ThoughtSeeds

How many days should a challenge last? How long should you be teaching each day? How on earth will you come up with enough content? Or on the flip side, how on earth will you ever fit all your content into that amount of time?! Come on in and find out some of those strategies.

Many people are familiar with the story of how "It Is Well With My Soul" came to be written. Horatio Spafford, after losing his young son to pneumonia, and nearly all of his business and possessions in the Great Fire of Chicago in the same year, was able to recover somewhat financially in the next few years, enough to make a family trip to Europe to join the revival meetings of Dwight L. Moody. Detained by business, he sent his wife and four daughters on the journey, planning to follow them a few days later. The ship his family was on sank catastrophically, and his four daughters were lost. As he sailed to join his wife in England, he passed over the spot where the ship carrying his daughters had sunk. He wrote the lyrics to this hymn during that voyage.

1. https://www.staugustine.com/story/lifestyle/faith/2014/10/17/story-behind-song-it-well-my-soul/985525007/

How can you anticipate problems and obstacles the people you're serving are likely to encounter -- or even place in their own way! -- and remove them? How does that help to serve them?

What are some examples of a "hard day" that various people in the Scriptures experienced? From the hard days that the young Hebrew captives went through as they were marched to Babylon as slaves for King Nebuchadnezzar to the hard days the Apostle Paul lived through, there is a whole gamut to draw from. Jesus experienced the ultimate "hard day" as He prepared Himself to go to the cross, and then allowed Himself to be crucified in our place. Through all of those hard days, God was with each person. He promises to walk with you, too.

How do you sell someone what they want while giving them what they need? What does that even mean? Broadly, it means when you do this, you're serving at one of the highest levels.

Ever had a hard day? Maybe sometimes, you say something like, "Man, that was a rough day." Or "Today was really a difficult day." What you really mean can run the gamut from a hard day of physical labor where you had some unexpected challenges pop up, to a rough day emotionally "just because," to a tragedy or a traumatic event happening. The spectrum is pretty wide for "having a hard day." No matter where your "hard day" falls on that spectrum, God is there with you. He is your portion forever, the One Who never fails you.

How can the specific subject of your challenge directly point and lead people right to the even bigger value to them at the end of your challenge -- what you're offering?

There are multiple reasons you could launch and run a challenge -- and $$ aren't always the main one! What reason do you have?

Every person is wired on a very basic level to avoid pain and to seek pleasure. Sometimes, we lean in toward one over the other. How do you know and understand which matters most for your "Who?"

Who are you being called to serve? How do you find out exactly who it is, and why is it important?