MIM EZINE, APRIL 3, 2005

CONTENTS

– Children’s Ministry Check-Up – Classroom Bible Resources

– Purpose-filled Ministry – Interview with Tiffany Tillman, Layout Editor of Sisters in the Lord

– Book Review – SQ: Boost Your Spiritual IQ  

– Classified Ads

To read this ezine in its entirety click here

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Ministry & Spiritual Maturity Resources

Looking for Christian magazines to help you grow and mature?  Seeking a good Christian resource to help you do ministry?  Ministry in Motion has a great assortment of Christian magazines. Visit Ministry in Motion's ezine and magazine subscription page. 

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Purpose-filled Ministry – Interview with Tiffany Tillman, Editor of Sisters in the Lord

by Teena Stewart

Recently Ministry in Motion had the opportunity to interview Tiffany Tillman, one of the editors of Sisters in the Lord Magazine. We felt that our readers would enjoy learning more about this unique and vital women's ministry.

MIM:  Your website launched in Sept 2004.  So you are still really new. Can you tell our readers about Sisters in the Lord?

Tiffany:  Sisters in the Lord began as a simple book club between two women wanting to learn more about Christ in December 2003.  The women shared their testimonies of triumph, heart-ache, love and sorrow during each session; and an overwhelming love for Jesus as well as for each other blossomed.  Secrets were shared, God was praised, and prayers were answered.  The two women were myself and my sister-in-law, Charmel.

Charmel and I lived in opposite ends of the United States, but as we talked on the phone we realized how close our relationship grew with God because of our Christian relationship with each other.  During our conversations we prayed, cried, and communed with God about situations in our past we were too afraid to confront.  It was during this time we realized that many women must feel as we do . . . battered, scarred, and afraid — yet still sanctified! 

We vowed to create an organization for women to grow together with other sisters who did not claim to be perfect or have it all together.  We wanted to begin a Christ-centered ministry designed for women who needed sisters who loved them through the best of times and the worst. 

MIM:  Your magazine's  home page indicates a purpose to “enlighten and encourage Christian women.”   Tell us about your vision and mission for this magazine. 

The Sisters in the Lord Magazine is not the “typical” magazine for women.  You won’t find tips to find a job, the latest fashion trends, or juicy tidbits of gossip.  We are a magazine dedicated to sharing real testimonies of women and men who look to honor and serve our Lord.  We look for those who wish to share their stories to help others and to spread the good Gospel of Christ.

We provide stories of different genres to encourage our readers to remain steadfast in the eyes of God and not to despair during turbulent times.  We’ve provided articles from writers who have overcome pornography addiction, alcohol and drug addictions, co-dependency, suicide attempts, depression and other traps used by the adversary to keep us away from Christ.  It is our mission to continue this work until God calls us otherwise.

MIM:  One of the features of Sister's in the Lord is a column called Highlighting their Service. Can you tell me a little bit about that?

Tiffany:  Our Highlighting their Service column focuses on those who serve God through missions, outreach, or evangelism.  We highlight Christians who may go unnoticed as they often lack 'star power' but help God in a big way with little or no recognition. 

We have interviewed people with amazing stores such as a woman who helps young women choose life over abortion for their unborn child, a family who adopted a child from Africa, and even young teenage sisters who visited New Zealand and Uganda to spread the good Gospel of Christ to atheists and Muslims.  The column opens your eyes to the work Christ completes through us 2000 years after His death.

MIM:  In recent years there seems to be a decline in the number of women’s magazines, especially in the Christian genre.  Any ideas as to why?

With the hustle and bustle of the average woman’s day, many women use the internet as their information resource.  Today’s woman spends more time in front of their computer at work and at home learning, shopping, and communicating.  It’s the way of our time and has birthed very busy women.  I would expect smaller magazines are unable to compete and discontinue publication as corporate-backed magazines gain popularity and market to a wider audience, especially on the internet.

MIM:  Where do you feel the Sisters in the Lord Organization is headed?

Tiffany:  God has called us in many directions.  We have received earnest interest from readers and investors to publish our magazine off-line, in print.  We plan to open a site dedicated to Scripture and the sharing of testimonies by people who are not writers; a site we call Walking Testimonies. 

We will also open an online Christian bookstore and construct a prayer and praise department to receive prayer requests. And, as God continues to direct us, we envision sponsoring conferences for women to share their testimonies as united sisters of Christ.  Prayerfully, we hope to provide college scholarships for women in the areas of Theology, Nursing, Education, and the Arts by the year 2007.

MIM:  Is your primary objective to reach Christian women?

Tiffany:  Our goal is to seek out ALL women who wish to learn about Jesus and His work to save souls, both saved and unsaved. We envision helping young women lead Christian-based lives in all areas of life by providing women financial and educational support, structured reading material highlighting Bible specific literature, and prayer. In the future, we hope to start evangelic organizations that will introduce Christ to those who’ve never known Him. 

MIM:  What are some of the biggest challenges you see facing women today?  How have those changed from, say, 5 years ago, or have they changed?

Tiffany:  Young women today consider fornication, abortion, drugs, and abuse a more plausible reality rather than modesty, purity, self-control, and a Christian faith.  To enable this group to thrive – or, in a few cases, survive – young women must actively choose a lifestyle promoting self-love, confidence, positive support-systems, and real-life strategies to combat an ever-worsening spread of non-Christian, non-faith based organized establishments which lead women down the wrong path. 

MIM: What are some things churches can do to meet these current needs?

Tiffany:  While the work of Christian churches directly impacts the quality of faith for every woman, the sector is finding it increasingly difficult to reach out to young women in an era overwhelmingly inundated with violence, sex, and abuse as a standard norm.  Today’s Christian church should address common but unspoken issues such as sexually transmitted diseases, abortion, and single parenting.  To aide churches in providing relevant, Christian material for its members, Sisters in the Lord plans to distribute brochures directly addressing these unspoken issues later this year.

Likewise, churches should not ignore web strategies for evangelism.  We must not ignore the times we live in – nearly 1 billion people use the internet!  To effectively present the Gospel, we must understand the context of our culture, and our culture is moving swiftly to online resources as their sole source of information.  I encourage anyone in Ministry, especially those in leadership positions at their church, to learn more about Internet Evangelism Day 2005.  Visit http://ied.gospelcom.net/index.php to learn more.

MIM:  What are some of the biggest challenges you have faced as a woman?  How have those challenges molded you into who you are?

Tiffany:  Before I knew of Christ, I lived a dangerous lifestyle – one which left me oversexed, greedy, covetous, and unknowingly spiraling down a path to Hell.  Living in the “World” left me with my own set of bodily and emotional consequences, but God awakened me from my ruinous path the year I turned 21.  With Christ’s healing compassion I do not suffer from these consequences anymore.

Because of God’s leading and my past, I feel a personal responsibility to reach out to women who do not know Jesus.  I want other women to know, as I came to realize at 21, you don’t have to suffer alone.  You can come to Christ, He will heal you, and you will gain a family of brothers and sisters in the Lord who love you and love God.  

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If you wish to learn more about Sisters in the Lord, please visit their website at http://www.sistersinthelord.org.  Sisters in the Lord's purpose is to be living, breathing, walking testimonies of Christ.  They are women helping women come to Christ!  Contact Tiffany Tillman at:  tiffany@sistersinthelord.org.

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Teena Stewart is a published writer, a speaker, a ministry leader, and the editor for Ministry in Motion. To learn more about her speaking or seminars visit Speaking Topics of Jeff and Teena Stewart.  You can contact Teena at smartwords@sbcglobal.net

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Children’s Ministry Check-Up – Classroom Bible Resources

By Karen Wingate

For the past twenty-five years, children's bible curriculum has put more of
an emphasis on life application.  Instead of drilling kids on Bible facts,
Bible lessons have focused on presenting the Bible as relevant to our daily
lives.  In more recent years, curriculum has also made the effort to
simplify Bible activities, catering to those children who have difficulty
reading or writing.  A teacher can waste a lot of precious time helping
kids struggle through reading a Bible passage or writing lengthy answers to
deep questions.

I'm glad to see these changes in children's curriculum.  We're starting to
think about the needs of our audience rather than just the material we have
to present. We want kids to see how knowing Jesus can change their lives,
that learning about the Bible is much more than just a history lesson.

Yet Bible content is still important. Part of our goal as teachers is to
help kids be able to use and understand the Bible on their own.  Bible
dictionaries, atlases, and background commentaries are great helps for
understanding the culture in which the Bible was written and understanding
the deeper Bible concepts. Kids don't have to wait until they are adults to
be able to use Bible helps such as concordances and Bible
dictionaries.  There are some wonderful resources available written
especially for children.

Having some key Bible resources in your classroom will help you be a better
teacher and will provide resources for those kids who are ready for a
higher level. You can use these resources to give you background
information for a lesson.  A children's Bible dictionary or atlas can help
you express Bible definitions or facts in simple language. You can
introduce your kids to Bible study helps by including learning centers that
ask them to look up information from a dictionary or a concordance.  This
will teach them how to use those resources on their own. Also, if an
advanced child finishes an activity early, you can let that child browse
through a Bible customs book, Bible trivia book or a Bible atlas.

I recommend that teachers have the following Bible study aids in the
classroom.  If money is a problem, start small.  Make it your aim to buy
one book every six months.  Or, talk to your children's ministry department
head about starting a book fund.  Ask an adult Sunday School class to make
it a class project to start a book fund for the Children's department.

Here are some basic reference books that I recommend you have in your
classroom:

1.  Bible handbook.  A Bible handbook will give a broad overview of the
Bible along with a wealth of information about Bible facts, how the Bible
was written and translated and basic background information about each book
of the Bible.  I recommend Halley's Bible Handbook (NIV), Zondervan 2003 or
Larry Richards' Illustrated Bible Handbook,  Thomas Nelson, 1998.

2.  Bible Dictionary.  This resource will help you explain big bible words
with easy definitions. Your kids will be more likely to pick the dictionary
up if it has large print and pictures.  Be sure to purchase one that is
aimed toward children.

3.  Bible Concordance.  Get an abridged concordance for your
classroom.  Your purpose is to teach your kids how to use a concordance so
it does not need to be exhaustive. If you use the NIV bible translation,
try to purchase an NIV concordance as well.  Again, there are concordances
designed at a child's level.

4.  Bible atlas:  Maps can bring Bible places alive as kids see that Bible
events happened in real places.  The geography buffs in your class could
lose track of time as they pour over a good Bible atlas.  Choose one
appropriate for the age of the kids in your class.  Make sure the maps are
easy to read.  Consider Nelson's Complete Book of Bible Maps and Charts
(1996)  as an inexpensive resource; however there are other atlases that
would be more at a child's level such as Tyndale's  48 page Bible Atlas (2001).

5.  Manners and Customs book.  This is my personal favorite resource!  So
many scriptures are misunderstood because Bible students don't understand
the cultural background of the Bible.  When we realize that ten gold coins
represented a woman's dowry, we see why she was so frantic to find her lost
coin as depicted In Jesus' parable.  There are several very excellent Bible
Manners and Customs books available.  Choose one for your kids that uses
simple language, has pictures, and has a good index. I would also choose
one that is organized by topic rather than by chronology. I personally
prefer Ralph Gower's The New Manners and Customs of the Bible, Moody Press,
1987.

With these Bible resources, you can make learning about the Bible exciting
and fun. You'll feel more confident in your teaching too as you are able to
let these resources become your personal trainer, equipping you to present
God's truth more fully to your students.

Karen Wingate is a teacher of teachers. She is known for her off the edge activity based teaching that is still solidly based on the Word of God. Currently, she is writing curriculum for the Salvation Army’s new Sonday’s Cool programs, teaches a high School Sunday School class and oversees the Youth Ministry Team at her local church near Canton, Ohio.

kwingate@neo.rr.com

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Book Review – SQ: Boost Your Spiritual IQ  

By Dave Gilpin, Monarch, 2003, 0825462223, 157 pages

Reviewed by Shane Parker

SQ: Boost Your Spiritual IQ is the first work authored by Dave Gilpin, who leads Hope City Church in Liverpool, Manchester, and Sheffield, UK .  Gilpin’s wife, Jenny, is the National Women’s Director for the Assemblies of God,   Great Britain . 

Throughout the list of endorsements found at the beginning of the book, one descriptive term is pervasive—challenge.  Gilpin creatively challenges “status quo” spirituality through a uniquely provocative approach.  Utilizing “21 of the world’s most popular sayings,” the author confronts a stagnant life of faith by stretching the perception (s) of God and the believer’s relationship to Him (16).  Each chapter is brief (less than 10 pages), and is written in a manner well-suited for pastors as well as the parishioners.  Because the text offers a fresh perspective many currently held practices, the mature believer may benefit the most from this work.

Gilpin acknowledges that his intent is not to offer an argument for positive or possibility thinking.  Instead, he offers biblical examples that support such assertions as “Beggars Can Be Choosers” (Chapter 5).  Here, the focus is upon prayerful dependence upon God, in all matters.  The author looks to the text of Luke 11 for the substance of his claim. 

The intent of offering a “faith” paradigm shift, according to the author, is to increase the reader’s “spiritual intelligence.”  Gilpin defines this concept as, “a form of intelligence that works like an engine strategically employing every aspect of wisdom, knowledge, inspiration and application, resulting in the power to create hit after hit” (16).  In order to assess the reader’s current “SQ,” the author includes a web address which contains an assessment/test.

The author’s work does effectively challenge many inaccurate notions of life, faith, and dependence upon God.  For this daringly refreshing approach, Gilpin is to be applauded.  The text of “SQ” would serve any reader as an instrument of self-evaluation and a catalyst for increased spiritual vitality.