Finding Your Gift

James Barnett knows what it’s like to live with a lot and with a little. Though he grew up attending church and serving on mission trips during his high school and college years, James’s lifestyle didn’t match Jesus’s call to act differently from the world. Following his graduation from college, he started working at a commercial banking institute, earning almost a six-figure salary. Yet, James was unhappy in his career and went on a mission trip to Nicaragua. There a prophetess prayed over him and, over time, he developed a conviction to sell what he had and live with the poor on the streets. After running out of money, he designed and started selling “Clothe Your Neighbor as Yourself” shirts that funded his ongoing service to the poor and would later become a nonprofit organization that supports the Kenyan Knitting Project and the Brigade Project (Katy Steele, “James Barnett, a Man Who Gave Up Everything He Owned to Live on the Streets and Love the Poor,” Reporting For The Public Good [blog], April 23, 2012, https://publicgoodreporting.wordpress.com/2012/04/23/james-barnett-a-man-who-gave-up-everything-he-owned-to-live-on-the-streets-and-love-the-poor/). James used his gifts, skills, and passion to serve those often forgotten by society. Where will you utilize what God has given to you to serve others?

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