Gifts & Talents Friday 5

Today RevGalBlogPals features a Gifts and Talents Friday 5!

Sally suggested,

Our Circuit (Methodist) is having a "Gifts and talents day" tomorrow- we have a minister visiting from another circuit who has modified the Myers Briggs personality test and added a few things of his own to run a day where we get to look at ourselves in the light of giftings and of the whole church. The idea is to encourage everyone with the news that there is room for you in the ministry of the church- and perhaps to discover where that ministry might be.....

It should be an interesting day, and one where I hope people will leave feeling encouraged and challenged...

So with gifts and talents in mind here is todays Friday 5:

1. Personality tests; love them or hate them?

I enjoy them; on the Myers-Briggs Kiersey I'm an ENFJ [moderate E and N; slight F and J] and I'm an Enneagram 3. I also enjoy personality memes, though most of those probably aren't truly technically psychometric.

2. Would you describe yourself as practical, creative, intellectual or a mixture?

Primarily intellectual and creative, though I'm far from wildly impractical.

3. It is said that everyone has their 15 minutes of fame; have you had yours yet? If so what was it, if not dream away what would you like it to be?

Do lots of appearances on the local 10 or 11 pm news count? To cite another example of maybe fame, ages ago I was "the" Protestant woman participant in a local TV prime-time public affairs series—it was prerecorded and on the evening they aired it we had a meeting at church, so I didn't insist on viewing it (though the next day senior pastor chastised me, saying we could've watched it at church), but every time I ran into one of my neighbors it seemed they'd seen it! Cool!

Oh, what would I like my real 15 minutes of fame to be? Something related to my graphic design, which I consider my unique creativity.

4. If you were given a 2 year sabbatical (oh the dream of it) to create something would it be music, literature, art.....something completely different...share your dream with us...

Art and theology! Several years ago I started to fantasize writing a book about ecological theology; I've done some preliminary reading and need to do lots more, but I'd love to actualize the book or a series of articles or *even* some substantial blogs, along with the book cover, illustrations and [interior] design. Depending on the sabbatical's where, I'd also like to learn the rest of the Beethoven piano sonatas.

5. Describe a talent you would like to develop, but that seems completely beyond you.

Hey, I'm an enneagram 3, so nothing truly seems completely in the out-there and beyond, though maybe there's a major fall waiting for me!

Bonus question: Back to the church- what does every member ministry mean to you? Is it truly possible to encourage/ implement?

It means getting everyone out of their self-protectiveness and dispelling a couple kinds of fears: those of the folks already involved in particular ministries that they'll no longer have a place or maybe that others will excel them in excellence; and the fear some people have of not being good enough or of being ridiculed or compared because someone else already is doing outstanding service in the area they aspire to. Is it possible to encourage and implement? That's a subject for another, longer, sigh-filled blog...

Thanks, Sally! This was cool; wish I had a lot more time to work through your wonderful questions.