{"id":34868,"date":"2024-01-19T14:22:07","date_gmt":"2024-01-19T22:22:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=34868"},"modified":"2024-01-19T14:28:45","modified_gmt":"2024-01-19T22:28:45","slug":"theres-gold-in-them-thar-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/theres-gold-in-them-thar-people\/","title":{"rendered":"There’s Gold in Them Thar’ People!"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

When I think about shiny, rich yellow gold, the mountains of Montana come to mind, especially the Garnet Mountain range that surrounds a tiny ghost town about 18 miles outside Missoula. This once hustling and bustling late 19th-century community now sits quiet and contained, locking history inside herself. To what and whom is her legacy?

In 1886, two British men named George (Harrison and Walker) discovered gold in South Africa. Word of their jackpot blew with the wind across the plateaus and rolling grasslands, attracting hundreds of excavators. They came with pickaxes, shovels, wheelbarrows, and plenty of labor to muscle out the golden soul of the mountain. Greed and temptation corrupted these early settlers, who had little regard for others. Every man for himself, or so it seemed, fueled disorder, chaos, and frequent fighting. The well of liquid gold soon ran dry, and the little settlement of Garnet fell to its knees. This once-future ghost town discovered its day of reckoning.

The human story of death by pride, power, and greed has been told for generations. In his book Confessions<\/em>, Saint Augustine of Hippo reminds us that inherited sin has corrupted the very core of human nature, leaving us to repeat history over and over again as water spins around the drain. While our nation and the world appear to be at a tipping point of social destruction, the Prince of Peace is already hard at work, choosing the next generation of leaders who will serve God’s people. “There should always be a pipeline of leaders being developed for God’s kingdom,” said Tom Camacho, author of Mining for Gold.<\/em>\u00a0Equipped and led by the great I Am, our obedient responsibility as Christ-followers is to mine for those leaders and prepare them for the Lord’s work through mentorship and coaching.

As the gold miners of the 19th century used fire to mold and form their precious metal into something useful, we, too, can help shape our treasures (mentees) into warriors for Jesus using Camacho’s principles of leadership coaching. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we must proclaim identity through Christ, which covers all that we do. We recognize and honor that every person was made in the image of God and has been assigned unique gifts and talents to serve the body of Christ in particular ways. And as gold is refined through heat and flames, leaders are refined by persevering through the challenges of the cross, demonstrating resilience, hope, and the goodness of our Father to onlookers. Being Christian means we courageously exhibit our love for God by loving others well. For me, that means serving my incarcerated brothers and sisters or welcoming someone who is suffering into my home for a meal and conversation. What does that look like for you?

Scripture reminds us there is nothing we can do to win a golden lottery ticket to the holy right-hand seat near Jesus, yet faith without works is as dead as that little town of Garnet. Within that still, small space of loving, breathing, and reflecting the light of God is the foundation of trust that is crucial to allowing us as mentors to do our job – help others elevate their character-building skills. In Mining for Gold<\/em>, Camacho does not miss the chance to mention that dark forces whose sole purpose is to steal, kill, and destroy are around us all. He states that “People with the best leadership potential may get sucked into spiritual battles and distractions.” Judging by its consistent nature, I believe those dark forces played a role in the demise of the town of Garnet. As the world again finds itself at the doorstep of significant changes, politically, culturally, and otherwise, will pride, power, and greed ring louder than our God-hearts?

When we focus on the right things \u2013 grace, forgiveness, and consideration of others over self, God will give us momentum toward our calling. It is part of the formula for everlasting life to die to our egos and live for the overall good of humanity. When we align with the spirit, the flow of life will happen effortlessly. There will be no mistaking his presence. Human flourishing will prevail at the hand of our creator, and an inside-out revival will leap from the fire within our hearts, which will spark passion in others that cannot be extinguished.

Can you feel it? Are you hungry for the Lord’s revival inside of you? What will you say yes to? What will you decline to create much-needed bandwidth? And finally, much like the little town of Garnet, to what and whom will be your legacy?<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I think about shiny, rich yellow gold, the mountains of Montana come to mind, especially the Garnet Mountain range that surrounds a tiny ghost town about 18 miles outside Missoula. This once hustling and bustling late 19th-century community now sits quiet and contained, locking history inside herself. To what and whom is her legacy? […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":193,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3008],"class_list":["post-34868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-camacho-dlpg03","cohort-dlgp03"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/193"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34868"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34868\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35108,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34868\/revisions\/35108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}