Early settlers in this country thanked God for many things—safe arrival in a new place, bountiful harvest, victories, gifts of the past year and being saved from dangers. Notice the common factor. They stopped to thank God for the gifts.

A new land challenged the early settlers. Today, new ways of being the church and reaching people with the gospel challenge us. Sometimes it seems overwhelming. We feel starved for leadership. Yet, God’s bounty, were we to bring in the harvest, provides a true feast of leadership for the changes we face.

The seeds for the leadership harvest are already planted. God gives every person spiritual gifts. When each member of a church uses her or his spiritual gifts in the name of Christ, miracles occur. Surprisingly, in many churches people do not know their spiritual gifts, nor do they have the tools for discovering them. Working without knowing their spiritual gift-mix hampers people’s leadership.

Every congregation needs a deliberate, ongoing effort to help people identify and use their spiritual gifts. It puts the right tools of Christian leadership in leaders’ hands. Churches may choose from a number of resources to help in this process, including "Network" from Willow Creek; "SpiritGifts" by Patricia Brown, who leads the Florida Conference in spiritual formation; and "Discovering God’s Vision for Your Life" by Kenneth Haugk (Stephen Ministries founder). Still, other resources exist. Churches need to find and use those that work best for them.

Churches can also look to the example of those early settlers to lay the foundation for this leadership harvest work. This Thanksgiving, we should stop to thank God for safe arrival at a new place, the place of searching for spiritual gifts. And rejoice, too, that people already living in this spiritual place can show us the way.