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Marcus Buckingham is a man on a mission. If the British-born leadership guru accomplishes his goal of starting a strengths revolution, pastors may well be some of the highest beneficiaries.

Buckingham is the charismatic and affable researcher and writer who has put "strengths" into the leadership lexicon in North America. Through his work with the Gallup organization and now on his own, Buckingham pushes the notion that each of us has a unique combination of strengths that we are best able to apply to our work and life. From my work as a ministry coach, I can confirm that his message is hitting home with many pastors.

One of Buckingham's premises is that each person has an innate set of strengths that can be applied to pretty much any aspect of life. In fact, Buckingham's research found 34 unique strengths that can show up in a near infinite set of combinations. What Buckingham calls "strength" is not really a talent or a skill set, but some combination that goes beyond skills. You could think of it as a person's recurring patterns of thought, feeling, and behavior that can be applied for some benefit. The list includes such strengths as "strategic" and "ideation" and "competition" and even "woo." While everyone has some capacity for each of the 34 strengths, a 180-question assessment provided by Gallup identifies a person's top five strengths.

Yet for Buckingham, the goal is not as much to identify your strengths or label yourself as having certain strengths; rather, the goal is to use your strengths.

Using strengths means three things: (1) knowing what your strengths are so you can focus on making the most of them; (2) applying your strengths to an ever-increasing range of opportunities; in other words, use them more and more; and (3) further strengthening your strengths rather than shoring up your weaknesses as your best plan for leadership development.

This basic message has found an audience among pastors. Buckingham spoke to over 5,000 ministry leaders at this year's Leadership Summit (hosted by the Willow Creek Association) and his presence at the conference is testimony to the resonance his message finds among pastors, many of whom have found typical development plans lacking.

Continuing Education programs offered by seminaries, mentoring from seasoned pastors, and development plans that track with the life-stage of the congregation all have their place. But where these come up short for some pastors is in their common off-the-rack angle that attempts to reshape the pastor to fit a certain mold of abilities or knowledge or beliefs. Contrary to such approaches, the message of the strengths movement is that each pastor already has what it takes to be successful. In Buckingham's words, the best development plans focus on what was put in rather than trying to put in what was left out.

The impact is being felt across the denominational and theological spectrum.

Ben Trawick serves North Wilkesboro Presbyterian Church in North Carolina. It's a church that appreciates stained glass, vestments, and the pulpit. For years, Ben knew himself to be an excellent proclaimer, but kicked himself for lacking the financial and administrative skills that he thought church leadership demanded. He sensed constant pressure, mostly from within, to be someone other than himself. The StrengthsFinder assessment told him what he already knew: his top strengths included communication and intellection. Buckingham's strategy gave him permission to build on these strengths. As he puts it, "I decided to just run with the premise that God could produce more fruit by my becoming a more gifted and intelligent communicator than by my trying to become like someone else." This led him to engage the College of Preachers and develop a customized approach for developing his preaching gifts along communication and intellectual lines. Today, his sermons are more crisp, more engaging, and more life changing than ever. The congregation appreciates his growth and they are experiencing their own.

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