Showing posts with label First Mansfield. Show all posts
Showing posts with label First Mansfield. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Getting To Know Me - Day 6 My Top 5 Influences

Day 6 - My Top 5 Influences

I have taken a Blog Challenge to blog daily for 30 days mostly about myself so that you and others can get to know me a bit better. Tell a friend about www.jacobfields.org this month, or like and interact with me on my Facebook ministry page at Facebook.com/Jacobwfields 

I am going to leave off the Sunday School answer that is Jesus, because he is of course my primary influence and he is working in and through the names I will list here. This list is as of today and any one of you could move up or down in this list at any given point in time.

My Top 5 Influences
  1. My Wife - Kim - She is who I spend the most of my time with and she is very different from me in many ways that I can learn from. She challenges me to think about things from a different perspective and I share my life with her so she takes the cake in this list.
  2. Forrest - Steve - He was my youth director from 9th grade through half of my Sr Year. He discipled me in every sense of the word. He taught me through sermons, through bible study, through retreats, he inspired me through his example and through our friendship that continues even now he shows me God's grace and love. I get most of my personality from him and a good portion of my theology as well.
  3. The Tims - Tim Palmer and Tim Kennedy - I get my heart for others from Tim Palmer's example, the way he prays with such a fervent heart and preaches out of a deep place of personal humility and love for others has made me a better person, a better Christian, and a better minister of the Gospel. Tim Kennedy is what got me through every rough time I had at McMurry, from welcoming me when I toured his friendly smile and energy helped me to know that McM was where God was guiding my life. When I felt like I was all alone I went to the RLC office and always found a friend there. Even if Tim wasn't in his office, he created an environment where good people just wanted to be around and I am so thankful for all of the ministry that he did for and with me during college.
  4. My Mom- I am so much like her that sometimes it bugs me. I get so many good things from my mom, my work ethic, my independence, my good looks. And best of all, she brought me to church. She stood behind me and my bad behavior when a Sunday School teacher told me I was going to hell because I couldn't sit still and then took me to FUMC Mansfield where I was able to grow and discover the richness of life that can be found in Jesus.
  5. Mission Arlington Bible Study Teacher - Rod - Rod came door to door in the apartment complex I grew up at to invite the kids to a bible study that he was going to do at the apartments. I turned him away I don't know how many times, but eventually I found out that he had Mrs Baird's Snacks. So I went, Turns out to get the snack you had to remember a bible verse from the previous week, so I did. Then we did this thing where if you look up a bible verse fastest you got a quarter, so if I remembered a verse and was the fastest only twice I would have a snack and enough to get a drink from the vending machine, SO I did. Rod gave me a great example of outreach, he gave me my first bible, encouraged me to know Jesus and not just go to church. And why he rounds out the top 5 is because of a song that I still sing when things get rough.
"With Jesus in your boat you can smile through the storm, smile through the storm, smile through the storm. 

With Jesus in your boat you can smile through the storm, 
when your sailing home."
 
As Always thanks for your time and giving this a read. If you enjoyed it share it with friends, you can do so easily with one of the buttons below. I pray that you will embrace life in the Love and Grace offered to you through Jesus Christ, and that you will always remember Jeremiah 29:11.  – For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, Plans to Proper You and not for harm, Plans with Hope for the Future.