OYCBY

This past Saturday, we hosted a seminar at Central entitled, Only You Can Be You. The presenter of this seminar is Erik Rees, pastor of Serve and Shape Ministry at Saddleback Church in southern California. The seminar was incredibly interesting, helpful, encouraging and challenging for a large range of ages - students through senior adults. As I was going through the evaluations today, I was encouraged by all the positive personal comments. Erik is a gifted and passionate communicator who grabs your attention and holds it.

Erik has recently authored the book: SHAPE - Finding and fulfilling your unique purpose for life. (Zondervan)

I've been involved in teaching SHAPE workshops for 10 years now and when I picked up a copy of Erik's book, I thought that it was going to be another interesting take on SHAPE. I was surprised! This is Erik's first book and it's a homerun! His book hits key areas that are all too often passed over quickly in the area of ministry discovery. One of those quickly passed over areas is, our incredible significance in God's eyes. The book also digs into the "stuff" that keeps us from moving into God's kingdom purpose for our lives, and the need to Surrender that "stuff" in order to move on in freedom. When we fail to surrender what God has invited us to surrender to Him, we live with a burden that makes us feel even less significant in His eyes. Surrender and Significance go hand-in-glove.

There's so much more. I recommend the book and encourage you to attend the seminar if you see it popping up in your area.

Here's a bio on Erik.

Erik Rees
Erik Rees is pastor of ministry and S.H.A.P.E. discovery at Saddleback Church, which gives him the great opportunity to empower thousands of people each year to find and fulfill their unique purpose for life. He also dedicates time to equipping pastors from all around the world on how to do the same within their church. Erik is a certified life planning coach and enjoys reading books in the areas of servant leadership, significance, spiritual leadership, and organizational development. Erik spends his free time with his wife of twelve years and their three children.

Author Website:
http://www.shapediscovery.com