Deb Bube

Deb has been a bit different in comparison to our other guests, up to this point we have interviewed different pastors with different approaches to discipleship whereas Deb is the leadership developer and director of creative arts at Glad Tidings Church in Reading Pennsylvania. I know your probably looking at her title and thinking, “what does that mean?” well Deb directs volunteers and disciples her church.

Debs approach to discipleship is through relationship, she believes in building relationships with people and inviting them to come out and in the same way that is how she invites people to help out in church to. Her staff has developed a guide for volunteers called S.E.R.V.E; which stands for share one vision, embrace excellence, recruit others, value people, and experience growth. This guideline is used throughout the church and all ministries from the ministers to the volunteers. So how is this process fit in well the person first takes a sort of assessment, its not a test but more of a way to find the perfect fit, its called your shape. This is more than just a test don’t worry, its actual volunteer class that you attend that you will learn all about your strengths. After the class and exam you are then scheduled to meet individually and learn more about the process and your shape.

The S.H.A.P.E. form is a combination of your Spiritual Gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality and Experiences and is included in this booklet.

Spiritual Gift

God gave you a special ability called a Spiritual Gift when you began following Him.  He gave you this gift to help build up your church family and reach out to the world with Christ’s love.

Heart

God gave you a unique passion for particular activities, subjects and circumstances.  He gave you a Heart for the things you feel deeply about to help define how and where He wants you to serve Him.

Abilities

You have abilities, given to you before you accepted Christ, that God can use in specific ways to assist you in your ministry.

Personality

God needs a Personality in ministry that’s exactly like yours!  He wants to use you whether you’re an extrovert or an introvert; whether you enjoy routine or variety.

Experiences

God has placed a multitude of Experiences in your life to help mold you for ministry.  He can use the experiences in your background to help heal the hurts of others in your church and your community.

Once your involved in a ministry at Glad Tidings they don’t just allow you to blend into the volunteer numbers and never get heard from again, but instead you are an active part of that ministry. Each ministry involves their volunteers in making the ministry better they are given an opportunities to talk about the ministry each week and they cover the six thinking hats the red hat: feel, the white hat: stats, the black hat: pessimist, the green hat: growth, the blue hat: process, and finally the white hat: information.

I would love to cover the second part to Debs job but there really isn’t enough time to write it now, so I will go ahead and blog that later; if anyone is interested