Strategery...

When I was younger, I took every personality and assessment test known to man. It was almost to the point of obsession, and after a few years, I thought I had myself [and everyone around me] pegged. Whether it was the DiSC Profile [High ID], Uniquely You [Encouragement, Prophecy, Teaching] or Myers-Briggs [ENFP], I was completely over-fascinated with knowing myself during the teenage and early college years.

As I entered adulthood, I took a new kind of assessment: the Strengthsfinder. It threw me for a loop because of one word: Strategic.

Without getting into how it all works, your assessment results from the Strengthsfinder come back in five words: each used to describe how you specifically are strong. Mine [with a brief explanation] are:

Ideation [I can see simple themes through complex structures]
Woo [I can make connections with complete strangers quickly and easily]
Strategic [I can assess a situation and think ahead to remove obstacles]
Communication [I can communicate things clearly and effectively]
Activator [I am predisposed to action first and questions later; I learn by doing]

I was fine with the other four. In fact, I probably could have read all 32 strength themes and picked them out. All except Strategic. That was over 3 years ago, and I'm just now getting around to understanding how I can use it.

With Vox, there are many questions, uncertainties, choices, and overall directions we have to deal with... both as elders and as a community. As I look ahead and think through what's approaching, I can see we need to add to the efforts we have already established- efforts that serve and nurture and train and love and preach. More on this later, just had to get it out there.

It's exciting for me to look ahead, my prayer is that our community can get there in one piece and take others along with us.