By Craig Whitney

Part 3 – You were Made for This

(Note this is the Third in a series. See Insight #1 for background on the research project.)

Imagine that you are 12 years old and 6 feet tall. Someone hands you a basketball and says, “you were made for this.” Reality is you may or may not be, but when you’re 12 years old and 6 feet tall, if you haven’t picked up a basketball on your own, you shouldn’t be surprised when someone hands you one. A quick scan of an NBA roster reveals very few players under 6 feet and an unusually high number of 7 footers.

A quick scan of the results of the Golden Personality Profile, a personality assessment based on the four letter type developed by Myers and Briggs, included in Church Planter Profiles reveals that almost 80% are extraverted and intuitive. This is significant since less than 50% of the population are one of these types. It probably tells us as much about church planting as it does church planters. Church planting is highly relational and more about possibilities than realities at the start. The personality and the activity seem to be made for each other.

Is it possible you were made for this? David writes that God formed him and wrote his days before he was born. He was made to be king. Why David? God chose him. Paul tells us the potter has the right to make whatever he wants from the clay. We were all made for something. Statistically speaking, if your extraverted and intuiting, church planting would be an option worth exploring.

If you’re not extraverted and intuiting, can God use you to start a church? According to our research, he can. You may find yourself feeling like Spud Webb, who at 5 for 7 must have been aware he was not like his NBA teammates. He played 12 seasons in the NBA and won a slam dunk contest anyway.
The research points out a clear danger of relying exclusively on this type assessment, missing a God made exception. The research also points out what may be the greatest value of tool like the Golden Personality Profile – self-awareness. Understanding how God made you helps you become who God made you to be.