Two BIG Questions We All Need To Answer

What is the cause within you? What is your one big thing?

These two questions have been “in my face” lately. Let me explain.

This summer four teenage girls and I spent a week serving at the Los Angeles Dream Center. How did I end up there? Matthew Barnett, the founder of the DC, was on our show in 2011 to promote his book, The Cause Within You. While talking with Pastor Barnett in the green room, he and his brother-in-law really encouraged me to bring a short-term missions team to the DC. That conversation ignited a desire to go check it out.

The experience changed me.

The now mammoth Dream Center really started the day Pastor Barnett made one seemingly insignificant decision—he would go help people living on one block near his dying church in the crime-ridden area known as Echo Park. Meeting the needs of one person and one house at a time, he brought people groceries, clothing, school supplies, furniture, and even helped make small home repairs. Now the ministry has expanded and feeds 40-70,000 people a month, offers a 9 month men’s and women’s drug recovery program, restores girls escaping the sex-trafficking industry, houses homeless families . . . well, the list is endless.

When I got home, I began to read The Cause Within You again. Now that I’d been to the Dream Center, the stories came to life and carried a deeper meaning. This fall, my women’s group at church is going to read the book and ask ourselves, “Have we found the cause within us?”

Sometimes when God is saying something He puts an exclamation point on the end. Actually, this exclamation point was another question, “What is your one big thing?” Phil Cooke, author of One Big Thing, was on the show today. His book answers questions like, “What could I be the best in the world at doing? Where could I be remarkable? Where do I stand out?”

Phil says most of us are looking at our “job” to be our one big thing, but that’s not always the case. It has to do with what we’re most passionate about. In his book Phil writes,“. . . people respond to passion. Passion is one of the most contagious emotions on the planet, and people will line up to follow it, especially when the passionate person has credibility.”

I am on a quest to find my “one big thing”, a.k.a. my “cause.” I believe for ALL of us a core ingredient in our big thing or cause will be serving. How can I bless others? How can I love people?

Phil lists some questions to help you find your one big thing:

#1 What comes easy to you?
#2 What do you love?
#3 What drives you crazy? (Phil says, “The thing you hate the most could be the problem you were born to fix”)
#4 What do you want to leave behind? (Phil’s answer: a lasting legacy)

Now go find your cause and you’ve found your one big thing!

The "Dream Team"- Three in One Church's first youth missions trip