Riley, I would love to do what you do, but I dont have the gift of evangelism.” The words came from a well-meaning Christian who was referring to my street ministry. At the time I was training people in evangelism at my church every Friday night. We were taking teams into the city and seeing fifty to one hundred people pray to receive Jesus every weekend. I told that man that he could do what I dobecause he was a believer.

The Bible says, “And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord kept working with them and confirming the message by the attesting signs and miracles that closely accompanied [it]” (Mark 16:20, AMP). Amen. Signs and miracles will follow us as believers!

God has given certain gifts of service to us as believers. Take a look at them: “Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip Gods people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ” (see Ephesians 4:1112, NLT).

The Bible tells us that these five-fold ministry gifts are for the “perfecting of the saints” to do the work of the ministry. Based on what we just read, the job of the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers is to teach, train and equip you as a congregation member to do the work of building up the body.

But there is no such gift called “the gift of evangelism” recorded in the Bible. Its not your pastors job to fill the empty seats in your church. Its not your pastors job to reach your city.

Its yours.

Now, when Im sent to a church to do evangelism training, Im sent as an evangelist. But when Im not standing in a pulpit under the office of an evangelist, and Im simply going about my day, Im constantly listening to the Lord as to who He wants me to minister to. The Lord speaks to us constantly; all we need to do is tune in a little closer so we can hear what our assignment is for the day.

My family and I recently went to lunch at a local Italian restaurant. The place had just opened, and we wanted to try it out. The waiter seated us and handed us the menus.

I was in one of those moods in which I didnt want to even look at the menu; I just wanted to ask the waiter for a recommendation. When the waiter came to our table, my wife and daughters ordered from the menu. Then young man turned to me. “Sir,” he asked, “what would you like?”

I asked him what he would recommend. Happy to oblige me, he pointed to a particular item on the menu and said to me, “Sir, if I was on death row and this was the last meal I would ever eat, this is what I would order.” I was shocked by his comment about being on death row. But I knew at that point what the Lord was about to do. I ordered what the waiter had suggested, and it turned out to be an amazing dish.

When the waiter came back to the table for the check, I had another question for him: “If you were on death row and these were your last few moments to live, where do you think youd spend eternity?” The young man looked down and told me, “Im really not sure.” I shared with him the Scriptures from Romans from the script our ministry uses. And then I led him in a prayer to receive Jesus. During the prayer our waiter began to cry, and as he lifted his head, he said, “Thank you so much. I was just thinking about my life. I know I need God.” My family and I got ready to leave, and the waiter stopped by our table one more time. “I believe God sent you here,” he said.

God wants to use you today! Be bold and courageous! You dont need to have a five fold ministerial calling with a “gift” in order to see miracles and signs following. All you need do is listen to the little promptings you get every day from the Lordand then be obedient!

The main focus of most business meetings with customers, is to present ideas or discuss some important issues regarding the company. They are set-up to establish working relationships and to help in the growth and success of a business. Therefore, meetings and presentations should be carried out in a way that is professional and aimed at impressing the clients. The distribution of corporate gifts during a meeting is a great way to help obtain this goal.

Corporate gifts at meetings can promote a company in a positive light and show the clients how highly they are regarded. Gaining any type of advantage in business is vital for any company’s prosperity and must be taken whenever possible. That is why business meetings are the perfect arena. It provides personal interaction with a company and its customers.

There any many types of business gifts one can choose. Many will go with a specific promotional gift that has their company logo on it. This is perfectly fine and will go a long way in making a lasting impression on your clients, but do not forget to use your own creative thinking when deciding the gifts. Thinking outside the box or even making the gifts personal will also achieve a lasting impression; maybe even a better one.

Making the gifts apart of the meeting is a good strategy. For example, having padfolio folders available with the company logo embedded on the front. Allowing the client to take notes when ever it is needed. Company logo pens will always come in handy, as well as calculators, business organizers or even a briefcase for the client. In case they need to take any relevant documents with them when they leave. Any one of these gifts or a combination of them, should make a positive and lasting impression on the client.

Depending on the meeting and the client, you can try to make the gifts more personal. But in order to do that you will have to know the client you are meeting. If you do not know anything personal about the client, make a quick call to discover what the client’s hobbies are or what they like to do outside of work. Making a gift personal will show the client that they are not just a regular customer, but someone special, someone you want to build a strong and successful working relationship with. A client that receives a personal corporate gift will tend to remember a company in a positive manner.

One thing you should try to avoid when giving out corporate gifts at meetings, is low quality gifts. Low quality gifts, does not mean cheap. Every company will have a budget for corporate gifts. Sometimes that budget means you will not be able to afford expensive gifts. That is perfectly fine, as long as the gifts are of good quality. This means they should at least have some level of usefulness and durability. Low quality gifts can disrupt your meetings and even harm the reputation of a company. Choosing corporate gifts wisely for a corporate meeting will help make sure clients leave impressed and with lasting positive memories about the company.

It’s the merriest time of the year once again and in a few short weeks, office holiday parties will start again. Are you thinking of giving gifts for your officemates? Or is your office holding a Christmas gift exchange game? If so, let me share to you some ideas to help you make your office gift giving appropriate and less stressful.

1. If you’re holding an exchange gift game, don’t overspend. If your office has imposed a limit to the amount of money then you should stay within that limit.

2. Consider the recipient’s interests and hobbies. Nothing would make them appreciate the gift more than knowing that you went out of your way to give something that you think they would like.

3. Avoid giving gag gifts. Some people might not take it well so avoid giving such gifts in the workplace.

4. Wrap your gift. Wrapping your gift makes it more presentable and gives it an element of surprise and mystery.

5. Avoid giving food as gifts. Some people might be allergic to certain foods that you don’t know of so it’s better to be safe and not give something edible.

6. Consider giving gift certificates. This is considered to be the safest gift that you can give to anyone. You could give them a gift certificate from a popular coffee shop or a bookstore.

7. Avoid giving gifts from thrift stores and dollar stores. You don’t want the recipient to think that you’re cheap don’t you?

8. Consider giving practical and gifts that the recipient could really use such as notepads, calendars, umbrellas and stress squeeze balls.

Giving gifts to the people you work with at the office is a simple way of saying “Thank You”. You don’t have to spend a lot in buying gifts because it’s the thought that counts. Happy shopping!