The Talents Gospel — Recycling Talents

1. Preamble Why “Recycling Talents”
2. Prologue The Envelope I Almost Buried
3. Chapter 1 What’s in Your Yard (Inventorying Gifts, Scars, and Skills)
4. Chapter 2 Bury or Invest (Fear, Faith, and the Parable’s Fork in the Road)
5. Chapter 3 Kingdom Math (How Talents Multiply in Real Life)
6. Chapter 4 Talent to Marketplace (Redemption Room & Repurposing for God)
7. Chapter 5 Audit Day (If We Do… If We Don’t)
8. Acknowledgments

People think talent is a spotlight. In the Kingdom, talent is a trust. Jesus’ Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14–30) frames our lives as stewardships: the Master entrusts resources money, time, relationships, skills, grit, even scars and then returns for an accounting. Some invest and double. One buries and loses everything.

At Christ Inc., we refuse to landfill gifts. We recycle them collect, sort, refine, and redeploy. We teach that nothing surrendered to God is wasted: not your accent, your craft, your street smarts, your pain. Talents aren’t trophies; they’re tools. And tools belong in hands, not in holes.

Recycling talents is the operating system behind our hubs: the Redemption Room (peer-support marketplace) and Repurposing for God (materials-to-mission). We pair calling with clean systems safeguarding, training, payroll, and measurement—so multiplication is ethical, durable, and scalable.

There was a night in a hospital corridor when my bravado ran out. (You know the one the fluorescent hum, the worship song on the radio I didn’t request, the prayer that sounded like a smoke alarm.) I had a choice: bury my life in a narrative of “too late, too broken,” or hand God the scattered contents of my envelope—my voice, my hustle, my scars, my Rolodex of mistakes and miracles.

I almost buried it. Fear dressed itself up as wisdom: Play it safe. Keep quiet. You’ve done enough damage already. But the Master in the parable does not reward “safe.” He rewards faithful with little, then with much. In that hallway, I heard it plain: I don’t throw away cracked bowls, and I don’t repossess entrusted talents if you’ll bring them back to Me for work.

So I came out of that night with an envelope I refused to hide. We would build a workshop where people invest what God put in them. No spectacle—just order, mercy, clean books, and honest work. We would recycle the very things the world declared worthless. We would multiply.

The parable begins with distribution “each according to ability.” Heaven knows your wiring. The first step is inventory. In recycling, we sort the pile: metals, plastics, wood. In discipleship, we sort the life: talents, experiences, networks, scars.

Three bins for Kingdom inventory:

• Gifts (God-given capacities): speaking, building, organizing, listening, design, languages, hospitality, leadership, craftsmanship, intercession, teaching.
• Skills (learned capacities): carpentry, bookkeeping, UX, logistics, budgeting, sales, compliance, conflict resolution.
• Scars (redeemed histories): addiction recovery, abuse survival, legal battles, financial collapse, spiritual betrayal, grief.

Gifts and skills are obvious. Scars are the surprise asset. They become navigational charts for other people’s storms. A survivor who’s healed can spot rip currents others mistake for calm water. That’s authority.

My yard: I had voice, hustle, and a survivor’s discernment. I’d also built messes big enough to require restitution and humility. The Lord asked for everything both the glowing and the grim and said, We’re going to invest all of it.

Reflection prompt: List five items in each bin. Circle one from each you’re willing to place on the altar this month.

In the parable, two servants invest; one buries. The excuses are modern: I was afraid. The Master is demanding. I didn’t want to mess it up. Fear pretends to protect us; it actually paralyzes others who needed what we’re hiding.

What burying looks like today:

• Endless “research” with no start date.
• Serving everywhere except where you have actual grace (hiding in busyness).
• Using past failures as permanent probation.
• Cynicism disguised as discernment.
• Spiritualizing passivity: “If God wants it, He’ll make it happen without me.”

What investing looks like today:

• Apprenticing under someone who does it well.
• Putting dates and dollars to a plan.
• Submitting your gift to safeguarding and accountability.
• Showing your work (and your numbers).
• Letting community refine your character as much as your craft.

I know the fork personally. My fear of mishandling people led me to the edge of burying my voice. But fear is a bad steward. Faith does the harder thing: start small, under authority, with guardrails. We built those rails on purpose—so fearful servants have a safe onramp to bold obedience.

Practice: Name one gift you’ve buried. Schedule a micro-investment this week (60 minutes with a mentor, a first client call, a draft pitch, or a volunteer shift that uses the real gift).

The parable’s math is startling: 2x returns for faithful stewards. That’s not hype; it’s a pattern. In the Kingdom, multiplication rides on character + competence + community.

The Multiplication Flywheel:

1. Character: Faithful with little → trusted with more. You show up, keep records, own mistakes, tell the truth.
2. Competence: Training turns raw gift into reliable service. You learn the tools and the rules.
3. Community: Gifts interlock. Your talent plugs into others’ talents; the joint is stronger than any single beam.

Where the returns show up:

• People: A peer-support counselor helps one client end a porn cycle → marriage stabilizes → kids regain a parent → ripple.
• Provision: A refurbished stove lands in a home → family saves hundreds → dignity rises → savings fund a certification.
• Place: Tonnage diverted from landfills → neighborhoods cleaner → local trust grows → doors open for discipleship.

My multiplication: When I stopped trying to be impressive and started being consistent, my talent finally yielded. Apologies turned into reconciliations. Old contacts became partners. Hustle became holy work—on time, accountable, audited.

Exercise: Write a 90-day plan that pairs your gift with two complementary talents in your community. Define one measurable outcome per month.

Talents multiply when they meet real needs inside clean systems. That’s why our workshop has two engines:

A) Redemption Room Peer-Support Marketplace
Former sex workers and other survivors are recruited, vetted, trained, and paid to offer dignified, non-sexual, healing-focused conversations. Safeguards are bright: verified identities, scheduled sessions, monitored channels, mandatory reporting, and zero-tolerance conduct. Counselors receive supervision, continued education, and community care.

• Recycled Talents: empathy, listening, boundary-keeping, street wisdom turned pastoral discernment.
• Measurables: sessions completed, satisfaction scores, crisis referrals closed, sobriety milestones supported.

B) Repurposing for God Materials into Mission
We reclaim appliances, fixtures, furniture, surplus lots, and convert “waste” into provision and payroll. People learn punctuality, quality control, POS systems, inventory, delivery logistics, and customer honor.

• Recycled Talents: craftsmanship, sales, logistics, bookkeeping, design.
• Measurables: items refurbished, tons diverted, wages paid, families served, small businesses launched.

Media That Honors: At ChristInc.tv, we share stories without exploitation privacy first, metrics second, celebration third. No spectacle, just evidence: debt retired, certifications earned, jobs retained, relationships reconciled.

My part: I bring voice and operational grit. I also bring the memory of nearly burying it all. That memory keeps me humble and keeps our rails tight. We pour “gold” (training, fair pay, community, accountability) into the seams so people can stand under what God places on them.

The Master returns. He always does. The audit isn’t a threat; it’s a reveal.

If We Do (Invest):

• Joy: “Enter into the joy of your Master.” Joy is permission for expanded territory.
• Increase: Faithful with little → set over much. You receive people and problems proportionate to your maturity.
• Impact: Families stabilize, neighborhoods clean up, churches gain credible witness, cities feel the weight of quiet righteousness.
• Legacy: Your seams shine. Others trace them home.

If We Don’t (Bury):

• Loss: What you hide atrophies. unused muscle, unplayed instrument, unpracticed mercy.
• Leakage: Needs go unmet; predators fill the vacuum; cynicism spreads.
• Accountability: “Take the talent…,” Jesus says in the parable. God reallocates trust to faithful stewards.
• Isolation: The burier ends alone, outside the party he was invited to help host.

Our Audit Prep KPIs of Stewardship:

• Safety: crisis interventions, safeguarding compliance, incident-free sessions.
• Stability: housing days, sobriety streaks, debts retired, court cases closed.
• Skills: certifications earned, job retention, promotions, ventures launched.
• Service: peer-support hours, mentorship pairs, volunteer hours.
• Sustainability: tons diverted, items placed, neighborhood savings.
• Spiritual Formation: scripture engagement, reconciliations, baptisms, restored families.

Final Charge (from my envelope to yours):
I almost buried my talent. Fear almost convinced me that passivity was prudence. But the Master who met me in a hospital hallway gave me back my voice and asked me to work it under authority, in community, with numbers and names that prove love landed. Don’t landfill what God entrusted. Sort it. Refine it. Deploy it. Count it. Report it. Give thanks. Then do it again.

Your Marching Orders:

1. Inventory: Gifts, skills, scars three bins. Write five each.
2. Choose a micro-investment: One action this week that uses your real talent under guardrails.
3. Find your interlock: Two other stewards whose talents multiply yours. Form a 90-day pact.
4. Measure mercy: Define one outcome per month; publish it to a mentor.
5. Return the envelope: Regularly present your progress to God and to someone who can tell you the truth.

We will not hide what Heaven handed us. We will recycle every good thing into service, every scar into wisdom, and every day into multiplication. When the Master returns, may He find us in the workshop, smiling, sleeves rolled, books clean, talents at work—and may our neighborhoods already know His joy by the fruit.

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