took a course in pottery as a freshman at Andrews University. I enjoyed the challenge of mixing up a batch of clay and then taking it to the wheel. I would place a lump of it on the wheel, get my hands wet, and put my thumbs down in the middle to start making the hole for a vase or bowl. While I shaped the clay I would sometimes discover that the clay had not been mixed thoroughly. Lumps would be in it, and as the clay spun around I kept feeling them. Sometimes they were quite small and easy to pull out without destroying what I was making. Other times, however, the lump was so large I would have to pound it back into a mound and start all over again.

The Bible uses the imagery of God as the potter and us as the clay. We need to take time to examine ourselves as clay. Are we willing to be formed in the Potter's hands? When He finds lumps in our lives and tries to remove them, are we willing to cooperate with Him and let Him form us into the kind of vessels that He wants us to be for His honor and glory? We need to ask the Lord, "How are you wanting me to grow?"

We need a helpful way to understand the process of spiritual growth. The Bible uses examples from everyday life that help us understand spiritual realities. Baseball can also provide such a framework for insight. Rick Warren, in his book The Purpose-driven Church, develops this imagery of a baseball diamond.¹ He equates first, second, and third bases and home plate with the stages of Christian growth.

First Base
The route to first base we'll call "knowing Christ," and arriving at first base is being "committed to membership."

On the day of Pentecost Peter made an appeal, and his audience asked what they needed to do in response. Peter answered, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. . . . Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day."²

Getting to first base in our spiritual experience is accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, being baptized, and joining His church, the body of Christ.³ Many benefits come from church membership and being involved in the body of Christ. First, as genuine believers, we take the name of "Christian." This name is used so much that we often overlook the fact that it means we have accepted Jesus Christ and are committed to becoming like Him. He wants us to follow Him in every way in our lives. Second, being a member of the church provides the support of a spiritual family. This family encourages us in our walk with the Lord. Likewise, when someone is baptized and joins our church, we, as members of their church family, are responsible for nurturing them. Third, being a part of the church gives us an opportunity to discover and use our gifts for ministry. It gives us the chance to do things we could never accomplish on our own. God pulls us together in the church, and we use our spiritual gifts to complement each other and work together in a united way through the power of the Spirit. Fourth, being part of the church places us under the spiritual protection of godly leaders who can guide us, instruct us, and warn us of difficulties. Last, church membership gives us the source of accountability that we need in order to grow.

Second Base
Second base provides a little more challenge to us. It requires "growing in Christ" and be-coming "committed to maturity." Just because we be-come part of the church and attend each week doesn't mean we are continuing to mature in our relationship with the Lord. Ephesians 4:14 says, "Then we
will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ" (NIV).

When we watch a young child grow, we recognize that what is cute at the age of 2 is no longer cute at the age of 12. If the child's 2-year-old behavior continues to the age of 22, we know something has gone wrong. Maturity has not taken place. As new Christians at second base we need to continue to grow and mature. We are not meant to stay on first base but to progress in our spiritual development.

There are various means by which we mature as Christians. We call these spiritual disciplines. First, we must be diligent in Bible study and learning so we are not blown by every wind of doctrine. Many false winds are blowing in the world, and we need to be grounded in God's Word. We need to study it for ourselves. Second, we need to make prayer a daily habit. Third, we must become faithful in our tithes and offerings. These are spiritual disciplines that bond us closer to God. If we are not returning tithes and offerings, we are robbing ourselves of the spiritual strength to be received. We give not so much because the church needs money to operate but because it is one of the habits that keeps us close to the Lord and brings maturity to our relationship. Fourth, it is imperative we participate in worship experiences, times to come together as the body of Christ each week to study, sing, and offer praise in the corporate setting.

Finally, we need fellowship with the family of God. We are born into families biologically and recognize the important function they have. Do we know each other well enough to hold each other accountable? Can we encourage each other? Are we available to our church family when times of crisis come? Are we enjoying the times of fellowship that allow us to function as a family? The social dynamic of the church is a vital part of bringing us together and creating the bonds that need to exist between us in the family of God.

Remember the saying "you only believe the part of the Bible that you do"? As I review the habits for spiritual growth, I would imagine that most would agree with them. The question for us is: Are we willing to do them?

There is a Mother Goose rhyme, "Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been? I've been to London to visit the queen. Pussy cat, pussy cat, what did you there? I frightened a little mouse under her chair." Sometimes we live our Christian life in such a way that we get involved in trivial pursuits and petty things such as chasing mice when we could be worshiping the King. We could be enjoying a feast from God's Word and worshiping at His throne. Instead we allow ourselves to be distracted by the little mice in life. They rob us of the quality time God wants to have with each of us.

Third Base
Third base calls for us to go further in our relationship with the Lord. Going back to Ephesians 4:11-13: "It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." Progressing to third base involves "serving Christ" and then being "committed to ministry." We recognize that the New Testament describes all of us as being ministers; we all are part of the priesthood of believers. In the Old Testament, the tribe of Levi served in the temple. In the New Testament, however, we find we are all priests and we all have a place of ministry.

Biblically we find that every Christian is created for ministry, saved for ministry, called into ministry, gifted for ministry, authorized for ministry, commanded to minister, prepared for ministry, needed for ministry, accountable for ministry, and will be rewarded according to his or her ministry.⁴ Ministry is what God calls us to be engaged in. Spiritual growth is not just a matter of becoming a part of the church and refocusing our daily habits. It also affects how we live our lives. Not only does every one of us have a ministry, but also every ministry is important. Sometimes we look at various aspects of service from a human perspective and think that the people who are up front are the important ones, that the people who sit on boards and committees are the ones who have important ministries. Biblically, that is not the case.

Every gift that God has given to you is important for His work to be done. He doesn't give any trivial gifts. And each of us has an accountability to God to use those precious gifts for Him. In the parable of the talents Jesus tells of the servant who has only one talent and buries it in the ground. The servant considers it not worth enough even to invest. The master comes back and says, "throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."⁵ Every gift, every talent has been given by God, and He values it.

The idea of spiritual gifts in ministry helps us to realize that we are all interdependent. The use of spiritual gifts sometimes causes frustration, because it requires us to do more than just pick up the Bible at home. Using our spiritual gifts means that we find opportunities to minister to people around us each day. God has placed all of us in a position to minister in very real ways. There is usually a process of experimentation. Many times we discover on a practical level that finding and developing our spiritual gift comes from using our spiritual gift.

In the process of growing to adulthood, you try many things along the way. Your parents may have said that you needed to learn how to play the piano. Not everyone who takes piano lessons, however, is going to be a professional concert pianist. On the other hand, many have discovered that their piano lessons become the foundation for some other kind of musical ability or gift in ministry. Thus, you go through the discipline and process of learning to discover your talents. We try many things—sports, subjects in school, extracurricular activities—and some of them don't work out. We don't do everything well, but we start to discover where our abilities lie. As we experiment with them, develop them, and engage in them the Lord blesses and people affirm them. We find that God has given us passion for a ministry, and God opens up doors that provide opportunity to do greater service. We then continue to grow.

Home Plate
From third base we find that coming home means that we are not just serving Christ, but also "sharing Christ." We are then "committed to missions." Our ministries become focused on sharing what Christ has done for us.

We may do things to help people without expecting anything in return. But we need to look for opportunities to share Jesus once we have met physical need. We can tell others what Jesus has done in our life. We have the commission to "go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."⁶

On a personal level there are opportunities every day that the Lord gives us to share with others. When we encounter people who are experiencing losses, illnesses, doubts, and fears we can give a personal testimony of the hope and assurance we have in Christ. Every blessing God gives us, each joy and reason for thankfulness, can be turned into a testimony of praise through which we give glory to God.

Being part of a church family gives us the opportunity to invite people to join us at weekly services, special programs, and evangelistic events. These then become a double blessing, enriching our own lives and communicating God's grace to those who are searching.

Running the Bases
Now that the whole ball diamond analogy is mapped out, the relevant question is: Where are you? Some will tend to be on one base more than another, and I don't advocate that anyone steal bases. Sometimes people go to first base and then try to jump over to serving Christ, but they've never established the habit of growing day by day in their own personal relationship with Him. Or perhaps they are committed to membership and are trying to share Christ but do not have much to share yet. We need to grow base by base. In the game of baseball, sometimes there are home runs and the runner travels all the way around the bases. On an experiential level that is what we are called to do.

In spiritual baseball, should we ever abandon first base? No. We never give up our first-base experience, nor do we give up the daily growth represented by second base. This is a lifelong process that we never pull away from. Ministry and service for Christ should continue. Sharing is a natural by-product of the others. Sometimes we may wish to stop on a base. We get comfortable on a base and camp out there. But we then rob ourselves of growth and our maturity process is stunted.

In baseball, an opposing team is out in the field trying to stop you from going from one base to the next. You don't get to walk around the bases without opposition. They get the ball and try to throw you out. Likewise, in our spiritual experience Satan is doing anything he can to stop us. He would be happy to have us get stuck and fail to mature in the Lord.

As we continue to pursue growth we then launch other people on their growth. We invite others. When we travel from third to home we are launching other people off to first base. As we share, they then have the opportunity to commit their lives to Jesus Christ. And then they too mature, minister, and share. Thus, we keep inviting more people onto the team, and the kingdom of God is enlarged.

What is the next step in your relationship with Him? Wherever we are, we need to go on to the next base and ultimately have a grand-slam spiritual experience.

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¹Rick Warren, The Purpose-driven Church (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Pub. House, 1995), p. 144.
²Acts 2:38-41, NIV.
³Ibid., p. 313.
⁴Ibid., p. 368.
⁵Matt. 25:30, NIV.
⁶Matt. 28:19, 20, NIV.

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Rick Remmers is the pastor of the Atholton Seventh-day Adventist Church in Columbia, Maryland.