As you begin to read through the pages of the New Testament you can’t help but notice the many references to fishing and fisherman. Fishing, back then, was not what we picture today. They didn’t go out on their high priced fiberglass boats and take out their trusty Zebco rod and real. There were no spinner baits or plastic worms. There wasn’t even the famous “bobber” to watch. No, fishing was much different back then. They took several men out in an old wooden boat and cast a net over the side. As the net reached the bottom they started pulling the net back up, hoping to capture a good number of fish as the net was dragged back into the boat.

As Jesus is talking to his first disciples he says that he will make them “fishers of men (Mark 1:17).” They didn’t picture one individual with a rod and real in his hand. They pictured a net being cast over the side of the boat. The interesting thing about a fishing net is that if there is one link in the net not connected then the net is not as effective and some fish will slip through the hole and never be caught. I love applying this to the church. All the members of a congregation are like a fishing net. We must all work as if we are linked together arm-in-arm, like a net. If one person is not using their gifts and let’s go of another member’s arm then we are not as effective as we could be.

God has given us all gifts that can be used in the church and when God gives us a gift He doesn’t expect us to sit on it. He gives us these different gifts “so that the body of Christ may be built up (Ephesians 4:12).” At Greenwood Park we want everyone to use their gifts. I want to help you get involved.

In Him,
Gilbert Kerrigan