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.

At Northeast Baptist Church just outside Atlanta, Pastor Brian Wright has started a strengths revolution for his whole church. "The StrengthsFinder confirmed what I already suspected was my strength and, with help from my ministry coach, it gave me permission to use my strengths as a primary avenue of leadership. The assessment articulated my primary strength as a maximizer, which led me to develop a student internship program where seminary students are allowed to grow and develop their leadership skills."

By using his strengths, Brian says, "the ministry that I do is more rewarding and more fun, which means I have more energy to give. In the areas where I lack strength, I hired staff or equipped lay people who are strong in those areas. And the StrengthsFinder gave me an approach for helping find and develop those folks as well. I am most effective when I am doing what I love to do and can do best, and so are those around me."

Brian's approach to dealing with his weaknesses tracks with Buckingham's advice: don't ignore your weaknesses, but find ways for applying strength as a solution.

In addition to a teamwork approach, Buckingham advises reimagining your role in a way that utilizes your strengths. This approach worked for David Washburn, pastor of First Baptist Church of Waynesboro, Virginia. With strategic strength, he's found that a lot of strategy can stretch a little bit of vision. "I kept reading books telling me how important vision was for a pastor, but I knew that was not my native tongue. I can do vision, but I'm not great at it. But by applying my strategic ability really well, I've found that I don't need so much vision. The extent to which I can see a vision for the church is enough, because my ability to strategize a way to live into that vision makes the most of it. I suspect the woods are also full of pastors who make up for lack of strategy by making the most of strengths related to vision."

For some pastors, the StrengthsFinder made a positive impact by helping them let go of unrealistic ministry expectations and move into roles where they could be more effective. Such was the case for David Ward in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. In 2001 he accepted a call to serve as pastor of Living Hope Community Church. While he is a gifted communicator and very much a people person, David found that the administrative and tactical aspects of leading a church were outside his range of strengths. For many years, the church muddled along and he tried hard to shore up his weaknesses. Along with the insight of friends and ministry partners, David found meaning in the StrengthsFinder. "The StrengthsFinder put some handles on what I inherently knew and did not want to admit. When I finally just accepted that I was not one of those entrepreneurial make-it-all-happen kind of guys, I was free to explore who I was. I like who God has made me to be, and determined that a guy with my strengths and gifts was better suited to be on a ministry staff team, rather than solo pastor of a small church."

Soon after, David accepted a call to serve as Minister of Community Life at Chapel Hill Bible Church. He says, "In the call process, I was able to use the strengths concept as one of the lenses for looking at whether I fit what they needed. Knowing my strengths and weaknesses ensured a match between me and my role."

Perhaps Buckingham has started a revolution after all. As these pastors can attest, turning one's focus from weaknesses to strengths can be revolutionary.

To learn more about strengths, including your own strengths, check out Now, Discover Your Strengths (2001, The Free Press). Online, go to www.StrengthsFinder.com and www.marcusbuckingham.com.

Chad Hall works as Global Training and Development Consultant for SAS Institute Inc. in Cary, North Carolina, and is the co-author of Coaching for Christian Leaders: A Practical Guide (2007, Chalice Press).

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