When I was attending Evangel College (now University) in Springfield, Missouri, Dr. Ward Williams was the academic dean. He was a brilliant man who mentored me in many ways. One of his “spiritual gifts” was to offer advice, whether you asked for it or not. One day, he presented me an unsolicited piece of advice that has deeply affected my life.

Charles Blair, the pastor of Calvary Temple in Denver, was one of the first Assemblies of God pastors whose church broke 1,000 in attendance and who offered seminars for other churches and pastors so they could learn how Calvary Temple grew. Dr. Williams explained that, after holding church growth seminars for a number of years, Blair began to get reports of pastors crashing and burning — even as they were trying to implement the principles he taught.

So Blair changed the way he started his seminar. He welcomed people and said right up front, “This week, you are welcome to learn all you can, but whatever you do, when you go back home, don’t build upon Charles Blair’s strengths. Don’t build upon Calvary Temple’s strengths. Build on your own strengths, and fit what you’ve learned here into your strengths.”

Ward Williams looked me in the eye. “George,” he said, “when you go out there, build on your own strengths.”

Know Your Strengths

God does not call us into His service without equipping us. He creates each of us with abilities designed to fulfill His purposes. Yet it’s up to us to put those abilities to work. So beyond identifying the call of God in life, the second principle I live by in ministry is this: Build on your own strengths.

The counsel I received from Dr. Williams meant a lot to me, because I was the kind of person who didn’t think I had any strengths to begin with. I have struggled with a lifelong inferiority complex, or as one of my friends teased, “George, you don’t have an inferiority complex — you’re just inferior!”

God does not call us into His service without equipping us.

But I took to heart what Dr. Williams said and took stock of myself. It’s an exercise everyone needs to do.

If you evaluate yourself honestly, you will discover abilities that are constantly resident in you. Too many of us want God to intervene in our circumstances with bolt-of-lightning divine gifts, while all along He expects us to carry out the majority of His tasks by using the abilities He gave us at birth and wants us to develop.

Do What Comes Naturally

Natural gifts and spiritual endowments are on a continuum. While spiritual gifts take us beyond our natural abilities, often there is a natural ability that underlies the endowment. When I looked at myself in light of the principle Dr. Williams shared, I recognized two strengths: the gift of teaching and the gift of leadership.

I knew my church would need a lot of other gifts as well, but I would focus on putting those to use. I promised myself I would try to feel secure enough as a leader to get people around me — both laypeople and staff — who could complement my strengths and make up for what I lacked. So, for 17 years at Newport-Mesa (California) Christian Center, I focused my efforts on teaching and leadership.

When you obediently build up the strengths God has given you, He leads you to His outcomes, things you could never have seen at the beginning. God brought this truth home to my wife, Jewel, and me early in our pastorate.

Adapted from the book Road Trip Leadership: Mileposts Along My Way in Ministry (Springfield, MO: Gospel Publishing House, 2011).