I’m one of those destiny and purpose kinds of people. I love thinking about the bigger picture. I love doing what I was created to do, so I’m driven by my destiny. What am I supposed to do? I think it’s a question that all of us needs to answer, and not just once, but continually.
Back in April of 2004, I read a book called “God is My CEO“, and in the appendix, there was a template for your personal business plan. So, I spent a month writing out my personal business plan. Forty pages later, I landed on my three goals:
- To get completely out of debt, mortgage and all.
- To make a feature film.
- To step full-time into ministry work.
Those were my goals. Interestingly, by the end of 2004, a big project came in and we paid off our mortgage. Wow, that was fast. Goal 1 is done.
In 2005 I resigned from my job to start a production company, and by the end of 2006, we had all of our funding for a feature film. In 2007 we shot the film and by the end of 2007, I had made my first feature film, Fissure. Goal 2 was done.
At this point, you may be thinking, that must feel wonderful, having completed your goals so quickly. Yes, kind of. Another part of me is, “what now?” I kept thinking “full-time ministry” would be in my late 50′s, early 60′s, not my early 40′s. I didn’t quite expect it to happen that fast.
This past week, our church kicked off a beta run of a new program called Emerge. It helps you focus in on your strengths by using a variety of tools. One of those tools is Gallup’s Strengths Finder 2.0. That alone has been wonderful!
Then, with these strengths in mind, you begin to map out your calling and destiny. Using key action words that define your drive, and mapping those into your passion and the people who stir your heart the most, you develop and shape your mission and vision statements.
Let me tell you what I’ve discovered so far. (I say “so far”, because there is so much more to be discovered.) Let me start by mapping out some of the things I discovered about myself:
STRENGTHS
- 1. Learner – People strong in the Learner theme have a great desire to learn and want to continuously improve. In particular, the process of learning, rather than the outcome, excites them.
2. Relator – People strong in the Relator theme enjoy close relationships with others. They find deep satisfaction in working hard with friends to achieve a goal.
3. Responsibility – People strong in the Responsibility theme take psychological ownership of what they say they will do. They are committed to stable values such as honesty and loyalty.
4. Individualization – People strong in the Individualization theme are intrigued with the unique qualities of each person. They have a gift for figuring out how people who are different can work together productively.
5. Belief – People strong in the Belief theme have certain core values that are unchanging. Out of these values emerges a defined purpose for their life.
These descriptions are found in the Strengths Finder’s book. I grabbed these descriptions off of someone’s blog about Strengths Finder.
Then, we were shown a list of “Action words”, and told to scan them quickly and see which ones stand out, which ones jumped off the page. I narrowed it down to the top six, and then then top three. Finally, I put them in the order that made the most sense to me.
Those three key Action Words were:
- Understand
- Communicate
- Inspire
Then, with our new destiny ingredients, we started crafting our vision statement. The first task was to identify a people group, or types of people that are important to us. Immediately, two groups of people came to mind–lost people (non believers) and hurting people (both believers and non-believers). Knowing that three of my strengths are relationship-focused (relator, responsibility, individualization), I knew my calling was to hurting people. That’s who I relate to the most, and that’s who I want to help the most.
So, equipped with this new information (at least new to me), I crafted my vision statement as follows:
- To understand and encourage the hurting through communication and inspiration.
I think that really sums up what I feel called to do.
And so, I challenge you–what is your vision statement for life? What has God called you to do? What is your destiny?
