Ken Hemphill - You Are Gifted

Did you ever wonder why Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords, said, It is better I go and He come? Must be something special to come. Ken Hemphill answers many questions that have been misunderstood as you read this biblical analysis of the Holy Spirit. You may allow the power to come back into your life and ministry.

Evangelist William Fay

Share Jesus Without Fear

Few people have demonstrated a greater love for the church and the body of Christ. Dr. Ken Hemphill has written much in the area of giftedness and how we use those gifts to enhance God's kingdom and to see it enlarged as we live up to our calling and giftedness. You will be blessed, challenged, and encouraged by this book.

Dr. Johnny M. Hunt

Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church, Woodstock, Georgia

President, Southern Baptist Convention

I commend to you Dr. Hemphill's new book, You Are Gifted. It is a balanced treatise on spiritual giftedness. In a day and time where extremes find little biblical evidence, Dr. Hemphill gives a biblically based and needed word of balance and correction. Of particular interest is his warning that we not see certain passages with Corinthian spectacles on. I commend this scholarly yet practical work to all.

Dr. Frank S. Page

Pastor, First Baptist Church, Taylors, South Carolina
President, Southern Baptist Convention 20062008

I have read this book from cover to cover. It is worth it! As the pastor of a local congregation, I need help! There is too much to do, too many people to love, and too few to help. Drawing on his many years of ministry, Ken Hemphill has written a book that will open the eyes of your understanding about the issue of gifts, drive home God's provision for His church, and provide for biblical solutions. This book is deeply theological in content and highly practical in application. Ken does not avoid the subjects we most often avoid and leaves his reader solidly equipped to seek and find those God-given gifts designed to produce maximum potential in the body of Christ. It is well written, well presented, and is an essential tool for all who sincerely desire to serve the Savior to the best of their ability.

Don Wilton

Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church, Spartanburg, South Carolina

Wrong understandings associated with spiritual gifts have not changed much since the first century. Some seek the most obvious gifts just to show how gifted they are. Others believe they are not gifted and thus have little to offer. Still others fear that any study of spiritual gifts will lead them to be charismatic. Ken Hemphill addresses these concerns in this helpful and needed work. Recognizing that the Biblenot experience or traditionmust guide our understanding of gifts, he calls believers to use their gifts for God's glory in the context of the church. Read this book and be challenged by it. Learn from it, even if you don't agree with every conclusion about this controversial topic. Apply it by using your gifts. Then teach others to do the same.

Chuck Lawless

Dean, Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth

The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

You Are Gifted is a well-crafted work to help pastors and laity discover ways to put their spiritual gifts to work. Ken Hemphill has done a masterful job in dealing with an often misunderstood topic.

Dr. Geoff Hammond

President, North American Mission Board, SBC

Much has been written about spiritual gifts, and Christians often strive to understand a personal application from complex interpretations of the subject. Ken Hemphill has written a balanced and refreshing perspective that is practical and inspiring. His thorough and balanced exegesis of Scripture passages on spiritual gifts give assurance to every believer of God's grace and gifting. You Are Gifted is a book that will contribute to one's growth and equipping to serve God effectively.

Dr. Jerry Rankin

President, International Mission Board, SBC

You Are Gifted is a biblical and practical resource for pastors as we fulfill our task of equipping the saints to do the work of the ministry. Dr. Hemphill shares the secrets of locating and motivating volunteers in our churches from being spectators to becoming participators in God's grand scheme of redeeming the world to Himself! Read it, apply it, and people will be reached and blessed.

Dr. John Cross

Senior Pastor, South Biscayne Church, North Port, Florida

How do you mobilize people from spectating in the pews to participation in ministry? Is there a place for me? Can God use me? Do I fit in the church? If so, how and where? These are the questions that are often asked by pastors and parishioners. Ken Hemphill carefully and clearly answers both sets in his book You Are Gifted. Through sound biblical exegesis, Ken provides a solid blueprint given by God for the mobilization of persons from spectators to participants and the meaning that each receives as a result. God's blueprint has been and continues to be spiritual gifts. In this book the believer receives clarity around whom God fits within the body, how God fits us within the body, where God fits us within the body, and why God fits us within the body. He also sounds the call for gifted leaders to equip gifted members.

If there was ever a time when pastors and people needed to take hold of the empowering and gifting ministry of the Holy Spirit within the church, it is now. Ken Hemphill provides a clear understanding of how it can be done.

Claude Alexander

Bishop, The Park Ministries, Charlotte, North Carolina

Few people are more qualified to write a book on spiritual gifts. His own experiences as a pastor, his extensive study of the New Testament, much of it in 1 Corinthians, under some of the world's greatest New Testament scholars, help the church to catch something of its apostolic fervor and provide some of the keenest insight of any of the numerous books on spiritual gifts.

Roy J. Fish, ThD

Distinguished Professor of Evangelism Emeritus

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

Fort Worth, Texas

To my wife and partner in ministry

Paula Moore Hemphill

Paula embodies what it means to be gifted for service to the King.

She is truly a kingdom woman.

Her support and encouragement enabled me to complete
the graduate work that led to this book.

Charles Francis Digby Moule

Who patiently guided me as I struggled to understand Paul's
teaching concerning spiritual gifts.

(December 3, 1908-September 30, 2007)

I have a lifelong love affair with the church. My parents taught me to love the church from the day I was born. My dad was a pastor; and Mom, like many pastors' wives, was involved in Sunday school, choir, missions, and any other task that needed to be done. My love affair has only grown in intensity and depth as I have served the church in the role of a pastor, and then later as seminary president, and now as national strategist for Empowering Kingdom Growth. I have written this book as a love letter to the church. It is my constant prayer and the burden of my life that the church would catch the vision for what God intends it to be. If we could replace apathy with passion for the kingdom and recapture our heritage, the church could express the fullness of God in our world today. This book is dedicated to that end.