The Junto Path, 1-2-3

Junto is built on a 3-step path: 

1. Discern your (true) identity 
2. Define your area of operations 
3. Deploy-- and do it all unto the Lord

Here's the overview...

#1 = Discern your true identity 

Your identity isn’t found in what you do— but in whose you are.

If you don’t affirm the identity the Father gives you— as a beloved son (Matthew 3:17), you’ll seek to attain that identity through awards, applause, affirmation, accolades, or other externals.

And, when do you, you'll find yourself hustling hard AND you'll also come up empty.

Let's face reality. A lot of us don't like where we are. And we have failures in our past.

But, when we realize that-- 

📌 Where we are isn't who we are (it's just a location in time)-- God accepts us wherever we are (so does the Junto tribe, by the way)

📌 Where we are isn't where we're stuck and forced to remain-- we can take steps forward to where God has designed us to be

📌 Where we are is where we must begin... 

Then we're free to move forward without basing our identity on circumstances. 

Once you settle the identity question, however, you can pursue those causes as an overflow of your identity rather than a means to create one.

This leads us to step 2.

#2 = Define your area of operations 

In the military, an AO (Area of Operations) is the acronym used to quantify and qualify the area the unit is responsible for. 

In the same way, all men have an AO we’re responsible for, just as Paul had (2 Corinthians 10:13f.). You must steward the domains over which you have authority-- and they change over your lifetime. 

We're each responsible for: 

🙏 Faith = for taking charge of our own spiritual growth and vitality, and not depending on someone else to "feed us" (any more than a grown man depends on his parents to feed him).

💙 Family = for honoring those in our household in a unique way, for nurturing our wife and tending to our kids and checking in on our parents

⚙️ Factory = for adding value in our workplace, whatever it is that we "create" each day

💪 Fitness = for keeping ourselves strong physically, mentally, and emotionally

👊 Friends = for maintaining healthy relationships-- where we pour into others and they pour into us-- we all need a tribe

These areas all look different for each of us, depending upon the season of life we find ourselves.  Whatever the case, though, the world, your work, your community, and your family need you to take authority over your unique AO.

#3 = Deploy-- and do it all unto the Lord

The word worship in Hebrew (avodah) means to serve or work. To the Hebrew man— like Jesus— the work a man did on Thursday was as much an act of honor to God as anything he did on Sunday.

In his book 48 Days to the Work You Love, Dan Miller reminds us-- 

He continues, 

Whatever you to, do to the glory of God, we’re taught (Colossians 3:17).

Rather than seeing a distinction between sacred and secular, infuse every AO with the possibility of expressing God’s presence and power.