CHRISTIAN ACHIEVERS – Braden Caldwell Ministries

The primary purpose of “ChristianAchievers” is to “help Christian Achievers fulfill their God-given purposes, dreams and goals”.

An “Achiever” is simply a person who wants to “be all they can be”, “do all they can do”, and “achieve all they can in life”. Generally they are positive thinkers, with an attitude of “investing” their lives in things worthwhile, not just “spending” time living life. Generally they do NOT spell success with dollar signs. A great number of achievers happen to be entrepreneurs and salespeople, simply because those were the best routes they saw for themselves to achieve the successes they wanted. However, not all salespeople are true achievers. Neither are all self-employed business owners either necessarily achievers (or entrepreneurs). As well, there are indeed many true achievers in other professions, from teaching to health care, from service trades to ministry. Further, not all achievers are “currently” or “apparently” successful, since many true achievers dare to try great endeavours and hence often fail at least several times before finally succeeding.

A “Christian Achiever” could be defined as a person who exemplifies the above character and action, but also as a Christian (taking note that a Christian isn’t simply someone who “believes” in Jesus Christ, but who “follows” Jesus Christ). A Christian Achiever may either be an active Christian or quite disenfranchised from any church (ChristianAchievers is also purposed to be an “outreach” ministry to the disenfranchised and “unchurched”). A Christian Achiever is definitely success and goal- oriented, but with a God-given purpose in their existing career, business or ministry. Being a true Christian Achiever is fundamentally a matter of “attitude” as expressed in 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind”.

What is “SUCCESS” to the “Christian Achiever”?

Maybe surprisingly, true and full success for a Christian is NOT simply having a relationship with God and Jesus Christ. While such a vibrant relationship is indeed fundamental, even requisite, to achieving true success, the relationship is only being “the branch that abides in the vine of Christ”. As Christians, we are accountable for our service, our allegiance and our loyalty to our Lord Jesus Christ, and not to earn our salvation, but because He has redeemed us. We are not only redeemed for eternal life, but we are also redeemed for service to Him now in this temporal life.

Being successful as a Christian, as a Christian Achiever, is:

“Achieving God’s purpose for YOUR life”

Achieving “success” for the Christian is “bearing fruit” bearing fruit for God’s glory. To help put a perspective on incorporating both the relationship (“being”) aspect and the action / achievement (“doing”) aspect in your life, think of a flowerpot. Rooted down in that soil, beneath the service, is our relationship with God the Father and with Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord. Indeed that is where the base of our relationship should stay “in the pot”, deeply rooted with Them. But if that’s where we “stay”, then we fail. As a plant, we need to “grow” and to “bear fruit”, “to do”! (As the Bible repeatedly says, we will be judged according to the fruits we bear and those who do not bear good fruit will be cut down and cast into the fire.)

True and full success for you as a Christian Achiever is the complete achievement of all that God would have you do – for Him and His glory.

We will be held accountable for what we do, what we don’t do and what we could have done here on this earth in our present lives. We will know we have been successful when we hear these words addressed to our achievements for God:

“Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord.” (Referring to the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25:23).

Remember too, Matthew 16:27:

“For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.”

(“Works” here is definitely not connoting any manner of earning salvation by such works, but rather simply what God would have us “do” in service for Him.)

As a Christian – or as a “Christian Achiever” – ask yourself this question:

“What great thing does God want you to achieve here in this life – for Him and His glory?”

So how can you know what God’s will is for you to achieve for Him? Certainly, what God would have one Christian “achieve” for Him might be quite different from that which He expects from someone else. To know His will for you to achieve, start by looking in two directions: “inward” and “outward”. First, look inward to see what God has prepared you for what talents, gifts, experiences, desires, resources, etc. are yours and are perhaps unique to you? (What can you do better than most people? What’s your specialty?) Second, look outward to the world around you: What need can you help fill? What hurts can you help heal? What problems can you help solve?

Find a need and fill it.
Find a hurt and heal it.
Find a problem and solve it.

The answer to what God would have you do might well lie in the match of answers to those two sets of questions.

Within Christendom, we see two types of Christians:

Those champion Christian Achievers who are successfully fulfilling God’s will for their lives
Those more pitiful Christians who are falling far short of achieving for God what He would have them strive to achieve.

Why do some, even most Christians fall into the latter category? Why dont they even try? The Bible and current observation give four main reasons:

Fear
Love of this world, family or other things more than love of service to God
Pre-occupation with the problems of life and trying to live life as a do-it-yourself proposition
Not fully trusting God to provide, protect and lead them in their service to Him.

As commissioned throughout Scripture, as Christians – as ChristianAchievers – we are to:

DARE TO DO HIS WILL!

One of the fundamental purposes of ChristianAchievers is to challenge as many people as possible to DARE TO DO GREAT THINGS FOR GOD!

Christian Achievers-In-Action

Most Christian Achievers are quite happy (and perhaps even very successful) in their present endeavours, but would like “something more”. For some, “something more” will be some form of “help” in their endeavour from technical support to networking contacts, from simple encouragement to access to venture capital. For others, “something more” will simply be the enjoyment of fellowship with other like-minded Christian Achievers. For yet others, “something more” will be the opportunity to minister and mentor other Christian Achievers in a purpose-filled program like this. And for still others, “something more” will be an added dimension of “fun, adventure and romance” that they are simply not now enjoying in their present lives.

One of the prime outreach programs of ChristianAchievers is to reach other Christian “achievers” and “to help them fulfill their God-given dreams and purposes”. We first want to start by helping them with their existing purposes, dreams and goals as well as their challenges, problems and frustrations. The achievers we might reach through “Christian Achievers-In-Action” (CAIA) might indeed be sales people, entrepreneurs, but many of them might be trades people, medical professionals and even church pastors. The common denominator isn’t one’s profession, but rather the attitude and the passion, as mentioned above, of “being all they can be”, “doing all they can do”, and “achieving all they can in life”. To support these individuals, future plans for Christian Achievers-In-Action programs are to offer:

Regular weekly / monthly meetings where guests can enjoy both the comradeship of other like-minded Christian Achievers and the training / motivation sessions presented by a series of keynote speakers
Other special “happenings” (on a quarterly or annual basis; local or provincial) including banquets, weekend conferences, boat cruises, breakfast / luncheon meetings, “Christian Achiever Expositions”, golf tournaments, holiday parties, and so on
A monthly / bi-monthly / quarterly CAIA newsletter / magazine that will both give them valuable information and the opportunity to also promote their business or profession to other Christian Achievers
Access to optional “Individual One-on-One Coaching” – either for their personal lives or their professional endeavors
Access to the small cell groups within CAIA that will be meeting, in offices or in homes, to fellowship and to study both issues of the Bible and of “life” (“relationships”, “dealing with lifes challenges”, etc.)
Leadership, mentoring and support ministry opportunities as an important member of CAIAs ministry “team” (from presenting a weekly devotional to starting a local chapter of CAIA in another city)

The “other side” of Achievers: The “Up-and-Outers”

Another aspect of ChristianAchievers’ ministry is to reach “the other side” of achievers, what could be termed “the up-and-outers” (parallel to the “down-and-outers” at the other end of the socio-economic scale). Far too often “achievers” can indeed be the “up-and-outers” of society. While often seeming to be prosperous and successful, many achievers have very real and very painful needs as well. Usually their needs are harder to recognize in that normally they wear nice clothes, drive good cars, live in attractive houses and work at above-average jobs (they can even be clergy or other church leaders!) Yet they are not immune to lifes challenges and are often suffering such pain as: marriage turmoil, divorce, parent-child estrangement, depression, anger, unresolved issues from childhood, abuse, addictions, career setbacks, business failures, or the illness or death of a loved one.

Because, by appearance, the “achiever in need” is harder to recognize, and because, by nature, the “achiever in need” tries to be more independent and self-sufficient, such “up-and-outers” are much more difficult to reach and minister to. Yet they need both temporal and spiritual help as much or more as anyone else. Sadly, the needs of such “up-and-outers” are frequently overlooked in society and even in churches today. “Up-and-outer” achievers are frequently the most disenfranchised from today’s churches. Like singles, achievers are too often overlooked in church ministries.

As well, achievers are among those most targeted for the deceptive teaching of New Age programs (as evidenced by the Self Help section of the local bookstore). Achievers need to be reached with programs that are based on more complete and accurate truth and in harmony with Scripture.

Through “Christian Achievers-In-Action” and its other outreach programs, ChristianAchievers is committed to reaching these “up-and-outer” achievers and providing them with the help, healing and support they need.

“YOUNG Christian Achievers-In-Action” for those 18 to 27 years of age

Possibly the most vital aspect of ChristianAchievers is its programs for “the next generation” of achievers, helping them to achieve everything God would have them do in their lives!

YOUNG Christian Achievers-In-Action will target achievers between 18 and 27 years of age, providing mentoring and support systems to help them:

Develop their talents, skills, abilities and gifts
Determine their purposes, visions and goals for their lives
Achieve their God-given dreams, purposes and goals

Whenever possible, YOUNG Christian Achievers-In-Action will strive to encourage young achievers to “Achieve in Ministry” to choose and develop full-time Christian ministry as a career. Alternatively, these young achievers will be encouraged to incorporate some form of active lay ministry into their budding plans for work and life.

Some programs for Young Achievers will integrate with the main programs and events for ChristianAchievers. Other programs, especially for outreach, will be more exclusive to that age and tailored to their interests, lifestyles and motivations.

Singles Programs

Another important “target market” for ChristianAchievers is that of “singles”. “Singles” represent both an incredible “need” and an incredible “opportunity”. Approximately 40% of the adult North American population is single. That translates into over 1.6 million singles in the Greater Toronto Area alone. 76% of American households are single. And over 53% of disenfranchised (unchurched) Christians are single!

There are a great many needs among singles – divorce – death of spouse – single parenting – loneliness – finance – estrangement from church, family and friends. Yet each such need is another opportunity for outreach evangelism. Change and crisis (i.e. going through a divorce) are prime times to reach people and bring them closer or back to Christ (including church fellowship / membership). Sadly, the reality is that such singles are terribly overlooked by most churches.

Some of the programs and benefits that ChristianAchievers plans to offer singles are:

Seminars on relationships, divorce recovery, individual development, parent/child dynamics, health/fitness/diet, etc.
Fellowship in singles programs as well as in all the other programs for Life Development, Bible Discovery and so on that ChristianAchievers will offer
An environment to facilitate healing and growth
Divorce Recovery and Grief Recovery Support Groups
Individual Life Coaching and Counselling
Books, magazines, DVDs, etc. on Life Development and Bible Discovery
Opportunities to meet other success-oriented Christian singles
Small Group Bible Discovery programs
Volunteer opportunities in singles ministry
The other career opportunities of ChristianAchievers

Leadership Development

The scope of the plans for ChristianAchievers and its purposes and programs is extensive and global. It is an enormous undertaking. One aspect vital to its success will be effective and comprehensive “Leadership Development”. Leaders will be required at all levels – from leading a small group of 10 or 12 people in a divorce recovery series to leading a group of 2000 or more business and professional people in a mid-week “motivation and mentoring” program that helps them achieve their individual God-given dreams and goals. Hence future plans for the ChristianAchievers programs include the development of extensive training and support programs – not only for those in ChristianAchievers, but for leaders, teachers, pastors and individuals from other organizations and churches.

For other New Adventures in Christian Living, visit www.MarkOfGod.org

ChristianAchievers is an outreach ministry of Mark of God Communications Inc.
For more information on ChristianAchievers programs, please contact Braden Caldwell
at (phone) 416-804-6213 or (email) :bradencaldwell777@gmail.com

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