CFO North America recently held its Annual Meeting from October 12 – 14, 2021. Our CFOI Board President, David Dobra, was asked to give the closing talk at that meeting and we hope those of you who could not hear it in person will enjoy reading it here.
Answering the Call to Serve Well, a talk by David Dobra
If someone asked you to give a definition of CFO, what would your one sentence answer be? Think about it…Here’s mine. “A training place where we experience and practice living in the Kingdom of God, by unconditionally Loving all we meet there, then use what we learn in our everyday life journey as a Conduit of God’s Love.”
Would you say your definition reflects CFO’s “calling?” One definition of the word “calling” is ‘a strong urge towards a particular way of life.’ I would say that CFO urges us toward a particular way of life. Does your definition of CFO describe our community in such a way that someone would know the “calling” of CFO?
We are commanded to follow Christ and live like Him. Our callings will reflect Jesus and He will shine. I would like to take this subject to a more personal level. As a chosen CFO representative, would you say that you know what your work, task, or calling is, and are you willing to share it with us? I have a few more questions for all of us in CFO; Have we encouraged others to pursue their call? Do spiritual and serving gifts help us in our personal callings? Do we encourage others to discover their spiritual gifts and use them to serve and lead well?
In the word, God has instructed us that there are different spiritual and service gifts. When we discover and cultivate them they become important keys to being effective in the Kingdom of God. Have we really asked the Father what our spiritual calling (strong urge towards a particular way of serving) are? What are your gifts? Are you utilizing then in God’s Kingdom? If we would start our leadership training with helping others discover their gifts and train them to use those gifts, I believe we would see more fruit from the CFO program. As we individually ask these questions I know that God will give us answers and directions as to our true callings and gifts.
In CFO, we listen to God in prayer as to seek His will for us as confirmed by the Holy Spirit and scripture. Jesus taught us to pray “Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done on Earth as it is In Heaven”… His Kingdom revealed to us, His will changing us. As we listen and obey God’s will, He will use us as conduits to increase the fruitfulness of CFO. The Father has a place of service for everyone and everyone has a service to give in His Kingdom. When we help others discover their place of service in the Divine plans God has for us, His Will on Earth will be done.
Each part of the CFO Daily Program has elements of discovering God though receiving and giving, “breathing in and breathing out”. Meditation, Talks, Devotion in Motion, Creatives, Singing, Fellowship and Prayer Groups are all places where we can experience God speaking to us…. But they are not the only places where we are called to serve and lead.
Jesus said, “we should be servants of all”. The word “leader” is mentioned only six times in the Bible. The word “servant” is mentioned 900 times! Why do we focus so much on leadership, when serving is the focus in the Word? When we discover our gifts of service and are obedient to use those gifts, we are molded into who God wants us to be. “He is the potter. We are the clay”. The greater we are as servants, the greater we will be as Leaders.
We all have a place in the Kingdom. God has chosen each one of us to serve in the body of Christ. Maybe your gift of service is in communicating and connecting… or in teaching,… or as a speaker. Maybe you are a singing/worship leader,… or one that encourages others. Perhaps your gift is in leading a prayer group… or serving as a team member. Let us not waste this moment! Let us begin to discover our calling for the Kingdom. God will use us in ways we could never imagine if we only take time to listen. I never thought I would be standing here today representing CFOI as its Board president. But God said, “Serve.”
Gathering in Unity, Moving in Harmony: Now, to be obedient to the Holy Spirit, I will share my second heart’s desire for CFO. As I began thinking about what to say here tonight, my thoughts went to our need to be in unity and have love for one other. Over the last two years, we have endured things that we never expected we would have to endure; fear, loss, friends and loved ones gone, CFO Camps not meeting, changes in Camp meeting venues places upon returning, borders closing, churches meeting online, sickness, emotional pain and suffering, etc. But our God is faithful and has given us strength and faith to survive and return to Joy. Together we are standing!
What does the future have in store? Part of the answer is this: We need each other. Unity in the body, unity in CFO. We are going to have to stop thinking of ourselves as separate (CFOI , CFO NA, UPT). The Father created CFO in the heart of Glenn Clark as one organism with the arms or branches, all connected to the VINE. We are connected to each other and the better we are connected the better we’re going to live out God’s ordained purpose for CFO. Our common mission should lead us toward unity. Let us share our gifts and strengths with one another.
In 1954, Glenn Clark, accompanied by Roland and Marcia Brown, made a world tour establishing prayer groups, centers, and retreats that use the CFO Daily Program to train “Athletes of the Spirit” and promote world peace… a belt of prayer around the world! Who are we today? Do we still have the passion, hope and mission of our founders? Is the calling of God the Father for CFO the same today? Without unity, the answers to those questions do not matter.
Let us create new paths of connectivity rather than isolate ourselves. We are part of one CFO organism. We will encourage one another to be part of each other in new ways, as one Living CFO Tree with many branches.
I heard a wonderful old song my pastor shared at church a few weeks ago. The words go like this…
We are gathered in Unity, Moving in harmony.
Seeing the Spirit Flow, Causing our hearts to grow.
We are gathered in Unity. Moving in Harmony.
Letting the Spirit flow. Causing our hearts to grow.
Feeling this Calvary Love coming from heaven above.
Blessed Communion, In the Holy Ghost!”
CFO is a place where we practice, “Gathering in Unity, Moving in Harmony … Letting the Spirit flow, Causing our hearts to grow and feeling this Calvary Love coming from heaven above” Let us invest our time and treasure into building unity throughout CFO there will be “blessed communion in the Holy Ghost” and we will see CFO grow and flow in fruitful Calvary Love.
On The Hour Farthest Out Zoom Call on Thursday evenings we have begun to create one place of connecting. CFO Campers from around the world look at smiling faces while sharing His love with each other. I feel the Father wants us to truly be a place where people can say they are part of the belt of prayer belt of prayer, the worldwide CFO, united to share Kingdom living with the world.
“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. Galatians 5:13.
(This talk has been edited for presentation here. Pictures: David Dobra; CFO’ers from Fiji, Kenya, and India.)