The 4 P's of Ministry

I'm a proud graduate of The University of Southern Mississippi...THAT'S RIGHT, the same place that passed Brett Favre. What an awesome school!

It was an enlightening time and a great time to be alive. I was involved with Temple Baptist Church, the Revelation Ensemble, worked at the best restaurant in Hattiesburg (at the time), Chesterfield's, and was a Marketing Major.

One of the few things that I remember from my Marketing classes was The 4 P's of Marketing...Product, Place, Promotion, and Price...what you sold, where you sold it, how you advertised it, and how much it was. There are very few things that are THIS simple, but it worked then and is continuing to work.

In our Christian walk, we have a few of these as well. Such as ACTS for the steps of prayer (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication) or FAITH evangelism (primarily, Forgiveness, Acceptance, Impossible, Turn, and Heaven).

My prayer time this morning gave me another. The 4 P's of Ministry...Pray, Prepare, Praise, and Present.

Prayer...it should be a daily pleasure of relating with our Lord...a time to converse. If you don't know how to pray or journal, that's OK. In Luke 11 it is recorded that the Disciples didn't know either. Dig this, they asked Jesus to teach them. Imagine learning from the MAN! Remember, if Jesus did it, it's probably worth doing.

Prepare...we study for tests, take work home to ready ourselves for a sales presentation. As a worship leader, I must prepare for our times of worship. In this preparation, journaling is essential. It keeps your mind focused on conversing with God and HIS preparation of you for the day and upcoming ministry opportunity.

Praise...how else can we praise God if we hadn't prayed and prepared our hearts, minds, teams for the ultimate Love Feast! Isaiah 42:14 (MSG) says "I've been quiet long enough. I've held back, biting my tongue. But now I'm letting loose, letting go..." Lift It Up!

Present...it doesn't stop at the exit doors of church. "Go Ye therefore..." Why do we keep what we have to ourselves? Sorry, but doesn't the Bylaws state that we can't fellowship with sinners? Not Hardly!

Share your joy from when you Pray to God, Prepare for God, Praise of God, and Present our God.

Come on folks...(looking in the mirror again here)...What are your 4P's of Ministry.