Saturday, November 29, 2014

Spirit Savvy Network … finding my mission

by Dale Shumaker

As our life progresses, we have experiences that shape who we are and what we will be. The mission behind the concept of the Spirit Savvy Network has had influencers. Life experiences, people, circumstances that have influenced me on what I am doing. I share this as my personal example of what has shaped me for what I do and why I do it. You have them too. After reading mine, I am interested to know about yours.

What influences us on what we become comes out of dramatic and traumatic experiences. They give us hints on what we are being sculptured to doThree dramatic, and one traumatic experience made an imprint on my spirit about the architecture of the Spirit Savvy Network. And these are the gears, the driving force that has kept me on this task over the last couple decades.

1. My association with a denomination's Spiritual leaders, a dramatic experience.
I had the privilege to learn from the Spiritual leaders at a denominational headquarters where I worked for over a decade. As a communications specialist, I was constantly preparing presentations for visionaries of what God does through us. From over 13 years of sitting in on planning sessions and hearing their points of view, much of what I learned then has become who I am today.

2. Coming close to dying was a traumatic episode in my life.
It dramatically changed me and my perspective on life. All I see now will go away some day. Although what I do now affects the rewards for life that come in this life and after death. There is a life that follows, better than this one... this became a vivid certainty to me.

I became very obsessed with studying the Bible. I began seeing things in a way I didn't really see before.

In the Bible I saw a lifestyle formula, a way to do life, and a Spiritual-operating system for what we call business, creating commerce, living life as a personal mission.
We are born for a purpose, a mission. God gave us principles and a power for making everything work, and work well.

When we follow the principles in a practical way in our lives, everything we do brings greater fulfillment, happiness, and a reason for being who we are. Life is more for others, not just all about me. I now see things that can improve life for those around me.

Possibilities run rampant... We live through God's abilities, not just our own.

When in prayer, I began seeing things in Spirit. I saw life going beyond what is... to what it could be.

(It felt like I was being born again. See the Bible, John 3.)  

I became convinced each person is born with a mission assignment. True happiness and exhilaration in living comes when we live in the Mission God has stamped on our hearts to do.

3. An unlikely mentor shows up bringing a dramatic turn around to my view of who we are, what we do, and how we do it. My college president came back in my life. As his last life work, he was molding an ideal model of what the Body of Christ is and should be.

He personally mentored me on many of the principles I follow today, of which I use in the Spirit Savvy Network. The principles can be applied as a business model, a mission model, a way-of-life model for living in our homes and communities.

A major lesson my college president taught me was to learn to hear God's Voice, recognize His Voice, to trust the Spirit's voice. We can trust what the Spirit tells us. (see John 10) 
A reason for my existence was reborn... to show others how The Body of Christ principles affect all aspects of our lives.

4.One gift of mine that stood out from the others was the ability to create, design, produce videos. It brought a dramatic realization I was gifted at communicating vision to others.

In the prime of my career I wrote scripts for video productions… which I also directed and produced. Others benefited because of this gift. From a children's home to a technology company and Fortune 500 company; money was raised to build a new children's home,  a business grew rapidly over five years, and employees learned safety rules for their company. I could take an idea, create a process for its completion, with a finished product better than the original concept.

Being aware of this, I felt I could use this ability to assist others to write their own life script to fulfill their mission, and train them on how to get there.

Putting these life experiences together (the dramatic with the traumatic), my mission-purpose become self evident. I was made for this and life has prepared me for it.
... a mission to assist, train, support others in creating their own Spirit Savvy Network that fulfills their mission in life

A God-inspired mission has an incredible vision for what can be. It is usually something noble, bigger than us. But, with God's Spirit, where all things are possible, we join with God in an exciting, life-fulfilling adventure. Making the world better... around us and for others. And living in preparation for what is yet to come.

Thus, the mission of a Spirit Savvy Network
(Note Noah, Moses, Joshua, Jesus, the Apostles ... each on a mission.)


This is how I want to help you.

Be an assistant scriptwriter for your life movie that can be a world changer. To write your vision so others can see it (Habakkuk 2).   And be your personal trainer, a support person, and Spiritual ally. 
As in the Bible, many had scribes to assist them. I would like to be your Magnificent Mission scribe.

As you capture your mission, advance your value, you will make a difference in building a world you so passionately would like to see.

To do this, you create your own Spirit Savvy Network, a dynamic Spiritually-driven, Bible-based process that, when mastered, drives your mission.
It's all in the "doing"… putting principles to practice and partnering with another person.

Not all things are possible with man, but, with God, all things are possible.
(see Matthew 19)


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