Another Kingdom Assignment Launch!!

In November 2008, my 90 year old mother went home to be with the Lord and I had the responsibility of settling her estate between my sister and myself. The estate was pretty small, but I committed to giving off of the top of my portion to Kingdom work. I knew that my church and a few ministries that my wife Christy and I felt were important would be recipients of this financial blessing, but I kept sensing that God wanted me to do something special and radical with a portion of it. As we got closer to the time that the estate was probated and that funds would be available for distribution, the question of “what and how much” kept gnawing at me. I really wanted to do something out of the ordinary that would maximize the impact of the gift. Quite frankly, one of my concerns was that I didn’t want it to be about me or bring any attention to me. Although it wouldn’t be a significant amount anyway by the world’s standards, my prayer was that the gift could be given in a way that would please God and multiply His Kingdom.

In early April, my friends Robert and Lynette Brown invited me to attend the 20th Anniversary celebration service at Ponte Vedra Presbyterian Church. Robert told me that Denny Bellesi, a pastor from California who had become known for the Kingdom Assignment, would be speaking and that they’d be launching a Kingdom Assignment at the service. I remember that my church, Christian Family Chapel, had conducted a “reverse offering” a few years ago, where people actually removed envelopes of cash from the offering plate, rather than placing money into the plate. Each envelope contained a $10, $20 or $50 bill, and we were instructed to pray about how God might want us to use it and report back what was done. From my recollection, there was about a 5x – 10x return on the amount of money “given back” to attendees. All of this got me thinking about how my gift could be multiplied.

I was scheduled to speak and teach at a local bible study meeting about six weeks after the Ponte Vedra Presbyterian celebration service and I found myself thinking that perhaps God wanted me to use this Kingdom Assignment concept as part of the teaching. I had already selected the topic and had entitled it “Everything in Order and Finishing with a Flurry”, discussing our responsibility to get our financial houses in order and leave a legacy through our successor stewards. God made it very clear that this concept of leaving a legacy fit perfectly into the Kingdom Assignment. So, there it was. I began re-reading the Kingdom Assignment book that I received through Robert, sought counsel from several folks, including Robert and Lynette, who had been intimately involved with the Kingdom Assignment effort at PVPC, and prepared diligently for how I would present this assignment to the Jacksonville Business Fellowship group on Friday, June 12th. When I shared this with my wife Christy, her initial reaction was “Are you crazy?”, which didn’t exactly confirm what I thought God was telling me to do. Once she read the Kingdom Assignment book, it became clear to her that this was the path that God wanted us to take.

On June 12th, I shared the lesson about preparing for eternity with the Jacksonville Business Fellowship group and intertwined the parable of the talents from Matt 25:14-30. I emphasized the importance of faithfulness in using what we know is not our own, and that one day, we’ll all have to give an account of what we did with the Master’s resources. Then I asked for 10 volunteers to come forward and gave each one an envelope with $50. I explained the Kingdom Assignment and how each of us has opportunities to multiply the Master’s money for His purposes. In the week’s that have followed, stories have been shared of how the Lord has been leading those on assignment with different ideas of how to use God’s money. One person has already reported that the $50 has grown to well over $1000! We’ll have our celebration meeting on Friday, September 11th and it will be exciting to hear how God has worked in and through each of these 10 volunteers in different ways.

I believe that this experience with the Kingdom Assignment has confirmed in me the desire to help others understand money’s role as a tool in our lives to fulfill God’s purposes and calling and not to be the goal itself. In my role as Area Director of Crown Financial Ministries, we teach God’s principles of handling money, and I am more convinced than ever that a greater understanding and application of the Bible will help defeat the bondage of materialism in the lives of both Christians and non-Christians alike. What an awesome assignment that is!!!

Jim Whorton
St Augustine, FL
July 2009