearsal or practice run. 

If you’ve ever been to a cemetery and looked at the tombstones, you will have noticed that most people get their name, their birth date, their death date and a little hyphen or dash in-between those two dates. That’s all you get for your entire life! But in many ways what you do in time echoes into eternity. So make this the very best DASH you can! 

One simple way to discover your purpose is to ask yourself three questions:

  1. What you are good at? Think about your strengths, your talents, your life experiences, and your unique skills. We can’t do everything but we can all do something.
  2. What you care about? Consider your interests, your concerns, what you enjoy, what excites you, and even what annoys you or makes you angry.
  3. What are the needs of the world? Reflect on the changes that need to be made, the problems yet to be solved, the challenges still being faced.

At the intersection of your answer to those 3 questions is your purpose – your mission, your WHY. It’s worth taking the time to discover that … because when we are living with a sense of purpose we are most effective and most joyful. When we are not pursuing a worthwhile purpose, we are just going through the motions … without really living. We end up being ineffective and frustrated. 

Think about your life. What are you living for? Why do you get up in the morning? What’s it all about for you? What’s the dream you are pursuing? What has value and meaning for you?

Let’s recap our main points:

  1. You were created for a purpose.
  2. Our purpose (or our why) is something we discover as much as something we decide. 
  3. We have one life to live – let’s give it our best shot!
  4. Living with a sense of purpose increases our effectiveness and our joy.

That’s all for today. 

See you next week!

You can watch a video of this episode on the Soul Food YouTube channel.

Recommended Reading: Know Your Why by Ken Costa and Start With Why by Simon Sinek

Mark Conner Church

Growing Churches

Outreach 100 Every year, Outreach Magazine publishes a list of the 100 largest churches in America along with the 100 fastest growing churches. The 2008 research about the top 100 largest churches can be seen here or purchased here. The list of fastest growing churches can be viewed here.

Missiologist Ed Stetzer makes some insightful observations about this research in his article Behind the Numbers, including what growing churches have in common and why they have grown so rapidly.

Here are a few excerpts:

1. Behind the numbers are stories of changed lives, renewed churches, and transformed communities.

2. If current trends continue, the number of medium-sized churches will continue to decrease and the bulk of churches will tend to be large or small.

3. New sites, as well as new buildings and regional population increases – even new leadership – served as growth catalysts. 

4. Many churches are exploring the virtual world by making use of online technology for things such as internet campuses.

5. Multi-site continues to be one of the best-known strategies for church growth and expansion.

6. Interest in multi-generational churches for all ages is growing. So also is a focus on the 20-somethings, many of whom embrace megahurches who are intentional about reaching them.

7. Other common aspects of growing churches include: an outward focus, a climate of creativity, leader teams, clear vision, and the danger of leadership burnout.

Ed concludes by saying, "Regardless of your church's size or shape, Christ calls each f us to seek out fresh ways to contextualize the Gospel for a dying world. I pray that we never lose sight of that call or the people waiting to meet their Savior in or through our churches." Amen to that!

P.S. You can view a Power Point presentation of Ed's insights here.